S
sparrow
Guest
Sprint tri day
My Friday was harsh and I felt tired, sick and just not all "together". I was still up after midnight and had a big headache when I got up this morning. I also lost my beloved oakley sunglasses sometime yesterday so I was in a mood because I knew I'd be racing without them.
Come this morning. I was pretty well rested-considering. I had a breakfast I've never trained with (it was a pro lab 'oatmeal' meal replacement sample pack) which of course is dumb-but looking at all the macro's on it and ingredients, it seemed fairly safe. I grabbed a bottle of water...and found my glasses!-because I prayed about them. Prayer works, even the little things.
I pretty much gave my day up to God. All the vairables in my week and day before seemed to point to a bad race day. I realized it wasn't in my control anyway so why stress over it. In the big scope of things this was not a big deal race. I'm training through it, its a sprint and compared to the monster I'll do in August its small, but I still cared. Even if I've said I don't. Because I'm me and I hate to lose!
SO I get there. up to the very last half hour I'd still not decided wetsuit or no. The lake was 70 and thats chilly but wetsuits confine so much of my stroke, plus it was borrowed and I'd not swam in it before.
I decided yes on the wetsuit, there were actual white caps on the lake! I figured I might need the extra buoyancy. It was so windy this morning which started me thinking negatively. I decided not to let that get to me, and instead joked to my friends about the nature of this race with the wind and instead turned my conversation to encouraging my buddies that it was still going to be a great race. Who cares about that nasty wind!
The swim was brutal-even for a swimmer-it was just downright tough. We were sent out 5 minutes apart by age group and mine was one of the last to go. There were real live waves and we swam right into them on the way out to the first buoy. Everytime I went to breathe I got water so I had to rotate so I could breathe almost straight up. I'm not a good bilateral breather so breathing to my left side would have been smart-but would have made me swim crooked. As we came back to shore the waves were in our favor so the waves washed over my head and there was a pocket to breathe. The way back was NICE it helped me recover. I came out of the water tied with one woman in my age group. We were first out at a time of 12min 30 sec-ish.
I dreaded the bike. I've said before that wind is my cryptonite. Starting on it I realized we had a sort of cross/headwind. It was hard for long stretches, and then we'd get a crosswind..then the headwind..then crosswind. The moments of the crosswind I could pick up speed. Between the headwind and hills on the way out I averaged about 19mph but I fought so hard to keep that. I felt anaerobic most of the time. The only thing that kept me going strong was that I was passing a lot of people. Coming back though we had a cross/tail wind and that was FUNNNNN! I was hitting 30mph on the downhills and taking that speed into flats at 25-26mph. Uphills were maintained at 20mph. I felt awesome and nobody passed me. I was in the lead in my age group and I recovered enough for the run. I did the 16 mi bike in about 48 minutes.
Transitions went off without a hitch. Normally I have to take extra time to stop the shakes or figure out what I need for the next segment but I did all that in my head as I was racing. The shakes were kept at bay with my NUUN. Its the magic bullet for me. I only had half a tablet left to use for this race but it was enough. My first transition was long because from the lake to my bike was a good little jaunt, but the second went quick.
I started the run out of transition feeling really strong and my time was at 1:05 which was exactly what I'd predicted in my hypothetical race plan so that encouraged me. As soon as I hit the dirt trail I felt TIRED. I was very winded and back to anaerobic. The run was all on rocky loose dirt with little hills. NOT FUN. After the first aid station I walked about 20 steps just to get my breathing under control. After that things went much better. I did the same thing on the way back from the out and back course. Running hills is something i need to work harder on.
It was at about the 2nd mile when I realized my goal time (that after doing the math last night, I thought was probably not attainable) was within reach. Instead of going faster I just maintained. I knew it would be close but if I kept my speed steady I wouldn't get any more winded or do something stupid like twist an ankle (that nearly happened many times on the run) It was only on the homestretch (about last 1/4 mi) that I booked it. My time was 1:28 something! I didn't look closely at the seconds just the fact that I not only shattered my previous years time (1:37) but that I got my goal of going under 1:30! I also was running much faster than I felt
SO last year that would have been a winning time by a lot in both my 20-29 age group and the 30-39 but this year the gal I came out of the water with and who I was only about half a mile ahead of on the bike-beat me on the run. She was like a little motor up those hills and she wasn't a little thing either! She got me on the last mile...the one I was "maintaining" lol. SO I got a nice second place trophy and got the podium
I was still proud that the fastest woman finisher out of all age groups (she was 15!) had a time of 1:25. I guess thats a good next goal
good day.
(edit: official time 1:28:32 overall place 36/402!!)
Tomorrow I do the bike portion of the olympic length relay. Hope its not as windy!
