So, on Saturday morning, I set out from my house for a training ride. It had been a while since I rode on the main roads, but when I left there wasn’t much traffic, so I felt ok. I also noticed there was a bit of a tailwind. That was fine for now, but I knew it wouldn’t be much fun on the way home. When I got to the lake, I found my friends and watched some of the race. We had decided to all have dinner together later in the evening, so I headed back home – against the wind. I knew if the wind was like that on race day, it wouldn’t be fun.
Race morning, I got to the site early, which I always do. It gets me good parking. Plus, it’s open racking and I like to pick my spot and get an end in transition. I was successful in getting where I like. Thankfully, my friend who is the race director has some sympathy on us maturing females. In most races, we are one of the last swim waves to go off. He has stated that he will switch the waves from year to year – men going first one year and women the next year. This was the year for women to go first. My swim was in the range it normally is at 12:03.
I got through T1 in 2:11 and headed out on the bike. The bike course this year was different than past years due to lots of construction in the area, but the course is one I ride pretty much every weekend, so I was very familiar with it. I actually kind of liked it better as there seemed to be less traffic to deal with. I came in off the bike in 45:55 for an average of 18.18 mph. I’ll take it.
When I got off the bike in T2 though, I felt my back really tense up. Every now and then it does that and it takes a while to work through it. I had no idea what that meant for my run. T2 took 1:21. I headed out on the run, not knowing how the back would respond. It was windy and I was in pain, but I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
The positive was that it was a little overcast and not near as hot or humid as it could be. I finally made my way around the lake and came into the finish line for a total run time of 28:09. I was really surprised by that, but happy. Total time: 1:29:40 Overall: 88/192 Age Group: 5/18 Female: 22/82
