My first race!!!!!Race report (kinda long)
Today was my very first race, the Danskin New England sprint tri. I have very much enjoyed reading everyone else's race reports, so I figured I'd share my own!!!
I woke up this morning to thunderstorms of a biblical magnitude!!! I seriously was unsure if the race would even go off, but got out of the hotel by 5:30 and to the race site by 6am. The rain miraculously stopped around 6:30, and they delayed the start of the 1st wave until 7:30 to give the bike course sometime to dry out.
Swim distance was 1/2 mile, but really felt shorter to me. I was in wave #18, so I had lots of time to get nervous!!! I watched everyone go aff and cheered for all the other ladies in my tri training group. When it was my turn, I positioned myself at the front of the wave, as I was a competitive swimmer for 10 years and am quite aggressive in the water. The swim felt GREAT! Water temp was about 75, and my body just felt good! There wasone other girl swimming with me from my wave and it was nice to have someone to pace with. Swimming through the wave that had started beforehand was a little nerve racking, but a good learning experience. I finished the swim in 7:37 and hauled butt to t1. I was close to the swim exit to the transition area, but far from the bike exit. I got through t1 in 2:28 with no glitches.
The bike was a 12 mile ride through nice winding residential roads. Kinda hilly, but nothing killer. I made sure to drink my accelerade on the bike, as I usually forget when practicing (I just get so excited!!!). A LOT of inexperienced riders, so I had to be careful. I spent a lot of time yelling "on your left!!!"
The bike felt good as well. My legs were moving along, and my breathing was well regulated. I finished the bike in 40:07, a 17.9 mph average. T2 was similarly uneventful, got my shoes changed, remembered to take off my helmet and out on my race belt, took one last slurp of accalerade and headed out to the run which was, of course, on the other side of the transition area :rolleyes: T2 was 1:50.
The run is my least favorite by FAR and it took me a good mile before I was able to regulate my breatingand work out the "bike legs" feeling. But, I settled in to my pace and just tried to get it done. I did try to drink a cup of water handed to me by a race volunteer and nearly drowned. I will have to work on it. I passed some people, was passed by others, but overall was satisfied by my run, although next time I will probably try to push harder in the beginning as I had a bit more left in the tank at the end. It was a 2.8 mile out-and -back, and I was sooooooo happy and excited to see the bid finish line! Crossing made me feel so proud, and I really felt that the last 12 weeks of training have been completely worthwhile. I seriously almost cried. I finished the run in 24:33, which I am happy with (but I know there is room for improvement!). I was happy to run under 9 minute miles, that was all I wanted out of the run.
Overall, my time was 1:16:36.
Swim split: 7:37, rank: 9/2468
Bike split: 40:07, rank: 90/2468
Run split: 24:33, rank: 369/2468
I finished 7th out of 191 in my age group, and 61st overall (out of 2468). I am really really happy with the race, and quite surprised about my times as well. I have 7 weeks until my next race, and you better believe I am going to focus on running!!! Sorry this was so long, I'm just very excited about race #1 of hopefully many!!!
