Road to Lake Placid - May (cont)

May is a BIG month for my Ironman training. Three races and extended training to boot. Yahooo, this is the fun part it.

After Pikes Peek 10k and the Marathon, I did the Columbia Triathlon. This was my eighth time there. The day started out cool and overcast. We old guys were in the third swim wave, nearly a full hour ahead of the last waves. This allows us to finish with the young studs, even though we are not quite as fast as they are. I had a decent race. I PR'ed (PR = Personal Record) my swim with a 28:57 (yeah for me), but my bike was slow due to a persistant cold rain. I didn't have the guts to let my bike go on the downhills, as I was worried about the wet roads. The better cyclists didn't hold back however. I had a decent run and finished 16th out of 20 in my age group.
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The last competition in May was the Jim McDonald Lake swims. This consisted of a one mile open water swim, followed (after an hour rest) by a two mile open water swim. The upcoming Ironman swim is 2.4 miles, so this race is great preparation for the IM. It was a beautiful day and the water was surprisingly warm....77 degrees. I had a great one miler, turning in another PR at 33:50 and actually WINNING my age group. Let me say for the record, that this does not happen very often. I had a good two miler at 1:09:26, another PR, and won the bronze in this race. Go HG!