Here's my report. Only downside to the weekend was to not meet up with any STers, though I do think I saw tri girl's HOT pink bike! I did get to see that major hottie, Cousin Elwood.
My goals for the race:
1. Finish--check
2. Have fun--check
3. Go faster than 2003--check (BY 35 MINUTES!!!!!!!!! Major PR!)
4. RUN the RUN--check!
5. Hold back on the bike so I can do #4 (this will be the most difficult of all)--CHECK!!
Former SJIT PR--3:33
Sunday was the perfect day. In the Athena division, I had the fastest bike, second fastest swim and second fastest run! I would have been 17/30 in my AG and I had faster times than a couple of gals who have always beaten me in the past.
I went down to San Jose Saturday afternoon. Got registered, then went and rode the bike course, minus the 2 mile out/back. Great course--mostly flat, one 0.8 mile climb, a few small rollers, great road surface. I was riding easy and averaged 15 mph. Felt strong and really, really good. Early night at the hotel with dinner, my book and to bed. Woke up at 3:30 AM. Went back to sleep until 4:30. Got up and ate and drank some coffee. For some reason I wasn't really nervous, just ready to go and race. As I was driving over to the race site, I saw the flags blowing and knew we'd have headwind for part of the bike, so decided to take the effort down a little into the headwind. At the start, it was overcast and cool.
Swim: I was in the last wave, Clydesdales/Athenas/Relays, so the wave wasn't too big. I started in the back (though that was only about 3 deep). The course was a short leg to the other side of the lake, then follow the perimeter of the lake 3/4s of the way around, then cut back to the center of the lake and to the finish (small lake so the swim is 1.25K). The first leg was a little congested, but once we turned and did the long leg along the shore, I started passing people, even some caps from the two waves in front of me. And for once, I didn't lose focus about halfway through. I was hoping to see a 29:xx, but I was really surprised to see sub-26 (25:53)! Also, water was a little warm for the long-sleeved wetsuit. Would have been nice to have a sleeveless. Long run up to the TA. They had racks for all the tri clubs and ours was the farthest from the bike in/out, so a long run in cleats.
Bike: I took off and immediately started passing people. The first half mile is slightly uphill, but then it's a slight downhill to flat for about 6 miles. Keeping Scott's instructions in mind, I kept having to tell myself to ease up. Even so, I was still passing people the entire way. We got out to where the road turned into the wind and we crested the small hill and major headwind! Down from 19 mph to about 15 mph. But, when we made the turnaround, I was flying...29 mph, seriously. And I wasn't hammering either. Unfortunately, that was short lived since that section was only about 2 miles. After that, we turned onto Bailey and went up the hill. I didn't push it up, just sat and rode up in the lowest gear, standing up a couple of times to stretch my legs since I'd been totally aero the rest of the time. Hit the top of the hill and then the rest of the way was pretty much downhill to flat, with a few little uphills. Repassed all the people who had passed me going up the hill and then, this dude on a Specialized must not have liked getting passed twice by me since he repassed me again, but couldn't hold it, so I hammered for about 20 seconds and totally dropped him (then eased up). Saw an LA Tri Club jersey just ahead of me, so I picked it up and caught my friend Peggy, said hi and then on. I eased up in the last couple of miles, still in the big gear, but dropping it down a couple of gears to spin out my legs. Along here a few people caught back up and passed me, all riding as hard as they could right to the end (that used to be me). Dismounted and jogged the long way to the bike rack. My right foot was numb, so I had trouble getting my sock on. Bike time: 1:19:57, 18.6 mph average.
Run: Headed out on the run and my legs felt pretty good (who knew!) I was moving along pretty well and actually passed a few people! Now that is a first! By this time the fog had cleared and it was sunny and warming up. In the past, this run has felt like it goes on forever and ever, but not today. Each mile marker came and when I got to 3 miles, I saw the total time and knew that if I just kept going like I was, I'd be really close to 3:00. I've never broken 3 hours and that was one of my goals for this year. Mile 4 goes around this little pond thing and it was on gravel trail so I had to keep focused here since my sore ankle doesn't really like the gravel. Got to mile 5 and it was back on the path and I walked through the aid station to be ready to make the big push to the end. I'm actually surprised that mile 6 wasn't faster as I felt like I picked it up that last mile. Got to the last 0.2, which was over a small bridge, down and then a left turn to finish on the grass. Run time: 1:05:21
Total: 2:58.09
I was thrilled (I still am!)
