Socorro Chili Harvest Triathlon

Okay, so I'm convinced that my weird dream was relating to the Socorro Tri. I had the Valle Grande experience driving to Socorro through the mountains. It was so green! Coming down from Capitan I had my first episode of deja vu, thinking that it was here not the Jemez. Then in Socorro driving the bike course through the campus, I had my second episode of deja vu. At this point I wanted to spend the night at the pool just to make sure my dream didn't come true (see weird dream post).

I didn't sleep at the pool and my dream didn't come true. In fact for my second triathlon, I rocked! (1:43:09.5) Despite my anxiety over the swim, I did well. The bike was awesome. Going out was a long gradual climb with a few little hills. I started strong and decided to go all out. I wanted to test my legs. I knew that if I had to I could walk the run. So I pounded the hills, and flew on the down hills, my average speed was 14.8 mph. I had a max speed of 29.7 oh yeah. This was all on a mountain bike with slick tires and numb hands. I can't wait to get on my new road bike (more on that later, currently I've got it all together except the rear derailer cable).

The run... no walking here! I averaged a 12.4 minute mile, and I kicked it at the finish.

Two tri's under the belt. Let’s compare:
Milkman total time = 1:59:49, swim pace = 2:54 /100, bike pace = 12.7mph, run pace = 13.2 min/mile
Socorro total time = 1:43:09, swim pace = 2:42/100, bike pace = 14.8mph, run pace = 12.4 min/mile

Wow, first time I looked at this myself...In 2 months time I really improved - even the swim. Okay I'm having a moment of self confidence boost.

Also there were a lot more newbies at this event than the Milkman, which really helped me not being the only mountain bike out there. I hope the newbies I met had a good experience and will continue to tri. Overall my experience was good, and I am looking forward to a repeat experience next year.

PS… Since I haven’t posted lately… the uphill downhill issue, the downhill really is downhill – it was just that darn wind factor that I didn’t want to factor in. Speaking of wind the weather was absolutely perfect in Socorro. Couldn’t ask for a better day.