My wife is in great shape. She's been swimming since she was a kid and is still an amazing swimmer. Watching her swim is like watching an artist paint a masterpiece, it's just so smooth and fluid, she really makes it all look so effortless. She was eighth overall in the swim for this particular triathlon - third among women, so it's not just me putting my wife on a pedestal - she's actually that good.
She does have room for improvement on her bike. She tried her first triathlon on a mountain bike and as soon as she finished she decided she needed a road bike (I had tried to convince her before that there is just no way a mountain bike can be competitive in a triathlon). I'm pretty sure the only way I won that race was because of her mountain bike.
She hates running. She's good at it, but she will deny it to the end of her days. I have been trying to convince her to come on runs with me for quite some time but she thinks I am this amazing elite running athlete (I'm not). However, I do enjoy running when I'm not injured.
I started a new running program, after consulting my physician, to get in shape for a marathon (not that I have one planned), following a very specific schedule. I got one week into the program before I injured my foot playing soccer. Or rather, I should say before somebody else injured my foot playing soccer. It happened two and a half weeks before the triathlon and it wasn't until the day before that I was sure that I'd actually be able to run it.
Despite the fact that I run far more often than her, I'm not that much faster than her. When we do go running together, she has problems keeping up with me, but I think that's mostly my pride-endorphins kicking in (i.e., my mind says I want to look good in front of her so it gives me an extra boost of energy). However, when we run separately, our times are very comparable.
The day of the triathlon, hurricane Irene was making her way out of the area, but it was still raining and windy. Not so bad when you are the 29th person in the water (people went in one at a time on a 15 second delay), which my wife was, however, when you're 197th in the pool, standing on the pool deck in a bathing suit and nothing else for 50 minutes before you get in the water, that rain and wind can have a bit more of an impact.
For those keeping track at home, Jenny absolutely crushed me in the swim. 6:26 versus 9:15. And the saddest thing is that 9:15 was a huge improvement for me. I would have likely been in the 11-12 minute range without her training me over the course of the summer, so I was actually very happy with my swim time, despite the fact that I was in the bottom 50% overall.
I remember having a conversation with Jenny about the transitions. We got an email that offered us a chance to sign up for a class on transitions. Jenny scoffed at the idea, but I could understand why somebody would want to take the class. Of course, Jenny had the quickest transition time out of everybody in the triathlon, so I guess she really didn't need the class. I was a bit slower. Over two minutes slower (3:23 versus 0:52). Of course, I had my biking shorts, biking shoes and biking gloves to put on, so it's not as if I was taking a nap, though I certainly did not hustle as much as I should have, which can partly be blamed on the weather (all my stuff got drenched), and also partly blamed on the fact that the swimming tired me out and I wanted a little break.
The biking was difficult on the wet pavement. The course was only 12 miles, which seems short until you're doing it. I managed to beat her there pretty handily 39:39 to 44:36. I would imagine we both would have done it quicker if it wasn't so wet out, but Jenny at least had some tread on her tires - mine have no tread at all - we both really had to slow down going into the turns.
When I got back from the bike, Jenny was waiting for me in the transition area - she had already completed the entire course, and I still had the entire run to do, which did not make me feel very good about my standings. I'd like to blame Jenny for distracting me in the second transition, but really it was the bike shorts, bike gloves, bike shoes, running shorts and running shoes that slowed me down. Jenny managed to drop off her bike and start the run in only 42 seconds, whereas it took me 2:21.
During the run my main goal was to run the entire thing which sounds like a silly goal, but I biked pretty hard and it took me a good 10 minutes of running before I had finally caught my breath. I assumed Jenny would have beaten me on the run, but it turns out I barely eked out a victory there, coming in at 27:46 versus 28:41.
I'd like to write off the loss to the transitions, but they are part of the race and Jenny found a way to do them much quicker than me, beating me fair and square.
I think for our next race, I will get some pedals that don't require special shoes for my bike and maybe ditch the gloves (still going to use the bike shorts - they're worth the extra 20 seconds!).
Look out, Jenny - I'm coming to knock you off the winner's pedestal for our next race! I may not place second in my age group like you did, but I'm going to place first in our household!
