Crawfishman Triathlon, May 22, 2016

It was a busy week leading up to the Crawfishman Triathlon in Bush, Louisiana, on Sunday, May 22. I love training, however, there are other responsibilities that I love doing and also need to do. Grandparents’ Day was the most important day last week.  And because of Sunday’s tri I had to revamp my regular training schedule. The Crawfishman Tri had been on my radar for a few years, but changing my regular training routine is somewhat hard for me since I am so focused on six months from now and the Ironman. Did I mention I am pretty OCD about things?

This was the second week in a row that I was not able to do a base line heart rate test on the bike. We have had stormy weather and doing it on the trainer is next to impossible.

Because I am not a “seasoned” runner or triathlete I am learning all sorts of running nomenclature, as well as the torture that accompanies it. My goal was to run 4x30 second strides @ 7:40 pace and stay there for the 30-second duration, then 5x1000 meters at 10:00 minute pace. Hoorah I did it!

Saturday before the tri was my rest day and then off to the race! The Crawfishman Triathlon is a popular race with a 1000-meter swim, 18-mile bike, and 4 mile run.  Spending time with some great tri friends before and after the race was great. They have all done at least one Ironman, so I was busy picking their brains for ideas on nutrition on the 112-mile bike portion of the Ironman.  

The weather, the water, and the venue were perfect. I met lots of new people on the run course, some of whom were doing their first tri. One gentleman came along and held my hand for a few yards and told me, “I’m really hurting.” Later I learned that he just rode a bike that was never fitted.  He made it through and was okay at the beer truck. I was fortunate to come in first in my age group.