Metroplex Sprint Tri - Race Report

It was an eventful morning on race morning.... my alarm was set for 4:15 am for an allotted 15 min of snooze time.....I was going to hop out of bed, eat some breakfast, braid my hair and grab my stuff to be out of the house by 5:15am at the latest........

This is what happened instead...

Something woke me up but not my alarm.  Maybe it was the vibrating from my phone when Cayla texted me, maybe it was my perpetual fear that I'm going to oversleep but I woke up and my watch said this...

5:28am

My iphone said this.....


*never mind the flea comment*

Holy Crap!  It was a 40 minute drive to the race site and the entry to the park where transition was closing at 6:30am.  Needless to say - I had time to throw my hair in ponytail, brush my teeth, grab my bag and scoot.  I had loaded my bike up on Saturday night so all I had to do was grab my water bottles, my transition bag and go go go!!

I hauled ass for 36.1 miles to the park entry.  I was relieved when I made it by 6:15a.m. and still had an hour before my wave went off.  Cayla pulled in right behind me and we pumped up our tires and headed to transition.

This was day 2 of a 2 day race.  So the field of athletes were smaller...transition was smaller, waves were smaller, the race was not stressful at all.

Swim:

Transition area from bike in/out

I was surprisingly calm before the swim start.  I normally have serious nerves and anxiety; but this time I was calm.  I remember telling Cayla before the gun sounded that it was like swimming in bath water.  The water temp was 84 degrees race morning.  (we almost hit 100* a few times last week)

The sun was up and we were ready to start.  I was in wave 1 - yellow caps - M/F 30 - 39. 

The gun went off and I started in the back of the pack (just where I like it)... I took in water for the first 100m  or so... I could not get my timing down from the waves coming in and my breathing; I just kept going and tried to sight like Jason taught me during one of our OWS practices.... from Cayla's recollection I didn't do so well at swimming in straight line

I hit the first turn buoy and finally felt like I was in a groove - I kept the buoys on my right and passed a few people as I covered meter after meter.  At the second turn buoy I kicked someone and realized it was Cayla!  YAY! She was right there - later she told me she stayed behind me the entire time I probably swam double the distance because of my inability to sight correctly.  In fact her exact words were, 'you swim like you walk' - that's was best friends are for!

After another 10 or so strokes my arm hit the bottom and I was up and running out of the water towards transition.

Swim: 400m

Time: 11:24

Grade: A- I'm happy that I beat my time but I need to work on sighting.  Swimming in a straight line is apparently not my strong suit. 

T1

My heart rate had skyrocketed towards the end of the swim and into transition.  It took my breath away almost and I thought I was in for it on the bike.

I took an extra 30-45 seconds in T1 trying to get my garmin on... I had technical difficulties all day with my Garmin and my Polar so I had to just go without the gadgets and enjoy the race.  It was actually nice :)

T1 - 2:30

Grade - F  I forgot to add in T1 and T2 times in my goal..

Bike:

The bike as an out and back 11 mile course.  It was flat and supposed to be fast, known to be a PR course for the sprint distance.  On the way out I got up to 19 mph and my legs were feeling good.  We had a bit of a tailwind on the way out but you know what that means....head wind on the way back in.

The course went out over the damn - u-turned at the end of the damn and back in.  Once you got over the water it was kind of a mix between a head wind and a cross wind on the way back in so that was no fun.

Cayla and I stayed together on the bike course and switched off who led and who followed (don't worry no drafting!)  It was fun to be out there racing again

Bike - 11miles

Time - 38:51 - 17mph avg

Grade - A I'm happy with my performance on the bike.  I hammered down and really wanted to average over 16mph.  I probably could have pushed harder looking back; but I met my goals and was overall happy with my performance

T2:

Pretty uneventful - 1:14

Grade: B Just need to work on getting this a little quicker

Run:

First off, I am a terrible runner... why I thought I could pump out 9 min. miles is beyond me... wishful thinking I guess.  I told Cayla not to wait for me on the run... I knew she was killing it and I didn't want to hold her back.  You have to race YOUR race and I know that running is my weakness and it is her strongest.  I didn't want her to miss out on a great first race of the season because of me.  

I struggled on the run.  I have had some ITB issues since the RNR Dallas 1/2 in March... I was OK in NOLA but it still acted up and today I had hammered on the bike and was afraid it may get a little angry on the run.  I was right. 

There was an aid station about a 1/2 mile into the run; I grabbed some water and walked the length of the table and that's when Cayla and I separated.  I thought a little break on the pounding would help.  I picked up my run and just wanted to be done.

I hate running.

I wish I like it but I don't.  OK I said it.  

Run - 2m

Time - 21:36 - 10:48/mile

Grade: F - for obvious reasons....

I love racing with Cayla - I'm so glad we were able to race again.  This was the first time since 2009 and it felt great!

Cayla ended up placing third in our AG with a pretty sweet bronze medal:

Best Race Partner ever!

Wanna come to the gun show?

And me in my bling! Run for the bling of it challenge month 6 complete!  (I guess I should recap my May bling huh?!)



Just to let you know - that was the last diet coke I've drank...right there.... I want it...... really really really really want it......