First Triathlon of the Season!!!!

Finally, the Triathlon season has arrive. This was my first Tri of the year and my first experience at Memphis in May. This is the first step, of many, to get to Ironman Kentucky in August. I am pumped.

Memphis in May is an awesome event! I am sad to say, we probably won't be doing Texarkana, as long as they fall on the same weekend. Memphis in May is like being at an Ironman branded event. 1700 competitors, 30 pros, very well organized and great after party and food. I highly suggest this race to anyone wanted to attend a great event. They also have a short MTB Tri on Saturday, which I will be doing next year as well.

The CARVE Multisport club made this an awesome weekend. We rented two RV's and set up camp CARVE on Friday night. Chainwheel came through on some additional funds to reduce our cost of the RV's and helped with food costs.

If you are a Triathlete, and have been pondering the benefits of joining the multisport club, this was a huge benefit. I believe the MIM will be the designated CARVE multisport event of the year.

Friday night was a very relaxed night. We grilled steak and knocked back a few beers and bottles of wine. I had a bit of hangover on Saturday, but hey, I had nothing better to do than lay around all day and recover. More CARVE members showed up to camp on Saturday night with even more showing up Sunday morning. It was a blast.

A cold front moved in on Saturday night. We awoke to 58 degree temps and 20 to 25 mph winds. The swim was choppy, but surprisingly warm, 71 degrees. That was wetsuit legal, so the swim was like a hot tub, compared to the cool temps outside. I had a great swim. I knocked off 14 minutes from my 1.5 k swim in Arkadelphia last year.

The bike was mostly flat with a few rollers. The 20 to 25 mph winds made it a tough day on the bike. Tailwind in some spots allowed 28 mph speeds, headwind in some spots kept you at 14 mph. I still had a decent bike with just over a 20 mph average.

The run was my downfall, but for not for lack of run shape. My lower back tightened up on the last half of the bike. I believe it was due to the extreme aero position I was try to maintain. I stayed in the aero bars the full 24 miles. I couldn't stand up straight the first 3 miles of the run and had to stop a couple of times to stretch my lower back. This was a shame, as my legs felt great and I was working on a very good overall time.

All things considered, this was a very successful Triathlon for me. I nailed the swim and had a steady bike in windy conditions. I will do a bit more lower back exercises and send more time in the aero bars to prevent this from happening again.

I highly recommend all of you Triathletes give some thought to Memphis in May next year. Camping 100 yards from the transition area was awesome.