A Family Affair at the YWCA Indoor Triathlon

Yesterday, Pharmie and I raced an Indoor Triathlon in Minneapolis (they had 3 distances, and we both did the shortest), and Henry was there to cheer us on the entire way. Here's a bunch of photos from the day.

I was in the first wave, so I got there an hour before Henry and Pharmie.

The bikes set up along the track pre-race.


Our transition mats set up just outside of the pool.


Pre-race potty tradition.

I stretched a bit, warmed up with a few laps in the pool, and I was ready to go. Pharmie and Henry showed up at the PERFECT time just about 2 minutes before I started! We were all in the pool getting final pre-race instructions:

A "thumbs up" for Henry!

• SWIM: 400 YARDS.

I took off pretty fast. I hit the first 100 in 1:21, but then my watch stopped taking splits. (It wasn't "user error" - the button literally would not push until I reset something while on the bike 10 minutes later.) I think I saw 4:35 at the 300 yard point, which meant those 200 yards were 3:14 (1:37 ave), and I finished in 6:08, meaning my final 100 would have been 1:31. That's all very possible, but not 100% verified. Not bad for my "I'll be around 6:10" prediction in Saturday's post.

Swimming.


Climbing out as the first one in my heat to leave the pool!


If you put 2 photos together from me climbing out, it looks like I took a quick twerk break.
(Which I did, of course.)


In transition.


Running to the bikes.

• BIKE: 8 MILES.

I ran to the farthest spin bike and started spinning:

Once everyone else was spinning with me.


There's the start/finish line on the track for the upcoming run.
(The flag and the large orange cone.)


You can see the upper track where I've been doing a lot of my runs lately (6 laps/mile).


Henry and I took a moment to have a serious conversation about the pros and cons of
US military involvement in the Crimea conflict. He made a persuasive argument.

• RUN: 1 MILE.

I hopped off my bike and was right at the startline of the run. I was moving fast.

I took splits every 2 laps (0.25 mile), but I looked at my watch on each lap. In my prediction post, I was quite certain I could break 6:00, but I added "I'm wondering how far below that I can get." I knew that 0:45/lap was 6:00 pace, and 0:40/lap was 5:20 pace. I hoped I could be around 5:30. My first 2 laps were 0:38 and 0:40 (that meant my first 1/8 mile was 5:04 pace!), so my first 1/4 mile was 1:18.

NOT A BAD HEEL-STRIKE! Counting my footstrikes during every run
for the last 2 years has been paying off!


Running past people on bikes and a banana-eating Henry.

I didn't check my form or count any footstrikes during the race. I didn't try to "run loose" like I've been doing lately. I just ran. The people on the bikes cheered me on, and I cheered them on a few times too. Pharmie said people kept saying things like "he's making it look so easy!" The lady over the PA kept saying things like "and Steve STILL has a smile on his face!!"

My next 2 splits were 1:22 and 1:23. I was fading a bit, but keeping decent speed! I knew I'd be under 5:30, and I was thrilled! I actually came to the finish of the run before anyone else in my wave had finished their bike (with a final 0.25 mile of 1:19).

Powering to the finish!


I TOTALLY DIDN'T SEE MY SON TRYING TO HIGH-FIVE ME AT THE FINISH!
I didn't know anything about this until I saw this photo a few hours post-race! Sorry buddy!


Still looking for that high-5 just after I finished...


... but I thought he was asking for a hug!


He FINALLY got his high-5!!!!


And then he went running off.

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Well, here... just have a look at the official finisher's card we all got:

- 400 yard swim: 1:32.00 / 100 yard pace in the pool
- 8 mile bike: 36.78 mph on the bike (yeah, sure, right)
- 1 mile run: 1:20.75 / quarter mile on the track

3 RACE NOTES:

• I raced about how I had hoped: really close to "all out" in the pool, more nonchalant on the bike, and then a pretty hard run. But it was all pretty casual: I don't remember thinking about ANY form in the pool. (Was my streamline good? Was I over-rotating? Who knows.) I spent half the time on the bike smiling and waving at Henry, and it was great. And then I just ran pretty hard.

• I didn't "kill it" at the end of the run. I was happy with my time, and I DID pick up the pace a bit at the end, but I didn't absolutely sprint to the finish. This was my first hard running since the end of August - I didn't want to be dumb.

• My legs / hips felt good during the race. Near the end, my lower right groin / upper right knee was a bit sore, but not bad at all. I hit the foam roller at the Y before heading home. And my hip was a little achy last night, but not any worse than after my recent 5 mile (easy) runs.

Nicole (the race director) said she has back problems right before and after this race because of how much time she spends hunched over a computer. Here she is furiously tallying results and writing out the finisher's cards during the race:

(She's the one who nearly beat me at the 2009 Tesfa 5K - where we first met. Then we ran the 2011 Winter Carnival Half Marathon together, and here's the video I took during that race - Nicole is in it a few times.)

Henry wanted to go upstairs and run a lap on the track, and then we had a "picnic snack" as he kept calling it:

Next up, it was Pharmie's turn to race!!

All ready to swim.


Pharmie's heat listening to some pre-race info (she's in the red cap).
By her "pregnant race pace" estimate, she was put in a slightly slower heat.


GO!


Her lap counter waving a kick board in her face to signal 1 lap to go.


If you didn't know Pharmie was 32+ weeks pregnant, you do now.


Running off to the bike.


Did I mention that my pregnant wife was the 2nd one in her wave to start riding!?!


Wave 4 riding!


Henry stealing Mama's water as she changes her shoes for the run.




High-5!




I love those 2! (Well, technically THREE.)


One more high-5 with about 2 laps left.


Final 15 meters!


Crossing the line to some cheers!


And another big hug from Henry!

Pharmie ran pretty consistent / easy laps. She took her split every lap, and many were exactly the same. I took her (loose) 0.25 mile splits (every 2 laps), and they were 2:32, 2:34, 2:39, and 2:38. Pharmie's results were:

- 8:40 Swim (2:10 / 100 yds)
- 2:21 T1
- 18:12 Bike (26.37 mph)
- 0:40 T2
- 10:21 Run (2:35.25 / quarter mile)
- OVERALL: 40:14

Results aren't up yet, so I'll post those when they come out in a day or two. I'm pretty sure I'll have the fastest run, and I'm 90% sure I probably won - we saw a speedy woman in the wave after Pharmie's that I'm a little worried about. Oh, and here's a shout out to wave 6 - they were the "fast" wave of the MEGA Sprint distance, and they were going NUTS on the bike:

We left just after the first man hopped off the bike and did his first 2 laps. He was on 6 minute pace and looked great. (But the MEGA Sprint distance has a 5K run, and we all know that anyone can look great for the first 1/4 mile. Just look at every 10-year-old boy lined up at the front of any 5K ever.)

Thanks for coming to cheer us on, Henry! Back with results when they come in.