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August 14, 2007
the long report - 5430 long course triathlon
So now that I am two days out from my triathlon, I feel that I have achieved the proper emotional distance in order to talk about my tri objectively and not just curse the heavens for my late start time and the ridiculously hot summer that continues to torture me here in Colorado. Okay, that may have been a bit over-dramatic. But seriously people, it has been in the high 90's every day for a week!
Here goes the report... enjoy!
The swim - 1.2 miles, 40:59
Well, I kind of freaked out at the beginning of this swim which annoyed me. However, I back stroked for a few minutes and was able to calm myself down and start swimming like a normal person. I am happy that I was able to do this as I think it proved to myself that even if I do freak in every tri (which I really hope I stop doing!!), I can recover. My goal time for the swim was 40:00 so considering my freaking out and back stroking episode I was really, really pleasantly surprised. The water was a bit more rough than in the last tri for some reason, but it was not too bad once I was able to get into a rhythm, and I think overall I felt less winded after this swim than the last. This remains a huge opportunity for improvement for me, so next year I hope to be swimming this distance about 5 minutes faster.
T1 - 1:21
Well, it always helps to get to the transition area ridiculously early as I had a great spot for the swim-bike transition. Thus my transition was pretty fast! I was kind of worried about putting my cycling shoes on as when I was walking to my car to put my bag in an hour or so before, I whacked my big toe pretty hard on the edge of a metal post. Yeah, I am not too observant sometimes as I totally should have seen it. So my big toe was kind of bloody and gross. But it seemed to go just fine.
Bike - 56 miles, 2:56.54, 18.9 MPH
This was just a great course. I really enjoyed it although of course I enjoyed the first loop more than the second :) Each 28-mile loop started uphill for about the first 5 miles, followed by a long downhill and then a few small rolling hills. The first lap I averaged a solid 20 MPH, which I would hope to be able to maintain for the entire 56 miles in the future as that would really help my position in my age group. In the second lap I started feeling a bit uncomfortable in the saddle but I just tried to do a few little repeats of getting out of the saddle for four pedal strokes and back in for four, just to change my position and loosen up. I think it really helped. I still would like to improve this quite a bit and I think I do have a lot of room for improvement but I think this was a great time for me and met my goal.
T2 - 1:36
I kind of messed up this transition as I took my shoes off the minute I got through the dismount area, which took way longer than waiting until I could sit down. I think that is more reflected in my bike time than in my transition time as I took them off before I crossed the chip mat. But it was still a fine transition.
Run - 13.1 miles, 1:57.35, 8:58/mile
This was when the going got kind of rough and I was really hot. There had been some decent cloud cover early on but it started to break up in my last few miles on the bike, so this is a good reason to try to get faster - I would finish earlier when it's cool! I really did not feel bad except that about a half mile after each aid station I would get very thirsty and hot and start to wish for the next aid station. However, I think my last mile was just barely over 8:00 so I am happy with my strong finish. I really think that if I improve my strength and endurance on the bike, my runs will also improve because I know I am totally capable of running a 1:45 or faster.
So this was the last race of my tri season this year, and I cannot wait to race next year and see how much I can improve!
Posted by barb at August 14, 2007 8:20 AM
Comments
Congrats again and thanks for the great report. I can't believe you messed up your toe so badly and went on to have a good race! Nice!
Posted by: Meghan at August 14, 2007 6:28 PM