I looked at my schedule for Sunday earlier this week and it had a bike at race pace and a run at race pace. Knowing that there was a triathlon for Sunday I asked Coach if I could do the triathlon as a workout. She agreed, gave me a race plan, and thus, I signed up for the Wendy's Triathlon. I arrived this morning feeling pretty calm. I had no expectations. I was just going to follow the plan and see what happened. I set up my transition and headed down to the water to get in some practice swimming. Things were clicking right away and I got excited.
I lined up pretty close to the front for the swim. After attending an open water swim clinic this past Monday, the instructor said don't be afraid to line up in the front. People are going to swim over you regardless. And within a few strokes I was in open water. I did have one guy who kept going back and forth in front of me. When it was possible I would hang onto his feet, but in the end, I dropped him and focused on my own swim. When I got out of the water Dave said I was 5th woman in my age group. According to the results, I was 4th. Not bad!
Onto the bike....let's just say, I'm not the strongest biker. I've done this race three times and each time it has been a different bike course (and run course). This time it was kind of an out and back. I tried to ride comfortably yet faster that what I was used to. I took my gel. I drank my water. I got passed by many people but I still passed people too. I think I might have been passed by 4-6 women in my age group. I averaged over 17 mph which is good for me, but WAY slow compared to everyone else. According to Dave, if I had averaged 2 mph more I would have won my age group. Dang it!
The run felt very comfortable. I LOVED the new course. We ran through a crushed path up to the dam and then halfway across the dam and back. And I ROCKED it! Not only did I pass 4-5 women in my age group, but I had the fastest run split in my age group! I averaged 7:32s for the 5K and it made the difference because...
I finished 3rd in my age group!!! I have never placed EVER in a triathlon!
Dave followed me around with a camera all day and took a ton of great pictures. Enjoy a slideshow of all of them...
Okay, I officially hate how small the video is. If you all leave me nice comments below, I'll upload the photos separately so you can see them all. :)
5 comments:
congrats on placing in your ag! very exciting!! love the sugoi-wear :)
congrats on a great last minute race!
sometimes i think about doing a tri but then i hear about people swimming over you and that really freaks me out.
Hey I just ran across your blog. I currently run marathons and want to get into tris... I'm just not sure how to start. For running there are all different kinds of groups you can join but its a little different for Triathalons... any advice?
I'm so impressed! Congrats on your 3rd place finish. My goal is to place in a race at least once in my life, but at my pace I might have to wait until I'm so old everyone else in my age group is using walkers.
Some people work months, years to place in their age group. You show up and - done. Goes to show there's a lot hiding in those legs. Glad we are bringing it out.
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