Jamestown International 2012 and a GREAT week (w/ pics!)

Well, I finally have time to sit down and write this post. It has been one crazy week in this house. I am taking an online history class and had a paper due today that I had been working on all week. I know I have to sometimes put triathlon related things on hold to do school work... which stinks. BUT! I finished my paper and my homework assignment, so now I get to write and read up on my passion.


My parents had been out of town for a few days for my brothers baseball tournament so I was also in charge of my 2 younger sisters this week... 17 and 15... so I guess not really much younger. In addition to hanging out with my 2 best friends all week, I got a really exciting email about the Endurance Films Racing Team!!! I don't want to get into it yet, but I am really excited to see where this goes.


On to the race...
The day/night before...
A warm and busy day indeed. I was up early to help coach at my local swim teams intrasquad meet. I got to be the announcer which was so much fun. I should never be left alone with a microphone, I am such a goofball. It was also fun to make fun of my mom, who is the President of the swim team, over the loud speaker. I would call her out for being slow at getting the times when the kids got out of the water since she was head timer at the meet. I was very careful to drink the entire time I was at the meet, which only lasted about 2.5 hours.
Next on my list that day was to take a history midterm, no fun at all.
Then, it was time for a quick trip to the bike shop. My pump broke and I knew I would need it for the race since I was borrowing my neighbor's Mavic's. Totally sweet. A great wheel set. I felt super fast riding them, and of course they look sexy on my bike.
Finally, I was able to squeeze in a short 30 min ride and 10 minute run to shake out before I had to scurry on over to a babysitting gig. The temperature was so hot, I just didn't want to dehydrate myself too much. I made sure to rotate Gatorade and water all day. I also ate some potato chips and salted nuts per request of my hand dandy bike mechanic. I was up way past midnight babysitting, the parents were fully aware that I had to be up at 4:45 to leave for my race and said they would not be out long... lies. OH well. I made money.


The Morning of...
So I wake up and brew a pot of coffee. I have actually recently given up coffee. It just gives me bad heartburn and I only drink it now on special occasions, like RACE DAY!!! My favorite day of the week. Mom got up and drove me to the race which was super nice of her because she had been out late as well. Although, she did forget the camera :( It stormed (lightning) the entire way down to the race. I was getting a little nervous and decided that if it was still storming at 6:30 (7am race start) I would just go home and do a tri at home. I get to the race and there is a huge line for paket pickup, I am really upset and nervous because I still needed to warmup and prep my T area. Only to find out about 10 minutes into my mini panic attack that the race had been pushed back a half hour and everyone was behind! PHEW! The packet pickup had just opened by the time I got in line. I felt like such a dummy, but it was such a relief. Then, I met up with my friend Megan from the JMU Triathlon Club for a quick chat before it was time to get in the zone.


THE RACE!
Run
At 7:15, the race director announced that the race would now be a duathlon rather than a triathlon. They replaced the mile swim with a mile run. I'm sure you can imagine my disappointment with this news. Take away the leg of the race that can put me at the FOP. I was nervous that I would go out too hard on the first run. I made sure to real keep control and focus on form. I ended up finishing in 7:02.  A solid pace.


Bike

Three miles in on the bike there was a huge clap of thunder that shook the ground. It was INSANE. I was so thankful I wasn't in the water. Good call by the race directors. I had an amazing bike. I really tried to make sure to keep myself in control since I left everything on the bike at my last race. There was a woman in front of me on the bike that I was playing leap frog with. She told me this was her first race in 2 years, I decided that I would not play with her anymore and let her go ahead. I knew that I had the endurance to pull through at the end. I didn't want to fly and die... which I sure didn't. I passed her at the end very strong.





Run 
I wish I could remember the run. I feel like I always black out a little on the run. Coming in on the bike, I passed the FOP sprint racers as they were starting run. The run started through cornfields. I was nervous that it was going to miserably hot running through the fields. About 4 minutes in the cornfields, the skies opened. It was beautiful. I have never been so happy to have rain. I had a very solid run with splits that were fairly consistent. I met and ran with a man for about 1.5 miles in the middle of the race. It was nice to have someone to keep me company for a little bit. Once he dropped off, he ran back up to me real quick and said "Holy cow, you are only 20? You have quite a future ahead of you." It was an amazing compliment and I felt great the rest of the race. Huge confidence boost.

OVERALL
I FINALLY GOT AN OVERALL PODIUM FINISH THIS SEASON. Such an awesome confidence boost.


Splits:
Run 1- 7:02
Bike- 1:04:57 (23 mph)
Run 2- 45:05 ( 7:15/mi)


After the race though, I experienced a little bit of knee pain after my post race nap. We have determined that it is IT Band pain, but has subsided for the most part. I took last week a little easier than normal. I am ready to hit the hammer though starting tomorrow! NATIONALS IS SO CLOSE!!!! I can't wait to rock it! Finally getting my speed back.