Run splits
#1: 10:26
#2: 10:05
#3: 10:15
#4: 10:41
#5: 11:02
#6: 11:07
0.2: 2:06
Yesterday was a day when everything just clicked. For winning the division, I got a nice Zoot running shirt with AGE GROUP WINNER on the front.
clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com
My goals for the race:
1. Finish--check
2. Have fun--check
3. Go faster than 2003--check (BY 35 MINUTES!!!!!!!!! Major PR!)
4. RUN the RUN--check!
5. Hold back on the bike so I can do #4 (this will be the most difficult of all)--CHECK!!
Former SJIT PR--3:33
Sunday was the perfect day. In the Athena division, I had the fastest bike, second fastest swim and second fastest run! I would have been 17/30 in my AG and I had faster times than a couple of gals who have always beaten me in the past.
I went down to San Jose Saturday afternoon. Got registered, then went and rode the bike course, minus the 2 mile out/back. Great course--mostly flat, one 0.8 mile climb, a few small rollers, great road surface. I was riding easy and averaged 15 mph. Felt strong and really, really good. Early night at the hotel with dinner, my book and to bed. Woke up at 3:30 AM. Went back to sleep until 4:30. Got up and ate and drank some coffee. For some reason I wasn't really nervous, just ready to go and race. As I was driving over to the race site, I saw the flags blowing and knew we'd have headwind for part of the bike, so decided to take the effort down a little into the headwind. At the start, it was overcast and cool.
Swim: I was in the last wave, Clydesdales/Athenas/Relays, so the wave wasn't too big. I started in the back (though that was only about 3 deep). The course was a short leg to the other side of the lake, then follow the perimeter of the lake 3/4s of the way around, then cut back to the center of the lake and to the finish (small lake so the swim is 1.25K). The first leg was a little congested, but once we turned and did the long leg along the shore, I started passing people, even some caps from the two waves in front of me. And for once, I didn't lose focus about halfway through. I was hoping to see a 29:xx, but I was really surprised to see sub-26 (25:53)! Also, water was a little warm for the long-sleeved wetsuit. Would have been nice to have a sleeveless. Long run up to the TA. They had racks for all the tri clubs and ours was the farthest from the bike in/out, so a long run in cleats.
Bike: I took off and immediately started passing people. The first half mile is slightly uphill, but then it's a slight downhill to flat for about 6 miles. Keeping Scott's instructions in mind, I kept having to tell myself to ease up. Even so, I was still passing people the entire way. We got out to where the road turned into the wind and we crested the small hill and major headwind! Down from 19 mph to about 15 mph. But, when we made the turnaround, I was flying...29 mph, seriously. And I wasn't hammering either. Unfortunately, that was short lived since that section was only about 2 miles. After that, we turned onto Bailey and went up the hill. I didn't push it up, just sat and rode up in the lowest gear, standing up a couple of times to stretch my legs since I'd been totally aero the rest of the time. Hit the top of the hill and then the rest of the way was pretty much downhill to flat, with a few little uphills. Repassed all the people who had passed me going up the hill and then, this dude on a Specialized must not have liked getting passed twice by me since he repassed me again, but couldn't hold it, so I hammered for about 20 seconds and totally dropped him (then eased up). Saw an LA Tri Club jersey just ahead of me, so I picked it up and caught my friend Peggy, said hi and then on. I eased up in the last couple of miles, still in the big gear, but dropping it down a couple of gears to spin out my legs. Along here a few people caught back up and passed me, all riding as hard as they could right to the end (that used to be me). Dismounted and jogged the long way to the bike rack. My right foot was numb, so I had trouble getting my sock on. Bike time: 1:19:57, 18.6 mph average.
Run: Headed out on the run and my legs felt pretty good (who knew!) I was moving along pretty well and actually passed a few people! Now that is a first! By this time the fog had cleared and it was sunny and warming up. In the past, this run has felt like it goes on forever and ever, but not today. Each mile marker came and when I got to 3 miles, I saw the total time and knew that if I just kept going like I was, I'd be really close to 3:00. I've never broken 3 hours and that was one of my goals for this year. Mile 4 goes around this little pond thing and it was on gravel trail so I had to keep focused here since my sore ankle doesn't really like the gravel. Got to mile 5 and it was back on the path and I walked through the aid station to be ready to make the big push to the end. I'm actually surprised that mile 6 wasn't faster as I felt like I picked it up that last mile. Got to the last 0.2, which was over a small bridge, down and then a left turn to finish on the grass. Run time: 1:05:21
Total: 2:58.09
I was thrilled (I still am!)
Run splits
#1: 10:26
#2: 10:05
#3: 10:15
#4: 10:41
#5: 11:02
#6: 11:07
0.2: 2:06
Yesterday was a day when everything just clicked. For winning the division, I got a nice Zoot running shirt with AGE GROUP WINNER on the front.
clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com