1st Tri-Dunedin Sprint - Post Race Report June 9, 2008
Posted by boardgrl Uncategorized
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What an awesome experience! I know, everyone says that…but it’s soooo true. I had a great cheering section- my hubby, kids, parents, sister, friends — and doing this first race with the Tri Training group and my friend Emily truly upped the motivation factor throughout the race. So here’s the low down.
Pre Race: I wake up at 5am. I’m excited, but I’m not feeling any butterflies for some reason - either it hasn’t hit me yet or I’m definitely suppressing something here. Went with my old faithful breakfast of oatmeal and acai juice (I wondered though if that would be enough and now wish I had gone with a bagel and peanut butter). So, I’m not feeling nervous yet. On the drive to the race, however, I really started thinking about it — and it hit me —-and at that moment I wished I had a plastic bag within reach. It must have been my oatmeal breakfast I was suppressing (and somehow was continuing to suppress!) Got to the race and I’m directed to the overflow parking lot about a half mile away from transition - it’s an hour till the race and I feel like I’ve shown up late! This should have been a 4 leg race including the fully loaded hike from my car to transition (note for next Tri - pack a backpack and ride to transition in case this happens again), but I got there and laid everything out - perfect! Then along comes a late comer who shoves my bike aside on the rack, squeezes her bike in and in the process tears apart my transition set up. Determined not to let it bother me, I put a smile on, helped the late comer get settled with her stuff (she was obviously stressing more than I) and reset up my transition items. Met up with my buds from tri training and we mark each others numbers and get psyched about the race. We head down the beach to the swim and watch the first couple swim waves go out.
1/4 mile Swim time: 7:50
There’s a wicked current dragging everyone to the wrong side of the first buoy so we decide to move down a bit further for our start and let the current naturally pull us toward the buoy. As this is my first race I positioned myself behind who I thought may have been some of the faster swimmers - wrong. The bull horn blows and we are off, but those in front of me are moving soooo slowly and with 34 women entering the water at once, it was chaos. The water was just above knee deep for most of the swim which was difficult and being that we were near the mouth of the inlet, there was a bit of motor oil in the water. How do I know this? Well, let’s just say we revisited the oatmeal suppression thing once again. Goggles fogged on me and so sighting was difficult. Made it out of the water, but felt I could have done better if a) goggles had been defogged with some spit so I could see and b) if I had positioned myself out front and taken my chances with getting swam over.
T1: 2:53
I took a little time to catch my breath and rinse my face of saltwater and feet of sand and grit, put on my bike shoes (sans socks) and take off toward the bike start with unsure feet in my cleats.
12 mile Bike time: 44:17
The bike portion was really exhilarating and the scenery was beautiful. I snapped right into my (one sided, ugh!) cleats and really felt in control of my bike, my speed, my gears. Most of the ride was relatively flat with two smallish bridges that were a little challenging but fun (especially picking up speed on the down side!) I should have taken in more water on the ride but I was really focused on speed and cutting my turns (lots of turns on this course) so I only got a few sips in. I felt strong on the bike, but knew I was spending (the opposite of saving) my legs for the run. Lessons learned on the bike: practice hills and turns more to optimize speed, drink more fluids either before (in T1) or while riding and definitely pop some carb boom! or shot blocks as the oatmeal seemed a distant memory to my body and I felt like I should have taken in a little additional fuel, but didn’t want to waste T time.
T2 time: 1:55
Very happy with my T2 time. Hopped off the bike and couldn’t feel my legs so I kinda gingerly clip clopped into T2, racked my bike and swapped into running shoes. Got up and still couldn’t feel my legs and knew the run was going to be rough.
3.1 mile Run time: 33:53
I just couldn’t get my legs under me. The first and last half mile was across an asphalt parking lot which was fine, but the two miles in between were trail. Loose sand and tree roots were the name of the game on the run and it was TOUGH! I hadn’t trained in sand and was feeling it big time in my hips and lower back. I was exhausted by mile 2 and fast-walked a bit, which I was disappointed in myself for doing, but my body just wouldn’t let me do anything else and honestly my fast walk was almost as fast as my run at that point since my legs were spent. I was outrageously surprised that my run time came in at 33:53 because it felt more like 53:53! Future training note: run trails and figure out how to work the sand, have more fuel and fluids in me before starting the run.
Overall race results 1:30:47
Right on the nose for what I was shooting for and I know where I can make improvements, but I’m very happy with this time.
So, there you have it. I trained for 9 weeks - four to five days a week for my first Tri and now I can’t believe it’s actually come and gone. It’s been such a torch in the distance, my driving force, my motivation for getting out there an doing something worthwhile for my mental and physical well being. Next torch in the distance is Crystal River Tri on 8/30.
Comments
hooah that sounds awesome i hope that one day i can run a triathlon good luck on the next one!
yay! good job kristen, you really kicked some major ass! you should be soooo proud of yourself
youre doing crystal river on 8/30? its an awesome course and i will definitely be out there. the bike is so flat and fast, the run is fast and the swim is short!
Kristen,
Well done and well described. Nothing like acheiving a goal like that.
I hope to do the same eventually (the swimming part scares me a little though).
Rock on!
Hey everyone, thanks for the kind words. It was definitely difficult, but worth every drop of sweat!
I know this is a month behind, but I am a new member and just read this blog today. CONGRATULATIONS!! That was so inspiring to read. I am training for my first triathlon in September. Way nervous about the swim, but I think it is just because where I live there are no pools to practice in unless you own your own. I am still determined to do it and finish strong. Anyway thank you for the details of your experience. It makes me hopeful that I too can be as successful and enjoy the ride.!!! Thanks again.