Race Schedule and Results

Monday, July 18, 2011

Two races, two places!

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I raced again this weekend (I know, you're asking yourself "holy heck, does this chick race all the time?" - yeah, kind of).  I love racing... and I have the ability to race a lot so I do.  I know it's not the way some people do it, but it floats my boat.  So we had one race on the schedule for Sunday, but on Friday, we went for a run and swim at the local state park and they were setting up for the weekend.  There was a women's only sprint on Saturday and I debated entering.  I had decided not to by Friday night since money was an issue and I didn't need to race two days in a row, but Tom convinced me and I'm glad I did.

Saturday was the Greenswell Tri for Hope benefiting the Stephanie Spielman Fund.  I love women's only events.  There is just a great buzz all day long, lots of "You Go Girl's" which I love, and a great feeling of camaraderie.  You just can't beat it.  And they had a good turn out for it - 179 women.  I like it!  Tom played sherpa (which I secretly love too) and got some great photos throughout the day.  Short swim (.25 miles), short bike (12 miles) and short run (2 miles).  Just the right distance to go hard, but not so hard that I would be toast the next day.  The swim was uneventful - too warm for a wetsuit and a little frustrating with everyone walking and dolphin diving the whole thing, but I was 5th in my AG coming out of the water (and in wave 4 of 6 so lots of people in front of me). On a side note - I like that the swim cap matches my outfit (yep, it's the little things), but that will come back to bite me tomorrow...
I passed a crap ton of people on the bike (this is normal... not saying that I'm an awesome biker, but it is definitely my strength and I know that and I also know that this is a very beginner friendly race).  As a matter of fact, I came into transition after the bike and it looked like this:


:)  Of course I was a total putz and racked my bike, only to have it fall off the rack.  What the heck?  Tom yelled "leave it" but I couldn't and wouldn't leave Papa Smurf laying on the grass (plus I didn't hear him!).  I knew that there were three girls in front of me, (because coach Tom was scouting them), but I also knew that 3 waves went before me so I just ran.  Felt a little sluggish on the run and it might have been a wee bit long, but ended up crossing the finish line in 1:00:51.  Good enough for 2nd overall!  The lady that won was pretty tough (and 12 years older than me... which is really cool... I feel like there is hope for me to get faster as I age gracefully), but she only had me by about 40 seconds.  Maybe I should have left my bike on the ground in T2! Just kidding... I was pretty stoked about second, especially since this race company does overall awards (not all Columbus race companies do that).  And they did an awards ceremony which was cool.  Got a plaque and some organic soap. (Which totally random side note, but why does organic soap smell so bad?  I'm all about doing your thang with natural stuff and whatnot, but I could not wash myself with this stuff and be happy. Maybe it's just me).
Went home and plopped my butt on the couch with a really bad movie and my Recovery Pump.  We'd see how these bad boys helped my legs for the Olympic weird ass distance race I'd be doing on Sunday.

Sunday was the Greenswell Wellness Tri.  I knew it wasn't going to be a true Olympic, but it was close - 1.5km swim, 38km bike and 8km run. With this being a new race and race company, we didn't know how many people would be out there.  Turns out, not too many.  I think there were 47 total doing the "long" race (while 167 people did the sprint du and tri!)  There were only two long course waves - men and women. Fairly simple huh? We all lined up for the swim and it seemed long.  Like really long.  I know that sights can be deceiving and we were all hoping that was the case (but I swim here 2 days a week and knew our hopes were about to be crushed)... all 19 of us women!  I opted to not wear my wetsuit because of the warm water and wasn't alone.  The horn went off and we entered the swim for the two loop rectangle.  Now, I suck at swimming.  I'll be the first to admit it.  I'm usually not last, but I'm much closer to last out of the water than first.  I know that.  I am working on it.  After one lap I looked at my watch and holy hell, either I'm not swimming, or the course is long.  And the sprint started after us and when we were on our second lap it was total chaos.  And the buoys were the same color as the swim caps. Green swim caps and green buoys are all I saw when I sighted, but which was which??? And lots of people dolphin diving again.  The whole swim.  I was so frustrated.  I usually swim between a 28-32 minutes for an 1500m swim.  I exited the water in 41 something.  Totally defeated, I made my way to transition.  Lots of other people were at their bikes, mumbling and grumbling about the swim.  At least I wasn't alone.

