A Change Of Plans and New Gear

After racing in the Pigman Olympic Triathlon, I have decided to hold off on my half ironman distance race this year for various reasons.

• First and foremost, I don't feel quite prepared to tackle the course, especially since I struggled so much on the run at Pigman with painful calves and a strained hamstring.  After doing a practice ride of the Square Lake Half Iron bike course, I know the hills will tear my legs apart and the last thing I want to do is injure myself on the run.

• Next, the course is actually 2 miles short of the half iron distance on the bike and also a finishers medal is not awarded.  However, I did just find out that there is one this year. I really would like to do the full 70.3 and not be two miles short. Also, after all that work I want a dang nice finishers medal for my effort!  :)

• Finally, I have travel plans coming up and it is a huge stress taken off my shoulder to not have two big events happening around similar times.

Soooo...with that being said I am going to do the short course!  Woohoo!  It is actually longer than a sprint course, but short of an Olympic course!

I definitely am not finished with my aspirations of doing a 70.3. I am looking into IM Racine 70.3 next season and now will be able to set goals to be better prepared and none the less take home a kick butt medal for my efforts!!

In other news I recently purchased a couple new tri gear items!

 

My Pearl Izumi Iso Transition shoes which I can wear sockless for a quick transition from my bike shoes (which I also prefer sockless) in sprint tris. 

My new ISM Adamo Breakaway saddle purchased using my Gear West Gift Certificate!  Comfort on the bike definitely comes at a price!

A Weekend Of Firsts!

This weekend I had many firsts including doing my first Olympic distance race!  I road-tripped with racing friends Jason, Genna, and Jackson down to Iowa to do the Pigman Olympic in Palo, IA.

RESULTS

Swim: 36:20 (0.9 mile)

T1:  2:26:03

Bike:  1:22 (25 miles)

T2:  1:30

Run:  1:02:27 (6.2 miles)

Total:  3:05:41

Here is the breakdown of my race.

Swim:

The swim start was a new format for me. In all my previous races I have done a wave swim start. Today, I had my first time trial swim start and loved it!  One racer would start approximately every 3 seconds. It was nice to have room in the water and not be swimming on top of 30-50 other people. After consulting my Garmin, I realized I actually swam 1.07 miles instead of the 0.9 mile swim. Guess I need to do a little work on my sighting. However, I did struggle seeing the buoys today as they had quite a distance between them and blended in with all the pink swim caps in my wave. This distance is officially the longest swim I have done and I didn't even drown. ;)

Bike:

I was slightly mislead on the bike course (I won't name and names). ;)  Mentally I had prepared for a flat and fast bike course. However, the course had many great rolling Iowa hills. The out and back route took us though Palo, IA and along the countryside.  I was happy to still manage an 18 mph bike average over the 25 miles, considering all the climbing I did.

Run:

The run was the most challenging part of the race for me. I felt as though I didn't have any running legs left around mile 2-3 of the hilly run course. I resorted to doing a walk/run to finish out the race. Amazingly, I sustained a 10 min/min average throughout the run. 

 

A Weekend of Firsts

• 1st Olympic Distance Triathlon
• 1st out of state triathlon
• 1st time trial swim start
• 1st medal with a pig on it 
• 1st trip to We Run (running store) in North Liberty, IA (www.werunllc.com)
• 1st pair of Pearl Izumi triathlon shoes
• 1st out of state road trip with the Migalas' (check out Jason's blog- www.triracingafter30.com)
• 1st time trying Normatec Recovery Boots (www.normatecrecovery.com)

The Olympic distance was a great learning experience for me and I am looking forward to getting a few more triathlons of this distance under my belt!

Northwoods Triathlon and My First Podium Finish!!

FINALLY!!!!  I did it!  At the Northwoods Triathlon in Nevis I placed 3rd in my age group, 30-34, to take my first podium finish. Prior to the awards ceremony things didn't look so promising.  I was very happy with my results and felt like I left everything I had on the course. However, when I checked the results I was listed 4th in my age group.  I have to say I was a little disappointed that my goal of achieving a podium finish in a sprint triathlon was not going to be reached this year, as the two races I have left are Olympic and Half IM distances. As I was watching the award ceremony they came to my age group and announced "ME" as 3rd place. I was ecstatic and completely not expecting an award. To top it all off, when the door prizes rolled around I finally won after participating in 12 triathlons!  And a sweet prize if was being a $100 gift certificate to Gear West!!  Thank you!!

A Happy Triathlete!

Swim:  9:36 (0.25 mile)

T1:  1:46

Bike:  43:26 (14.2 miles)

T2:  1:24

Run:  25:38 (3.1 miles)

Total time:  1:21:49

Now that I have told you about the end of the race, I suppose I should start at the beginning!  Once again we were spoiled (at least in my opinion) by a cool, partly cloudy, and non-humid race day!  The race is capped at 300 participants and filled up in about an hour and a half when registration opened January 2nd!  That alone goes to show what a little gem this race is!

Swim:  

The swim took place in Lake Belle Taine which was a very clear and clean lake. I started the swim on the front inside and decided I was going to fight for swim position in the race. I definitely got a fight as I was hit and kicked for the first 150-200 yards. 

Friends and volunteers Jen and Jan made signs for us to see along the bike and run course!

Bike:

The bike was a beautiful course around lakes, forests, and quiet country roads!  As I came in on the bike the amount of spectators cheering was phenomenal for such a small race.  One would think that the whole town of Nevis, population 388, was out cheering and creating energy for the racers!

Run: 

The run was an out and back on the Heartland Trail. Trees provided lots of shade on the run course, which would be especially helpful on a hotter race day!  The race finish was near the giant Muskie and also lined with cheering spectators!

Central MN Bike Club represents at the Northwoods Triathlon with two volunteers (Jen and Jan) and two participants (Beth and I)!

Wow!  What a great course, volunteers, and race directors. I will be sure to add this to the calendar next year!! 

 

 My first Olympic distance course race is next weekend in Iowa--Pigman Olympic!