Tri Girl
06-09-2007, 12:07 PM
I did another sprint this weekend- couldn't resist trying a pool swim and a super flat course. The best news: I finally broke the 1:30 barrier (1:28:35). Almost killed me, but I did it. :cool:
The swim was a 500m snake swim in a 50m pool (my legs were looking for the wall to push off of halfway down every lap). I was soooo nervous about doing a pool swim. Give me open water any day, where I'm free to move about and swim willy-nilly; but a pool swim scared me. Luckily the lanes were HUGE (double wide). Passing was not a problem, but I can see how in a regular pool lane that might be a tad impossible (look out head on collision :eek: ). I've figured out that I need to underestimate my time because I think other people do the same. I passed about 10 people on a short 500m swim- seems like a lot. I was dead-on guessing my time, but I suppose I'll shave a min or two off that for the next swim. Being stuck in a line of 5 swimmers that I had to pass all at once was NOT fun. :p
Out of the pool we had a long and gravely 200 yd run to T1 (I tried to get them to include that in the run portion, but they politely declined :) ). Transtion was loooong and narrow, so running in and out took a while. Made for long transition times.
The bike ride was a bit traffic-heavy, but the police at the intersections were VERY helpful and things went smoothly. 12.5 flat miles. Started to rain on the bike, and the cool water felt soooo good. I almost got taken out by a lawn-mowing crew as they pulled out directly in front of me as I'm going 20 mph. Wet roads don't make for quick stops... but then again it's not a real ride if you don't "almost" get taken out at least once. Avg. 16 mph. Not bad, but I know I can drop some serious time on the bike. I just have to learn how to get more power so I can have more speed...
T2 was another long run to re-rack then a short jaunt to hit the course. 2 loop 5K. First loop was uneventful. Rain got harder and it felt wonderful as it cooled me off. On lap 2 I got passed by a 79 year old man in a speedo. Getting passed by someone who is 45 years older than you who's not even breathing hard- kinda takes the wind out of your sails. Made fun chasing him the rest of the lap, tho (but I didn't look too close as his speedo gave me the heebie jeebies a little).
Good race overall. A sprint is a whole other animal from longer distances. I've said before that I'll take an oly or a HIM over a sprint any day. At least with the longer distances I can get in a rhythm and settle down. In a sprint I'm, well... sprinting (duh)- the whole way and that's soooo hard on me. I'm not speedy by nature. Glad I got a new kind of race under my belt, tho. I got 3rd in my AG (out of 10 this time instead of out of 3). :p Everytime I place in my AG it's a race that only recognizes the first 1 or 2 places. Dad-nabit. One day I'll actually win something...:)
Now I just have to figure out my next race...
So how did our other racers do this weekend??????
The swim was a 500m snake swim in a 50m pool (my legs were looking for the wall to push off of halfway down every lap). I was soooo nervous about doing a pool swim. Give me open water any day, where I'm free to move about and swim willy-nilly; but a pool swim scared me. Luckily the lanes were HUGE (double wide). Passing was not a problem, but I can see how in a regular pool lane that might be a tad impossible (look out head on collision :eek: ). I've figured out that I need to underestimate my time because I think other people do the same. I passed about 10 people on a short 500m swim- seems like a lot. I was dead-on guessing my time, but I suppose I'll shave a min or two off that for the next swim. Being stuck in a line of 5 swimmers that I had to pass all at once was NOT fun. :p
Out of the pool we had a long and gravely 200 yd run to T1 (I tried to get them to include that in the run portion, but they politely declined :) ). Transtion was loooong and narrow, so running in and out took a while. Made for long transition times.
The bike ride was a bit traffic-heavy, but the police at the intersections were VERY helpful and things went smoothly. 12.5 flat miles. Started to rain on the bike, and the cool water felt soooo good. I almost got taken out by a lawn-mowing crew as they pulled out directly in front of me as I'm going 20 mph. Wet roads don't make for quick stops... but then again it's not a real ride if you don't "almost" get taken out at least once. Avg. 16 mph. Not bad, but I know I can drop some serious time on the bike. I just have to learn how to get more power so I can have more speed...
T2 was another long run to re-rack then a short jaunt to hit the course. 2 loop 5K. First loop was uneventful. Rain got harder and it felt wonderful as it cooled me off. On lap 2 I got passed by a 79 year old man in a speedo. Getting passed by someone who is 45 years older than you who's not even breathing hard- kinda takes the wind out of your sails. Made fun chasing him the rest of the lap, tho (but I didn't look too close as his speedo gave me the heebie jeebies a little).
Good race overall. A sprint is a whole other animal from longer distances. I've said before that I'll take an oly or a HIM over a sprint any day. At least with the longer distances I can get in a rhythm and settle down. In a sprint I'm, well... sprinting (duh)- the whole way and that's soooo hard on me. I'm not speedy by nature. Glad I got a new kind of race under my belt, tho. I got 3rd in my AG (out of 10 this time instead of out of 3). :p Everytime I place in my AG it's a race that only recognizes the first 1 or 2 places. Dad-nabit. One day I'll actually win something...:)
Now I just have to figure out my next race...
So how did our other racers do this weekend??????