The bike was two laps for us.  The first lap I passed a lot of sprint tri people.  At the entrance to the park at 12 miles, they turned in and we went straight.  Then there was no one around.  It literally was like the race had been canceled and I didn't get the memo.  Way up ahead I see a biker so I put my head down and hammer to catch them.  It took a while, but I did, but they weren't in the Olympic weird ass distance either.  Oye ve.  My legs were feeling the second lap a little (although the Recovery Pump was amazing as always in getting me recovered), but I still managed to have a good bike.  I got to T2 and literally lollygagged.  I felt like I was in lala land.  I'm never like that. Maybe my mind just wasn't right.  Ha... The run was a course that we run a lot... the same run that I've done in 2 other tri's this year.  The RD said to turn around at the end of the dam for the 8k.  The 2 mile mark (which was about .3 of a mile short of the end of the dam) is where we all turned around.  There were 3 teenagers volunteering who maybe weren't given the memo that we needed to run past the sign to the end and told us all to turn around.  I ended up finishing the run in like 34 minutes.  My results say I ran a 6:54.  Right.  In my dreams.  I think it was more like 4.1 miles which would make my pace closer to 8:20's - that's more like it.  In any event, I finished the Olympic weird ass distance tri in 2:24:40 and snagged 1st in my AG (by default, the third place overall was in my AG so they took her out, but whatevs).  Woo hoo!  No soap or awards ceremony this time, but a cool plaque.  And Tom won his age group!  Good day for Team Kingery!

We packed up our stuff, hopped on our bikes for another 25 miles and some great greasy diner food the next town over.  Nothing like racing hard, biking 12.5 miles, eating a grilled cheese and biking back.  Nomnomnom!
So like I said Greenswell is a new race company.  Well, kind of new.  The RD has been around a while in Columbus and had a old company (which we honestly loved racing with) that went out of business and started this one.  I really love that there are more options in Columbus for races, but I worry about the "newness" of the company at these races. They are very environmentally friendly (no plastic bags at check in, recycling throughout the venue, etc).  While I'm all for that, the course wasn't marked with paint, only green 4x4 signs with black arrows (which is fine, but we are in a very wooded part of town so you couldn't see them).  So that was a tad frustrating.  Luckily I knew the course like the back of my hand since we train here all the time, but others had a hard time with it.  The swim - WAAAAAAAY long.  A few people said that based on their times, they thought that it was at least 2km, if not a little longer (I would say 2km max). I did a true OLY at this same location three weeks ago so I know it's possible to have a 1.5k course.  And the matching swim caps / buoys is a huge pet peeve of mine (isn't this some rule in the RD bible that you don't do this?).  Tom had a really hard time with sprint waves running into the water to start their race as he was starting his second loop.  I guess some girls bullied him a bit, but being the gentleman that he is, he gave it back to them! I didn't have that as much, but ran into a lot of them my second time around.  The run was definitely less than 8k.  Results are based on that distance. And the results don't match up.  The finish times are right, but if you add up all the portions, they are long by about the T1 time.  Looks like they have the T1 time added to the bike which makes out averages seem lower - a pet peeve of Tom's since he actually biked 23.5mph and not 22.9mph.   I don't mean to bitch and moan, but I'd love for this company to make it. Just some things that need to be straighten out I guess.  They have another event in August (exact same course and everything) and although it's a great training day to get out there and just do it, Tom and I are debating if we will.

