I am late to the game on the Natties threads going on, but I haven't seen a lot discussing the race. More just related to the swim. This was my first time at Nationals and I thought the race was pretty good. Definitely the best race I have been able to do.
The swim - we have all heard about; long, choppy-ish, a death. Didn't have a wetsuit, was hoping for warmer temps, but oh well. The water really wasn't that cold feeling at 75 or whatever it was. I came out of the water hoping to be in the mid to upper 20s and saw 34 minutes. I was shocked and depressed that my time was so slow and thought I had blown the race or perhaps my body just wasn't going to perform, my calves were cramping as I was running up the sand. I felt strong and in control the whole time, but next time around I think maybe I need to push harder and not be as conservative.
T1 - long run from the beach to transition. I feel like it was easily 400m, maybe a little more and running through some of that loose sand sucks. After seeing my depressing swim time, I saw down and decided to put my socks and shoes on instead of rushing.
Bike - I felt like the course was fast. It def had its rough spots, but in general I had my best bike split there. I didn't see a lot of drafting, at least purposeful. There were parts that I felt like it was impossible not to get close to people, but for the most part people tried to get away from each other. My foot started cramping up about 3/4s of the way through the bike, so much so that I unclipped to try to stretch it out and adjusted how I was putting power in the pedals. I was worried I had broke the outside ball of my foot or little toe the night before jumping those little electric Bird scooters in a skate park haha. Yeah, so that means I was drinking the night before too. . . I took one SIS isotonic gels on the bike about mile 23 and that was it for nutrition. Just had one bottle of scratch.
T2 - uneventful, no complaints. I didn't recon fully and came up to transition without realizing so I only had time to take one foot out of my shoe and the other I just kept on to dismount my bike
Run - That hill out of transition was kinda steep :) The course was good for me and not to congested. I didn't mind the double loop as much as I thought at the beginning. I started out fast. I got caught up in the adrenaline of it being the last leg and trying to keep up with those that came into transition with me. I def faded on the second loop (miles 3-6). Coming up to the finish line was cool. That bridge they built to cross over the run out section was interesting and then coming up to the carpet was really a good feeling. The announcers were pretty bad at pronouncing peoples names though. . .even those of us with normal names, but they did a good job at staying up beat.
The one thing I hated the most. . .no free beer! I walked over to the beer garden and asked for one and they were like, "5 dollars." I probably looked take aback that racers didn't get a couple free, but ended up forking over the money for a. . .miller lite :-/ All in all, I ran it in 2:31 and some change. Was hoping for mid to upper 2:20s, but I think with the longer swim and T1 I was right on my goal time. Also, probs to QR for being out there. They tuned my bike and did a pre race check the day before. I also had an issue with my Qbox, but I messaged them on FB of all things and got a response from Jack and Sam that they would have a new one waiting on me, which was awesome.
The city was great. First time being there and I thought I was going to be walking into a ghetto the way I hear people describe it. It was clean with lots of cool breweries and food. Lots of girls to :))
Use this link to save $5 off your USAT membership renewal:
https://membership.usatriathlon.org/...A2-BAD7-6137B629D9B7
The swim - we have all heard about; long, choppy-ish, a death. Didn't have a wetsuit, was hoping for warmer temps, but oh well. The water really wasn't that cold feeling at 75 or whatever it was. I came out of the water hoping to be in the mid to upper 20s and saw 34 minutes. I was shocked and depressed that my time was so slow and thought I had blown the race or perhaps my body just wasn't going to perform, my calves were cramping as I was running up the sand. I felt strong and in control the whole time, but next time around I think maybe I need to push harder and not be as conservative.
T1 - long run from the beach to transition. I feel like it was easily 400m, maybe a little more and running through some of that loose sand sucks. After seeing my depressing swim time, I saw down and decided to put my socks and shoes on instead of rushing.
Bike - I felt like the course was fast. It def had its rough spots, but in general I had my best bike split there. I didn't see a lot of drafting, at least purposeful. There were parts that I felt like it was impossible not to get close to people, but for the most part people tried to get away from each other. My foot started cramping up about 3/4s of the way through the bike, so much so that I unclipped to try to stretch it out and adjusted how I was putting power in the pedals. I was worried I had broke the outside ball of my foot or little toe the night before jumping those little electric Bird scooters in a skate park haha. Yeah, so that means I was drinking the night before too. . . I took one SIS isotonic gels on the bike about mile 23 and that was it for nutrition. Just had one bottle of scratch.
T2 - uneventful, no complaints. I didn't recon fully and came up to transition without realizing so I only had time to take one foot out of my shoe and the other I just kept on to dismount my bike
Run - That hill out of transition was kinda steep :) The course was good for me and not to congested. I didn't mind the double loop as much as I thought at the beginning. I started out fast. I got caught up in the adrenaline of it being the last leg and trying to keep up with those that came into transition with me. I def faded on the second loop (miles 3-6). Coming up to the finish line was cool. That bridge they built to cross over the run out section was interesting and then coming up to the carpet was really a good feeling. The announcers were pretty bad at pronouncing peoples names though. . .even those of us with normal names, but they did a good job at staying up beat.
The one thing I hated the most. . .no free beer! I walked over to the beer garden and asked for one and they were like, "5 dollars." I probably looked take aback that racers didn't get a couple free, but ended up forking over the money for a. . .miller lite :-/ All in all, I ran it in 2:31 and some change. Was hoping for mid to upper 2:20s, but I think with the longer swim and T1 I was right on my goal time. Also, probs to QR for being out there. They tuned my bike and did a pre race check the day before. I also had an issue with my Qbox, but I messaged them on FB of all things and got a response from Jack and Sam that they would have a new one waiting on me, which was awesome.
The city was great. First time being there and I thought I was going to be walking into a ghetto the way I hear people describe it. It was clean with lots of cool breweries and food. Lots of girls to :))
Use this link to save $5 off your USAT membership renewal:
https://membership.usatriathlon.org/...A2-BAD7-6137B629D9B7