Culpeper Sprint Tri
Swim (750m)--17:19
T1--2:09
Bike (17.3 mi)--1:01:05
T2--1:33
Run (5K)--23:14
Total--1:45:17
4 of 19 in AG, 39 of 194 overall women
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Swim--holy moly, this was the grossest, nastiest lake I have ever SEEN, let alone swam in! Oh my gosh, there was about 8 inches of mud at the bottom, there was this layer of bonefide pond scum, there was "evidence" of geese everywhere, and the temperature was 88 degrees! You couldn't even see your hand 3 inches under the surface. Luckily I did a "warm-up" in the lake, even though it was so hot. It really helps to swim around for a while before the start. After the race started, I immediately had really bad abdominal pain. This persisted through the entire swim. Oh well, it wasn't a great swim by any means, but oh well. It was short. I just wanted to get out of that lake! (After I got home, I took a shower. There was so much crap in the lake that my swimsuit was filled with mud, and I didn't even know it.)
T1--I still wasn't feeling well, so I sat down and chilled out for a few seconds and had a bit to drink. My bike was close to the swim exit but really, really far away from the bike mount place. I would say I had to run 200m or so until I could mount my bike. I can't remember where the transition timing mats were. I think sitting down for a short moment was a good idea.
Bike--my right knee felt pretty good, but I didn't want to push my luck. I would say I only rode about 85%. Once AGAIN I chose a course that didn't have one foot of flatness. Those hills sure use a lot of muscle groups though. I would say given the circumstances, I had a pretty good bike. Drinking more would have been a good idea. I think sticking to vanilla and berry gels are a good idea (orange didn't go over so well).
T2--took another short breather, as the abdominal area was still giving me a bit of grief. I should have had another small drink of water, but I think I just wanted to finish by this point.
Run--The run started out on a long stretch of grass and then up a hill. I didn't really expect that! I didn't catch any mile splits, but I felt like I was hauling on the way back down. I think my 23:14 is somewhat respectable, not my best, but I put some effort into it. It was pretty hot and humid by the time we finished.
Overall--This was a fun race. I heard some (really, really fit!) people talking about the bike course afterward, and they all said it was really tough. That made me feel a lot better. I have YET to ride any course resembling something flat. During this race I rode everywhere from 6.5mph to 38mph, so it's weird to average such a wide range of numbers. On a really cool note, the woman who finished one place ahead of me is an officer at Bolling AFB, and she ran the marathon with the World Class Athlete Program. I would LOVE to do that program, but I'm not (yet) a 3:0x marathoner just yet. I've e-mailed her a few times asking about the program. I was stoked that I was literally just behind her, and this was an off day for me! Triathlon must be the great equalizer or something. I also took a picture of my transition area for the Kahuna's Transition Olympics. It's a boring transition area, but hey, all my stuff is blue! I should get some sort of style points!
Here's a picture after the race. (Yes, the marker person screwed up on my left leg! A bad omen from the beginning! I told her just to line it out and then write the correct number under it. Ha ha! This is my bike LUCKY, appropriately named.)
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