Riverwood Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was so lucky to have "fresh water", meaning that there was a 2 min break right before my start. So, nobody got in my way. :) I swam pretty hard, trying to make sure nobody would pass me. Nobody did. I was vaguely aware of a guy in black closing in on me. At the last turn, he was on my heels, but not close enough to let him pass. I could tell he was racing me to the ladder, so I picked up my pace and beat him. Didn't want him to delay my exit out of the pool.

maybe swim a little harder

I have some new triathlon bike shoes which should be easier to put on than my roadies. Trouble is, I did not practice it, so fumbled with them a bit.

I rode somewhat easy until I got out onto the main road. Just felt I needed to catch my breath or something. Then put the pedal to the medal and went hard! I wasn't sure where my running was, so wanted to get a great bike split.

I had my HR monitor on, and had mph displaying in my bike computer. I was shooting for a 20+ mph bike pace. I passed everyone I saw. I kept looking at my HR and seeing 155ish. I kept pushing a little bit harder, thinking I should be 160+ range. I kept trying to feel burning in my quads. I was breathing hard. I kept chanting burn, pain, burn in my head to make myself go harder. Never really did feel pain, but I was breathing hard and working hard.

I ate a Gu about ten minutes into the bike.

About half way, my pace was showing 22 mph. I thought "Woohoo, I'm smoking this course". Then it occurred to me that I hadn't studied the elevation profile of the course, and maybe the 1st half was more down, and the 2nd half was more up. That turned out to be true, and I lost 1 mph by the end. I wasn't worried about it, because 21 mph is still and awesome pace for a tough course.

At mile 10, I ran out of water. Ooops...was planning to eat another Gu right near the end, but now that would have to wait till T2.

Near the end, I remembered something Heather Golnick said. Keep a high cadence on the bike, so that when you transition to running, you will have fast feet. So, the last bit of the bike, I was spinning high cadence.

I passed every person I saw. Nobody passed me. This is a beginner race, but still, I expected some males to pass me. Whenever I passed someone, I tried to say something nice like "looking good", or "good luck". I was really flying by people really fast, tho, and wondered if my words came off as arrogant rather than friendly. I remembered when I was a beginner, people flying past me saying things like that, and I didn't really like it. So, after a while, I decided to not say anything.

Spent too much time thinking about what all I need to grab.

Need to practice transitions. Easiest way to cut a few seconds off your race!!! My T times were way slower than my competitors this race, and usually mine are right up there with the top women.

I ate a Gu and drank some water while jogging slowly. Then I started running hard. I tried to focus on fast cadence and upright posture. I checked my heart rate and made sure it was in the 160's. It was. I had a vision of Cait Snow's fast feet running style in my mind and tried to mimic that.

Got to the first mile marker at 8:10. Was pleased with that, except for the fact that I was going downhill, so felt it should be going faster. So, I tried to step up my pace a little more.

I was again trying to say nice things to people in a spirit of friendliness. I'd say things like "nice job", "phew it's gettin hot", stuff like that. I felt it was coming off as friendly, so kept that up.

Then it dawned on me that if I can speak, I am not going hard enough. A sprint race should be run so hard that you are practically dying. So, again, I picked up my pace until I could no longer speak. Still wanting to be friendly, tho, I waved or smiled or gave a thumbs up at people that I saw.

At the turn around, my time was about 13 minutes. If I could keep up my same pace, I could get a 26 min split. That'd be good in my book. BUT, the 2nd half was uphill!!! I had to put the hammer down even harder and not let those hills slow me down.

Again, I focused on fast cadence and good posture. I tried to attack each hill without letting it slow me down. And it was getting really hot, so this was hard and I wanted it to be over. I told myself that the faster I can run, the sooner it would be over. So, I just kept up my hard pace.

Crossing the finish, I was very pleased to see that my run split was 26 and change, meaning I had split the course about even, despite the hills. Just glad that hot hilly run was over.

nothing, played the run just right.

I walked around looking for food and water. They hadn't set up any food yet. I had to ask a Setup Events employee where the water was, and he seemed miffed that I interrupted him. That miffed me! Turns out the water and power ade was inside the buckets of bull dozers. Cool idea, but hard to find! I drank alot of water. Then went back to my transition spot and drank a bottle of Boost and grabbed some snacks.

I chatted with lots of people after the race. I tried to look for folks that were by themselves and wanted to reach out and be friendly to them. I love doing that after races, it always makes people smile. Makes me smile too!

I got third overall female. My goal was to make top master's female, but third overall trumps all masters spots! It was very exciting to go back to my first race and see the result if four years of hard work! Triathlon is the funnest hard work I have ever done.