~1 hour to get checked off a list
~35 minutes to sign waivers and get the important stuff
~5 minutes for food
~20 minutes to get back into transition to get my stuff
~10 minutes to get out of transition with my stuff
plus the typical wait time to get out of the Res
But that's the pre-race report (see earlier posting)...
Leading up to the race, I was surprisingly chill about the whole thing. I guess it is a sprint. But I was totally organized hours before I went to bed. And I slept really well, waking only because Mobi required some attention (he had to be re-covered). I woke up before my alarm and was out of house right on schedule. I tried to get down a plain bagel, but it wasn't working out so well for me. I made it to the Res and parked without much waiting at all. My biggest concern was my foot. It's been bothering me for about the last 6 weeks, and is now being called sesmoiditis. Fortunately it doesn't bother me when I run, but the week before it was killing me when I walked. I was dreading walking around barefoot, which hurts the most. Due to poor planning or not paying attention, I ended up doing a lot more walking around barefoot before the race than I would have liked. My foot was incredibly tender as I was lining up for the swim start.
The Swim:
Fortunately the water was a little on the colder side and I think that helped numb my foot (it's been interesting that swimming is the one activity that I do feel the pain. Running and riding it's fine). Anyhow, it didn't bother me for the rest of the race. Phew. I started on the front line of the swim (first time), but to the outside. People were actually backing away from the line so when the gun went off, there wasn't really anyone coming up from behind and I had a straight shot. Unfortunately, it's a clockwise course and I breathe to my left, so I believe I swam a little wide. The swim was otherwise uneventful and before I knew it (it was a short swim afterall) I was back on the beach. I had managed to forget all about my foot and didn't really mind the run up to transition - but I was grateful for the carpeting they had laid out.
T1:
I ran past my rack. I sort of figured it would happen since every time I tried to find my rack, I ended up passing it. So much for quick transitions.
The Bike:
My fastest bike time on this course was set the very first year I did the race (2005) and on my old "tri" bike when I didn't really know what I was doing. Every year I don't even come close to beating it, despite a much nicer (lighter) bike and having a slightly better idea of what I'm doing. That being said, I've been trying to work on my cycling and feel like slowly, very slowly, I'm starting to improve. If there was ever a year to PR on the bike, it would be this year. I came out of the Res feeling pretty good and just started passing people. This is a big deal because I'm usually the one that gets passed and passed and passed. But I guess that's the one nice thing about having all of the guys starting first (and starting towards the end) - there weren't that many people behind me to pass me. But despite this, it felt different this time. I actually felt like I was riding well and passing a lot. I just hoped that I could keep it up. I thought I was going to get penalized on the first hill off of 36. It was right after the downhill stretch where everyone is flying, but then they get to the hill and sort of stop. Someone had just passed me, so I had to drop back, but then we were coming up on a few people that were a lot slower so both of us had to pass. I was starting to catch up with the person that had just passed me and turned to look behind me to make sure I wasn't about to cut someone else off. The ref was right there on the motorcycle, so I pulled back in - I wasn't about to throw myself in front of a motorcycle. But they didn't ride by, so I looked again and they were still there just watching. At this point I felt like I had to pass because I was getting way too close to the people in front of me. Since they weren't really moving, I pulled out. And because I thought they were watching me, I felt like I had to fly by everyone to make it look like I was trying to pass and had valid reason to. Fortunately it was towards the top of the hill so I didn't have to kill myself for too long. I was able to power on the rest of the ride and felt pretty good coming back into the Res. If I didn't PR, I had to be pretty close.
T2:
I'm not sure why I didn't notice it on the way out on the bike - maybe because I was still catching my breath and orientation from going from horizontal to vertical. I got new cleats this past week since mine were WELL beyond their prime. And like a seasoned triathlete, I didn't bother trying them out before the race. When I got off the bike, I felt like I was running on reverse heels - they were so high and clunky. I had to slow down for fear of wiping out. Maybe it's time to start practicing leaving my shoes in my pedals. I swapped shoes, grabbed my hat, and was off.
The Run:
I drank a little too much on the ride and immediately had cramps on the run. They were severe enough that I couldn't run hard. So I plodded through the first mile until they eventually subsided. I was able to pick up the pace at this point and just tried to focus on getting faster over the last 2 miles. I'd like to this that I got faster each mile, but I can't say for sure. I certainly felt better each mile, and maybe that's more important. I finished strong despite being 3 minutes slower than my goal time.
swim: 14:06
t1: 2:01
bike: 51:01 (20.2 mph)
t2: 1:20
run: 25:22 (8:11 min/mile)
total: 1:33:48
age: 15/97
female: 79/553
overall: 395/1277
I did PR on the bike by 1 second. I'm still trying to figure that one out. I went from 20.1 to 20.2 but that only yielded a second faster. But oh well, I'll take it. And considering I was coming off of working 12 days straight, I'd say that overall, it was a pretty good race.
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