Race Report - Wendy's

Sunday's race went really well. It's local race called Wendy's International Tri (although it's not an international distance), but we do it every year and they always have a great turn out. Plus, it's only 10 minutes from our house which makes it even more alluring! :) Got to the lake early and my trusty bike mechanic with me (no dropped derailleurs this time that can't be fixed!). It was a beautiful morning - great day for a race!

Got checked in and everything racked in transition. We had probably 45 minutes to spare before my wave went off... always give myself plenty of time and of course, this race didn't start on time. Tom walked down with me to the water so that I could get a quick warm up in and hopefully avoid another panic attack once the bullhorn sounded! Tom did a great job getting pictures all day!

Water felt good and I really like how they do the start for this. You swim along the beach line, point to point for .5 miles. Since there are so many newbies that do this race, they stay closer to the shallow end making it empty and calm as you go deeper out. I found my place when my wave was called. I was only with about 5 other people treading water before the start. A girl swims up and asks a group of us if we are planning on putting our faces in the water when we swim. We all said yes and she decided that she might not be seeded at the right place (told you there were a lot of newbies). Anyway, the horn sounded and we were off. I felt comfortable right away, although I felt like I was pushing it. I kept right with the person in front of me the entire time and thought for sure I'd come out of the water with a PR. I felt like I was working and really swimming well. Get out of the water and look at my watch - not so much. I was out in 16 something. Really? I thought I was swimming so well. Grrrr... that's frustrating. Tom said that he saw me come out with a bunch of people in my group so I wasn't dead last, but I need to figure out why I feel like I'm working so hard and swimming so slow. Here's me running to transition
I hit the mat at 17:35 and had a good T1. In and out in 1:36 which isn't bad considering how big I thought transition was (and of course I was racked in the middle of it all) It was fun having Tom there to cheer for me though!

Onto the bike and my time to fly.

I had biked the course (18.6 miles) a few days before and it was a new course this year. A few rollers right in the beginning and then it was time to hunker down and get it done. I was hoping to average 21 for the ride, although that would have been a bit aggressive. I immediately start passing people (all the swimmers who are so much faster than me) and got into a groove quickly. I said "on your left" probably a hundred times which is a good sign. Only one big annoyance on the bike. The roads weren't closed and a young girl was driving on the left side of the road to pass bikers. She merged over to the right lane and stopped right in front of me an another biker. We had to swerve to get around her and she proceeded to lay on her horn and flick us both off. Nice. Came in off the bike in 54:06 (averaged 20.6) so a little shy of my goal. :(

T2 was uneventful. I saw a girl in my AG getting ready to run out and I thought that I would try to keep up with her. Out of T2 in 1:06. That girl took off and well, I was left to eat her dust. My hamstring is still giving me trouble and right out of the transition Tom asked how it was. It was super tight. He reminded me to take short steps and would see me at the finish. The run was an out and back over the dam - a run that I've done a hundred times. First mile was 8:29. Good pace, but I wanted something faster. I didn't get my final two mile splits (purely because I forgot to look), but I will say not a single girl passed me (yay!!!) and I finished the 5k with a time of 25:38 (8:16 pace). One of my goals is to run a sub 25 5k in a race and I was so close.

I finished with an overall time of 1:40:00 (my goal was to go sub 1:40 ha!) so I was thrilled. I waited around for them to post results and the unofficial results said 4th in my AG. 4th place is kind of a sucky place... don't get me wrong, it's a great position overall, but you are so close to 3rd (for me, it was like 2.5 minutes so I wasn't really that close)! That's alright, I had a good day.

Looking at the final results (which I must say are messed up a little), I ended up in 6th in my AG. The first place girl in my AG placed overall so she wasn't listed in the unofficial results (you can't double dip in awards) and then there was another girl who obviously started with the wrong swim wave because her swim time was 1:30. They don't have you go over a mat to start... it's purely based on your word that you start with the right wave and I'm thinking she didn't. That changed the results for me overall.

So here are the stats:

1:40:00 total time

Swim time - 17:35

T1 - 1:36

Bike - 54:06 (20.6 average)

T2 - 1:06

Run - 25:36 (8:16 average)

6th of 24 in AG

13th of 134 women

76th of 425 total

I'm happy with that!

RAAM Update - Tom got the cast off yesterday!!!! YIPPIE! It's a little sore, and tight and well, kind of weak, but he'll still be able to race Saturday. We both can't believe that it's almost here. I'll start my daily updates on Saturday afternoon. Check back then for updates!