No more races for a little while.  I have some massive training in the works!

How was your weekend??? 

39 comments:

Molly said...

And I thought I had a crazy weekend! :) Great job out there!!!!

Jamie said...

My swim caps were the same color as the buoys this weekend too! A complete S#$t show.

And how do people dolphin dive the whole swim? Like they are pushing off the bottom? Do you OH people swim in puddles?!

Shannon (IronTexasMommy) said...

Nicely done, Colleen & Tom! The first thing I thought was "How awesome that your swim cap matched!" Then started laughing when I read that you said the same thing! :) Way to go!

misszippy said...

Look at you superstud! Very cool. And I LOVE that transition pic--what a beautiful sight for you! Congrats.

Teamarcia said...

Nice job sweeping up the awards! Really people dolphin dive and walk instead of swim? Maybe there's hope for me...

Unknown said...

haha @Jamie "Do you OH people swim in puddles?"

Congrats on both races!

The swim caps and swim buoys is one of my biggest pet peeves. Hate that!! aarrrgghhh!

There was a brand new race down here this weekend and they ran out of water on the run. Like 700 people did the sprint and it was in the 90's at 7am. People were pissed. A buddy of mine who does like 20min 5ks finished the run in 32mins! Not a great start for a new race (and company)!

Unknown said...

Congrats on great races!!! Hopefully the RD hears your constructive suggestions :D Way to go speedster!!!

Anonymous said...

Great job with your double podium weekend!! I gotta start hitting up my local scene :)

Anne-Marie said...

Congrats on your awards!! I think you race as much as I do :) I think I have the same philosophy- I enjoy doing it and have the option to race, so why not?

Frustrating about the race organizing/measuring etc issues... the organization would probably like some constructive feedback though!

I raced the Musselman 70.3 in Geneva NY this weekend and it was the best organized race I've ever done. Seriously. Might be a bit far for you guys, but I'd highly recommend it, esp. if you're looking for a long-weekend vacation type of race. (Added bonus: it's in wine country so you can go wine tasting the day after the race like I did!)

Beal88 said...

You're a baller for sure! Way to go this weekend!

ONEHOURIRONMAN said...

Great weekend with lots of hardware. Congrats! I think my boys are going to get into this. (We are going to ironkids raliegh this weekend, a nice 600 mile road trip from here). So we might be doing lots of local strange races too if they like it

Caroline said...

congrats on great races!!!!
I love to race also. I have one every month minimum and if there is a local one I add to the schedule.

I like the 12 yrs older part...me being a dinaosaur and all...you know that gives me hope also!!

Pahla said...

Hooray for Team Kingery!! Congratulations on a really fantastic weekend!
You should definitely email the race director with your constructive criticism. Most directors really want to improve their customer service (and, of course, make more money with more people registering for their races).

Ironman By Thirty said...

Great work Team Kingery! You both rock!

It sounds like you have some fair criticism for the race. You really should share it with the RD if you have the chance. I'm sure he wants to be successful too and it sounds like pretty easy stuff to change in the future to make it more pleasant for everyone.

Christi said...

What a great weekend of racing for y'all. Congrats!

Jennie said...

Yay Team Kingery!! Congrats to you both! :)

Kurt @ Becoming An Ironman said...

Nice double race weekend!! I love that you used the word "lolligag." It made me chuckle!

I agree with the buoy / swim cap pet peeve. I thought the same thing about my last race having yellow buoys when we swam towards the sun and orange swimming away; why not switch them?! The yellow was pretty impossible to see. I can't imagine having tons of green bobbing around and trying to pick out which one to follow in the half a second you get when you site. haha

Good job either way!

Matthew Smith said...

You're a beast! I don't think I'd ever attempt two in a weekend. Plus, you placed in them both. Way to go!!!!

Aimee said...

