Greenville Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

We were sent off two at a time. I fudge my race time and looked up my lane partner before the race. I knew he was gonna be way faster than me (he finished 10th overall in the whole event last year) but thought if I could hang off of his feet, I might have a pretty good swim. We swam side by side the first length then he moved in front of me on the second length then we started passing other people. He was much better passing than me and he soon disappeared but I was not surprised. I ended up passing three other people myself and never got passed.

I'm glad I put down a fast time. I didn't get caught in any congestion. I would have liked to have done all my flip turns (I only did one) but going off two at a time put a damper on that as you don't want to kick your lane mate in the face and it seemed like most of my passes came at the wall.

They screwed up our timing and the first 200 participants T1, Bike and T2 times were all lumped together. For the sake of simplicity, I'm gonna put myself down for 1 minute transitions for both T1 and T2 and take the rest for my bike split.

Nothing

I wish I had more than a guesstimate here. My total time for T1, Bike and T2 was 41.11. I know I felt strong. But almost 23 mph average?! I started out conservative, especially on the first climb. I dropped down into my little ring to keep my cadence high. A friend of mine passed me and I saw how smooth and high his cadence was and I lifted mine and passed him right back. He is a better climber than I am, so this did not last long and he passed me. I tried to keep close (but not draft) but alas, he pulled away. Then I saw a girl in my age group who is a much faster swimmer ahead of me. I knew if I could pass her, she would have to really work her butt off on the run to get me. She is a stronger runner than me and I needed to put as much distance between me and her on the bike as possible. Mission accomplished!

Climb better.

I didn't think much about this at the time, but after seeing how close I was to winning my age group, I think this may have played a part. I counted the racks in transition and saw people standing in my spot, so I went up one extra row to back my bike in. When I actually backde my bike in the spot, I see they are standing on my towel!!! They are relay members just hanging out talking. I was like "Look out, coming through!" As I ran out of T2, one of them called out, "Subtract 3 seconds off your time because of us". The first place chick beat me by 7 seconds. It makes one wonder what if. But it is no use to ponder shoulda coulda woulda at this point.

Not have relay members standing on my stuff!

I still have lots of work to do on my run. But I did take 1:15 off my time from last year. I know I need to lean forward more and relax. My coach was sitting on the dirt and gravel hill encouraging all of her athletes. She told me that I needed to relax, smile and have fun. I am so tense and panic so easy on the run. It rarely feels good. But I tried to take little steps and pump my arms and keep a quick cadence. I know that quick cadence is the key and the more I practice this, the better I will become. I did pass three guys on my way down the gravel hill on my last lap. That is exciting, cuz I don't do a lot of passing on the run.

Breathe deeper, relax, faster foot turnover and lean forward!

Stretched and mingled. There were so many people here. And I had lots of friends doing the race. I was a very happy girl because I took over four minutes off of my time from last year with over a minute of that coming off the run.


Heat, my lack of running prowess and people standing on my stuff in transition!


I am very pleased with my performance. And my arch rival only beat me by 7 seconds! You can't really complain about being fifth overall and second in your age group!