Start Time- 8:00 a.m.
Distance- Sprint
My summer so far has consisted of fun runs, bike rides with friends and swimming when it's hot out to cool off. I noticed it was July and I haven't done a tri yet so I decided to do Pardeeville the night before the race.
Swim: The water was quite warm but everyone still wore a wetsuit to swim faster. I raced in the elite heat so we got to go off first at 8:00. My friend Jon was racing and last year I finished one place ahead of him. We are both former swimmers so I hoped to draft off of Jon in the swim. The race started and I got behind the leader (not Jon). After the first turn, he seeemed to be zigzagging and a few others were coming up on our right. I got behind the guy passing us and we rounded the second buoy next to each other. Normally I would save energy and just draft behind someone the whole race but I knew I was going to lose some time on the bike and run so I decided to hammer the last stretch and come out first.
T-1 I lost one spot to someone whilst putting on my shoes but then passed him on the road when he was playing with his shoes on the bike.
Bike-I tried to hang in as best as possible but got passed by several bikers. The nice part was that everyone was spread out and I didn't see any drafting at all. I was happy to get off the bike in about 7th or so.
Run-I knew I was ahead of Jon but also knew he ran 18 flat last year. I got passed at about mile 1 but felt o.k. There was a guy in front of me who looked to be slowing and I caught him and passed him at mile 2. The rest of the run was uneventful and I felt strong at the finish but very hot. Ended up 6th out of about 350.
The race was a lot of fun and I saw tons of friends all happy at the end-many took home plaques for age groups. We stayed until the end and cheered in the last finisher who started crying at the finish. It's impressive to see how many people come out for these races and I love seeing all the smiles on peoples faces at the end.
I wasn't smiling because Jon beat me by one place. I guess next year is my turn again.
No comments:
Post a Comment