Race Report- First triathlon of the season

[KSH]

Triathlon - Sprint
Total Time = 1h 25m 22s
Overall Rank = 45/161
Age Group Rank = 8/17
Pre-race routine:

I would like to start this race report by saying that this is the most prepared I have ever been going into a race. I was prepared by my months, days, hours of training. I think it showed.

I of course, owe this improvement to getting a coach (Mike Plumb- on my friends list). By having weekly workouts sent to me, I make myself more accountable to completing what I have been given. Prior to this year, I would let myself take extra rest days and skip workouts. Before I knew it, it was race day and I hadn't trained as much as I needed to.

With that said, I know I will do fine in my Olympic tri. The run will be a challenge, but if I can pace myself, I should be just fine. I am trained and ready.
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Pre-Race meal the night before: Alfredo's cheese lasagna. YUMMY!

Had a wonderful nights sleep and woke up refreshed and ready to go. I ate 2 waffles and a veggie bacon/cheese breakfast sandwich.

Jonny picked me up and off to the races we went.

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Event warmup:

The warmup consisted of standing around and chatting. I found Ashley (*) and we stood around waiting for our wave to start.

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SWIM
Time: 10:38
546.81 yards
1 minute 56 seconds per 100 yards
Place 1st out of 17 in age group

SWIM COMMENTS:

After we got into the water, we had to get back out to cross the timing mat. Crossed the timing mat and got back in.

It was cold. The wetsuit made it bearable though.

So we start with a deep water start, and I seat myself to the front and center. As does every other lady. Ugh. At one point I got a little panicked because I felt like some of them were pushing me down as they were threading water. I tried to get out of the crowd, but there was no where to go. Oh well.

Then we started. Talk about a miserable mass start. I didn't put my face in the water for the first 100 yards for fear of getting kicked. I was basically swimming on top of a bunch of people.

Finally the pack cleared out some. Great. I made it to the first buoy and took a left. I can't see where I need to go, so I stop and site. I did this a few times during the swim.

Then I am swimming, and I can't swim a straight line to save my life. I kept running into some girl. Although at the time, I thought she was the one who couldn't swim straight. I was wrong.

Mind you, this whole time, I'm fighting off a panic attack (which I have NEVER HAD IN THE WATER!) because my chest feels constricted and I can't breathe normally. I talk myself through the entire swim to try to calm down.

About 300 yards into I finally got into a groove. Stroke-breathe-stroke.

Then it was over. This was honestly my worst open water swim ever.

With all of that said... I KILLED IT on the SWIM! I beat the girl who won my AG, by 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Everyone else had a swim time of 14 minutes or higher.

So, even though I can in first, I am rating my swim below average, because it was no where near what I can do.

Just think what I can do when I feel good on a swim. HA!

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY ON THE SWIM?

Ah, what could be done? When I get back to swimming in warm water without a silly wetsuit, I'll be killing it again.

NOTE: The rented wetsuit fit really nice and I liked it. I might end up keep the Blue Seventy after all. But I have to see how the Zoot Zenith fits!


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T1 Time, 4:20

T1 COMMENTS

As soon as I left the water, I dropped to the ground (out of the way) and took that wetsuit off. Just as my coach instructed (see I do listen!).

I then ran the REALLY LONG WAY to my bike. Once at my bike my transition was laid out perfectly. I did a wonderful job there. Although, I did put on a long sleeved shirt, which took some time. Oh well, warm is good.

At my transition area, the girl who racked next to me was on the other side of the fence crying with her parents. Apparently she DNF'ed (did not finish!) on the swim. Without a wetsuit it was just too cold I think. I made sure to let her know that it was a hard swim.

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BIKE
Time: 35 minutes and 55 seconds
Distance 10 miles
16.70 mph average

BIKE COMMENTS:

Hopped on my bike and away I went!

I was riding the Tarmac today as the Cervelo was in the shop. I'm glad I did considering there were some hills.

I can't really say much about the bike. It was pretty uneventful. I passed some of the duathlon people, got passed by the fast guys on the tri bikes. My breathing was labored at times due to the hills and I worked to bring it down by riding my own ride and not getting too caught up in passing people.

