Race

27 Aug

IronGirl Sprint Tri
Swim - 20:06 (1000m, 1:50/yd)
T1 - 2:27
Bike - 1:11:24 (17.5 mi, flat tire = 11:30)
T2 - 1:29
Run - 26:52 (3.3 mi, 8:09/mi)
Total Time - 2:02:17
Overall - 307/1274
AG - 17/69
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Swim--Wow, this was the best open water swim I have EVER had! I was calm, the water was nice, they gave us hot pink swim caps (yay!), and it was a great course. Too warm for wetsuits, but a good temp. At the beginning I just let everyone thrash around in the water, and I concentrated on finding my groove early. Focusing on my right elbow pointed toward the sky and reaching out in addition to an efficient pull helped tremendously. I actually felt energized from the swim!

T1--The transition area was pretty big (1800 participants), so I had to run a ways to get my bike. We were racked according to age group/swim wave, and there were quite a few bikes there when I grabbed mine. Everything seemed to run smoothly.

Bike--I flatted out 10 FEET from T1. No fooling. I tried to pump it back up, but I ended up changing out the tube. In a sprint tri! It took me a little over 11 minutes (maybe I should work on that...). Of course there are a bazillion people watching me do this, and I see my entire age group go by me on their bikes. But I successfully fixed it and concentrated on picking them off one by one. The course was pretty challenging, but not like central VA challenging. There were some pretty big hills, and there were a LOT of cars, so it was ridiculously hard to pass people. I almost went crazy, especially since I was trying to make up some big time. Why did I name my bike LUCKY?! Remind me again! We're not speaking, and he has to spend the night in the car as punishment.

T2--A lot of bikes were racked, but I managed to pass enough people on the bike to make up some places. I forgot to catch this split on my watch. Oops!

Run--Wow, another death march. What is the deal with these super hilly run courses on triathlons??? I power walked up 2 or 3 hills because I could power walk much faster than I could run up them. The mile markers were placed incorrectly too, so I don't have accurate mile splits for this either. A lot of people were reduced to walking the entire thing. Village People were handing out water on the course. It was so funny! There was also a Hawaiian water stop.

Overall--I had some beef with the stupid little logistical things (i.e. directions, head's up on super anal instructions for transition area), but the race was really fun. It's disappointing that I would have came in 5/69 instead of 17/69 had it not been for the flat. I e-mailed Desiree Ficker and asked if I could have my picture taken with her for the transition Olympics, but I couldn't find her afterward. Oh well! She is really nice. It was incredible seeing so many women come out to do this thing and have fun. Final tri of the season is done! Onto the marathon and ultra!