2015 Tri for Real #1 - Race Report

1st Place went home before the award ceremony...but it was
all smiles for the rest of us who waited around

It is 3:00pm on a Sunday afternoon and I am sitting on the couch in my pajamas. Earlier today I finished an olympic distance triathlon, did a little wine tasting, came home and took an epsom salts bath, and then put on my PJs. I am now sitting on the couch with my ankle on ice (and a glass of #d'art wine in my hand).

This was my 5th time racing the Tri for Real at Rancho Seco Park. Prior to today I have always set a new PR at this race...not today. Also, every time I have done this race I have placed second...not today. I always jokingly call this my "bridesmaids race" because I never seem to make it to the top of the podium. Today, while I did manage to get 4th place, I didn't even get to stand on the podium! I guess that still makes me a bridesmaid! LOL

Time Out!

Here is a gentle reminder to myself about why maybe...just maybe...I may not be a "quick" as I was last year...

236 total training miles in May 2014 vs 695 miles in May 2015

For those of you that prefer time to distance, that's 58 hours of training in May 2015 vs 28 hours of training in May 2014. OK, so I may not have been at my peak for this race...I wasn't supposed to be. Still...  :-/

Pre-Race

Not much different today. Had my usual pre-race breakfast of eggs on toast with a cup of coffee and then a chia fresca about an hour before race start.

Swim

Well, since I love swimming so much, I decided to swim just a little further than I needed. According to my Garmin data, I tacked on about an extra 50 yards (it seemed longer than that). On top of that, I felt like I was struggling in my wetsuit...each stroke was an effort. My neck and shoulders have been bothering me since the Specialized recall fix on my Shiv and the swim was borderline painful.

Mike had to get a pic of me in my new wetsuit

Best part of the swim? Getting out of the lake!

T1

Even my towel is color coordinated :-)

Since today's race is more of a tune-up/practice for Vineman, I opted to put socks on instead of going without like I normally do at this race. I also didn't run from the water to my bike so I did add a little bit of time (that wasn't "practice" that was me being lazy).

Bike

Leaving the park is always interesting, especially if there is a car on the road. Today there was a pickup truck trying to leave. The driver didn't seem to know what to do about all the cyclists and decided to drive right behind a group of them instead of going around. I could see the truck ahead of me and I knew I was going to have to make a decision. As the truck approached the entrance kiosk it moved to the right a bit so I passed him on the left. I wasn't about to follow him out of the park...I had swimmers to catch.

The ride out 104 was nice. I felt a bit of a cross wind as I headed east and hoped that it would die down. I had never had to do this race with any kind of strong wind, and I didn't want today to be the first.

Although this race is much shorter than the training rides I have been doing, my neck and shoulders started burning about mile 16. I am still trying to find a fix for the "recall fix" that turned my comfy ride into a real pain :-(

As I headed west back to Rancho Seco Park, the wind started to pick up and it was no longer a crosswind. The return ride had an unenjoyable headwind UGH! My best average bike pace at this race is 20.8 mph. I had hoped to match that, but between all of my training and the wind, I was happy with today's 20 mph average pace.

T2

My time in T2 was about the same as it usually is. I would call it uneventful, however, as I was putting on my running gear, HS thought he would inform me that there were a couple of women out in front of me. What??? All I could think to ask was "Are you sure they are in my age group? 45-49?"

At this point in the race, I was tired and working really hard to maintain a positive attitude and to just run my race. I didn't want to hear there were possibly women in my age group out in front of me. Talk about taking the wind out of my sails!

Run

The majority of this run course is rolling hills on either a dirt fire road or a single track trail. There is a brief section of asphalt which is like heaven to me :-)

More than a couple of times during the run I had the impulse to walk...to give up... because it wasn't going to matter, I was already beat. I would then remind myself that it was possible that the women HS saw were not in my age group, or if in fact they were, they could have been part of a relay. I would also remind myself that I was there to run my race...in the middle of training for Vineman.

Although I ran slower than I would have liked, I completed the entire run...running!