My second tri and a good time had by all! This was my daughter's first tri and she did AWESOME! I'm a bit of a proud mama today :) The alarm comes too early at 4:30 on a Saturday, but it was worth it to get a great transition spot and have time to hang around and talk out the race before hand. They had the full distance racers go first and just had you line up at the pool by est swim time. I stayed in the middle of the pack between 8-9 minuters and I was spot on! 8:30 finish time for a 400M swim. I was passed a couple times and I passed a couple people, so it was near perfect. I liked that they spread you out almost a full pool length! Ran to the bike, hopped on and I was off (excellent T1 time, 4th fastest). I wanted to really push myself on the bike this time. Last tri I was a little too comfortable and having too much 'wheee' time, so I pushed and this was the perfect nearly flat course to do so. 2 loops of the 5 mile course, Down Center St in Orem to the Parkway trail then back up 800S (Will's pit stop/Costco street). The hill down was fun, but the hill back up was nasty. Only good thing was, it was short and over with quickly. Really overall a good flat course! I was only passed by one female, but I caught her less than 1/4 mile into the run and she was only about 90 seconds faster than me anyway. Plus, I still have my big ol' clunky Wal-Mart bike. Someday I'd like to see what I could do on a nice bike. But, like I told one guy who passed me (with praise for hittin' it hard on a mtn bike) "give my husband a raise and I'll get a nice bike!" Finish time was 37:16.5 (18mph) - good enough for 10 overall fastest bike time.
I don't know what happened on the run transition. I thought I went pretty quickly, but I was SO slow compared to many others (this will come back to bite me later). I think it has to do with the fact that I have to tighten and tie my laces (double knot of course). If I had the quick tight laces things might've gone better, well faster. I was off on the run and determined to run faster than the 3.2 on the last one. This meant my goal was to keep my paces under an 8mm. I knew I could do this, it wouldn't be hard. C'mon girl -- what'cha got?!? I was lovin' passing people on my first loop. I'd see the female out in front of me, reel her in and pass her. First mile split came in at 7:45. Okay, legs finally getting over jello stage - faster now. Next split was 7:25, nice! Just going up from here. Well, I must've topped out 3rd split was exactly the same (7:25) which makes me frustrated, because it was the downhill section. Not that there was much either way. It really was a pretty FLAT course! The second loop was hard, because by this time there were many others in front of me and it played head games as to whether or not they were really ahead of me or on their first loop. I just tried to stay strong and push ME. At least my last .25 split was better for my finishing touch: 6:49. Which gave me an AP of 7:28 and a total time of 24:21. Not a killer 5K time, but for jello legs after a bike it was all right. So, I finished well and was excited to see 1st in AG and 2nd overall female. Woo hoo! I knew it was a smaller race, but it still felt good. Until I realized this was unlike a running race. Because we were so spread out in the beginning in the pool, someone 5 minutes behind you could really be in front of you. Craig had said Lauren started her run just a few minutes before I finished so I ran backwards on the course to find her and run her in. Such an amazing girl! When we'd practiced she would always whine and want/need to stop before even a 1/2 mile into the run. Well, when I saw her about 1/2 way through the 1.6 mile run she was running and going strong! She didn't stop the whole time. I ran her in and watched her finish, seriously proud mama! So, we waited and waited for awards. I did get a nice massage which is always a good perk! Hubby and boys had come to watch and cheer us on so we played and ate a bit. When awards came I was announced as 2nd in my AG - well poo! But, the first place girl was only 10 seconds in front of me. Double poo! I figured at that point they had taken overall finishers out of the AG's so I wasn't going to be there. But, when they announced them the 1st place finisher in my AG was 3rd overall! So, if I had made that T2 time just a tad shorter or pushed the pace on the run just a bit more I could've done 1st in AG and 3rd overall - a double dip! DANG!! Oh well, that is how the cookie crumbles and teaches you to push harder even if they aren't in front of you next time. Here is the worst news about the whole 10 second thing. Where did I slack and let her beat me? Not the swim (1+ min faster), not the bike (1+ min faster), but the RUN! uugggghhh! I don't let triathletes beat me on the run. Her T2 and run time were the only ones faster than mine. That is what really frustrates me about it all. Oh well, like I said: next time I will see her 10 seconds in front of me and take her down! :) Lauren's overall place was 8th in the Novice category (200M swim, 5 mile bike, 1.6 run). She was frustrated with her goggles and had to keep emptying out the water :( Her transition times were GREAT and her bike time was pretty good for a 10 year old on a mtn bike too. She made it up the hill without having to stop! Tough girl :) Her run? oh yeah, 5th overall! Gotta love that girl. Only thing that made me mad was they only did overall awards not AG awards in novice. I really wanted her to get a medal :( Kind of bummed about that and almost asked for one just because she was the youngest, but decided to let life be real and not coddle the kids. She said the swim was her favorite part, which doesn't surprise me. Too bad she did the best on the run :) Maybe I'll make a runner of her yet! Overall finish time: 58:13 - 8th overall. Only a 14 yr old and 16 yr old would've been in her AG and the 16 yr old finished a couple min in front of her and she beat the 14 yr old by 14 minutes. Yup, that's my girl :) So, I do like triathalons, but so much goes into them and I'm just not ready to buy all the crap. It's fun and sometimes I think if I can do this well untrained, what could I do trained and on a good bike? Oh well, I'm happy running now and using biking and swimming for x-training. Especially when my foot is being a poo head! Overall a wonderful morning. I really couldn't have asked for more...except 10 seconds faster (grrr).
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