Race Report - Mighty Montauk Sprint
I am so excited I can't not post this.
I've been doing sprint-length triathlons for two seasons, and this summer I really trained my little heart out. While I think I may shift gears and switch to duathlons (the swim hours in my neighborhood kill me), I'm thrilled about...my *run*!!!
RACE REPORT
We got out of Brooklyn at about 3 pm on Friday... and the 2.5 hour trip to the tip of Long Island took nearly 4 hours. That being said, ZipCar is great! Montauk was kinda hard to see in the dark, but we found our lodgings (Lenhart's Cottages) and a place to snorf pasta. Somehow, I completely FORGOT to check in and get my race packet. :eek: DH reassured a very flipping out me that tri people are very awesome people and that if we got there early tomorrow they'd make everything ok.
I slept like a fitful insomniac monkey.
We woke at 5 and were out at 5:12, new Velo Bella tri top and all. And it was COLD. 60 degree is not cold if you're bundled, but two layers of lycra doesn't cut it. I found the race director, got my packet, strapped on my timing chip and bought a race belt for my number (I hate using safety pins). Laid out my transition area -- the nice thing about being so freaking early for administrative reasons is that you get a premium transition spot! I munched my yogurt smoothie and a half muffin and nursed a gatorade for a while as I watched everyone else arrive and set up. And I realized: EVERYONE was wearing wetsuits. Mostly full suits. I was just in my tri suit. There was body glide and Pam cooking spray everywhere. Horrified, I wondered what kind of terrible mistake I'd made... :(
The briefing was at 6:35. We were warned about the wind and choppy water, told the start would be from chest-high water in 5 waves, and that the bike and run courses would be well marked. I just figured I'd be following everyone faster than me. We all wandered down to the water and DH took my jacket and pants. The water was warmer than the air, thankfully, but there were huge rocks and little pokey rocks and a generally unpleasant "beach" to serve as our launch in Fort Pond for the swim.
The swim leg left much to be desired. My sighting, however, was awesome, and the water temperature was beautiful. The problem was that every 4th stroke, I'd raise my head for a breath and get a faceful of water instead. :mad: Too much breaststroke, lots of fighting to the first buoy. The turn across the wind made it easier, and returning to shore felt like I finally got warmed up and could swim semi-normally. The exit was again rocky and unfun, and *everyone* was walking. I peeled off my cap and goggles and half-ran past the pokey folks I was with. Run, people! This is a RACE!!! The timing mat for T1 was way up near the area, not down by the water, so most people's swim looked longer on paper than it actually took them to swim the 750m.
Transition 1 was good. The hair cooperated and needed no rearrangement to be smashed into the bike helmet's convenient ponytail hole. Socks, shoes, racebelt, sunglasses, Gu, and I was off. Except I had no water bottles. We'd left them in Brooklyn. It's pretty hard to down a Gu without something to chase it. There was one "challenging" hill (per the race briefing) which found me at the side of the road after dropping my chain -- a problem I've been meaning to fix for a while now. It took no longer than 10 seconds to repair/adjust to perfection, and I tore up the hill, passing a few folks and seeing some numbers on my wattmeter I'd never seen before. The rest of the ride went great, passing far more people than passed me, and of those who passed me, most were at great velocity with tri bikes and aero helmets and I was happy to yield. (These people are my heroes, after all.:D) I topped out at over 30mph going back down that "challenging" hill!
Transition 2 was super fast. (I even beat DH's transition time from Lifetime in Mpls.) Jammed on the shoes, ripped off the helmet, and retied the ponytail as I ran out of the transition area. Waterstation right there: yay! About 2 gulps hit my mouth. I don't know where the rest went -- it never touched me.
The run began. I settled in behind about 5 people who were going at a pace I liked. And then I realized that I wasn't maxed out on my effort, and hey, I could *pass* some people. On the run. Heh. Never done that before. I picked one girl with a coral tank and strange shorts. Passed. An army guy pacing his girlfriend. Passed. Another girl whose form was awesome. Passed. I set my sights on a guy in his Descente t-shirt. I passed him just after 2 miles, but in the end he passed me again. I picked it up the last quarter-mile -- Jules was on the side of the road with his camera, and he was SHOCKED to see me. Later he'd tell me he thought he had at least another 90 seconds based on my prior 5k and more recent mile times. He got a few pics and I tore to the finish line like my @$$ was on fire. :cool: Woot!
Breakdown:
swim (750m) 18:39
T1 2:07
bike (17k) 39:05
T2 1:28
run (5k) 26:04
total 1:27:21
I averaged 16mph for the bike according to my PowerTap and 8 minute 24second miles for the run. That's better than the 5k race a few weeks ago, and it's after a swim! And a bike! I have no idea how that happened. But YAY!
Hope your life is just as exciting these days!!!