Wow..what a weekend! Congrats on placing in BOTH races..woohoo! You are a total ROCK STAR!!
I'm not a swimmer either and having a swim in a race that's longer than expected would be so defeating to me! Way to recover from it!

Jon said...

Yeesh! You guys had a busy weekend! Congrats on the wins and duking it out with an UBER long swim. 41 mins for an "Olympic"....what was it? Longer than a HIM swim!?!?

Richelle said...

Awesome work this weekend and congrats on the overall and AG wins! You are a rock star!

Heather-O said...

Colleen = My Hero! Congrats girl! You are a superstar!

Alili said...

Goodness that's a busy weekend! Nice job taking home hardware at both races - rock star!

Jason said...

You were not kidding about that being a shit show. WOW. We had the same problem with the buoys and swim caps for our wave. Yellow on Yellow especially when the buoys were to be multicolored triangles and turned into yellow triangles and our course lengthened for no apparent reason.

Way to hang in there though and use that mental toughness to get through an otherwise weird ass triathlon distance race.

Send you thoughts about the race to the RD and hopefully they will work to fix it in the future.

Lauren said...

way to rock it!

Unknown said...

What a crazy race! Congrats on podiums for both!!

Matty O said...

wowzers another podium another race and another Team Kingery domination! What a weekend!!!

Hilarious that people were dolphin diving... I honestly cannot picture that, must have been like 4ft deep or something.

Great speed work for you guys. These smaller distance races are so much fun for me to do haha.

Keep up the great work, things are falling into place for you guys!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Trying to volunteer wasnt easy either, finally after talking to the person you pointed out to i was told to go be the Hydration Supply Coordinator (water stop) then Traffic Control Specialist in Transition, stand their and point to where the atheltes need to go.

Congrats to Team Kingery. I was trying to keep track of you and Tom with other competitors. With Tom, it was easier to locate his group.

Even with all the bumps, I liked the looks of this race

With this weird distance, I am assuming this the first time you both at these distances, leaving instant PR's, which makes my good luck streak for Tom to 3 straight PR races.

Rebecca said...

Wow, what a great weekend. I have never raced back to back like that in one weekend, that must be killer on your legs - but what great training! We wish we had the opportunity to race as often as you do - living vicariously through you and Tom these days, ha! The matching cap and tri-suit - nice! It's the little things, right?!

Ever thought of starting up your own racing company? I think you guys would be pretty good at it.

Tri4Success said...

Congrats on 2 great races! I agree with the other comments that you should definitely share your concerns with the RD. These are easy fixes and their success could lead to a lot of race options (and I hear you like to race).

Molly said...

once again you inspire me! What a weekend you had, congrats!

I agree with you on the organic soap, there is a soap factory in the city that I run by during my training runs for my spring races, and it reeks when we run by!

Jeff Vanis said...

Nice work on the races! Loved reading your RR and recaps! Keep it up.

M said...

Way to go Colleen! i love that you did both races that weekend - just awesome. i didn't get to officially meet you, but I was working with BDD in transition. It was so sweet - as you went by and I offered you water, you said "No thank you!" And gave me the sweetest smile. A friend of mine who was spectating a few feet away said "how can she be so friendly at this point in the race! She's amazing!" ha ha! So, while we didn't officially get to meet, it was great to see you race - way to go!!!!!

Velma said...

You are such a rock star!!!!! Have fun with the next training cycle :)

Caratunk Girl said...

You freaking rock, we don't have that many races in Maine, I am a little jealous of all the races you do!

I don't think I have ever dolphin dived in a race!

Good luck with training!

KovasP said...

Wow, what a weekend! I watched the US WNT's disappointing loss to Japan in the Women's World Cup. Those women are awesome!

Meredith said...

Awesome! I hope you do the next race so we can compare stories.

Beth said...

Way to clean up at the tri's this weekend! I'm impressed by your racing two days in a row!!

Unknown said...

hey there crazy racing woman. Way to tackle it! And own tat 6:54!!