First race of the season, coming off a month-long rehab for a partial torn soleus (calf) muscle. Month of June was mostly sporadic training, day to day depending on how leg was feeling. I was able to maintain fitness through elliptical and swimming, then after two weeks added in biking and minimal (read: 15min) of running here and there. So I didn’t have expectations here for this race, just wanted to see where I was. Also, did this same race last year so I have a means of comparison (I will include those numbers along the way!)
No taper for this race, as a matter of fact did a time trial earlier in the week and an ~80mi ride day prior with friends (we climbed 4400feet averaging +/- 19mph that ride)….so you can get a sense of how I was feeling!
Overall Stats:
1/4mi swim, 12.5mi bike and a 3.2mi run (conclusion was run distance was longer, more on that later)
Final Time: 1:10:35, good for 5/34 in my AG (F30-34)
For comparison I was also 5th in my AG last year! With a 1:17:41, so I improved 7:06 at the sprint distance, but the competition
Swim: 6:49 or ~1:42/100 (last year was 8:27)
T1: 1:49 (last year was 1:57)
Bike: 34:12 or ~22mph (last year was 36:35)
T2: 1:50 (last year was 1:31) my only blip on the day! Could not find my hat!!
Run: 25:57 or ~ 8:10/mi pace (last year was 29:13)
Swim: An ocean “C” swim..out to the buoy, turn swim parallel to shore, turn again and swim into the beach…you will see from the pictures it was REALLY foggy so the buoys were pulled in and the long swim leg was made longer…I think you could walk out to the first buoy ~20’ from shore! My wave was #4 with ~100 of my closest women competitors..it was a salty washing machine type swim where I never found space, feet to draft or a rhythm to swim…I survived and came out in 6:49 a huge improvement on last year (8:27.)
T1: was uneventful, said hi to a friend/coworker who was racked across from me…we wished each other well and I set off on my bike.
Bike: As mentioned previously I rode 80mi the day before and have been having saddle issues (rubbing/cutting/discomfort) so the morning of the race (dumb, I know) I changed to a different saddle that is narrower thinking “this will be more comfortable” HA… so bike got underway, my first race this year on my new P2C (purchased over the winter with ergomo, which has been malfunctioning…I won’t even get into that) so I was getting used to a few things like my hoods being wet from me after the swim (which obviously doesn’t happen on a normal ride) and my ergomo was reading funny watts and mph (says I was going 11mph!! See my average!) So I was riding uncomfortably blind..when I noticed my saddle was dipping front to back…guess I didn’t tighten enough! Turns out it slid all the way back on the rails too…I can laugh about it now, but I’m lucky I didn’t land on the side of the road with my saddle coming off!
Lesson: no matter what hurts…don’t change things on race day (I should know better!) just grin and bear it. Ouch. Oh well, improved on last years time, so no complaints!
T2: The ONLY slower part of my day! All b/c I could not find my hat :( It got tossed back in bag…I eventually found it but it cost me prob. 30 seconds!
Run: This was what my whole day was about…I had not been running much (if at all) in the past couple weeks with the calf injury…but I knew I was on the mend and was hoping to be able to run the entire distance, whatever the pace. So I set out of T2 with my avg. pace was at 7:55s, a little fast to start, so I eased up and the course became hilly so I was able to slow to 8:05s without issue…but at the 2mi marker I let go and allowed myself to run hard till the end and according to my garmin I did a 7:40 last mile…averaging 7:55s overall. But if you look at my official time it reads 25:57 or 8:10s. I thought that was slow. After talking to others we all concluded the course must have been a tad long. Oh well, I don’t really care…I improved on last year and ran (hard) the entire time with no pain!!
Some other highlights:My husband placing 2nd in his AG (M30-34) with a 1:02:26 (he smoked that course!)
Seeing my friend (the same one I was talking to in T1) place 3rd Female (non-pro) overallTwo other guys who swim in our Master’s lane place 2nd and 3rd in their AGs.
Watching my best friend (non triathlete) borrow my road bike and ride the bike leg of a relay..gave her a glimpse into our lives and she loved every minute of it, maybe she’ll race an entire tri someday!
Seeing Jarrod Shoemaker (USA Olympic Triathete) easily win and signing Wheaties boxes after the race for everyone who wanted them,
Things to fix:
More open water swimming, especially ocean if I’m going to race ocean swims…it was salty and cold. I didn’t put my head under until about 200yds into the race!
Get a new saddle/fitting something to fix my saddle woes
Make sure my Transition area is properly set up before heading down to the water (when I couldn’t find my hat)
Work on getting faster on the run without re-injuring my leg :) I need to strengthen that muscle to get it back to where it was.
