Monday, June 15, 2009

Weekend in Pictures (and a race report!)

Things I heard during and after the race:
1. "You're like a freight train"
2. "I can't believe how strong you are!"
3. "You hammered like crazy on the bike and then still powered through the run like it was nothing!"
Fantastic.

Dad, Mom and I after the race.

What a great weekend!

Saturday morning I was up and out the door with Dad, Mom, and Robbie. We got to Bear Mountain and Harriman State Park by 6:30, giving me an hour to get registered and ready and an extra 15 to get in the water and paddle around.

Finally, a race with a huge women's restroom! I was in heaven...

Then, race! The swim was amazing- I couldn't believe how smooth it went- except for getting elbowed in the eye about 200 yards from the exit- and when I got out, dad yelled that I was the 8th woman out of the water. (800 meters in 13:55 with a ridiculously long run into the water)


Got the wetsuit off and got on the bike with relative ease and had a sort of slow bike mount but nothing too bad. It turned out that the course was the opposite of the Bear Mountain race, so the downhill was super curvy and the uphill was straight. No fun at all for me, since I hate downhills. I wish I had pushed it on the uphill a little more, since I felt like I had more to give by the end, but oh well. I need a better sense of how much I can push without bonking totally. It should hurt more! Still, I managed to muddle through and land in 5th place by the time I got back. (16 miles, 52 min)


Fast transition, even though I sort of couldn't find my spot right away... the rows were curved, so I just got a bit lost. But still, just over 1 min.

Then, the run. It was on jeep trails and with all the rain, they were pretty intense. Hilly too! But I managed to pass a lot of men, but no women. The women ahead of me were mostly amateur elites, so I didn't really think I would be able to catch anyone. Maybe if I'd gone harder on the bike... Still, even with the mud, rocks, hills and terrible terrain, I finished in 23:23 min.
(note the awesome shirt- it was my dad's father's day present from me- he was so psyched and surprised!)

I came in 35th overall (out of around 300), 5th female, and 1st in my age group, so I was pretty happy with those results. My time was about what last year's number 1 female's was, which was exactly what I was goaling for, so I was very pleased with that result.
(Robbie and I showing off our major interests: online poker and triathlon. Cute!)

I made an awesome new friend- she was so great!

Went home, drank a milkshake and watched Justice League with a very tired Robbie.

Then, Sunday somehow morphed into a monster training day- and my first day trying out compression socks!

I woke up ready for a short bike ride but had a flat back tire. While waiting for Dad to stop by the bike shop on his way home and get a tube I decided to go for a run. Went through the park and got up the huge hill, then decided to take to the road. Ended up doing about 9.5 miles with a few huge hills in 72 min. It's insane how much improvement I've made in the past month.

Got home and Dad has already fixed my tire. We have no idea how it flatted, since at the race it was fine, but at least it wasn't flat on the course! I decided to ride the 4 miles to Spruce Run and do the sprint tri course from there, then go home again. I did the race course in 46 min, a minute slower than last week, but considering the run I had done before combined with the race from the day before, I was ok with it.

Came home and Dad and I headed out for a short run so I could get a decent brick workout in. Of course, with Dad it's not exactly speedy but by that point I was ok with it. We're doing a 5k next weekend and he has to be ready for it!

1 comment:

Missy said...

Nice race report and I LOVE the t-shirt! That is a perfect dad's day gift. Mine would love it too. I can't believe how you pack everything in with school and all!