First triathlon in almost 3 years! Since Ironman! Not sure how the time went by so fast.
My "A" race for this year is Ironman Maine 70.3, so I signed up for this Olympic triathlon and Williamsburg Olympic in July. As we got closer to the date and I realized I have not been on my bike even ONE TIME in months, I made the wise decision to switch my race to the sprint. It was literally the best decision I've made in a long time.
My original plan was to drop the dogs at daycare on Saturday around 5pm and make my way down to Cindy's house for dinner and to spend the night since she lives much closer to the race. It had been raining consistently for an entire week though, and the dogs had been cooped up in the house for too long. I ended up taking them to daycare Friday morning and would let them stay until Sunday. This meant that I could leave earlier on Saturday and make the team's scheduled practice swim. It rained for the entire drive down to Southern Maryland but Coach Ed assured us the swim would go as scheduled. Well, he didn't show up, but there were several other teammates who didn't get that message either and we decided to swim anyway. There are definitely easier things in life than putting on a wetsuit in the pouring rain! This was a brand new wetsuit though and I absolutely wanted to get in once before the race. I only got in about 500 yards, but that was ok - loving the new wetsuit!
I got to Cindy's and took a quick shower before we headed out to dinner, watched a movie and then early bedtime. The worst thing about racing is the early alarm clocks, and before I knew it I was packing up my stuff and on the road back to the race site. I parked, checked-in, set up my transition and hung out at the Team Z tents. The sprint race started about 30 min after the Olympic distance, so we had a few extra minutes to get ready before making the 1/4 mile trek down the hill to the swim start. By the time we got there, the race had already started and the energy was strong.
My only hesitation in switching from the Olympic distance to the sprint distance was that I wouldn't get in as much swimming - 750m vs 1500m - and I wanted the swim practice for Alcatraz. Alas, the swim course turned out to be long and I got in 1000 yards. Perfect. I was at a 2:20/100yd pace which is a little slower than I was last year, but then again I was swimming a lot more last year preparing for the Chesapeake Bay swim. Then it was back up the 1/4 mile hill into transition to get Xena for her first road ride since...... June 2016...... not kidding.
The bike was pretty much as expected for not having been on a bike in so long. So very glad that I switched to the sprint distance. There were a few times I had to drop to my lowest gear and felt like I was going up the side of the mountain, but the elevation chart from my garmin would disagree. This was a pretty flat ride. Definitely need to start up the bike training (but probably not until after Alcatraz). I sure was happy when we made the final turn back into transition!
Off on the run. It had rained the entire week non-stop, yet now, as I am starting on the run, the clouds parted and it was scorching! What are the odds?! I walked a bit but then started throwing in more run intervals. I ran a lot more than I thought I would and am quite pleased. It was really hot with only about half mile in the shade. I feel that I finished strong and was happy.
I collected my stuff and started the hour and a half drive back home. In the car I made some last minute plans with Joann and Sweeney to hit a winery to celebrate. I realized than when I removed the stress of cut-off times, my ability to make the distance, etc, etc, I actually had fun racing! I do love pushing myself to the bigger goals, but I think maybe after this year I may take some time and concentrate on smaller goals and improving my times.
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