Longleaf Sprint - Race Report October 20, 2008
Posted by boardgrl Uncategorized
Digg! this story.
, trackback
Longleaf Triathlon - October 19, 2008
The day before the race we picked up our packets and went down to check out the lake. This will be my first lake swim triathlon and of course, being in Florida, the usual worries of snakes and gators plagued us a bit. The race was a time trial race where each racer individually enters the water at 5 second intervals. My number was 373, so I figured if 372 people go into the water and 372 people come out of the water ahead of me, all should be fine. Had an awesome chicken and pasta pre-race dinner.
Race day I wake up just before the alarm at 5:15am, but I forgot to turn if off — so for that I apologize to my husband. I had everything packed the night before and so I was ready to take off once maggie may rolled up. I head outside and realize it is FREEZING cold!!! In Tampa, anything less than 60 degrees is officially freezing and it was 59 out. I wear a sweatshirt but failed to put on sweatpants (big mistake) and so froze until the sun came up 2 and a half hours later and about 10 minutes before I entered the water. I spent a lot of energy jumping up and down to keep warm and chattering my teeth before the race.
The swim in the lake wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated, and even though they declared it wetsuit legal, I was not one bit cold once I got in the water. There was a bit of confusion with the buoys and the course markings so after stopping to find out what the heck was going on, I decided to just follow the majority of the swimmers around the one buoy then head into shore - definitely lost some time there. I thought I did well on my swim - my form was good and I felt less tired than in other races, but my time spoke otherwise and I came in 16 seconds behind my last quarter mile swim race. Oh, well, I can deal with that. What I could not deal with was the run to transition which was up a hill and across a field and then through a parking lot - it was at least a quarter mile - probably more like a third mile. I now know the sorrow of a 5 minute transition - utterly defeative and frustrating!
The bike ride was nice along and through Starkey Park, but I realized that I truly need aerobars - the head wind was cranking and I felt “held back” and everytime I tried to get low, my shoulders would ache. On the Christmas wish list they go! Bike time was on par with my last race which is fine.
So far, no breaking news in the “improvement” department - until I get to my run. Now, this is my third sprint tri, each a 5K run. In my first race, my run time was 33:53, at my second race it was 33:29. At Longleaf it was 29:43 - WOO HOO! I was sooo not expecting a 3:46 improvement, but I WILL take it considering I didn’t improve anywhere else. The body moves first - those who know, will know.
I was very excited to see my overall time at 1:19:02, though I did miss placing third in my age class by 2 mins - not sure where I could have picked that up (maybe a minute or so at transition) so I have to just be happy that I finished and made some sort of improvement. Thank you to my husband for getting there before the race start and for keeping me warm, thank you to Emma my 6 year old who makes the most brilliant cheering posters and who I can hear a mile away cheering me on, and thank you to Sydney my 9 year old daughter who ran along the sidewalk for the last half a block of this race with me and who will someday be my training/racing buddy.
My first Tri season is over for me and I am a happier, healthier person for it. I’m definitely proceeding with off season training and plan to do some 5Ks this fall/winter.
See you outside!
Comments
Great job, you kick but. Happy to see that you improved so much on the run, I wish I could, and you didn’t throw up this time, good job. Keep up the good work.