Quick announcement: This is the first post on my self hosted blog. Thanks for finding the new site. I hope that this new site will be the perfect platform for me to greatly improve on the blog. I have a new format idea and will hopefully be posting about that later today.
I decided to sign up for this triathlon three weeks ago when I was at the Go Girl Triathlon. It’s an indoor swim and then a ride and run through the neighborhoods right by my house. In fact, I have frequently biked on the roads on the bike course. Leading up to the race this weekend I contemplated not doing it because the forecast called for rain. My alarm clock went off at 6:30 a.m. and I checked the weather on my phone and it said it was raining, so I went back to sleep and didn’t even set an alarm. The race was supposed to start at 8 a.m. Next time I woke up it was 7:30 a.m. and I looked at the weather again and realized it wasn’t raining and I had been checking the forecast for Indianapolis, not Fishers. I made a split second decision and jumped out of bed, let the dog out, quickly brushed my teeth, got dressed, and threw my bike in the car. Luckily I had set my stuff out the day before. I hadn’t loaded my bike in the car because I had planned to bike to the race (it’s maybe a mile from my house).
I knew I was going to be cutting it close. I got to the race, biked to the transition area, and realized I didn’t have a bike number because they hadn’t given me one yesterday. I ask a girl next to me and she says they are inside in the gym. She also tells me if I’m heading there to bring my swim cap because they put numbers on them. I sprint inside, get my number and numbered up and run back outside. On the drive over I realized I (a) hadn’t drank anything this morning and (b) hadn’t grabbed anything to drink. I dug in my purse and grabbed change so I could chug a water (luckily I had seen a soda machine yesterday during packet pickup). As I went into the pool area I chugged half the water. By then it was time to get in line. By the way, in case you aren’t keeping track I did all of that, including waking up and driving over, between 7:35 a.m. and 8 a.m. Needless to say, I was sweating before the race started.
The Swim
As I mentioned above, this was an indoor 500 meter swim. I have never done an indoor race so this was a whole new thing for me. Like my two prior triathlons I tried to start out with freestyle but ended up doing primarily breast stroke. In this race, you changed lanes at the wall (so you basically snaked through the pool). I was really not smart, nor efficient with using the wall. I would estimate that 5-8 people passed me in the pool which actually doesn’t bother me too much because I can make up significant time on the bike usually. By my unofficial timekeep (my cheap sports watch I wear in tris), I got out of the pool in 11:43.
T1
In my previous two triathlons I have worn my trisuit, so transitions were pretty quick. In the last two races, I had worn a number belt to hold my race bib during the run portion and it kept crawling up and drove me nuts. I decided yesterday that for today’s race I wanted to not wear the belt, so I didn’t wear the trisuit so that I could throw on a shirt after the swim that would have the number on it. However, after experimenting with this I decided not to put the number on and go with the belt anyway. For some reason, I didn’t think to just wear the tri suit again, so I wore a swim suit and then popped on a exercise shirt with a built in bra (not that I really need one, to be honest) and my knee length pants during T1. This obviously cost me at least a whole extra minute. I also grabbed some shot blocks I had in my bag, figuring that SOMETHING to eat was probably a good idea.Even though I had still not drank much water, I was feeling really good running out of the transition area with my bike. By my watch, I think the transition took me around 3 minutes (compare to 1:47 at my last race).
The Bike
I passed some people within the first 1/2 mile of the course. I carried the shot blocks for probably 2 miles before I decided I didn’t want to mess with them on the bike and instead stuffed them in the pocket of my pants. I never did end up eating them. One big regret I had on the bike was that I had taken off my aerobars the day before for a 6 mile time trial I participated in (turns out I could have not only left them on but used them during the time trial). I really should have put them on the bike. I could have used some down time on them during the ride. However, I still did really well. I passed several people and trailed the same guy by about the same distance the whole time. I almost passed him at one point but I didn’t want to push it and not have any juice left for the run. I think I exited T1 at 14:45 or somewhere thereabouts. Based on this number I was pushing to finish the bike by 45 minutes (for an average of 20 mph). I think I ended up being pretty close to this, so I was pretty stoked.
T2
Even though I made the exact same error last race (and probably the one before if I really think about it), I left my freaking sneakers TIED so I had to untie them. This is not efficient at all! Anyway, other than that nothing too crazy during the second transition, except my racing thoughts about how I might be able to PR. This race was the same distance as the race I ran 3 weeks ago (the first tri I did was a 12.5 mile bike and 3.12 run, where as the last two have been 10 mile bike and 3 mile run). I exited T2 where I happily spotted WATER. I was so happy to see this as I was very in need of water. I think my watch said 47 minutes at this point. I knew that gave me 34 minutes to beat my PR.
The run
Although my swim could definitely use some improvement (which is probably as simple as getting comfortable with the freestyle) I know the place I have to work between now and next season is the run. During my first tri, I really struggled during the run (think 35 minutes and lots of walking). I think part of the problem during that first race was the heat. It was too hot that day. The last two races the temperature has been much better. However, in the last one I still walked the first .25-.5 miles because it was a huge uphill. I said to myself as soon as I got running that I needed to run my race and just maintain a steady pace.
At the one mile marker, I looked at my watch and it said 56. Great, I thought. I am right on pace to beat the PR, just keep it up. At this point, I also passed the woman who I had been gaining slowly the whole first mile. I asked her how it was going and she said “Great, this is my 40th birthday present to myself.” And I responded, “that’s awesome! keep it up.” Even though our conversation lasted 5 seconds, I was so happy. In my opinion, she gave herself the best present possible.
At 1.5 miles there was another water station that I was again thrilled to see. Looked at my watch here and it read 1:01. Still doing well!
I started to struggle here a bit but knew that I only had 15 minutes left and I could do it! I trucked along, passing the two mile marker at 1:06. Still maintaining a fine pace (I was trying to do 10 minute miles but without a Garmin I am not a very good pacer). The first quarter of the last mile was downhill and great. The last 1/2 mile felt like 2 miles though. It seemed so far away. I passed another woman I had been eyeing for a while about a quarter mile before the end. I pushed through the finish line, although not sprinting as I would have liked, and stopped the stop watch to see: 1:15:58. That’s a 5 minute PR for me. I was stoked! I was so unprepared for this race but it still went well. In fact, I definitely felt the best overall throughout this race.
Official results aren’t posted, but I will update this when they are.