I wasn't nearly as nervous about this race as I have been for others this summer. In general, I am more confident about my endurance than I am about my speed and I knew that this race was more about endurance. That being said I got 2nd place in my age group and was the 15th overall female!!!! Can you believe it??? I'm so freaking pumped!
The swim: I wore my wet suit on the swim. It was probably half and half, people wearing wetsuits and people wearing just their tri suit. I'm really glad I wore mine because it was only my 3rd time to race in it and my first time to have people afterwards pull it off. That was really helpful and not nearly as stressful as getting the thing off myself. 1,500 m seems like a long way when you're standing on the dock about to jump in but once I got going I felt really comfortable. This was my best event of the day, I was calm, kept a good pace, and never really got tired. I'm so paranoid about getting off course though that I never took more than 7 strokes without looking up to see where I was going. I practice in open water every Sunday so I'm decent at sighting, but you'd think I would have gone faster if I would of just trusted that I was going semi-straight.
Coming out of the water I heard my mom immediately yell, "Great job, Michelle!!! That was a fantastic swim!" lol, I always know I'm ahead of the pack if my mom uses a bigger word than "great." Since I heard "fantastic" I knew I had done well. : )
Running out of T1 with my bike I saw Evan which totally picks me up and makes my day. He is so incredibly supportive of all my athletic efforts, I'm so lucky to have such a great support system!
Now the bike. First thing out of the transition was a hill and wind. I always try to just spin my legs easy first thing to get them moving. However, it seemed like I was in my easiest gear for a LONG TIME. That wind on the first leg of the loop was a huge beating. I kept looking at my clock and seeing that I was averaging 14 mph. "14 mph! What the?!" Diana said she felt the same way, so much so that she thought her brakes were touching her tire! Thankfully though, it was a loop so the second half was super fast. I was averaging close to 24-25 mph the second half. It was a 4 loop course so I just had to stay positive each time I was going into the wind. Total time 1:20:09. 24 miles, 18.0 mph average.
After every bike loop I heard my cheering section which now included Dad! I cannot explain how awesome it is to hear people cheering for you. It also is super motivating knowing that they're waiting for you at the end at an expected time. Definitely helps keep my legs in motion. Later, with about 200-300 yards to go in the run, Mom and Dad were there and said, "Yay! You can do it, almost there." I managed to yell out, "yeah...I'm going to need a little more than that. Really freaking tired." So then they said, "WOO HOO!!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!! DIANA'S MOM AND COUSINS ARE JUST AROUND THE CORNER AND THEN KRIS AND EVAN ARE AT THE FINISH!!! GOOOOO!!!!" It worked, I picked up my pace and gave Evan a high five as I was crossing the finish line. Like I said, they are all the best supporters EVER! ; )
The run is described on the event website as "hilly and challenging." All I have to say is YES. Yes, it was hilly and challenging. Overall, I was happy with my pace that I kept. It was almost exactly a minute slower per mile than my last 10k race, which seems about right since I had already swam and biked. I reflected so much afterwards on how different the pain is from a hard, fast effort versus a hard, long effort. Granted 6 miles isn't a long way to run on it's own, but it sure felt like it at the end of an already long morning. I got to a point at about the 5 mile mark where I had visions of my half-ironman in Galveston on the beach where I just wanted to cry and stop running. I so wanted desperately to stop running. Then, I thought about all the amazing athletes in my running/triathlon club who do full Ironman's and have recently qualified for the Half-Ironman World Championships. I sure felt like I was having quite the pity party compared to the inspiring people I'm able to train with.
This was my last big race of the 2009 season. I'll do the Monster Tri at the end of October for fun but now I'm concentrating on the fall running season. I'm so happy with how this summer went, I not only made huge strides in my biking and running but I also made incredible friends who don't think it's crazy at all to do a 50 mile bike rally and then immediately hop off the bike to run a few miles.
Running Events for the Fall: Rockledge Rumble 30k Trail Run, White Rock Half Marathon
Triathlon Goals for 2010: two Olympic triathlon's, one Half Ironman
Wish me luck! : )
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