Crossroads Triathlon Race Report

After last weekend's little mishap at Landahl, I was going to take it easy for a couple of weeks and put in some solid training. However, I remember on Thursday that I had signed up for the Crossroads Triathlon in Cameron, Missouri. I did this same event last year and had a great time, so with the money already spent I planned to head up Saturday morning and test the old legs. Not really the best training for an Ironman, but I planned to get there early and complete a good warm-up and cool down.

Great morning for a triathlon. I would say in the 70's for the entire event. Really nice day for the record turnout. This year's event grew to 203 racers. Great turnout for a small town event. I personally think it is because I gave the event a good review on Active.com. I told the race director about this, but she was not buying it and did not even offer a free race entry. That is the last time I will give a good review.....

Actually felt very good this morning. Something about 3 movements will do that to a person. This was a sprint triathlon, which takes an all out effort to do well. Not much pacing going on here for sure. Most of my training up until this point has been LSD, so I was unsure how I would handle it. I was seated in starting slot 24 - good old Jeff Gordon. I like him, so I was pumped and think this helped me have a solid swim. Even if Carolynn said I looked slow. That is because I am so darn smooth in the water. Just check out that form. Not bad for an old MX boy. I was out of the pool in 3:22 which is o.k. and I even caught my 15 second man.

After a quick transition, I did my best cross mount and was speeding off out of the transition area. The old legs felt good on the bike. Especially the first 5 miles. I was hammering. Felt very strong and even bridged up and zipped past a couple of guys on some very sweet bikes. I always like passing those Cervelo's and such on the old Assisi. Hopefully I can get my own TT/Tri bike soon. Carolynn still has not gotten one for me and my bike fund is down to about $15.00.....finished the bike leg in about 21 minutes. I will have to see if this was the fastest of the day. I worked my way up to 3rd overall and based on my finish was leading the 40+ crowd.

The final transition was one of my quickest ever. I was out in about 15 seconds. Very quick and smooth. I was actually proud of myself and even ran a quick first mile in 6:05. I actually felt like a triathlete and was hunting down 1st place overall. Then my ego left me and was replaced with a sudden very heavy feeling in my legs. This is the time to dig deep I said to myself. Carolynn was out riding around looking at all the guys in speedo's and took time to cheer me on. I kept the pace up until she was out of site then I could barely move the old legs. Some younger guy who started 30 seconds ahead of me (I had already passed him on the bike) passed me with a mile to go. I knew if I kept him in site that I would still beat him overall. I kind of felt like old Lance just marking him and making sure he did not get more than 15 ahead. The last bit of the run was downhill which really helped me and I finished strong in just over 41 minutes. Good enough for 1st place in the Male 40-44 division and 3rd place overall. I was happy with that time, especially because it was nearly two minutes faster that last years time.