7.05.2011

Race Report: JCC Independence Triathlon 2011

Revenge is mine. Oh yes, yes it is. But now I have an ax to bury for next year.

Here's the report.

Pre-race

One of the great things about this race is that it takes place about 35 minutes from the house. Awesome. I was able to wake up at a fairly reasonable hour, take a quick shower and change into my tri gear. I packed all my goodies for the race the night before, so all I had to do was grab my bag and my sleepy husband as I headed out the door.

Managed to get to the race site shortly after 7am and was checked in and marked within about 5 minutes. I was finally able to introduce my husband to BDD, too! (Now he knows who I spend my early Saturday mornings with on a regular basis!) Got my transition area all set up, and I was good to go. We still had about 40 minutes til start time, so I opted to head over to the pool and swim a few laps. Oddly enough, no one had this idea yet, so I got the whole pool to myself. I did a few laps in the extremely warm pool. As soon as I got out, I think about twenty people jumped in. Such a trend starter I am :p

The swim

Last year I seeded myself way too far back on the swim start. The swim is a short 300m serpentine swim in a pool. This year I opted to just get in line early and get it over with. This was an excellent strategy. I seeded myself in the 7-7:30 minute estimated time, and it was pretty much right on. I got passed by two speedy dudes who started right after me, but once they made it past, the next person was at least a half a length or more behind me. That works for me. Swim went fine - I probably could have pushed it a bit more, but I still don't know my pacing very well in the water. I know I didn't have to walk at all like last year, and I only took a couple short breaks at the wall before pushing off. All in all, I am very happy with the swim. My swim time includes a rather long jaunt to T1, as well as my t1 time.

Time: 10:39 (4 out of 7 in my age group)

The bike

This is course with a few ups and downs. There's a couple decent hills, some false flats and a few rollers. I knew this going in and I was ready. Lemme tell you, I gave it all I had on the course. Left nothing behind. And it was fabulous. There actually isn't a ton to report on it. I went all out and it felt wonderful. I rode in the big ring most of the second half of the course, and I wish I would have started out in the big ring. I was blowing up hills without much issue at all. It felt fantastic. I have got to start riding in the big ring more often than not and just upping my cadence. It felt great to be breezing past folks. Woo hoo.

Time: 41:23 (3 out of 7 in my group - and only 20 seconds behind the 1st and 2nd place ladies in my group)

The run

Last year I absolutely and positively bonked on the run. I was doing a walk/shuffle/run/hold back muffled cries type of run. This year was much improved. While it was not the stellar performance I had at Tri for Joe, I did well enough. Last year this 5K took me over 38 minutes. This year, I shaved off a great chunk of time. I am now seriously kicking myself for taking about a 20 second walk break on a gradual hill at one chunk of the course. I managed to justify it to myself at the time, but after seeing my overall final time, I want to kick my own ass.

Time: 30:12

OVERALL TIME: 1:23:17
Finished 4th out of 7 in the age group.
Here's the kicker: I WAS SIX SECONDS FROM THIRD PLACE IN MY AGE GROUP.

Six. Freaking. Seconds.

That is the ax I have to bury now. MUST cut transition times and NO WALK BREAKS unless death is imminent. Six seconds from third place, eight minutes from first place.

And oh yeah - I knocked 22 minutes off my time from last year. TWENTY-TWO MINUTES!!! (XXII for those who prefer Roman numerals!!!!!)

Overall, I am thrilled with how the race went down. I got my revenge from last year, and I learned some important lessons. I had a wonderful time and rode a high all day from the feeling I had afterwards. Next up, my first Olympic length race - July 31. ::gulp::

And HUGE thanks to my hubby for coming out to cheer me on - he cheered for me all through the run, hustled over to T1 and high fived me on my way out to the bike. When I came in from my run, he was there cheering me on. Thank you so much for your awesome support, sweetie! It means the world to me.

7 comments:

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Congrats on the race. I slumped in my chair when I saw the difference on your race. It was a nice day to race and it was great to meet your hubby.

Heather-O said...

Holy Crap! 22 minutes! GREAT JOB!!!!!!!! Congrats!

T said...

Great job!! Your report almost - ALMOST - makes me want to do a tri :) If nothing else, I have to figure out what this whole "big ring" thing is.

Matthew Smith said...

What a race! I can't believe you shaved off 22 minutes. That's crazy. Sucks to just miss third place, but you'll get it next year. Way to go! Keep up the good work.

Christy @ My Dirt Road Anthem: A Runner's Blog said...

Wow great job and stellar improvement! I can't wait to see how you do on the next one.

Matty O said...

Alright, 22minutes is a big deal in a lot of races... the fact that this was a sprint, that is HUGE PROGRESS!!!!!

You are doing wonderful this year, prepare to continue to surprise yourself!

Lesson learned on the walking and transitions though, running is all mental, gotta win that battle to refuse walking the sprints :)

Unknown said...

Belated GREAT FREAKING RACE!!!!