First Race Done!

Well, we finished the first tri of the season yesterday--a sprint-and the weather wasn't too brutal, between 87-92 degrees but there was a 20 mph stiff headwind blowing that really knocked some speed off the bike ride. I managed to shave 10 minutes off my 2009 time in this same race so I was very pleased. I really didn't have the swim I wanted or expected, but I did very well on the 15 mile bike and smoked the run (for me, anyway).

Finished in 1:45 and was 4th in my age group (7 minutes out of the podium--watch out for me next year) and 265 out of 500 overall, which isn't too shabby for unathletic me. The Patient Spouse managed to finish a minute faster than last year at 1:43 and the winds knocked his bike time down seriously. It also is making him think about a new bike. He is salivating over mine, which is fortunately too short for him.

We started the day at 6:15 a.m. (this was a late start sprint as they have a kid's tri at 7 a.m.--the adult sprint doesn't start until 8:45 a.m.) I woke up without the alarm after a partially restless night's sleep (always visualizing all the things I think I forgot or will forget). We dressed, fed the dogs, and I ate my pre race breakfast of a full bagel with peanut butter and some water and about a quarter cup of Diet Dr Pepper (certain tests show caffiene improves performance. I don't want to drink so much that I dehydrate myself, but just enough for a boost). We grabbed our backpacks and hydration and got in the car and drove the five minutes to the race site and arrived at 7:30 a.m.

After pumping the tires and checking the gear, we greeted some friends who had elected to do this tri as their first one after hearing about it from us. Jim's friend Doug thanked him profusely for introducing him to the sport, his whole family got invovled and Doug lost 40 pounds training! Jim said that if nothing else good happened in our race, he was happy that he put Doug in touch with the sport and that it led to such good things. Turns out that Doug beat both of us with a time of 1:38 in the Clydesdale division! His son Scott finished with 1:47 and his wife, a first timer as well, who has arthritis and can't run, finished in 2:10 with a 15 minute per mile fast walk pace on the run portion--that speed is a VERY fast walk! We are very proud of all of them and they deserve recognition for their first time doing so very well.

Nothing went wrong or badly in this race other than my swim time of 9 minutes which for 300 meters was not what I had been posting lately in practice (I'm swimming about a 2:40 100 yard at a fairly relaxed pace; around a 2:30 at a moderate pace). I have tried to figure out why I had such a slow swim time, because I thought I was swimming well, but there are maybe three factors that led to that: (a) the start--I didn't want to jump in as I was afraid of dislodging my goggles (last year's mistake) so when the timer said "GO" I sat on the pool edged and eased in, and then pushed off--probably lost 10-20 seconds here (b) the finish--I actually overshot the exit ladder by mistake (I was pushing fairly hard on the last 50 meters) and had to swim back to it--there's another 10-20 seconds (c) my southern girl politness at each wall. At all but one wall there were swimmers coming toward me, and rather than just ignorning them and pushing off and letting them pass me--there was plenty of room and I am good about staying to the right, except when I am passing someone myself-- I did the polite thing and waited for each of them to go around me before I went on. All together that probably cost me about 30 seconds. I was expecting around a 7:30 swim time so I am guessing these little things cost me that extra 1.5 minute, since my stroke seemed strong and I wasn't fooling around while swimming.

The swim was easy and as I said, I was pleased that I had a strong stroke and pushed moderately through the entire swim, remembering I still had a long day in front of me. After overshooting the ladder and finally making my way up, I checked my watch and frowned at the time, but there was no point in worrying about it. I ran the long way out of the pool building and up the hill to transition, yanking off my swim cap and goggles and headed for my bike, visualizing my transition and the start of the bike.

My T1 time was 2:54, not as fast as I want, but it is a long way from the pool to the bike and it's uphill, so it wasn't all that slow. On with the bike shoes, on with the sweat band, helmet and sunglasses, grab the bike and go, clomping along to the mount line which seemed an awfully long way away from my rack spot (so long that I asked one volunteer "is this the run portion?"). Onto the bike, which I had fortuantely remembered to put in a low gear, and out the driveway to the road and the upcoming Killer Hills, which now had a 20 mph headwind built into them. I chanted out loud "BRING IT ON" and tried to ignore that other little voice that said "Killer Hills and 20 mph headwind--you are gonna die out there."

I also passed the first runners out on the course. Fast people. Not even in my type of zip code.

