1500m swim:
I was nervous, feeling like it was a really long ways and like maybe I hadn't prepared enough. The swim isn't my strongest event. Everything started off as planned, I waited a few seconds for the fast swimmers to go ahead and began my own, as I reached the first turn, somehow the swim buoy got blown into my face when I sighted...I gasped and took in some of that icky, salty water...I coughed, sat up...composed myself, and kept swimming...
The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful...lots of time to think and ponder just how long this was going to take...36 minutes apparently. I thought I would be near the very end of the swimmers but apparently there were about 20 people behind me...even better.
40Km bike:
After a relatively smooths transition, out on the bike I go...the first 4 Km feeling like my legs are full of cement. good time to get a gel and hydrate. The rest of the bike flew by...the only down fall was when I tried to snot rocket that icky lake water from my sinues that was driving me crazy I got it all over my shoulder! ick...so including my transition from swim to bike, the 40km, AND my transition from bike to run....it took me 1:46.
10Km run:
I started slow...bike legs to blame...but got my pace back about 1km in...then came the hills. The trail was a mix of grass and gravel and BIG steep uphills...more like a trail race than a triathlon! I allowed myself to walk up the bigger hills to save my quads then speed up going down and on the flats. 2 laps of 5km...seemed like a long way. Middle of lap 2 my knee began to twinge and ache...but really this is my hip acting up. (confusing I know, so my tight hip pulls on my IT band, causing my knee to strain...the pain comes from the knee but the injury is actually the hip). I made an out-loud decision to pay no attention to it...what I said was "you do not exist." And somewhere along the way I realized I had passed a lot of people on the course. I finished strong...as always, and extremely happy with just finishing.
I went to the results board and they hadn't posted the run times yet, but the swim and bike were up...at the time I was sitting last in my age group...competitive me was slightly bummed but got less bummed when I won a door prize of a free pair of runners from The Tech Shop! WAHOO! I went and checked the results afterwards and during the run I moved up to 4th place in my age group...awesome! The one part of the race I had been dreading the most because of my hip and I ROCKED IT! According to them I rocked it in 1:11...not too bad considering it was the end of a long tri, the heat, the trail and hills...my 10K PB is 53min.
So my new shoes have been secured...New Balance 880's...went for a 15 min jog on the treadmill today...they feel fantastic! (and so does my hip!)
Another goal met for this summer...so what's next...a half ironman? more olympic distance? another half marathon....the possibilities are endless!
Me rocking the 40km bike...
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