Zeb’s Race on the Base Swim

Mar 302011
 

I hustled my way over to the pool to perform my 200 Meter swim.  And I had been practicing for months and really thought that I was going to demolish my swimming time from the year before.  I jumped in the pool and immediately began to pass people, until I got behind some idiot who was doing the breast stroke. 

Everyone was swimming at his pace and there was no way that I could get past the guy because his legs were continually spreading out like you would imagine a frog would in the pool of water.  I kept trying to get past him and that really sapped my energy. 

Zeb Race on the Base Swim

The pool that I had been training in was half the size of the pool that I competed in.  I did not think it would make that much of a difference, but it did.  Each lap felt so much longer than the laps I had been used to and when I sprinted the last 50 Meters in the pool, it just seemed like the end was never coming.  But, eventually I made it, completed the swim and ran into my Dad, Mom, sister and Dusty.  They congratulated me on a job well done, but man . . . was I tired. 

Now, it was time to wait for my brother . . . who I had not seen since I pushed him at the beginning of the race.

Zeb’s Race on the Base Bike Ride

Mar 292011
 

After reaching the staging area, I was in good shape and rushed out with my bike and took off . . . but that didn’t last long as bicyclists began to pass me left and right.  I do remember passing one bicyclist who looked like he was either drunk or had never ridden a bike before . . . as he riding a mountain bike which was wobbling all over the road.  Had the police been following him, they would have made him perform a sobriety test for sure.

Overall, people were passing me pretty consistently on the bike, but they were not flying past me like they had the year before.  I’m still not quite sure why I was getting passed though.  I’m not sure if it was because of my bike or because I am not riding my bike using the proper technique.  Either way, I know that my legs were working faster than many of the other riders. 

After evaluating my results for the race, I saw an interesting statistic for the race.  Almost everyone who finished ahead of me had a better bike time, while my times in the run and the swim were in the middle of the pack compared to those who performed better than me overall.  So, it appears to me that my bicycling skills need to improve if I’m going to be able to compete at a higher level in these triathalon events.

I knew that a lot of people had passed me by the time I made it to the staging area for the second time.  But, I had a feeling that I was still outperforming myself from the year before and made my way to the pool.