My final triathlon, and probably race, of the year was last Sunday. It was a gorgeous day minus the wind, well only the wind when on the bike heading into it :) Race didn't start until 10 so I was able to sleep into my normal time which was nice. I arrived at Big Creek state park at about 9. I headed to transition to set up. People do not understand that you do not need 5 feet of space. You only need enough space to fit your bike on the rack. You do not need to layout a towel, the long way inbetween spaces. I squeezed into a spot in the area I wanted to be in because everywhere was full and figured if I had to squeeze in I mine as well be some place I wanted to be. I rack my bike and start pulling things out of my bag. During this time, others are arriving and looking for space. Across from me there is a towel hanging on the rack. I assumed someone just had their bike out and wanted to save their spot. No, the guy next to it wanted to "encourage space". Are you serious? First you have your bike, your towel laid out and another towel space "saved". Holy crap dude, move your $hit over. I set up my transition, put on the wetsuit and head to swim start. It was a little chilly so the wetsuit was nice to have on before the race started.
Goal: beat my previous race time from 2 years ago (1:19:46)
Although I knew my bike wasn't where I wanted it to be I was going to try.
Swim: 9:04 (9:27)
I decided I was going to start up front because 2 years ago there wasn't too many fast people and I only say this because I had the fastest swim time in my age group. The water was cold, for me. 68 degrees. I have a sleeveless and I was cold. I felt pretty good and actually stayed right online. Not much in and out from the bouys like I normally do. My arms got tired again. I still contribute that to swimming better and just not having time to work on those muscles.
T1: 0:43 (0:57)
T1 was slightly uphill through transition and it killed me. I jogged to my spot and slowly took off my wetsuit. I put on my helmet while I finished taking it off, grabbed my bike and I was off.
Bike: 0:48:12 (43:02)
My legs were not wanting to do what I wanted them to do. They weren't tired, they just didn't react. This was an out and back. With the wind on the way out. I finally got going about half way out. I didn't have the half way split that I was hoping for so I just pushed as hard as I could on the way back and hoped for the best. I am just glad it was a sustained 15 mph wind so it didn't blow me around.
T2: 0:30 (0:33)
I came in off the bike, racked my bike, threw on my running shoes, grabbed my visor and race belt and I was off. It felt quick and smooth.
Run: 24:52 (25:49)
I felt pretty good on the run. That hill coming out of transition always seems to be tough. After about a half mile I could really feel myself relax and get running smooth. There was one place my calves started to get tight on an uphill, but push through and finished strong.
Finish: 1:23:20 (1:19:46)
Far short of my goal time, but still happy with the race. I have not had time at all to train like I would have liked. School has completely taken over my life. I have found myself getting up early to work on homework, go to class, homework in between class and get home to work on class work for the next day. If I don't "have" to work on class stuff it is because I have softball. I haven't had a free day in so long. I am going on 3 weeks of not mowing my lawn. I think it has gotten to a point where it just isn't getting any longer. Overall, I was mentally ready and was prepared to push my body to what I know it is capable of. My body just didn't deliver. My time was still good enough for 1st in my age group and 14th overall female. I was very happy with my swim and run times. I am dissapointed in my bike just because that is normally my strongest. Hopefully I will have time to hit it hard over the winter on the trainer.
