Well, now that its fall, I might as well recap some of my races from this summer! Sprint Tri - In June I did a Sprint Tri in a super cute picturesque little town. It was my first tri of the year and I needed it under my belt to get my confidence up before my Olympic Tri in August.
I signed up for the Athena (165+ lbs) category. I was able to run some of the course a few weeks beforehand after my open water swim at a nearby lake (the town is actually nicknamed "lake city" as there are so many in a small area). I tried to mimic my outfit as closely as possible during that run. Going into this tri I felt pretty good! The morning of, the usual nerves set in and I was running late, so I just brought my peanut butter and rice cakes with me (I had a pb and rice cakes phase over the summer!). I didn't get there early enough to park close, so I hauled all of my stuff the 3/4 mile to transition. I saw my friend's dad on my way to check in (sidenote: totally got beat by him!) and as I am a USAT member this year, I got to skip the long line and pick my things up just by showing id. It was nice!
I racked my bike on the far end of my row, which was set up in a parking lot and sat down to eat my pb and rice cakes. I am shy, but I did end up talking to a guy who put his bike next to mine. I asked how many triathlons he had done - he had a very nice bike with aero bars and his tri suit looked to be of good quality too. He told me it was his first ever - which I didn't believe until he asked how he was supposed to pin his bib to his tri top if it was going to get wet during the swim (answer: don't wear your tri top during the swim or use a race belt and put it on before the run). There was only a flimsy orange fence in between the transition area and the spectators. I went to the bathroom and came back to my spot right by the fence. A rather aloof spectator had his dog with him. And, of course, that dog had it's head under the fence licking the pb off of the knife i had brought and the jar. I am NOT an animal person, so I was extremely grossed out. I actually threw the pb away :)
They called all of our waves to the beach for the start. I got ready to go, but then I realized that the Athena group was starting with the 60+ women. One of the last waves - womp, womp! I probably waited a half hour before I got to start. I lined up in the water with my group and put my goggles on. Did I grab the old ones from my bag? These were awfully foggy. Oh well, I started off strong when they blew the whistle. I couldn't really see anything, and something else was wrong - very wrong. I had on my usual triathlon sports bra with my swimsuit over it. But....it was the same one as last year. As in, the same size as last year. I am not the same size as I was last year! "The girls" felt like nothing was holding them back and I had to stop swimming so I could make sure I didn't flash anyone, but I can't be 100% sure I didn't! Near the turnaround point it was getting really congested and not only was I running into/very close to my wave, but also the 60+ male age group that went right before us (sidenote: hello 60+ males! there are some in shape older dudes!). One the way back to shore, I could not see a darn thing. I had to stop and tread water a couple of times in order to lift my goggles up and look for the beach. I had a very bad feeling at this point. Swimming is my best sport of the three and I was bombing the swim!
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| Please note the age of this man who came in 1 spot ahead of me... |
I got back to transition and the guy next to me was finished - as were plenty of other people. The majority of the run was what I had done when I visited after the open water swim earlier in the month. Through the paved trails, into and around a subdivision, back on the trails and a bit through town. I can't remember exactly how far the run was, but I think it was around 3.5 miles or so. I was getting closer to the finish and could hear the crowd so I started to kick it in. Unfortunately, it was a loud crowd and I was going way much faster than was comfortable, haha! My run time was a minute a mile faster than any of my tris last year. Very happy with that progress!
A cold washcloth at the finish line was wonderful! I entered the post race food area and was overwhelmed! I was asked what kind of pizza I would like - as in from which company. They had pizzas from 3 different places, and chicken, pasta, cookies, veggies, fruit, drinks, etc. wow! I got a plate and talked to some women I had started with in the athena category and had some laughs. The course is on the edge of a college campus, so I took a stroll afterwards and found a really creepy statue!
I headed for home and when I walked in the door, my sister asked when I would be ready to go to the lake with our family. No rest for me! I dropped off my bike and other triathlon stuff and headed out for the boat to spend the rest of the day with my family. I really, really liked this tri and will hopefully be back next year. I have some obvious areas of improvement, but it was a fun race despite my screw ups!
The next week I had a 4.5 mile race on the 4th of July. Luckily, this one was close to my house! Before the race, I had my pb and rice cakes, naturally and hung around the library until it was time to start. I lined up near the back and we were off! I don't usually think of my (old) town as hilly, but geez the little bit of rolling hills were not making me happy!
I started out at a good pace and tried to maintain the run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute ratio I had been doing all summer (in preparation for my Olympic tri). Soon enough, the crowd thinned out and I was leap frogging people on the main trail in town that is shaded. My first mile was about 12:30 and my second 13 something. Miles 3-4 were mainly uphill and I wanted to walk badly, but there was a parade soon after the race so there were a ton of people watching so I had to be accountable! Plus there were several kids running at my pace, I had to keep up what I had started!
We turned onto the home stretch with a quarter mile left. My main goal was to finish in under an hour. I ran that last stretch as hard as a could (this time passing a 70 year old man) and I saw the clock was over an hour, but I knew I hadn't crossed the starting line right away. I hit my watch as I crossed and there was the answer!
Yay! Mission Accomplished. Post-race, I grabbed as many freebies as I could. I love keeping a full "snack box" in my car if I need something before/after a workout and races usually keep it updated! I went home, grabbed my swim stuff and headed to the pool to get a swim in! Unfortunately, I had misplaced my swim cap and had to swim the entire thing without one, womp womp. The rest of the fourth of july found me with a carry out salad and a pint of ice cream. :)
Later that day, I was looking at the race results online and I saw that one of my good friends who lives HOURS out of town, and whom I had plans with later, had actually run the race with her family and had finished 59 seconds before me, but I NEVER saw her. How crazy is that? I guess it's a where's waldo situation when you have 950 running at the same time!
I can't wait to update my blog about my Olympic triathlon - it was quite an experience and I trained really hard for it. Since then, I have not been as active (let's be honest, the 6-7 workouts a week kind of took over my life!), but still maintaining the same weight as late August.
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| My precioussssss :) |
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| Can't take me anywhere |
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| Post-race |
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| Ah, cold wash cloth! |
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| "running" down this hill verified that I am a weeny - so scary! |
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| Ah, so picturesque. Oh, an interesting statue... |
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| DON'T BLINK |
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| Post tri treat, yum! |
