Sprint Triathlon #2
Date: July 26th, 2014
Event: Sprint Triathlon (750m lake swim,15 mile bike, 5k run)
Time: 2:14:46
(Swim: 23:56, T1: 2:07, Bike: 1:04:53, T2: 1:29, Run: 42:22)
Age Group Place (25-29): Last...6/6
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The Swim- 750m Lake Swim (23:56)
Average Pace: 3:11 per 100m
FIRST EVER OPEN WATER LAKE SWIM!!!!
All I can say is chocolate milk.
Chocolate Milk! That's all you could see through the goggles in this lake.
They called my group- the ones with the pink swim caps- up to the water to find our starting positions. I lined up somewhere around the middle and waited for the gun to go off. I ended up being next to a little girl, no older than 13-14 and thought I would be ok at the start.
Little did I know that this not so innocent little girl was clearly an experienced open water swimmer and actually smacked and kicked me several times at the start. It wasn't just her it was everyone around me too! I felt like I was in a swarm of bees or a washing machine. I didn't know which way was up or forward. I had to slow up to let most of the swimmers go around me because I didn't feel comfortable swimming in a pack like that. Once I got some open water, I made my way to the first buoy just fine. The swim got interesting after that because it was a oval course and swimming circular is hard! I'm used to chasing the black line in the bottom of the pool...which is straight! How the heck am I supposed to make myself curve while swimming? Needless to say, I kept getting off course. I didn't think it took me as long as it did until I got out and checked my stop watch. I was happy with my actual swimming, I just need to get more comfortable with the bunch start and sighting in open water.
The Bike- 15 miles (1:04:53)
Average Speed: 13.9 mph
This bike course was mostly flat with only a few major climbs. I know I have some work to do to get my average speed up because people were passing me left and right, but mostly on the climbs. There was one funny story from the course. This woman with a really nice and expensive triathlon specific bike (I race on an intermediate quality road bike) yelled, ON YOUR LEFT! Of course, her intentions were to pass me. The mistake she made was passing me on a flat just before a massive downhill. I'm a great descender, mostly because I am an avid Tour de France rider...and absolutely love Peter Sagan! He's a sprinter, but also a bike handling specialist and gets in a full on tuck off of his saddle in the most aero position he can while descending. I don't go as extreme as he does, but I'm much faster than most on the downhills.
I zoomed past her and then fought like hell to climb the subsequent hill and told myself that I can't let her pass me again. She got close on one of the other climbs, but couldn't seal the deal. I held her off for the rest of the race. After the race, she came up to me and told me how great of a rider I was! Too funny. The little joys in life :)
The Run-5k (42:22)
Average Pace: 13:38 min/mile, Average Speed: 4.4 mph
2 loop trail run. Exposed roots, dirt, and gravel, and hills!!!! I had to throw my intervals out the window and just do my best to jog the flats and walk up the hills. I quite like the trail part, it was really fun "running" through the woods.
Best part- in the days after the race, I had NO PAIN in my feet after this tri. Takeaway-> if you do want to run again, pick trails for training and racing. They lighten the impact significantly.
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Reflection
I feel AMAZING to have finished another triathlon and for finally getting to wear my trisuit from my college tri team. Due to my surgeries, I never got my chance, but now I have!!! I got complements on it the whole time and even met fellow alumni that came up to me. Very cool because I live states away from my college town now. This was the longest in distance and hardest triathlon to date, but I made it!!!
What a whirlwind of a month June was. It was great getting to travel internationally, twice! The bad part was landing late at night coming back from London and going straight to teaching summer school the next morning. I've never taught summer school before and I realized that teaching two lectures a day, every day of the week for a solid month is exhausting! I think it is a great experience for the students because they can focus all their attention on a tough class and don't have enough time to forget things between exams. Really rough from the faculty side because what you normally teach in 4 months, you have to cram into a month.
