I approached this triathlon somewhat differently that others as my training this year has been incredibly bike heavy and I wasn't really looking for a strong tri performance. After coming back from vacation, I actually was in pretty tuned in race shape for swimming and biking. I hadn't tested out my running but had been running a bit while on vacation - not well.
Race morning, preparing for my 18th triathlon, I felt dialed in to everything I needed to do. I definitely felt like I was returning to something I knew inside out and backwards. I felt quite calm and calculated.
Getting in the water, I felt a little anxious as always but I found I was always with other woman in the same color cap as me. It was really nice to be with people. My sighting was great actually, until the very last buoy on the way out - I accidentally started sighting the buoy on the opposite side of the course instead of the one right in front of me. From what I can tell, that had little impact on my course though. I seem to have kept a decently straight line. The swim felt like I was going fast until the end -- then it started to feel like I'd been in the water for a very long time. Pushing out of the water, I was satisfied to see I was at 35 min - not my best but decent for minimal swim training. The wetsuit did bother me so I think I'll have to rethink that. Around my neck it often felt like I was being choked and I did get some chafing.
Transition was smooth though I definitely felt panicked after running up the sandy hill. I took a second to take a deep breath and situate myself. I'd left my bike in the perfect gear and was in my shoes before the first hill. I made a point to immediately take a gel and it tasted a little...gritty. Obviously, I used the same gel as I trained with so that was sort of a red flag. I still choked it down but I think it made my stomach feel weird. I got down a lot of water and maybe it's too much information - but kept burping. Just weird but that at least made me feel better. I had estimated/set a goal of about 20-20.5 mph for this leg, but upon starting the climbing and remembering there was quite a bit, I knew I wanted to be over 18.5 and that was probably a more realistic goal. I was happy in the end with a 19 mph average. Again my transition was solid and I was off on the run.
During the run, I fell apart. I ran one mile to the first water stop, then another mile to the second water stop...and that was about where the running stopped. When I was running, I was keeping a decent pace but the heat and my lack of run training and my least favorite course in the whole world got the best of me.
Funny - this was actually a normal swim and decent bike time but an atrocious run time and one of my worst race times, as a result. Though, given the length and difficulty of the course, I have mixed feelings about it - not entirely negative. I also placed 6th in my age group which I believe was really a testament to how difficult this course was - everyone suffered. Also looking at my splits on this course last June (which was a decent race) my swim and my bike were better - my run, of course, took the biggest blow.
