Celebration Sprint Tri Race Report

[divingbiker]

I'm almost embarrassed to post this after reading Susan's HIM race report, but here goes.

I had a good race at the Celebration Triathlon in Ellicott City, Maryland yesterday. The course is a long sprint, the same as the IronGirl: 0.62 mile swim, 17.5 mile bike ride, and 3.4 mile run.

I haven’t really been “training,” just doing a few swims, a few rides on my road bike (along with commuting), and a few runs a week with an occasional 5K thrown in. I’ve really slacked on the running since doing a half marathon in early May.

On top of not really training, I was sick with a bad cold last week, and on Friday night I got stung by a bee on the bottom of my big toe. So I didn’t have high hopes for having an amazing triathlon but I just do these to stay in reasonable shape and have fun, so I'm ok with MOP-BOP finishes.

I got up at 4:15, fed and walked the dogs, put on my Louis Garneau tri shorts and top, and got out the door about 5. I had a cup of coffee and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the way. Traffic wasn’t bad, even at the race site. I had a soy yogurt before I headed over to the transition area shortly before 6, only to find that my front tire was flat! So I took it to a nice young man at the Princeton Sports repair tent and he patched the tube and filled my tires while I stood in line at the porta johns. Then I set up transition, chatted with a few others in my age group (50-54), saw MDHillSlug and chatted with her a bit, and headed over to the swim start, where I again hung out with MDHillSlug.

I am used to the old ladies going first at the IronGirl races, but in this one we were the 9th wave. I hate waiting around.

The water was warm, around 84F, and full of nasty grasses that would wrap around your arms and legs. I started slowly but kept a steady stroke, and ended up passing a few of the others who had gone out too quickly. I also passed a few men from the wave in front of me. That never happens. My time was 32:01, very slow, but I’m now taking swimming lessons to improve my speed. I have a lot of swimming endurance and never really get tired and felt good, but I am verrrry slow. 46/57 AG, 553/696 women

I had a nice shower on the way to T1 from the water hose and took my time to wash my feet and make sure I didn’t forget anything. T1 wasn’t stellar at 4:17. 26/57 AG, 409/696 women

I got on the bike and felt great! I had the best ride of my life on this very hilly course. I was passing people right and left and many fewer passed me. There were several accidents requiring ambulances, so I kept thinking about those riders and was very careful, but I pushed it as fast as I could. I dropped my chain on a hill toward the end, but put it back on quickly and powered up the hill. I drank a bottle of Gatorade in the first 10 miles, then switched to water and had a Gu somewhere in there. I felt awesome, and had an average speed of 15.0 mph for the course, which is the best I’ve ever done on any ride, hilly or flat. It was fantastic. 26/57 AG, 344/696 women

Had another Gu during T2, which again was slow at 2:59. I wasn’t worrying about hurrying through transitions because I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget anything or run with my helmet or something stupid. 39/57 AG , 517/696 women

By this time it was almost 10 o’clock, and it was around 90 degrees and humid. I had used up my legs on the bike and didn’t have much gas left, so I did a lot of walking. I must have run more than I thought I did, though, because my pace was 12:44. 40/47 AG, 524/696 women

I got a nice cold towel and my medal and headed up the hill for a bottle of water, a bagel with PBJ, and a banana. Then I headed home for a welcome shower (my bra was full of nasty grass from the swim) and a nice lunch at the Indian buffet.

Total time was 2:31:28, 35/57 AG, 454/696 women, 1021/1402 overall. I was shooting for 2:30, so I missed it by just a bit, but it was a PR on this course by 1:05.

I’ve got two months to work on my swimming and running and dropping a few pounds before Iron Girl in August.