The Montoya's

Jay Benson Triathlon

Today was my first triathlon of the season and I have to say that I surprised myself. The triathlon was the Jay Benson memorial sprint triathlon held on Kirtland AFB, in Albuquerque, NM. The distances were a 3 mile run, a 20km bike and a 400m swim.

The day started dark and early at 5:00am and we were on the road to ensure plenty of time to get onto base, pick up my race packet, and set up my transition spot. The weather was cold and windy but by race time conditions had improved. Everything went smoothly and I had a good warm up before the 8:00 am start.

All men started together and ran along a street lined with all the supporters and women racers who would start later. As you can imagine the run started out fast! I on the other hand started out pretty conservatively. I know that my best runs are always when I negative split them so I held back and let a lot of people go knowing I would see them again. I let things settle down and I started picking people off one and two at a time. At the first turn on the course I counted that I was in 28th place overall. I continued picking up the pace until my legs were running as fast as they would turn over and I never let anyone pass me . Finish time was 19:07. I never felt like dying and was able to finish strong so I know I can go faster once I start putting some speed work into my training. The fastest run on the day was 16:47 to put things in perspective.

Once onto the bike I started working hard from the get-go. I just started picking people off one by one. I only allowed one person to pass me and I finished the ride in 30:35 which amounts to an average speed of 24.4 mph! At this point I was in 8th place overall. The fastet bike split of the day was 29:06. My performance on the bike was a big surprise for me and is really encouraging as my real training hasn't even started yet.

On the transition to the swim I ran passed one person (the guy that passed me on the bike) and jumped in right behind the 6th place competitor. As soon as I jumped in I got a huge cramp in my right calf. It was so tight I couldn't point my toes out, kick, or push off the walls. Fortunately I didn't lose any places during this time and by the halfway mark it went away and I was able to start "swimming". I was able to get around one person and finished the swim in 6th place overall! I was so glad to be done I took a deap breath at the end of the pool not knowing I still had to jump out and run about 12 feet to the timing mat. At that point I allowed the two guys behind me to beat me to the mat and push me to 8th place overall by less than a second :(

Total time was 58:55, I finished 8th overall and second in the 30-34 age group. Total, there were 183 male competitors. Like I said earlier the final stats surprise me...in a good way. This race is one of the faster races in New Mexico as it's the only triathlon held in Albuquerque. With this result I am really looking forward to training some more over the next 3 weeks before I race again at the Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival in Show Low, Arizona. There I will be doing an Olympic distance triathlon on Saturday and an Xterra off-road triathlon on Sunday. Then the following weekend is arguably New Mexico's most competitive triathlon, the Milkman triathlon in Dexter, NM. This race will serve as the NM state championships for 2008.

Thanks to Lindsey and Emma for getting up with me and cheering me on all day. I even surprised her when I came back from the bike ride as she wasn't quite expecting me yet! You guys make the day even more special, happy Mothers Day and I love you.