So this race is an Olympic version of one of my favorite Sprint Tri's, Gator Bait Tri. I was so excited when it was announced at the beginning of the season and had been looking forward to it since the beginning of the season. Of course, I didn't realize it was just two weeks after my half-ironman in Boise.
Going into the race I was super tired. I didn't feel like I had the energy needed to really compete at a level that I wanted to. I decided to just do my best and just finishing would make me happy.
1500m swim: 33:37
Now for a swim of this distance, this was actually a pretty good time for me. No gator sighting thank goodness :) I had a decent T1 of 1:11.
24.5 mi bike: 1:38 (14.9 mph)
This felt like the bike ride that would never end. My legs were pretty much done at the beginning of the ride so I decided just to save most of my strength for the big hill at mile 6 and enjoy the scenery. After I climbed "Gator Bait" hill I cruised to the turn-around. On the way back I picked up the pace a little bit and really enjoyed the downhill that most of the way back to transition is. I had another decent transition with T2 being 0:52.
5.6 mi run: 0:59:14 (10.34/m)
This may be the one thing that stops me from doing the race in the future. The run is through a very rugged landscape and I was not wearing my trail shoes!! Besides the course not being marked extraordinarily well and the grass to be overgrown, I managed to stay on course and not twist an ankle. For being as tired as I was I'm actually not too disappointed with this run. I did have to walk some of the hills but overall I'll take that 10 min pace any day!
My overall time was 3:13:43 (first time to finish last in my age group!) Not fantastic by any means but it was another race under my belt, and I made a profound decision as I was racing: I definitely was not going to race in the month of July!! I was going to give my body a month off to rest and train. Sometimes the hardest races are where you learn the most.....
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