Why Top 45?

These are the things that float to the top of my list of activities that I want to do for the year 2012 when I am 45 years old. The list is comprised of things that I have either never tried or have wanted to try and just didn't have the courage or time to do it. Follow along and watch my progress and feel free to comment or add words of encouragement to help keep me going for the next 365 days!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

10 Minutes . . .

I can't really apologize for not posting in a while since it has happened before ... I have been busy with work and actually took a vacation.  I figure it is time to get back to blogging.

2012 Danskin Race Number


I finished the Danskin!  Every year I say to myself, "This is the last time I do this race."  Not because I don't like doing the triathlon, however I just don't like this course.  As I mentioned before when I wrote about the Diva Dash, it is quite hilly and an unforgiving course.  The bike ride, for me, is really tough with 4 major hills and the run is even worse because in addition to the hills, the ground is covered in stones and large chunks of wood disguised as mulch and are both serious risks to my knees and ankles. 

2012 Danskin Race Results


Nonetheless, I improved my time from the Danskin 2008 (the last time I had done the race) by at least 10 minutes!  A large portion of that time came from the swimming and biking legs of the race.  From 2008, I improved the swim by 6 minutes and the bike by 4 minutes.  My transitions were a wee bit long in both years but the run stayed the same...no real surprise there since I trained mostly in the swim and bike.  To give an idea of how strong I am in the swim, I finished 27th of 821 total entrants with my time in the swim...it goes downhill from there.  My bike placement was 310 and my run was 572.  I of course have to have a new strategy of training and that is to spend more time on the bike and running while keeping up with my true passion which is swimming.

Needless to say, I felt great in the swim and was pretty much passing people regularly in the water and noticing that I was the only light blue cap getting out of the water with other various colored caps that represented the different waves of start times.  That changed too drastically once the bike started and I could see from the Sharpie numbers that people were passing me at a regular pace who I had passed in the swim.  I still thank my Masters Swimming teammate, Meryl, for all her help on the bike course.  The help from the advice was immeasurable to that portion of the race. 

I didn't feel great on the bike portion, merely adequate.  The hills were still pretty tough, I just felt like my recovery after the hills was better than in past years.  I was conscious of needing to be sure to hydrate and consume some calories to finish the bike part and prepare for the run.

Since I had just done the run portion when I did the Diva Dash, there were no surprises to overcome.  What is interesting to note for me is that the run time at the Danskin was pretty much what I had done on the Diva Dash minus the obstacles.  Of course during the Diva Dash, I did have a swim/bike warm up either.

I still am not sure if I will do the Danskin again, although it is tempting to see if I can improve my time once again by training better...only time will tell.  One thing is for certain, I don't do it for the medals...this years medal was a little too blingie for me, and heavy to boot!

Dankin 2012 Finishers Medal