I came in worried how I would do here because I've just been feeling blah, that and the fact that Muncie's bike is "flat and fast" meant that I could potentially end up screwed on the bike portion. Anyway:
Swim info: very slow, 38:38, 17th/58 in my age group out of the water
Bike info: 2:54:57, average speed 19.2mph, moved up to 11th in my age group off the bike (that's new)
Run info: 2:02:18, 9:20/mile, finished 13th in my age group
Overall time: 5:42:07, T1: 3:30, T2: 2:44
Longer version:
Pre-race shenanigans
The swim:
I've been working on siting while swimming, and I think I've got it figured out, but what I haven't figured out is how to get around people in the water. I also need to figure out how to get my wetsuit to stop eating my neck. I positioned myself closer to the front of the swim start (good move) because I figured out that leaves me with fewer people I need to fight with during the swim. The first few hundred yards were a bit on the ridiculous side, this is where sighting could be useful. We were sprinting and running into each other like crazy. I had to tell myself to calm down because there was one girl who was insistent on trying to swim on top of me instead of beside me. After a while everything started to calm down, and we started closing in on the orange caps (Men age groups 18-24 and 25-29). They started 5 minutes before we did and we had caught a good number of them before the first turn. By the time we were done with the swim, there was a good number of us that had also caught the first age group wave which was men over 55 and women over 50. I need to figure out how to swim when I can't see. I keep dropping time in the pool like crazy, but when I get into open water I may as well just float because I'm not dropping time there at all. I'm not tired after the swim either because I feel like I'm resting by swimming breaststroke in an attempt to go around people that I catch and also keep checking to make sure I'm swimming in a straight-ish line.
I'm the wee one in the sleeveless next to the full wetsuit girl
The crazy swim start, I'm close to the front
Coming out of the water, hoping I'm not dizzy, and locating the wetsuit strippers.
T1:
I ran up the beach just fine, there were a lot of guys ahead of me but Red let me know that I was about the 50th purple cap out of the water, my wave had women ages 18-34 (3 age groups), so the number didn't sound that promising, but it wasn't terrible either. I hurried up and migrated out onto the bike.
Bike:
I normally suck at the bike, there's no other way around it. I've been working on it, but I think I need to work quite a bit more. I don't know if I've been lazy, not pushing enough, skipping workouts, or what, but I still suck at the bike. I felt better coming off the bike this year than I did last, but I was only .2mph faster this year than last year. This year they changed the bike course because it was so rough last year. Now we migrated through a couple of neighborhoods with really bumpy roads to get to a high way. It was a two loop out and back and was fairly flat. There were a couple of places that people tried to say there were "hills", they were just mild inclines, not really enough to say it was a hill. On the way out though the road did seem to be a false flat and be inclined, and it had a headwind, but on the way back all of that was reversed so it worked out well. I was able to average about 17-18mph on the way out, and then 22ish on the way back. The clouds kept us covered and fairly cool until the last 15 miles. By this point I ran into a guy who also had a Felt like mine and we started to literally play tag. I would pass him on those "inclines"/"hills", then he would pass me on the flats and downhills. He first passed me and said "Leap Frog!", then I said "Tag, you're it", we ended up going back and forth like that for the last 15-20 miles and we got to where we were actually smacking each other as we passed. We were bored and tired and found a way to entertain ourselves when most people were starting to struggle before the run. Right before the last aid station I noticed I was starting to get a little warm (the sun finally came out and immediately started baking us), so I grabbed a water bottle and doused myself with the majority of it and drank the rest, probably one of the best decisions ever!
Getting off my bike at the dismount line.
T2:
I hurried up and jogged/ran into transition, it's hard to run in bike shoes, and as I was putting my bike up Red came over and told me to hurry it up because I was 10th. I double checked that he said 10th and tried to hurry it up a bit. Turns out that I was 11th, but that's ok. My legs were a bit cranky, but I thought they were ready to go.
I'm behind the dude as I drop my helmet and grab my run shoes and visor.
Run:
Red had been texting Miller and apparently they concocted this idea that I could run 10.5 miles "all out" and give myself the first 2.5 miles to "calm down and settle into a pace", yeah, ok. Well I didn't feel horrible on the way out for the run, but it quickly became apparent that "all out" was going to be between an 8:30-9:00 minute pace, so much for the 7:30 pace I had imagined. I knew right away that I was going to need to cool down so I immediately started drinking water and pouring ice down my shirt and shorts. Since I had a rough idea as to where I was in the girls, I made a note to check out their calves so I could figure out how many girls I passed or who passed me. There was one girl who looked way to peppy and dry who passed me within the first 3 miles, that was annoying. After her though there were a couple that I kind of played leap frog with all the way to the finish. They would pass me until aid stations, then they would walk and I would take whatever I wanted while running and keep running. Then they would pass me again, rinse and repeat for the entire run. Finally, there were a couple that stayed in front of me, but there was one girl who was particularly annoying because she did the annoying "hurry to get in front of you, then walk" nonsense. I guess she finally got tired because the last time I passed her she decided to stay behind me. There was another girl who was in my age group that I didn't realize was in my age group until later. She was coming up behind me in the last couple of miles but she was making dying cow noises like I did, so I kind of decided to cheer/yell at her. There were a couple of hills towards the end of the run that I beat her up, but I kept telling her to get back up next to me. Yelling at her to keep going and move worked for me as well, it was kind of like I was yelling at myself as well as at her. Either way, I still beat her. The finish line felt like it took FOREVER to get to once I got to the top of the hill. Yeesh.
Coming into the finish!
Feeling like absolute death
After everything:
Happy that I now have food in front of me again :)
I was hungry, sore, and tired. My legs were shaking for a little bit and I really just wanted to eat/drink and sit down. I was able to do all three! This is also when I realized how many places were chafed, or so I thought. I some how magically have straight lines the entire way around my legs from some unknown thing in my tri short legs. I have never had that happen before and I've worn them all season. They're my Betty Designs tri shorts, which I just wore to the Mason Sprint tri a couple of weeks ago without an issue. Hmm...meh. It wasn't until I got into the shower that afternoon that I truly understood how badly my body was going to hate me. My neck, thighs, bikini line, ankle from the time chip, somehow my shoulder blades, spots on my ribs from my hear rate strap, then a few random spots on my back that I think can only be from my bars that I had in my pockets. Either way, when I took my shower I was making some awful noises as the water first hit places that I was only semi prepared for, then hit places I wasn't prepared to hurt. Then the soap didn't help the pain either. OUCH.
Today I'm hanging out, catching up on the tour, wearing compression socks, and doing some laundry. Dear sweet Lord do my clothes stink from yesterday, blech.
Ok, well after that PR and better finish from last year it is now time to officially switch gears and get ready for Ironman Wisconsin. I have about 8 weeks until my race, and between now and then I have A LOT of training to get in. I have multiple rides that are over 90 miles, lots of running miles to get in, swimming, and strength training. I want to feel better during Wisconsin than I did yesterday during Muncie. By the time I was done yesterday I felt like it was a true struggle just to maintain anything close to 9:00 minute miles, gah.
Toodles!
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