We headed out to test out the bike route. Heather did the whole route. I didn't want to wear myself out so I did a long hill I had noticed on the drive just to see how my bike handled. On the way out I saw Molly coming back from driving the bike course. We fueled up, set up our stuff in transition, and went away to rest.
Waiting:
Heather following coaches orders.
I thought it sounded like a good idea.
Warm-up:
Damn, that water was cold! I wished I had arms on my wetsuit. Didn't swim the whole course but stayed in the water and swam around while the 3 waves ahead of me started.
Courtesy of Jen super-spectathlete!
Swim:
Messy swim. I could not get away from people. Very cloudy water couldn't even see the feet in front of me. And, there is one +35 year old woman out there that really needs a pedicure. It looks like one of the timing mats for the swim didn't work. But . . . according to my watch: 7:15.22.
Edit: They fixed the swim time. Official time is 7:13.4!
T1:
Caught my breath, put on my shoes loose to avoid foot pain. Still a little stunned about the messy swim. Ate some Luna Moons. Headed out.
Bike:
Walked up the first steep hill. Heard someone crash behind me. Ouch. Glad I walked. Mounted up and headed out. A more difficult course than I expected. Side stitch for the first half of the ride. Lots of turns and hills and wind. But my killer new bike carried me up every single hill. :-D I asked the guys at dismount if they really thought my legs would work. They laughed and said we are about to find out. Started down the steep hill with shoes, but didn't trust my tired legs so I stopped to take off my shoes and went down in my socks.
T2:
Pretty basic. Took some time to drink. (I wasn't comfortable reaching for my bottle on most of the ride.)
Wun:
Started out with stairs. Stairs? Anyway, fairly uneventful. Stuck to my 2 min run/1 min walk plan. Felt pretty strong, like I could keep going for awhile. As I was heading in all the fast people were heading out. Many had parked in the overflow parking. (I'm so glad we got there early. I don't what I would have done if we had to haul everything back to the car.) Many were encouraging: "you can do it," "keep pushing," "good job," "lookin' good," "you are almost done!" Hearing this was encouraging and amusing. The long hill at the end was tough, but I ran when I was supposed to. Booked it to the finish line.
Image courtesy of Molly, who despite a tough bike was yelling me in. :-)
Finish time: 1:58:37
Not an ideal race but I learned a lot that will help me in the upcoming months. 1. Don't be so cocky about the swim. 2. I need to go train with the bike on some hills. 3. I can conquer the hills. 4. It's good to practice the course.
Best of all spending the day with my amazing supportive friends!
3 comments:
Congratulations, great job! And yes, hills can be your friends :)
Very VERY proud of you - this was a big race for you and you were successful. You got to race with your new bike too(!) and learn what to work on for the future - great job!
Awesome race! You've come SO far since you first decided you might wanna try this crazy triathlon thing :) I am so impressed!
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