Another weekend, another sprint
:)
Today I raced another local race that actually had an in-water river down-current (though the current was essentially nonexistent/super subtle) 1/2 mile swim, an 11 mile bike, and full 5k run. I raced Athena, again. And again, another fast Athena race! I looked at last year's results and the winner's time was 6 or so minutes faster this year, and 2nd/3rd place were 8 minutes faster. Wow! Go ladies.
Weather: was wet and humid most of the swim and bike, rain/drizzle. On the run, the drizzle wore off, but the sun didn't come out until after I was done. It was perfect, except I am a totally paranoid cyclist around corners normally, let alone when it's wet.
Swim: still nursing my shoulder/neck from the car accident (argh!!!). Need to get back to serious swim training soon, I'm suffering for it. Swim start was in-water and athenas started first of the women instead of last. We swam outside of the buoys (3 of them, I think, maybe 2) which were on toward the riverbank until we got to this dock area where we cut over and literally walked up a short ramp to a deck that overlayed the river for these condos that are right there, and ran on asphalt up to transition. It was weird. I wouldn't recommend an in-water or river race for a first-timer. It would be much nicer to be able to see where you had to go. All the ladies that passed me had on wetsuits. I drafted them for a while where I could.
T1: I did pretty well. Fastest transition of the Athenas by 20 seconds, but again, the other top 4 ladies around me also wore wetsuits. Their swim times were 1-2 minutes ahead of mine, so I guess if you're a pro at taking it off, it really is worth it. Maybe I'll try a farmer john - or a skin suit, but I don't think that'd buy me 1-2 minutes.
Bike: I had no idea where I was relative to other women at this point. Teams went in front of us so there were women ahead even if they weren't in my category. I must have passed the 4th place finisher on the bike. It was a 3-loop course on pothole-free but not smooth pavement. One way was gradual downhill with a tailwind, the other uphill with a headwind that picked up as time went on. With the 3 loops, after the first one, you really had no idea where anyone relative to you was - a blessing and a curse, I think. I forgot to reset my bike computer so I have no idea if their measurement of the distance was accurate. Very few people stayed right, but I did try to pass on the left when I could.
T2: I did take some time to wipe off my feet. Transition was in packed dirt with some gravel, so it was not going to be comfortable in my shoes. I can handle sand, but not this. Still, not bad for me.
Run: I am so thankful it was not sunny, but it was still hot. I felt like I was running as fast as I could for a fair amount of the distance, but should have gone out stronger. There are two out-and-back sections on a paved trail, with one significant hill before mile 2. The finish loops through the park where everything was held, and was deceptively far. I am a crappy runner. I ran with the masters athena winner for a while, but had to let her go at the last 1/4 mile or so because she was stronger than I was. She was kind and told me I was a strong runner. ;)
Could have done without the 6:20AM mandatory meeting (they announce the wave start times and comment about general stuff). Too bad not everyone gets a medal or anything. Race schwag wasn't bad, I used my $1 off cold stone creamery coupon to eat ice cream... something I haven't done in months. God I love peanut butter. Peanut butter, peanut butter cups, and caramel in vanilla ice cream. Mmmmmmmmmmm.
2nd place finisher: 30 seconds ahead. 1st place finisher: 5 minutes ahead. Again, taller girls - though the 2nd place girl was way more what I'd expect for what Athenas are. 4th place finisher was 16 seconds behind. ;)
Total / time back: 01:23:40.8 / 00:05:01.700
Swim (1/2 mile): 00:16:30.893 (ugh) - 4th (non-masters) athena out of the water
T1: 00:01:20.717 - fastest athena
Bike (11 miles): 00:34:35.253 (19mph again.... curse you 20 for being out of reach!) - 2nd athena by 30 seconds
T2: 00:01:59.629 (man tying shoes takes forever... and maybe I should learn to run without socks) - mid-range (skewed by people who don't wear cycling shoes, though)
Run (3.1 miles): 00:29:14.339 (9:25 min mile, curse you genes ;)) - 3rd athena (the 4th place girl was actually the fastest run - 1st was 27 minutes, 2nd was 31 minutes, 4th was 26 minutes)
Had I gone age group, I'd have been 7th of 42 women, 6th out of the water, 4th off the bike, 11th on the run. Yeah, running again. Overall I was 30 of 280-some women.
I was with a friend doing her first tri. I got her a shirt I found on zazzle.com that says "triathlete." on it. No "but it's just a sprint," no "but it took me over 2 hours," no "but I'm still carrying extra weight." Just: triathlete. Because that's what she is. I believe the suction of the triathlon tentacles may have ahold of her. ;)
