Tri 2 Remember Triathlon

Is is a good idea to race a sprint triathlon 20 days after an Ironman distance triathlon? YES! It was so much fun and so short compared to what I did a few weeks ago! Here is my recap of the event:

Race morning I was sluggish thanks to some tylenol pm and going to bed at 9:30 p.m. and getting up at 3am. I shouldn't have taken it but I am having some really bad sleep issues lately and it was my only hope.

We arrived at the race when the park was opening and it was COLD! Brrrrr! I wasn't expecting it to be this much colder than it was in Atlanta (the race was in Gainsville, about an hour north) and of course I didn't pack any extra clothing to wear on the bike. I was wearing my Luna jacket but it's like a tent so I didn't want to use it. The race was wetsuit legal but for 400 meters and 72 degrees I didn't feel like going through the trouble.

The Swim: What a total clusterbomb of people this was! They gave us three minutes between waves but it didn't help stop all the major clumping of people. I guess there really is no good way to do a 400 yard swim without people backing up-unless it's time trial start. I tried to push myself as hard as I could but there was no point-I simply don't have any swim speed right now. I have made it into once since my Ironman! I made it out in 6:57 and we had to go up a hill (why are there always hills going into transition?) so that added a little time.

T1: Slow. Need to work on getting my bike shoes attached to the bike ahead of time. I was cold and fumbled around.

The bike: Wow....hilly! Of course, it was so close to the North Georgia Mountains I expected this, but what I didn't expect was for people to be walking their bikes up the hills! I think they caught some people off guard and they were in the wrong gears. There was quite a bit of traffic out there and I was calling "on your left" and one guy ran off the road and into the grass. Oops. There really was room for both of us, but I think I spooked him. I passed several girls and lot's of guys. At mile 10 they announced that I was the 6th female so that made me push a little harder. I saw Henry and his new bike-it was really nice! Other than being really, really cold the bike wasn't too bad. I could use some intervals in the next few weeks! Avg speed was 20.1 MPH.

T2: Gotta learn the running dismount. It looks too cool to not try at least once (maybe more if I don't bust my butt!)

The run: My goal for the run: DO NOT let a woman pass me! I am always out in front on the bike and then some chick in my age group will pass me with .2 miles to go-so frusterating! The run was a tough course-hilly also. My feet were frozen but I knew I was pushing it because I was passing tons of guys. I felt like I was going to throw up after running every hill and when I went through the turnaround I looked at my watch and timed when I saw the next woman (who happened to be Fox 5 anchor and speedster Denise Dillon) it was 1 minute 27 seconds. I pushed harder and crossed the finish line. Average pace: 7:42 per mile. Denise never caught me but because she started after I did her finish time was faster. Oh well-mission accomplished, don't get caught on the run! For the record only two guys passed me! Trail running really has helped!

I was the 9th overall female and finished 2nd in my age group. Can't complain about getting some hardware! Scootsie was 2nd in his age group as well (I tried desperately to catch him but beat me by 2 minutes and 8 seconds!)

Congrats to Anna and Henry for getting out there and racing strong! Thanks to Vanessa for cheering ( I love crowd support!)

Only one race left of the season! (insert sad face here!)