Challenging end to a great season

Let's just say that I don't do things the easy way. So after completing Ironman Canada on Aug 30, I still had 3 more triathlons on the books. First up was Bakersfield (see previous post). Then came Carpinteria. Awesome finish with a top 10 in my age group and top 35 overall. Knocked off 3 more minutes off my time. So if I can nail about a minute off of each transition and be a bit faster on the bike, I could break 1 hour. Ran a sub-8 minute mile, which is great. So back-to-back weekends of sprints. It was a great way to end my sprint triathlons this year and the last in my 35-49 age group.

So to challenge myself, I decided in May to register for the inaugural Magic Mnt. Man half ironman distance triathlon. Let's just say that this was a very challenging bike course. 50 of the 56 miles were either up a hill or down a hill. Right out of the first transition was a 8-mile climb at 5-6% grade. Nothing like getting the heart rate going right out of the gate. Then it was simply up and down on the old Golden State highway located on the grapevine. Then once you finished 2 14-mile loops, you had one last climb at 8-9% grade before heading back into town. After a series of challenging climbs and descents, we had a 13-mile run to do. I actually felt great coming off the bike and ran a pretty decent half marathon. Overall, a nice challenging end to a great season--my final year in the highly competitive 35-39 age group. Multiple top 10 finishes and 3 top 3 age group finishes. It will be interesting to see how they 40-44 age group will be for me.

Now it is time for some well-deserved time off. I don't plan on at least riding a bike for at least a couple of weeks, but certainly swimming and running will be in store, but not anytime soon. I can already feel the relaxation. I won't have any triathlons until March or April. There are a few running race between now and then.

Until then, enjoy your Winter.