Date: Sunday, September 20/09
Location: Lakeside Summer Resort
Distance: Swim 750m, Bike 30k, Run 7.5k
Website: www.hsbctriathlon.com
I decided to do this race, because I had won a free entry in the lottery, so decided that this would be the best bang for the buck, since it was the same price as the shorter sprint race. I have been training for Ironman Florida, so went in to this race with really no expectations other then try to keep my pace steady. I had forgotten that it was a 2 hour drive from my house, so didn’t get there as early as I had wanted. I went to set up in transition & realized how cold it was in shade. I listened to the prerace report as I was setting up & they said that the water temperature was 66F. I have raced in colder water, so didn’t think that it would be an issue. It was darn cold in the shade of transition though.
Swim: 750m
I am always in the last wave of the swim. I thought that I had started well, but when I went to sight, I could see a bunch of yellow caps out in front of me a fair ways already. I knew that I needed to forget it & just do my own thing. By the time I got to the buoy to turn at I had already caught a bunch from the wave ahead of me. I then ran in to the back of a lady who had stopped & asked if she was alright. She thought she had broken her finger. I decided that I needed to get swimming. Another bunch of people at the next turning buoy & heading back to the beach. I had to zig zag around a bunch of people on the way into shore. My husband told me that I was the 4th yellow cap out of the water, so I must have passed some of them on the way in.
Swim time: 13:41 (1:50/100) 59/216 overall
Transition: 2:08 Another slow transition with lots of water in my ears.
Bike 30k
This bike course is basically a big square. You went in & out on the main road & then road a big square. This bike course had lots of headwind & crosswinds. Not a lot of big hills, but lots of small ones & some long inclines. I passed alot of people on the bike. On almost every hill, the same 4 guys passed me & I would pass them on the downside & on the flats. I finally caught up to a lady in my age group at 20k on the bike. We were back & forth the rest of the way & I managed to beat her into transition.
Bike time: 59:01 30.5kph 112/216 overall
Transition: :56
Run 7.5k
The run out of transition is on grass. Then you run on pavement for about 800m, then onto a gravel road. My goal was to just maintain a steady pace. I felt pretty good coming out of transition, but the lady in my age group passed me while we were still on the paved road. Alot of people went flying by me out of transition & I had to stop myself from trying to run with them. I was trying to work on my mental strength in this race, so had to focus only on myself. At about 2.5k, there is a hill leading up to the turnaround. I passed many of those who had sprinted by me at the start of the run. They were all walking up the hill. At the turnaround, I checked my watch & I was at 20+ minutes. I just tried to maintain that pace for the rest of the run, & felt good coming into the finish.
Run time: 41:18 5:31/k 139/216 overall
Overall time: 1:57:03 2/6 age group 112/216 overall
I felt good about the race. I was only 48 seconds slower then last year, & it was a different bike course. I had no taper for this race, so was biking & running on tired legs. I was much stronger on the run both physically & mentally then my other 2 races, so hope I can hang onto this for Ironman Florida. Congratulations to all of the Team RF athletes there.
