2007 Rogue Women’s Triathlon

Pre-Race

Another morning that began at 5 AM. Oh. Yay.

You know the drill: breakfast, load-up, drive, arrive, get body-marked, unpack, set up transition, use port-a-potty and wait around until my wave goes off.

While I waited for my wave, I talked to cam_ray and some of the other TxFe people there. I might sing the national anthem at Dilloman triathlon. cam_ray even said she'd pay me. I ate a Stinger gel about 20 minutes before the start. I've found that as much as my tummy doesn't want it, a stinger or a few blocks before a race really does help it feel less ucky.

Swim

The swim was long. We all knew it because these distances are the same as The Rookie Triathlon and we knew how far we swam at Rookie. My time at Rookie was just about perfect for my usual race pace so I'm pretty sure that swim course was correct. We could actually see the buoys migrating around the small lake. Well, I guess we all (in theory) swim the same distance, even if it is long.

We got into the water and I positioned myself at the front, treading water until the airhorn went off. Then I was off, swimming hard in a pretty large pack of girls. I was starting to get worried about maintaining a good position. I did a little drafting, but it was soon clear that she wasn't fast enough so I moved around. I hit the turnaround buoy and made a fast turn, then I was suddenly alone. Motivated further by my move into first place in my age group, I picked it up, making my way through the stragglers in the wave prior to mine. Then I was up the ramp and into T1, looking at my watch on the way. It said 6 something. Yup, long swim. I was hoping for 5 something.

T1

Sunglasses. Helmet. Bike. GO!

Bike

I made my way onto the bike course, still in first place in my age group. Kick ass! Well, not so fast. I was passed really quickly by a girl going wicked fast up our first hill. Damn, well second place. I held that for awhile, then another passed me. This one I held on to until about halfway through the course (when the real hills began).

I felt okay on the bike. I pushed as hard as I thought was wise (given my impending run, even if it is only 2 miles). By the time I was done with the bike, I had been passed by 5 or 6 girls in my age group - I had sort of lost count. Foo. I guess I need those race wheels back!

T2

Helmet off. Running shoes on. Grab GPS and race belt. GO!

Run

I ran as hard as I could. Only one person in my age group passed me on the run. I guess they were cyclists today. You never know who is going to be out there. I caught up to Cam on the run and urged her to run in with me. Ironman Cam just wasn't having it (crazy woman decides this race will be her first workout since Ironman CdA a couple weeks ago).

The last bit of the run course was really muddy. I was thinking of retiring my current pair of running shoes anyway. The mud clinched it. Yuck. I hauled ass to the finish and was done. Yay!

Post-Race

My final time was 1:06:18 - about a minute faster on the same course as Rookie (except the swim). I was about 30 seconds faster on the bike, obviously I was slower on the swim because the course was longer (but I felt like I had a great swim) and almost exactly the same on the run (1 second faster). My transitions are where I made the biggest time difference. I FLEW through my transitions today. I think I have the 4th sport down. :)

Final stats:

Swim - 6:31 2:10/M 1 out of 72 in age group, 13 out of 322 overall
T1 - 1:11
Bike - 38:40 18.6 mph 10 out of 72 in age group, 51 out of 322 overall
T2 - 1:01
Run - 18:53 9:27/mi 14 out of 72 in age group, 77 out of 322 overall
Total 1:06:18 8 out of 72 in age group, 40 out of 322 overall