Wrong. I always spend another 5 minutes double and triple checking my transition setup to make sure I didn't forget anything. Why do I keep doing this? It's not like my shoes are going to walk off by themselves before the race. Ah, but this time, there was more on the line. A qualification was at stake! First place age group or bust. Okay, not really. I don't like ultimatums and I do like to have stress-free fun.. but qualifying to compete in the age group national championships would be the icing on the cake, especially after everything that happened this past year.
Swim (300 meters)
It was a pool swim. I had not done one of these in over 20 races. I am not a big fan of pool swims because the lanes can get really congested when swimmers are passing and there's high chances of head collisions. We started off in 10 second intervals. As the volunteer counted down to 1, an adrenaline rush took over and I rocketed off the wall. I definitely started off too fast and caught 2 swimmers by the end of 50m (one pool length). Oops. But I was feeling pretty good, so I just kept going. Caught another 3 swimmers, got stuck in traffic when there were four of us side by side in one lane (crazy!!! and dangerous!!) but I got away unscathed and finished in 5:44.
Bike (11 miles)
Vroom vroom! I averaged 21.5 for the first 5 miles. Legs were feeling awesome and well rested. Lungs were not. I definitely could have held a 22 for the entire ride, but my heart rate was soaring and I knew if I didn't lower it, my respiratory system wouldn't recover well enough for the run, especially since I haven't had time to train it to push this hard. I passed lots of riders! A few in my age group too. That pumped me up as finishing number one might not be so out of reach. :) I ended up finishing the 11 miles in 31:26, averaging 20.9 mph.
Run (3 miles)
Ouch. Time to focus and just push the pace. I let my legs do whatever they wanted to do, and all I did was just focus on my breathing. This plan was working pretty well. I wanted to speed up even more, but I hadn't trained at this pace, and I knew it wasn't worth the risk to blow up. I passed a few runners, which is a new thing for me in sprint distance. It's always the other way around because my pace is slower compared to my competitors. None were my age, so I was getting a bit discouraged. Maybe I was too far away from the leader of the F25-29.
Whenever I saw a female that looked young, I'd focus my attention on her and try to run her down. What a bummer! Nearly all triathletes look young. Even the 40 year olds! But the hard pushes were not a waste as they kept my mind engaged or else it would've told my lungs and legs to quit miles ago. With 0.6 miles left, I saw one. Her calf was branded with a 29. The big bad wolf inched closer (I was huffing and puffing pretty loudly). She was within striking distance when I debated whether or not to slow down and stay behind her. I'd have an advantage being behind her in that I can sneak attack towards the end and sprint past her, leaving her no time to match my acceleration. But what if she wasn't the only one? What if there was another F25-29 ahead of her? Then this plan would be for nothing. So I decided to pass her, but with a faster pace as to dishearten her and discourage her to match my speed. Nothing breaks your heart like watching someone walk away from you while you're suffering and giving it your all.
Gotcha! I thought to myself as I finally saw her shadow moving further and further away. Just keep this pace to the finish, there's only half a mile left. The only problem is, my lungs didn't have half a mile left. Goodness. Nearing the finish, I heard some huffing and saw a shadow. I thought the girl I had passed was going to pull the move that I was dreading, so I sped up, and so did she. I was definitely over my threshold point as I could barely breathe. She passed me. Except she was a he. It was another racer. Noo! I wasted precious energy! and I could only hope I recover in time to make a strong finish and ward off another attack. Final turn, finish banner in sight, relief. Only ten more steps to go. As I counted down, I had let my guard down and slowed my pace (I was out of breath). With 5 steps to go, I was feeling the celebration, but then a shadow appeared. The shadow turned into a body. SHE WAS RIGHT NEXT TO ME! I mustered whatever I could to accelerate across the last timing mat. We finished head to head, but I think my toe/timing chip crossed the line first by a toenail. No celebration after that. More like words I can't repeat here.
I finished the run in 23:57 and had a total time of 1:03:59.2 (My goal was to get 1:05. Beat it!! :) )
Results
I hate waiting. Especially watching a screen scroll. My name finally appeared and I was in first! But wait, it was the wrong age group. I got first in F20-24. I couldn't catch the 1st place time of the F25-29 to compare, so I had to wait for the results to scroll through entirely again. Two minutes felt like two hours. No joke. But the wait was worth it. :) I won my age group! My first win for F25-29!! I went to the officials and got them to place me back into the correct category, then I may or may not have proceeded to watch the screen many more times that morning to confirm what I already knew. :) I was afraid it might change or disappear, that my name being on top was a mistake.
I could get used to having that number 1 next to my name :)
I got this nice podium gift for my valiant efforts today:
My first canteen!!
:)
It was a good day and so much excitement and drama all before 8:20am! See, there's no need for reality television. Go do a triathlon instead! ;)
I am now patiently waiting for an email from USAT to make things official, but instead of sitting here twiddling my thumbs, I am going to go train. I can't just show up at nationals, got to represent and show them what's coming in the future. ME!
No comments:
Post a Comment