What is sure to be an exciting triathlon season kicked off for me with our area's traditional, season-opener, the Red Hills Triathlon.The Red Hills Triathlon features a 1/3-mile swim in Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park's spring-fed Lake Hall. This is followed by a 16-mile bike course that rolls along scenic canopy roads and some of Tallahassee's most challenging hills. The event finishes with a 3.1-mile run along mostly trails featuring a challenging mix of gravel, sand, tree roots, and sharp turns.
The majority of my season will be focused on two half and one full IRONMAN distance events, so a sprint distance event early in the season would be an opportunity to have fun and try to go "fast"! Well, fast for me, anyway!
Overall I had a very good race and bested my time from last year by nearly five minutes! My only real disappointment was, early on the bike, I felt some "twinges" in my left calf that I feared might turn into cramps and lead to damage. Being so early in the season, I didn't want to push it and risk any setbacks. So, I backed off on the bike and really backed off on the run. I may have gained a little bit of time on the bike, had I pushed, but was most disappointed with a run time that was at least two minutes slower than I am easily capable of. On a 5K run, that's a lot...
Oh well, like I said, overall I'm happy with the results and improvement from last year. IRONMAN Florida is the BIG goal this year. Playing safe early in the season will hopefully help me stay in the best shape possible to attain that goal! And the opportunity for improvement only means that, after I get this whole "IRONMAN thing" out of the way this year, I can come back next year and really put it all out there!
If you are wondering about the "Giggles" reference, you'll have to do some additional reading. I had the honor of being asked to write a "race report" for the local newspaper The Tallahassee Democrat. Rather than simply do something on how my race went and who finished where, I decided to tell the story of my "Red Hills Odyssey". It hasn't been published in their online version and I'm not sure if there are plans to. So, I've included a link to the e-newspaper copy here: No wimping out: My Red Hills odyssey. I hope you enjoy it!