The first 2 miles of the bike is mostly downhill and downwind so I grabbed a sip from the Gatorade, geared up and pedaled hard, sustaining around 18-19 mph and around the turn into the wind and facing the first Killer Hill (the one I call the Long Hill). I had practiced this in my mind several times so as I came within 100 yards of the first incline, I changed to my little ring and stood up and pumped the pedals for about the first 20 yards of the hill, and was then forced to sit down and spin it out, gearing down rapidly but passing 2-3 people on my way up. I got down to about 8.3 mph near the top but managed to push through and thought, okay, only 3 more Killer Hills to do (although the rest of the course has some Injurious Hills, none are as serious as the 2 Killer Hills). Catch my breath a bit, go back down on the bars and try to speed down the one big hill where without a headwind I can often get up to 34 mph (with this wind, I managed 22 mph), hanging on for dear life as the wind buffeted my tiny carbon perch and praying I didn't end up upside down. Then here was Killer Hill 2 (the one I dub the Steep Hill), I could see a passle of riders creeping up it in front of me, did my 20 yard up and pump and sat down and geared down until the bike cried mercy and managed to heave my way to the top aroun 7.9 mph. Halfway done with Killer Hills!

The next leg was to be a recovery leg, it's a very flat area where I normally can pick up a lot of speed but with the huge headwind it was a tough leg. I managed to drink some more and gear back into my big chain, soon I turned off the wind and picked up more speed, up and down a few minor hills (one was a major-minor hill), passed some people and others passed me, turned back toward the event center and started the second 7.5 mile loop. Back to the Killer Hills I zoomed, this time they went a wee bit slower and a lot bit harder (especially the last one) but then they were done and I knew I was going to make good time as I was looking to be under an hour for the 15 mile bike. I got down on my areobars and pedaled hard, passing as much as I could and keeping aggressive without killing myself, and suddenly I was done and had averaged 15.5 mph even with that headwind, which was awesome for me, as last year was 14.7 and we didn't have this kind of wind.

Into T2 I clomped, put the bike up on the brake levers, off with the shoes, on with the shoes, on with the Garmin, turn and oops! off with the helmet!--grab the race belt and jog towards the exit, had to turn the belt around to fasten it properly but never stopped moving; T1 was 2 minutes flat, pretty good, and now it's just 3.1 miles before the finish line.

It was getting warmish, around 90 degrees, but the stiff wind helped keep me cool and I settled into an easy pace, forcing myself at times to go slower for that first mile, trying to keep around 11:15 min pace. Passed several people and encouraged them. Also got passed by several (no one encouraged me!). Suddenly I was at a mile and I grabbed a cup of Hammer and walked for one minute while I drank it; my first mile had been 10:50 pace and that was a bit fast, so I started up again trying to concentrate on going easy for the next mile, which was a bit uphill. Started to get a little hot but not too bad, and then I saw Patient Spouse coming toward me about 1-2 minutes ahead of me and we waved at each other and I kept on running. Now it was downhill, although into the wind, and I was picking up the pace to about a 9:45 mile until 2.1 miles at the water stop where I grabbed a water and walked one more minute. Then back to running, still mostly downhill, to the turnaround which seemed forever, seeing Patient Spouse again and slapping hands, then the turnaround, wind at my back now but uphill for most of the way, stopped to grab a final water at 2.6 miles and walked another minute to drink, then ran it out picking up pace as best I could on the uphill, NOW I'm getting pretty hot, but there was the 3 mile sign and the last tenth of the race was sweet downhill so I could sprint it out across the line with a big grin and into the arms of (sweaty) Patient Spouse. My watch showed 1:45 which was a great time for me.

We grabbed post race snacks and drinks and waited for results, but they never got completely posted, so we left and went home and spent the rest of the day doing chores around the house like a normal weekend. Turns out I was fourth in my age group and Patient Spouse was fifth. I was 7 minutes behind third place, and I know I can shave those minutes off by next year, by being more aggressive on the swim, pushing a bit harder on the bike, and running a faster negative split. So watch out next year--I am looking at a podium placement at the top of the age group (54) before I move up.

It was a great race, good weather, and much better organized than last year's race, so although it's a hot weekend, we'll do it again next year.

Next event is Oct 31--the Monster Sprint Triathlon in Keller. In the meantime, I'm taking a couple days off to rest and then back to training!