My Friday was harsh and I felt tired, sick and just not all "together". I was still up after midnight and had a big headache when I got up this morning. I also lost my beloved oakley sunglasses sometime yesterday so I was in a mood because I knew I'd be racing without them.
Come this morning. I was pretty well rested-considering. I had a breakfast I've never trained with (it was a pro lab 'oatmeal' meal replacement sample pack) which of course is dumb-but looking at all the macro's on it and ingredients, it seemed fairly safe. I grabbed a bottle of water...and found my glasses!-because I prayed about them. Prayer works, even the little things.
I pretty much gave my day up to God. All the vairables in my week and day before seemed to point to a bad race day. I realized it wasn't in my control anyway so why stress over it. In the big scope of things this was not a big deal race. I'm training through it, its a sprint and compared to the monster I'll do in August its small, but I still cared. Even if I've said I don't. Because I'm me and I hate to lose!
SO I get there. up to the very last half hour I'd still not decided wetsuit or no. The lake was 70 and thats chilly but wetsuits confine so much of my stroke, plus it was borrowed and I'd not swam in it before.
I decided yes on the wetsuit, there were actual white caps on the lake! I figured I might need the extra buoyancy. It was so windy this morning which started me thinking negatively. I decided not to let that get to me, and instead joked to my friends about the nature of this race with the wind and instead turned my conversation to encouraging my buddies that it was still going to be a great race. Who cares about that nasty wind!
The swim was brutal-even for a swimmer-it was just downright tough. We were sent out 5 minutes apart by age group and mine was one of the last to go. There were real live waves and we swam right into them on the way out to the first buoy. Everytime I went to breathe I got water so I had to rotate so I could breathe almost straight up. I'm not a good bilateral breather so breathing to my left side would have been smart-but would have made me swim crooked. As we came back to shore the waves were in our favor so the waves washed over my head and there was a pocket to breathe. The way back was NICE it helped me recover. I came out of the water tied with one woman in my age group. We were first out at a time of 12min 30 sec-ish.
I dreaded the bike. I've said before that wind is my cryptonite. Starting on it I realized we had a sort of cross/headwind. It was hard for long stretches, and then we'd get a crosswind..then the headwind..then crosswind. The moments of the crosswind I could pick up speed. Between the headwind and hills on the way out I averaged about 19mph but I fought so hard to keep that. I felt anaerobic most of the time. The only thing that kept me going strong was that I was passing a lot of people. Coming back though we had a cross/tail wind and that was FUNNNNN! I was hitting 30mph on the downhills and taking that speed into flats at 25-26mph. Uphills were maintained at 20mph. I felt awesome and nobody passed me. I was in the lead in my age group and I recovered enough for the run. I did the 16 mi bike in about 48 minutes.
Transitions went off without a hitch. Normally I have to take extra time to stop the shakes or figure out what I need for the next segment but I did all that in my head as I was racing. The shakes were kept at bay with my NUUN. Its the magic bullet for me. I only had half a tablet left to use for this race but it was enough. My first transition was long because from the lake to my bike was a good little jaunt, but the second went quick.
I started the run out of transition feeling really strong and my time was at 1:05 which was exactly what I'd predicted in my hypothetical race plan so that encouraged me. As soon as I hit the dirt trail I felt TIRED. I was very winded and back to anaerobic. The run was all on rocky loose dirt with little hills. NOT FUN. After the first aid station I walked about 20 steps just to get my breathing under control. After that things went much better. I did the same thing on the way back from the out and back course. Running hills is something i need to work harder on.
It was at about the 2nd mile when I realized my goal time (that after doing the math last night, I thought was probably not attainable) was within reach. Instead of going faster I just maintained. I knew it would be close but if I kept my speed steady I wouldn't get any more winded or do something stupid like twist an ankle (that nearly happened many times on the run) It was only on the homestretch (about last 1/4 mi) that I booked it. My time was 1:28 something! I didn't look closely at the seconds just the fact that I not only shattered my previous years time (1:37) but that I got my goal of going under 1:30! I also was running much faster than I felt
SO last year that would have been a winning time by a lot in both my 20-29 age group and the 30-39 but this year the gal I came out of the water with and who I was only about half a mile ahead of on the bike-beat me on the run. She was like a little motor up those hills and she wasn't a little thing either! She got me on the last mile...the one I was "maintaining" lol. SO I got a nice second place trophy and got the podium
I was still proud that the fastest woman finisher out of all age groups (she was 15!) had a time of 1:25. I guess thats a good next goal
good day.
(edit: official time 1:28:32 overall place 36/402!!)
Tomorrow I do the bike portion of the olympic length relay. Hope its not as windy!
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