The night before
My parents were both out of town and I had been in charge of the three younger siblings for three days, on top of some hard training AND work from 9-5 (Serious props to my mother for doing this every day). Therefore, I was a little stressed out and didn't eat a very good dinner. I just had some scrambled eggs, GF toast, and a little bowl of cereal. I had a really low appetite that day which was weird for me.
Getting to the race
My lovely, lovely father who just got back from a trip in Austin, TX drove me to the race on Saturday morning. I was up at 3:15 to get ready, prepare my oatmeal, and screw on my brake pads (they had been in the car at the airport). We left the house at 3:45 since it was a 7 am start. HE LOVES ME! We had a nice trip and a Sheetz pitstop on the way out of town.
Race site
Set up my transition area, and of course I forgot to take a picture again! UGH. But I did a pretty good job. I went to the car to get my transition bag from my dad because I forgot to put on bodyglide... more on that later. As I biked to my car so I could continue on with my warmup, I touched the brakes and realized my bike wasn't stopping. Little ole dumb me put on my brake pads UPSIDE DOWN! Luckily the problem was fixed like 20 minutes before the start. Talk about stressful. I took a Clif Shot Block and walked down to the beach for the swim start.
Swim
The swim was 1000m. The water temperature was 74 degrees and I opted not to wear a wetsuit. I decided that the salt water would take care of the buoyancy factor and I would probably get too warm in a wetsuit. Again, I am being very careful about my dehydration. The swim went by really fast!
T1
LONG transition 1. I passed one of my guy friends coming out of the water hehe. GO ME. YOU JUST GOT CHICK'D BRO. I ran right out of transition and clipped in my left foot before the mount line. Why I did this? I am not exactly sure. But I made sure to not get all the way on my bike till I crossed the mount line.
Bike
The bike was awesome. I played leap frog with 2 other women throughout the whole race. I also did have a moment when I almost got hit by a car. It just about turned into the bike lane. Thank goodness I had my brakes fixed and I apologize for the series of 4 letter words that erupted from my mouth. My bad. I came in from the bike in 2nd place for women and only about 45 seconds down from leader claimed my dad. I drank half of an Accelerade on the bike.
T2
My dad then started yelling at me that I was only 30 seconds down as I exited transition. I knew I was going to win this race. I always excelled in the run. Even if I felt slow, I ALWAYS win the run.
Run
Then the run started. I felt horrible. I just kept up pace with her feet, but I felt myself falling further behind. And then I got passed by the other lady I was playing leap frog with. I knew I had been on the run for like 20 minutes, I had to be getting close. I was so wrong, I was only 4 minutes into the run. Alright, I can accept 3rd I told myself. I don't want to reinjure my leg, just finish the run and hold your own. I had a gel with me and tried to eat it, but it did not feel right, so I tossed it when I got to an aid station. I decided to walk through each water station to try and get my head on straight. Then I got passed again, and my morale dropped significantly, 4th place. My hip started to irritate me, and I knew I would have to hold back. Whatever. I just want to survive this run. I finally crossed the finish line. Winning my age group, but I felt horrible. At least everyone was yelling "Go Dukes" at me! Yay JMU!
I knew that pushing harder would have increased my chance for inury and I am happy with my performance on the bike. I just really let it all out there. And that is okay with me. I now know that I need to work on my bike-run endurance.
Stats:
Swim: 14:56 (1:22/100yd)
T1: 2:11
Bike: 52:53 (21.6 mph) <-- AWESOME
T2: 0:45
Run: 38:30 (7:45/mi) EEH gads. Oh well. It happens. Better luck next time
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