After several solid training runs & a few great swim sessions last week I was feeling pretty confident going into it. Some self doubt began to settle in later Friday night when I started to over-think the open water swim. I did what I could to distract myself by focusing on other things like making sure we had all of our gear ready to go. That seemed to work. Once everything was laid out &/or loaded we crawled into bed savoring what sleep we could before the alarm went off.
I woke up to the sound of my alarm, the backup alarm, going off. On race-day my alarm means two things, #1. Jeremy set his on the m-f setting again & #2 We still have enough time, just not as much time as we would've liked to get everything situated. No big deal.
We arrived at the race pavilion only 15minutes later than planned, not bad. I got in line right away for packet pick-up and body marking then headed over to the transition area which was already getting crowded. To be expected with both the sprint & olympic distances sold-out I guess. I picked a spot as close to my Beloved's as I could and got everything laid out in it's proper spot before heading down to the beach for the pre-race meeting. Lots of spandex there.
Swim- 14:58
Seeing the buoys laid out ahead of me in a straight line wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be. Watching the elite & men's heats go off before me was helpful. It definitely seemed doable. Once the gun finally went off for my heat, I was ready. Knowing that I am a slow swimmer I stuck to the back so that I wouldn't end up kicked and punched by other more fish-like swimmers trying to make their way around me. I did my best at sighting to avoid collisions, but after watching two women ahead of me collide pretty badly I started alternating from free-style to breast-stroke depending on how crowded the area was and how tired I felt. Overall the swim went really well. I only got kicked once and I never felt over-exerted.
T1- 1:37
Running out of the water I knew I was in for a bit of a rude awakening. My legs felt like lead, but I tried to brush it off figuring it was just the transition from the body positioning I had in the water to that of standing up. A few squirts from the water bottle to clear the sand from my feet enough to slide into my shoes, then snapping on the race # belt and my helmet and I was off on the bike course.
Bike- 36:28
Anxious to see just how much I could gain on the bike I hammered it from the start. Probably not the wisest of ideas, but being a sloth in the water only makes me want to go fast once I get out of it. The first few miles my legs continued to be less than cooperative which slowed me down a bit. I shifted from the drops to the hoods several times trying to adjust/find a more comfortable position. By mile 5-6 I was starting to feel revived again and locked my focus onto another woman I wanted to catch up to and keep pace with. I knew how to climb the uphills and take the most advantage of the downhills which allowed me to pass several groups of people and catch up with my intended "target".
I managed to maintain a 17.4 mph average. Woohoo! Yes, my road-bike rocks.
T2- 0:32 (Yes, really)
Practicing how to get off my bike & run into transition efficiently really helped this time around. It was smooth and effortless. After removing my helmet, racking my bike and grabbing my bottle of Gatorade I was off on the run. (In hind sight Gatorade is a post-race drink for me. It's just way way to sweet during a race but, I wasn't able to fuel much during the bike so I took it anyway.)
Run- 30:28
The start of the run was what I expected. My quads weren't there, but that's just how it is. I kept telling myself that now is the time, the finish is near and that if I let myself take a walking break it would be hard to find my stride again. So I kept on, trying to push myself to keep running and go faster. As it turns out that worked remarkably well.
I eventually found myself gaining on a woman who I could tell was running low on ambition /energy. Being that I'm a cheering fool, I told her to keep it up and that she was doing well. As I passed I could hear her whining about wanting to quit, but I knew when she slowed then hurried to catch up to me repeatedly that she was to stubborn to actually do it. It made me smile. We traded racing banter for a while until I rounded the corner and saw/heard my sister, bro-in-law and the kiddos there supporting me. Beyond them was the finish. I felt strong so I hammered it yet again sprinting faster and faster until I crossed the line. It's crazy how much people cheer when they see someone sprinting across the finish-line. I'm usually pretty tapped out for energy by the time I reach a finish, but there's something about that line only a few hundred feet away that instantly energizes me enough to sprint like a mad woman. It was a great finish.
Finish- 1:24:01
Overall my body felt a lot less in tune as it was back in May when I did my first race. I had hoped to feel more physically fit this race as I had trained so much more for it, but it didn't work out that way. I did my best to hide how much that discouraged me until I got home and could actually take a look at the results. Upon seeing those I knew why. In every area I was faster than I felt. :)
It was indeed an awesome race for me. I'm looking forward to this Sunday (The Lakes Country Triathlon in Baxter, MN) where I can test myself yet again. This time with longer distances. w00t!
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