As I showed in my first post I completed two triathlon races this summer. One I completed in May and the other in mid-August. I am happy to say I at least did these two, but I wish I could have done more. No matter how free I think my weekends will be they always end up becoming filled to the brim. There is definitely no time to fit in a 2-3 hour race that may be 2-3+ hours away from home. But at least I did two. The most recent race I completed was the Sylvania Duathlon/Triathlon on August 14 and here’s some info on that race: I was lucky enough to have my parents and boyfriend there supporting me and we left my home town at 5:00am to complete the hour and fifteen minute drive up to Sylvania. I wasn’t able to go to the race site ahead of time so I wanted to get there with plenty of time to get my packet (which I still haven’t received my t-shirt yet, they were out the day of… hmph) and get set up in transition. We arrived at the race-site about 6:30 which allowed me a decent amount of time to prepare. I haven’t gotten in to racing too seriously so I don’t need much time to warm-up, as my “warm-up” normally consists of the jog to transition area to set-up and then another jog to the start line. Another awesome aspect about this race is that there were about 10-12 members of the OSU Triathlon club racing so I saw quite a few familiar faces and it definitely helped me to relax. Gabbing away/Setting up my transition area. Did I mention this was my first Olympic distance triathlon after only completing two other sprint races and one indoor race? No? Well it was, and I was nervous. I tried to act like I wasn’t, but the butterflies were in full motion that morning especially as I had been training, but nothing great and definitely not as much as wanted to. But, I digress, I was able to get everything all set in transition and hand off my extra bags to my parents before heading to the start line about 7:15 (it was a 7:30 start). My wave didn’t start till about 7:45 so I had plenty of time to relax freakout before the canon start. Yes, there was a canon start to each wave, it was loud, and I jumped each time. Also a side note, once or twice on the canon start a few wood chunks were shot every which way, a little dangerous, but I don’t think anyone was hurt. Hanging out before our wave started Ready. Set. GO! The swim wasn’t an in water start but it was slow-ish walk into the water and then swim. Oh the swim. For a non-swimmer 1 mile is loooong, like way long. I was also mis-lead as to where we turned to go back so my psyche was completely off for the second half of the swim. I came out of the swim with a 32:54 time and as my boyfriend put it I looked (and felt) rough. The caffeine/carb drink I had before racing did not sit well during the long swim, but after about halfway through the run to transition the sick feeling started to pass and I was once again feeling okay. If my face looks white that’s because I felt like crap… but no worries it passed! Another note about this race is that you notice I am wet here. This is absolutely normal. I just swam in a man-made lake for 32 minutes. Fun fact: I remained wet for the entire rest of the race. It started raining during the swim (I didn’t notice it, weird huh? J ) and stopped for a brief time at the end of my swim to the beginning of the bike leg, but then started and did not stop until close to the races finish. Luckily for the spectators there was a large building that they could stay inside during the race. Also this is a fun fact because for my very first sprint triathlon it started pouring down rain during the bike leg and did not stop till after the race also. Unfortunately for the spectators there was no place to stay dry and many of them got almost as soaked as the participants! Mom hanging out while I’m out somewhere bike riding in Sylvania The rain was never horrible, but still not extremely enjoyable either. The best part about the rain is that it was not 100 degrees outside as it was the day before. So I suppose you could say that I was grateful for rain (I’m so indecisive). But back to the race… Transitions and I do not get along. I did absolutely awful in T1 and T2 for this race. T1 = 3:28. T2 = 3:12. I can’t quite remember what occurred in T1 that made it so long, but it was, and I can’t change it now, so moving on. Trying not to fall over in my slippery shoes.. The bike: 24 miles. This is a great course to do your first Olympic distance triathlon. One of the main reasons is that the bike is flatter than a table. When I say there were no hills, I mean there were absolutely NO hills at all. The hardest part about the bike was the rain picked up, but other than that, it went well. My time was 1:26:22 (avg. mph rate of 17.3) which was faster than what I had expected, so I was happy. T2: awful. I did have to make a quick potty break which added to the time, but my transitions needs worked on like woah. The Run: 6.2 miles, 59:27, 9:35 pace. The run went fairly well also. I know I could have pushed myself harder, but I’m bad at gauging how much oomph I have in me for long races and generally tend to err on the side of caution with my pace throughout most of a race. I know I could have pushed myself more as there were plenty of water stops available and electrolyte replenshers throughout the run, but I didn’t, and even with water and cliff shot blocks I was just getting very fatigued at the end of the race. Almost there! I was tired, relieved, and excited at the end of the race. It was great to finish and see my parents and boyfriend there for me. It was great to have the support of my fellow Tri-Club members at points throughout the race. And it was great to feel the accomplishment of finishing an Olympic Distance Triathlon! While I have a ton of room for improvement I’m happy with my performance. I’ll mark a little notch in my list of completed races and I’m already looking forward to the next one. D and I after the race Awesome fellow Tri-Club members I have many improvements I want to make for my next race, but I must first decide what my next race will be! Fall is a busy time for college Triathlon teams, but due to finances and a crazy internship schedule on my end I don’t think I’ll be able to participate in any more races till winter/spring quarter. This isn’t for certain, but I’m not making any promises to do any races either. My training wasn’t very consistent before this race and it has really slacked off since then, which is pretty ridiculous and annoying. I’ve been crazy busy, but that is still no excuse for the non-existent physical activity in my life right now. I’m hoping with the beginning of fall quarter in a few short weeks I will be able to get back in to training mode and a regular schedule. I’m feeling sluggish and I need it.
So I’ll keep you posted on potential races in my future and also expect a goals post in the coming weeks for the rest of 2011! Cheers, BK p.s. I need to remember to get pictures with my parents at my races. p.p.s. Let me know if you have any questions about my race or racing in general! I love questions/comments and will answer them to the best of my ability! p.p.p.s. Funny side note. I was home a couple weeks ago and had my swim cap from this race out and my dog decided it was an awesome toy. She was just as interested in playing with it as she was her squeaky, actual dog toys. Doesn't take much to please dogs. She was so cute about it, so I didn't mind sacrificing the cap for some doggie play :)
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Brittany
Hi! My name is Brittany. Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere, it's constantly a work in progress :)
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