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September 30, 2006
Race Report and What Lies Ahead
Well, my last triathlon of the season was a successful venture and a great way to end the season in my opinion. The short story? I won. I went 2:12:56 which was way faster than I thought I would go, about a 5:30 PR and on a somewhat hilly course to boot. I had lots of fun even though it was FREEZING cold. We only got lost about 5 times on the trip down and only once on the trip home and although that doesn't sound like much of a success, for coach and I that's huge! :)
The long story? Well, it's kind of hard to report because I don't really have any split times yet but we'll give it a go anyway.
Starting with the temp - hmmm...well, it was about 50 degrees air temperature on race morning and that, my friends, feels realllllllllly cold right about now. Luckily the water temp was 71 which compared to the air temperature was probably going to feel nice. The problem is, you actually eventually have to get out of the water and then get on a bike and go upwards of 35 MPH on said bike while wearing a bathing suit. While wearing a WET bathing suit. While wearing a WET bathing suit in 50 degree temps. Um yeah...I think my lips are still blue. ;)
Luckily I now have a full body wetsuit (I used to just have one without the arms) and so that combined with the warmer water temps made for a pretty nice swim. Don't get me wrong, the water was cold, but not the kind of cold that takes your breathe away.
Anyway, there isn't much to say about the swim other than it was pretty brutal - it was a two loop course so there were people ALLLLL over the place thrashing around and all up in my space. I swallowed my fair share of river water (swim was in a tributary of the Potomac) and I took my fair share of blows. Although I will admit I also did some bullying myself as there was a particularly unruly male swimming beside me that just WOULD NOT cut in towards the buoys when it was time to do so. UGH. Also of note was the river weeds. I don't really know what they are called but they look like sea weed and it was real thick in places. I'm talking I would come up with handfuls of it with each stroke. And it was all over me and my goggles and my watch and apparently wrapped around my earrings as someone later pointed out AFTER the run that I still had a big black piece of it hanging from my ear. Very nice folks. Very nice.
Regardless my approximate swim split was 23-24 minutes. I'm very pleased with that but I know in my heart of hearts that if I want to be successful at bigger races I need to swim more like 20 minutes. I can feel lotsssssss of pool time coming on this winter.
T1 was this insanely long hike up from the river to the transition area in which I had ample time to tug at my wetsuit to get it off, try and clean the river weed from myself and develop incredibly cold feet.
The bike was a tough course. I won't say it was super hilly but it had roller after roller after roller (and maybe 2-3 "big" hills) that made it very difficult to get in a rhythm. I was constantly switching gears, standing up, sitting down, etc... I believe my bike split was around 1:06-1:07 which isn't anything great but given the course I'll take it. And let me just say - I was pretty darn cold on the bike. Nothing that I feel actually hindered my performance but WOW was it chilly going down those hills. I did take the time in T1 to put on arm warmers that I even kept on during the run. Did I mention that summer could come any time soon? :)
T2 was uneventful at which point I was on my way on the 10K run. And let me tell you - I felt like a million bucks on the run today! It was great. I really felt strong and very easily got in a good rhythm which is hard to do coming off the bike. I don't have my exact split but I wouldn't be surprised if it was right around 40 minutes. Its kind of crazy because I just about killed myself to run that 39:15 last weekend in an open 10K and today I just felt so much better and probably didn't run mucy slower despite the swim/bike. It makes me understand how the top women pros can run 2:50 in the marathon in Ironman distance races. I always thought that was pretty crazy - I mean if they could run that fast after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112, wouldn't they run like 2:25 or 2:30 in an open marathon? But I don't think that's necessarily the case. Either way, I was most pleased with the run from the whole race. A very fitting was to end the last race of the season.
And so that's that. Once I get the official splits I'll share those. Good race. Fun day. I'm finally warm again. Tasty hamburgers after the race. What more could you ask for?
And so now here I am at the end of the season and wondering what exactly it is that I'm going to do next. As we were driving home through the mountains of Pennsylvania I was starting to get so sad! I mean I know it's fall but it's not really fall until the leaves are changing and guess what - they are changing up in the mountains! That means we are next. And I love fall. But now fall means that there won't be any more tris until next year and riding outside will be cold. Give me a day or two and I'll be over it, but for now I'm sulking.
I am thankful to say I had a great first season of competing in this sport of triathlon. I did 7 races, won 4 of them, placed 2nd in 2 of them and placed 4th in my first race of the season in South Carolina. My Olympic distance PR is now under 2:13 which will give me a solid base upon which to build for next year. I'm very excited to see what the future holds next season!
But for now a full week off to let my body heal. It's supposed to rain just about every day this upcoming week too so that should keep me inside and on the couch. :) And then coach and I decided I would swim 3 days/week, run 3-4 days/week and cycle 1-2 days/week until January - mostly easier and shorter stuff to keep my fitness but not overdo it. Then once January rolls around - then it's back to business. I may run a few 5Ks this fall but nothing else race wise. I know it's just what I need and part of me is relieved that I won't be racing hard again for a while but at the same time, it's all still so new and exciting I don't want it to end!
Alas, I think I just found some more river weed in my ear. I must go clean it out... :)
Posted by beth at September 30, 2006 9:54 PM
Comments
Booyah!! I guess that helps indicate you've got the right goal for next year!
Congrats on the victory!
Posted by: Audrey at October 1, 2006 10:03 AM