Last Tri of the Season

Heading down to Wilmington Friday night I really didn't want to race. We stopped and had dinner in Raleigh at one of my favorite restaurants and got to Wilmington about 10:15pm, and went to sleep.

As I went to bed, I had turned on the weather channel and notice that it the forecast for Saturday morning was cold and windy. Yikes. I hadn't prepared for that.

It was cold (maybe upper 50's to low 60's) and windy (15-20mph winds) when we got to the race in the morning. And really, I know that upper 50's to low 60's isn't cold normally, bue it is when you are use to 90. I warmed up and didn't feel great and headed over to the swim start to get in and warm up in the water. I tried swimming but I was freezing and even just waiting for the start, I was shivering.

The swim was terrible. I don't know what happened but I ended up not with the lead pack, or at least not where I should have been. I typically swim with Kate and she beat me out of the water by a minute. I came out of the water 3rd female but there is an approximately 2 min run to transition in which Amie and Brooke passed me and so by the time we all crossed the mat I was 5th female (in our wave).

I made up 10-15 sec in T1 and as Bri passed me running to our bikes I thought this is going to be a terrible race. I pushed the bike super hard. Somehow I caught Alysia about mile 3 and Bri who I had put like 30 sec on in T1 didn't even pass me until mile 8 or 9. I must say, this might have been my best bike I have ever had.

When I look at the results, I have the 15th fastest swim (this is horrible for me), but I have the 11th fastest bike...I have never been know to have a better bike split than a swim split! I actually made up ground on the bike. How strange. But Alysia and I were about the same speed so when I caught her (I have NEVER caught anyone on the bike), we worked together (not drafting) to push eachother, it was the most fun I have had on the bike since I started triathlons.

I had decided to run so fast that I shouldn't be able to have a conversation. Of course, I still chatted it up a couple times, but not nearly like I usually do. And to my amazement I ran 22:09! Eric thinks this is an accurate 5K, so I am super happy if that is the case.

I ended up 10th overall, in the largest sprint tri on the east coast. I am really happy with the bike and run and for the race in general. This was the first time where I felt like I could actually be part of the open wave/race without getting blown away (even though I was still last open female.).

Alright, now it is time to work on my off season running. I am going to do a 5K here in the next couple weeks to really see if I am all that fast and start training for the half marathon in Dec.