Ok, I am posting a report on a sprint race for one reason which will be apparent in the picture that accompanies it. Sorry about the size of the pics!
This past sunday i did the Batavia Triathlon a sprint of 400m/14.5mi/4.1mi. Last year I had a good bike and a good run but 62* water and no wetsuit ruined my swim and had numb feet until mile 3 of the run. This year I just wanted to better my time and have a better swim.
Pre-race- I got stuck in the slow line for marking so I got into transition late and had very little time to set-up before closing…this came into play later.
Swim- The water was 64*, I had my wetsuit and even did a warmup…I was ready! Until about 200m in to the swim when I felt like I could not breathe. Yeah, I should have done a wetsuit swim in preparing for the race, but figured I was ok last year. I had to stop swimming and talk a few seconds to calm down. Somehow I had a faster swim then last year…that’s how bad it was without a wetsuit. I can only think that the combo of the cold water and the lack of recent wetsuit practice messed me up.
T1- Yuck, pretty slow as I got dizzy taking off my wetsuit. Once I got out of it, I was flying. This year I decided to try waiting to put my feet in my shoes until a mile or so into the ride so I would have my speed up and it worked wonders. The only other problem was forgetting my gum sitting in my helmet ready for me to chew during the ride and run!
Bike- First race on my Jamis Trilogy and with my LG Chrono and I was flying…well for me these days! I was flying past people, it felt great my position feels really nailed down and I was comfortable. Early on I realized the I had forgotten the gum and was worried about where it had gone, but I soon forgot about it. I finished the bike almost 5 minutes faster then last year!
T2- A superb flying dismount and I passed four people into the transition area. Got to my rack…and it was empty! What a great feeling. I later found out that my ride was the 65th fastest out of 465! Pretty good considering I only got on the bike in March for the first time this year! Got into my shoes and was ready to roll…but I forgot to stop my Garmin Edge 205 and restart it for the run, so i lost a few seconds.
Run- The run hurt for the first couple of miles. My shins were very tight, but I am not sure why. I really felt like my run was going poor until the last mile when I really picked it up and finished strong. I got blisters early in the run and combine with my shins I was not happy, but remembering my problems at Steelhead made me realize it was no problem. Why did I get blisters? As I said I had little time in transition so when i put baby powder in my shoes I didn’t get a chance to shake them up to get it all around the inside of the shoe. My run time ended up only being about a minute slower then last year and I haven’t done any speed work, so I am pretty happy. I finished 90th overall. Right now I have another sprint when i am in St. Louis for a family thing and Steelhead on my schedule, but I may add a few more. My summer gets really busy from here on out.
The Shame- Remember the gum? I am a gum chewer, some people tap their pen, some chew fingernails, I chew my tongue (not viciously) if I do not have food or a drink so i chew gum all the time. Usually in races I put a fresh stick in my helmet on my glasses, well as I said I was running late so I just gently placed my abc gum in my helmet…and forgot it was there. Beyond my brief thought on the bike I forgot about the gum until about the 3 mile mark of the run when someone passing me asked if I was saving my gum for later…yes it was sitting on top of my head! I chucked and at the finish nobody saw it, but here is a pic of me running from T2. Thank god for short hair and apparently sturdy gum! Not quite as good as a wetsuit on the bike, a helmet on the run, or a backwards helmet, but funny enough!
