Return to Surry and Appleman
Surry
Last Saturday two of my cousins that live up in Walpole, NH had a joint graduation party. So in typical endurance athlete fashion, we decided it would be a great idea to try and pair a bike ride with the trip up to New Hampshire. After a little research into routes, I decided it was time to make my triumphant return to Surry State Park, the location of my 1st triathlon (Give Peace a Tri).
Most state's have maps either online or that you can buy that depict which roads are good for cycling. New Hampshire puts them online which makes mapping a route nice and easy. I mapped a 20 mile route which had one climb in the middle (climbs appeared to be unavoidable in NH after trying a few different routes).
We got to Surry around 1pm and after a quick bite to eat embarked on our ride. The 1st 5 miles were un-eventful with roads not in the best of shape. This was followed with 3 miles of rolling hills and then a monstrous climb. Following the climb we flew downhill for a few miles, made a couple of turns, flew some more and then had a couple more miles of fairly flat roads. 20 miles, 1042 ft of climbing = ouch!
Appleman
On Sunday Amy, a bunch of our swim team friends, and I raced the Appleman Sprint Triathlon in Littleton: 1/2 Mile Swim, 10 Mile Bike, and a 3 mile run. This was also my swim Coach Rich's 1st triathlon so we figured it would be fun to see him compete.
The swim went ok. I felt solid throughout but probably could have pushed a little harder. The last 50 meters or so were absolutely disgusting with green slime everywhere. My transition went pretty smooth and as I passed the guy who's bike was setup next to mine (in transition -- it is all about skipping the socks in a sprint race) he let out a sigh.
The bike course was a simple loop with some rolling hills. I tried to push hard but not to hard. Probably over pushed a couple of the climbs but seemed to recover well. Held just over 21 mph on the ride which I was happy with.
The transition from bike to run went really quickly and I took off with a hope of letting my HR settle over the 1st mile. About a 1/10th of a mile later I knew that wasn't going to happen as we started to climb up a couple different roads. I pushed well through the 1st mile knocking out something in the low 6:20s. Next we turned off the road into this grass field and I felt like I was going to melt in the sweltering heat with no wind. I kept pushing and at the far end was a technical climb that pretty much went straight up. After running the 1st half of it I decided I was better off to walk and let my HR settle (which was probably within a few beats of its max). After reaching the peak, I blitzed down the far side and popped out in some neighborhood before sprinting down another hill. The final half mile was flat along the lake. I made up a little bit of time before reaching the finish. Managed to hold 6:40s for the run but basically squished a 7:20 between two 6:20s.
All and all pretty good race and managed to take 3rd in my age group for my 1st ever placement in a triathlon.
Congratulation to Rich for completing his 1st tri, Al for winning his Age group, and the rest of the Minuteman swimmers for racing. Special thanks to our cheering section for supporting us.
Last Saturday two of my cousins that live up in Walpole, NH had a joint graduation party. So in typical endurance athlete fashion, we decided it would be a great idea to try and pair a bike ride with the trip up to New Hampshire. After a little research into routes, I decided it was time to make my triumphant return to Surry State Park, the location of my 1st triathlon (Give Peace a Tri). Most state's have maps either online or that you can buy that depict which roads are good for cycling. New Hampshire puts them online which makes mapping a route nice and easy. I mapped a 20 mile route which had one climb in the middle (climbs appeared to be unavoidable in NH after trying a few different routes).
We got to Surry around 1pm and after a quick bite to eat embarked on our ride. The 1st 5 miles were un-eventful with roads not in the best of shape. This was followed with 3 miles of rolling hills and then a monstrous climb. Following the climb we flew downhill for a few miles, made a couple of turns, flew some more and then had a couple more miles of fairly flat roads. 20 miles, 1042 ft of climbing = ouch!
Appleman
On Sunday Amy, a bunch of our swim team friends, and I raced the Appleman Sprint Triathlon in Littleton: 1/2 Mile Swim, 10 Mile Bike, and a 3 mile run. This was also my swim Coach Rich's 1st triathlon so we figured it would be fun to see him compete.
The swim went ok. I felt solid throughout but probably could have pushed a little harder. The last 50 meters or so were absolutely disgusting with green slime everywhere. My transition went pretty smooth and as I passed the guy who's bike was setup next to mine (in transition -- it is all about skipping the socks in a sprint race) he let out a sigh.
The bike course was a simple loop with some rolling hills. I tried to push hard but not to hard. Probably over pushed a couple of the climbs but seemed to recover well. Held just over 21 mph on the ride which I was happy with.
The transition from bike to run went really quickly and I took off with a hope of letting my HR settle over the 1st mile. About a 1/10th of a mile later I knew that wasn't going to happen as we started to climb up a couple different roads. I pushed well through the 1st mile knocking out something in the low 6:20s. Next we turned off the road into this grass field and I felt like I was going to melt in the sweltering heat with no wind. I kept pushing and at the far end was a technical climb that pretty much went straight up. After running the 1st half of it I decided I was better off to walk and let my HR settle (which was probably within a few beats of its max). After reaching the peak, I blitzed down the far side and popped out in some neighborhood before sprinting down another hill. The final half mile was flat along the lake. I made up a little bit of time before reaching the finish. Managed to hold 6:40s for the run but basically squished a 7:20 between two 6:20s.
All and all pretty good race and managed to take 3rd in my age group for my 1st ever placement in a triathlon.
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