Back in Training: Hightstown Triathlon edition

In my last post, I mentioned that I was training for my first marathon, the New Jersey Marathon next April.

I had planned to solely focus on running and put any triathlons on hold. Well, just a few days before the Hightstown (NJ) Triathlon (sprint distance: 500-yd swim, 11.2-mi bike, 5K run), I decided to enter it for a third straight year — without any triathlon training since over a year ago.

In the weeks prior to last year’s triathlon, I broke my left hand, severely limiting my training time. In addition, I woke up the morning of the race with a severe stomach virus. I threw up twice before I left the house at 5:30 a.m. and threw up several times after I got home. During the triathlon? It was a near-constant nausea that I fought off, but I was really feeling it on the run and had to walk a lot of it. It was a bad experience and it had a lot to do with my initial decision to put off triathlons this year.

But then I started thinking that the best way to get rid of that memory would be to do the triathlon again — this time, hopefully, without the vomiting.

Well, as far as that goal was concerned, it was mission accomplished! But I also set a new personal record for that event by nearly 10 minutes. I finished in 1:24:36 (134th overall) — besting my 1:34:19 time in 2015 and my 1:34:05 time in 2014 (when the bike ride was 15.3 miles as opposed to the 11.2 miles this year and last). What really bothered me is that my stupidity cost me at least two more minutes as I completely lost where my transition station was coming in from the bike ride. I literally wandered around the transition area looking for my stuff. Now, this was primarily because I initially neglected to account for the fact that the bike-in brought racers in at the opposite side of the transition area from which we entered to set up earlier in the morning. But even when I realized this, I still couldn’t find my stuff. I had a bright orange shirt on top of my running stuff, but the person next me had his wet suit partially draped over it. So, yeah, it kind of sucks that I could have finished in closer to 1:22:36 if I hadn’t recorded a race-worst 4:46 T2 (2nd transition) time.

But, still, considering I had no intention of competing in a triathlon — and had not trained for one — until less than a week before the event, I’d have to say that shaving 10 minutes off my time last year and finishing with a decent run (27:53 this year, as opposed to a personal-worst 5K time of 35:18 last year) was a moderate success.

The next two events for me are the WXPN Musicians On Call 5K and the Trenton Half Marathon (which I’ll be doing for a third straight year after doing the event’s 10K race in 2013). There were two local races — a 5K and a 5-miler — that I did last winter; if they are held this year, I’ll probably do those, too. After that, I think the next organized race will be the New Jersey Marathon on April 30. Hopefully, I’m ready for it by then.