« And Away We Go | Main | Catching Up... »
April 15, 2007
Off to a Good (Albeit Soggy) Start
My 2007 season is off to a good start! This morning I raced in the Angels Race VA in Lynchburg, Virginia. It was a short sprint race and my goal was to wake up those slumbering racing muscles and remind myself how to do a triathlon. Goal accomplished...
So I'm not going to try to sugar-coat the weather. It was awful. It was cold and raining. My least favorite kind of weather. Sometimes the rain was really hard, sometimes not so but I was one cold puppy. I just kept thinking how happy I was that it was just a sprint (a little over and hour of racing) and I kept telling myself that I wouldn't face worse weather all season long. It may be raining in some of my races later on in the summer but it couldn't be this cold and raining. And I'd take sizzling heat over this any day. Of course I say that now but... :) Regardless I have to give the utmost credit to all the volunteers who (due to the format of the race) started out there in the rain at 8 am and weren't done until around 1 pm. Crazy!
The race was a 300 meter swim, 25K bike and 5K run and although the official results with splits aren't up yet I do know my overall time was 1:11:46 and I was 15th overall and the 1st female. Because it was a pool swim it was a time trial start. I was one of the very first ones to start (because there were over 400 people in the race some people didn't even start until after I was finished!), so I was basically out there on my own pushing as hard as I could. I caught one male in front of me on the bike and several males flew past me on the bike but that was the only other human contact I had.
The swim was fine - over so fast I didn't even know what happened. Who knows how fast or slow it was but I guess the splits will tell.
The bike was probably the toughest of the three. It was a rolling course with some short steep climbs. I didn't ride as aggressively as I had hoped for but truthfully it was a little scary with the weather. It was on country roads with lots of turns and with it being so wet I let up a few times in the interest of safety. I really only feared for my life once when I was flying down a hill which then took a turn. I was going over 30 MPH and sat right up out of my aerobars and threw on some brakes! Otherwise I was just really, really cold on the bike. I had thrown on a long sleeve shirt in transition but I was just soaked from the rain, my hands were frozen and ouch...it was a bit painful. But I got through. I'll be interested to see my bike split. The new bike is awesome. Love it!
I started the run with frozen feet. You know that feeling when you feel like you have blocks of ice on the bottoms of your legs and you're just running on stumps from the knee down? Yeah that was me for the first mile or so of the run. It was at this point that I think it started to rain harder! I'm pretty sure I still managed an under 20 minute 5K split though which I would be pleased with. I want to be running under 40 minutes for my 10Ks in my Olympic distance races this year so a nice 18:30 5K would have been great today but I don't think it was in the cards.
When I finished O (my amazing and faithful husband who stood outside in the pouring rain the whole time cheering me on) and I started to walk towards the transition area and all of a sudden I was so cold I almost started to cry. My body just couldn't take it. We quickly got my bike and other things and walked to our hotel where I took the hottest, longest shower I think I've ever taken! I was shaking I was so cold! But after that shower, a good stretch, some food and lots of warm clothes we were both able to head back up to the race course and cheer on the rest of the racers until the awards. And after the awards we treated ourselves to big hamburgers at Outback Steakhouse. :)
So overall the race went well! It might not have been too fast but it was a great wakeup for my body and a reminder both mentally and physically that racing is hard. Really hard. I'm always pleased and thankful for a win too. My transitions were absolutely horrible - almost embarrassingly so - so I know I really have to work on those. I can blame some of it on the cold and wet that made my hands non-functioning but most of it was just sloppiness! Really need to work on those!
I'll be interested to see the splits (I love looking at that stuff and comparing to other racers, etc...). In the mean time I hope everyone is having/had a great weekend!
Posted by beth at April 15, 2007 6:17 PM
Comments
You go girl. The first of many wins I'm sure this season!
Posted by: dawn at April 15, 2007 7:37 PM
Congratulations! (I'm such a stalker that I already tried finding results to your race earlier today, but I noticed they aren't being posted for a while.) I'm not surprised that it went well, and hopefully those were the worst conditions you'll face all season.
Posted by: Alison at April 15, 2007 8:25 PM
YEAH!! Congrats chica! That is awesome. I can't imagine racing all alone. Very challenging indeed!
Posted by: Audrey at April 15, 2007 9:20 PM
Wow, you rocked the swim. Guess all those early mornings payed off.
Posted by: dawn at April 16, 2007 7:58 AM
Awesome!!!! its also great that O is sooo supportive...
Posted by: Kranky C Dale at April 16, 2007 8:49 AM
Hooray!!! Way to go, Beth!! What a great way to start your season. Sorry to hear about the crappy weather but hopefully it is the worst you'll have to deal with all year.
Posted by: barb at April 16, 2007 10:58 AM
I go offline for the weekend and what do you do? Win a race! Awesome job, Beth! The conditions sound absolutely miserable. It is truly suffering when nature opens up cold, wet conditions on endurance athletes with little body fat and means of maintaining heat. Like you said, good thing it was only a sprint so you were moving FAST and it was over quickly.
Congrats, congrats, congrats! Yeah!
I hope you feel good and ready to get back into training today!
Posted by: Meghan at April 16, 2007 1:01 PM
"...and I was 15th overall and the 1st female."
... you are going to beat them boys aren't you?...I know you are... :-)
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at April 16, 2007 4:03 PM