I am going to rate this ride average though, as I felt like I could have done a little better. I felt a somewhat tired on the bike.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY ON THE BIKE?

Nothing.

Although, it would have been nice to FEEL MY FEET. They were completely numb from the cold water swim. I didn't feel my toes again into 1 mile into the run.


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T2 Time, 2:28

T2 COMMENTS: This was pretty smooth. In and out I went.
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RUN
Time: 31:58
Distance: 3.2 miles
10:17 minutes per mile

RUN COMMENTS:

When I took off on the run, my goal was to not get a side cramp and to keep my own pace.

That was hard to do. Honestly, I felt like I was moving so slow. EVERYONE was passing me. Seriously. In fact, on the whole run I only passed ONE person, and that's because she started walking.

Still so, I see that I was running a pretty fast pace. Which is probably why I got a side cramp about 1.5 miles into it. Good for me that I am use to running with a side cramp! I massaged it, breathed deep and only stopped to walk for a short distance up the huge hill.

I saw Jonny (my boyfriend) on the run, he was going out and I was going in. I was shocked that he was behind me and I was determined to keep it that way. So I kept plugging away and made it to the finish line before he did.

As I ran for the finish line, DocShock was so cool to cheer for me (as he did other BTers). I made sure to smile and wave back and then to pump the crowd up by cheering too. It was fun.

I crossed the finish line and I felt pretty good.

I am ranking this as a good run, because I ran so fast!

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERNTLY ON THE RUN?
I probably need to get a watch so I can pace myself on the run. If I had a watch on, I would have known I was not going an 11 minute mile.

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WARM DOWN:

Walked around and chatted with BTers. Always a good time.

We also got to watch some of the kiddos compete in their duathlon. It was so cute! Some of those kids were hardcore though- racing shirtless in tri shorts and riding road bikes.

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WHAT LIMITED YOUR ABILITY TO PERFORM FASTER?

RUNNING!

Let's face it, if I could RUN... I would probably place in my age group. Or at least get darn close to placing.

It's so sad, 1st out of the water... and 12th on the run. Ugh

[colby]

Great job, KSH! Even though you might not be the fastEST, you certainly are fastER. Awesome work on the swim, as usual.

Great opening to the season, that's for sure.

[tattiefritter]

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERNTLY ON THE RUN?
I probably need to get a watch so I can pace myself on the run. If I had a watch on, I would have known I was not going an 11 minute mile.

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It's so sad, 1st out of the water... and 12th on the run. Ugh

Well done KSH, I personally think the swim is the hardest thing for most people as its definite technique, the other two disciplines can be got with time, though that may be just my opinion because I can't swim for toffee, you obviously feel that way about running at the minute.

Definitely buy a watch for running with, one with lap timers so you can record your splits. One of the best things I've ever bought for running is my Polar RS200sd with footpod because it tells me my pace there and then - I don't have to wait until mile markers to figure it out - I can see instantly when I'm going too fast or too slow.

I'll be looking forward to the Oly Tri report.

[HappyAnika]

Yay! Great job! Congrats on placing first in the swim, that's awesome considering you had some difficulty. You rock! That's great you had a good race overall to start the season.

[alpinerabbit]

Awesome job!

I'm glad mine is still 2 months off to let the lake warm up.

[mountainchick]

Congrats! That was an awesome race report. I appreciated your detail because I ran yesterday and I was trying to figure out if I had a good run time (same as yours, around 10 min mile) and its nice to see I'm not the only one. I wish I could be faster, like you said.

Thanks again for the report!

[mukluk]

Congratulations. I enjoyed reading your race report!!! Great swim. I can assure you I will NEVER be the first one out of the water in a tri. Glad you stuck with it and finished despite the cold!!! Great job!!!

[RoadRaven]

woo hoo KSH!

Great report!

And great enthusiasm for future races... the running will pick up now you are back "on your legs".

And I agree on the watch thing - I have one with loads of bells and whistles - I use the time and the stop watch and hardly anything else.

So... when is the next one??

[ChainsOflove]

You rock!! makes me want to try that!