Tri Season Opener!!

Woohoo!! Triathlon season has finally arrived. I feel like I’ve been training forever so I’m super happy to finally start competing again.

Yesterday, I competed in a super sprint race called “Girls Run the World.” It was an all female event and a great way to shake off some of the rust before heading into my bigger races in the coming weeks. It was a 250yd pool swim, 10mi bike, and a 2mi run. So a super short race but still a very strenuous race.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with triathlons, a super sprint is just as it sounds…a SUPER SPRINT!! You go all out the entire time. This is defiantly not the kind of race I enjoy as I tend to enjoy a more long distance, aerobic race as opposed to an anaerobic sprint. But, nonetheless it was nice to have an entire race done with in under an hour!!

Now to recap yesterday….

5:00AM — beep beep beep!!! Alarm goes off in blaring fashion.

5:20 — headed out the door with breakfast in hand.

5:55 — arrive at race site.

6:00 — unload car and get set up in transition.

6:30 — body marking.

6:40 — warm up. 10min jog and about a 200 in the pool.

7:00 — pre-race meeting.

7:10 — line up in the pool.

7:11 — START!!

My swim started strong. I was feeling good. It was a 10lap snaked swim through the pool. At about my third turn I swallowed a huge mouthful of water as I breathed right into someone else’s splash. This defiantly took me out of rhythm a bit but didn’t slow me down too much. Fortunately for me, the people around me seeded themselves correctly so I didn’t have to do any fighting in the super narrow lanes to pass. Getting out of the pool was a bit of a challenge for me… I missed the railing for the ladder and slammed my right shin on the edge of the pool (Sporting a pretty battle wound today). Again, not slowing me down as I was determined to catch the other half of the K squared team (my training partner Kimberly) who was up ahead of me.

Team K Squared 🙂

Transition one… Great! Got in and out in about 18seconds. Everything went pretty smoothly.

Bike…HELLO HILLS!! This I was not prepared for. Since it was such a short race I did not look into the course before it started like I typically would for a longer race. I ended up averaging 18.5mph but defiantly feel as if I am capable of going a little faster than that on a more flat course. I ended up passing two other triathletes on the bike course. Tough course but was overall happy with my performance.

Transition two, subpar. My “dumb” brain had set in a little and I wasn’t focusing quite as well…tends to happen when I’m working hard for an extended period of time. I struggled to re-rack my bike making me lose a few seconds.

Run… Bring on the hills round two! This was a tough 2miler that couldn’t end fast enough. My feet were asleep for about the first mile. Tends to happen after being on the bike for a while. Still, I managed through this. I didn’t end up having my best run of all times but it was still decent. I averaged a 7:54 pace. Something for a longer race that’d I’d be super happy with but not for this short of one. Was hopeing to be closer to a 7:00-7:15 pace. Still I managed to hold off the girl behind me that was closing in quickly.

8:05 — DONE! Crossed the finish line in 53min and 47sec. This placed me 5th overall and 1st in my age group.