I wrote the following yesterday, but I had to wait until they posted the race results, which they did while I was at work today. So, forgive the delay in posting!
On my stats just below, I’ve put how I did in 2009 in parenthesis and italics. Take this with a grain of salt – in 2009 I had not bike 110 miles the day before (I actually probably did a minor taper for the race) and they changed the bike course this year. Oh, and it was about 20 degrees cooler last year, which makes a huge difference, particularly on the run!
Finish time: 3:02:58 (2 hours, 56 minutes, 40 seconds)
Age Group place (Women 24-29): 8th out of 14 (7 out of 10)
Overall place: 208 out of 249 (146 out of 219)
So I didn’t PR…but hey, I was able to finish in a decent fashion given what I put my legs through yesterday. It was a good shock for my body to feel what that all feels like, seeing as I will be putting my body to an even bigger test in about a month and a half! So, let’s start from the beginning…
We arrived early to pick up my race packet. The temps first thing in the morning were perfect…if only the sun wouldn’t have been so hot! The water was calm and ready for 800+ swimmers to get their day going.
My support crew was waiting with wild anticipation…
Keifer got his game face on…
And then we headed down to the water for the start of my race.
I’m almost smack dab in the middle of this picture with the blue shirt and black shorts. Just hanging out and waiting for my wave to be called.
The swim went pretty well. I tried a new tactic and placed myself smack in the middle of the entire pack at the start and hoping for limited kicks and hits to the face. I didn’t have anything to worry about though, other than running in to a few people at the beginning. I made my way out of the pack and I was able to finish in a decent amount of time. My spotting went well and I felt strong at the end.
Swim time: 25:47, 3rd in age group, 78th overall (29:36) – oh yeah! A swim PR on this course by 4 minutes!
I headed into T1 and three on my socks and bike gear as quickly as possible and headed out.
T1 Time: 2:00 (no time reported)
I headed out of the transition area and hopped on my bike.
Before the race they were making their pre-race announcements and they mentioned the new bike course (which I already knew about because it was mentioned on their website). But then they threw in a comment about how it was much hillier than years past. Ugghhhh….WHAT? I thought the old course was hilly enough, I mean…there was a hill last year that people were getting off their bikes to walk up. And now I was going on an even hillier course? I was scared.
Luckily the course was not as hilly as I had made it out in my mind. My legs held up pretty well and I felt like the ride was much easier and smoother than the 110 miler from yesterday.
(I think the guy with the pink sign thinks Eric was taking a picture of him..he’s mugging for the camera…sorry dude!)
Bike Time: 1:25:58, 8th in age group, 220th overall – ha! – (1:25:06 – less than a minute off last year’s course)
I headed into T2, threw off my bike stuff, threw on my running shoes and headed out of transition. My goal was to beat my transition time from last year, which was pretty slow.
T2 Time: 1:23 (1:43 – dropped 20 seconds)
And then the wheels fell off…the run was rough. My legs were like two dead weights on an already slow running body! Add on that it was pretty hot outside at this point (high 80s) and I was miserable. I started off with the goal of doing 4 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking, which I was able to do for part of the run. But I couldn’t maintain it…so I would take quick walking breaks during the 4 minute running intervals. I just wanted to finish! I was definitely feeling the 110 miles (plus an additional 24 from the race).
(This is me grabbing my legs to indicate that they were hurting!)
Running into the finish…
Right at the end some girl passed me (actually, it’s the girl in the above pic right behind me). I wasn’t about to let one place get away from me right at the end, so I sprinted in to the finish to beat her in!
Run Time: 1:07:48, 10th in age group, 217th overall – 10:55/mile pace – yuck! (1:00.17 – definitely the weakest link in this year’s race…if only I could’ve run the same pace as last year!)
So it’s done…I think I might do a small taper for my Half Ironman. Nothing major, but just no long bike ride the day before. I just want to see what I’m able to do.
It’s back to the grind again this week. I’m hoping I’m not too sore, but I’m feeling decent right now so I have high hopes. Unfortunately, I have to head in to work tomorrow pretty early, so that’s a bummer. But responsibility calls!
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