Clemson Triathlon Race Report

So yeah, I haven't done much posting this year. I haven't had much to post about. Training related anyway. With the new baby training has been an afterthought. I've taken up Insanity since it takes a lot less time and it's enabled me to get training in, even if it isn't triathlon specific. However, it's been interesting after seeing my results from this weekends race. This season I've done virtually zero triathlon training. It has consisted of a handful of bikes, runs, and swims and two races so far. However I've done 3 weeks of Insanity so far. When comparing last years Clemson performance to this years, I'm amazed that I was only 30 seconds slower this year than last when I had been training for 5 months at this point. There's definitely something to be said for Insanity. It is definitely training me to perform at an anaerobic level and tolerate higher levels of pain associated with it. My only disappointment was that I crossed the finish line and actually felt as if I had a lot more to give. My swim was good. Better than I had hoped. I came out 2nd in my category, and i was somewhere in the 14+ minute range. The weirdest thing was my bike. I actually finished higher overall in my bike than I did in my swim. That has never happened before. I have been making an effort to give a lot more on the bike that I have in the past and it's showing. My bike times have been considerably faster this year than in past seasons and my runs haven't suffered like I thought they would. The run is tough no matter what, so I might as well go as hard as I can on the bike and just hope for the best on the run. I knew I'd have a pretty good bike at the charleston sprint since it's dead flat and you can really pound away, but I knew Clemson would be a new challenge since it's hilly. But I knocked this one out too as I forced myself to pound the pedals up the hills and rest on the downhills. That strategy worked out very well and it's one I'm going to try to employ next time at the Biltmore Lake race. That'll be a different story I believe because the hills are longer, steeper, and more challenging than I faced in Clemson. The run went pretty well too. It's a tough run because you start with a 1 mile steady downhill. It's a nice way to ease into the run, but it makes for a very tough final two miles. After it flattens for a football field distance you have a short, but brutally steep climb. You go a bit farther on flat ground until the turn around at which point you have to go back down the steep hill, not as bad as climbing, but not exactly a rest either. I did however feel pretty good at the bottom, and increased my pace somewhat. I felt really good coming up the final mile long hill, and just wish I had pushed a bit tougher in that last mile. Either way, I was very happy with the race, especially considering my lack of specific training.