Where we last left this tale of tri… I was feeling very calm and zen (which is unique for me before races, I get lots of nervous and excited energy going, this time it was just… absent…) and the swim had just started…<\/p>\n
Swim:<\/strong> I never really found a pocket, but I made do with what I had – I’ve learned to not expect that in the 500m swims we’ve been doing for these races.\u00a0 I kind of can’t wait to do another Olympic simply because I loved the long swim section.\u00a0\u00a0 However, instead of feeling frustrated this time, I felt… zen.\u00a0 Peaceful.\u00a0 I almost didn’t want the swim section to end.\u00a0 Mostly because I was enjoying it, but also because it was frakking cold and I had a huge hill to run up.\u00a0 Some people raced past me at the end but I just kept pace.<\/p>\n Swim time: 13:37 for 500m.\u00a0 While I do want to whittle this down a little bit, I’m pretty happy I had a l33t swim (it’s a dork thing, don’t ask).<\/p>\n T1:<\/strong><\/p>\n The nice volunteers helped me out of the water on the steep ass ramp, I got my flippie floppies on and took it slow up the hill.\u00a0 No need to get breathless before the bike, energy conservation, yadda yadda.\u00a0 The few people that passed me on the way up the ramp I beat out of transition.<\/p>\n It went like clockwork.\u00a0 I struggled with one sock but everything else went on quickly as planned.\u00a0 I ran the bike out and did a running mount once I cleared the traffic (why oh why people, why do you stop RIGHT at the line, and get on your bike sloooooowly?).<\/p>\n T1 time: 3:12.\u00a0 Pretty excited – I’m getting the transitions down.\u00a0 Yeah, thumbs up indeed.<\/p>\n Bike:<\/p>\n The first mile of the bike was a bit hectic.\u00a0 I didn’t start the garmin right away.\u00a0 My glasses were foggy.\u00a0 It was in the 60s and I was wearing a soaking wet tri suit.\u00a0 Getting on the bike gloves took a little more time than I thought.\u00a0 Did I mention it was cold?\u00a0 I cursed the weather a bit, and was insanely jealous of the girl who I saw throw on a jacket at transition, but in retrospect, I’m not sure that would have been a good idea.<\/p>\n What may have been a good idea is the duct-tape-over-the-top of my shoes trick, with wet socks and a chilly breeze, my feet were VERY cold.\u00a0 Considering I expect to have clip-in pedals and bike shoes next year it’s probably not a consideration, but even by the end I had frozen feet and was hoping it wouldn’t affect me in the run too badly.<\/p>\n Getting back to the bike, it was a 2-loop course, and we didn’t drive it ahead of time like we did the run course.\u00a0 While there were some rolling hills, it was generally a slight downhill one way, slight uphill the other way.\u00a0 I was pleased as hell with this.\u00a0 When I told people I was tri-ing in Kerrville they’re like “oh… watch out for the hills”.\u00a0 Luckily, the sprint distance was all in town which either wasn’t so bad or I just rock hills so hard it felt flat.\u00a0 Probably the former, but I can dream.<\/p>\n I just kept getting happier and happier as the miles went on.\u00a0 My pace was often above 20-22 mph and rarely noticed anything below 16 mph even on the hills.\u00a0 I took the first lap MUCH faster than the second, and slowed down not because I was tired, but because I wanted to save something for the run and wanted to make sure my back wouldn’t flip out.<\/p>\n I started picking people off left and right at the start.\u00a0 There was so much “on your left” (what’s said to warn someone you’re coming up to pass them) I started having to change it up and say “good\u00a0 morning” and “awesome job”.\u00a0 No one from my age group passed me the whole course, it was only masters folks on really really fancy bikes.\u00a0 It was also a product of the fact that I took the swim really mellow, but my swim was middle of the pack, and I was fast out of transition.\u00a0 There were plenty of people that could have passed me.<\/p>\n I had the bike of my life and I was freaking pumped as I finished.\u00a0 I was also super excited that I didn’t pass Zliten – which meant he was having a great race too.\u00a0 Most bike tri segments I’m REALLY ready to be done.\u00a0 It used to be my worst worst worst of the three.\u00a0 It’s now my best.<\/p>\n Bike time: 49:01 for 15 miles.\u00a0 That’s freaking 18.4 MPH average.\u00a0 This makes me happy in the tri shorts.\u00a0 Speaking of tri apparel, look who FINALLY got himself a real tri shirt?<\/p>\n T2:<\/strong><\/p>\n I was so jazzed about the bike I sort of lost my head here.\u00a0 My time was great, but it could have been better – I fumbled things a few times grabbing them out of my bag.\u00a0 I dropped my wristband multiple times.\u00a0 I halfway considered leaving the bike gloves on for extra warmth, but I knew I was warm up way quick on the run so I ditched them.<\/p>\n I practiced this transition a lot less both mentally and physically (read: besides packing the bag, not at all).\u00a0 How it went: ditch bike gloves, grab race belt, grab head and wrist band, drop head band, pick it up, drop race belt, pick it up, run for the exit, cross line, realize I dropped wristband again, consider leaving it, realize it could be a penalty, run back and grab it, and then finally get out on the road.<\/p>\n T2 time: 1:46.\u00a0 Not too shabby but could have been better.\u00a0 I may go for a race hat next time, it would be easier to grab, especially if it comes out of a bag and isn’t laid out.<\/p>\n Run:<\/strong><\/p>\n I got a few blocks away from transition and realized I should check my pace.\u00a0 I looked down at my wrist and holy crap, it was NEKKID.\u00a0 Making the last minute decision to mount the garmin on the bike was AWESOME… except I forgot to grab it since I’ve never had to deal with it at transition and I didn’t practice.\u00a0 FAIL.\u00a0 I was running naked.<\/p>\n Past the initial freakout, I convinced myself it was a good thing.\u00a0 I had to rely on perceived effort which meant I’d be really in tune with my body and how it was feeling.\u00a0 Since I couldn’t dig into my music and rely on that for pace either, I turned my running more external.<\/p>\n While I’m a big fan of running my own race, I had to do something to stay motivated.\u00a0 I started playing the age group game.\u00a0 If someone passed me who was under 30 or over 34, I let it go.\u00a0 If someone with a 30, 31, 32, 33, or 34 on their calf passed me, I kicked it up a notch.\u00a0 I ran with a really super peppy girl named Whitney for about a half mile, but she got ahead of me on a hilly bit I just wasn’t ready for (she was only 21 so it was ok).\u00a0 During this time I passed Zliten at about mile 1.3, he was having a great race and keeping around 12-13 min miles and feeling great and looking strong.\u00a0 We gave each other some encouragement and I took off (it was very tempting to run with him for a bit, but I just had to keep pushing).<\/p>\n A 30 passed me and I tried, but couldn’t catch her.\u00a0 Now that I’m looking at the results, she was definitely the one who finished right above me in the AG rankings and ran a very fast 5k (pretty close to my non-tri PR).\u00a0 However, the next one was a 34.\u00a0 She was booking it too.\u00a0 I got a little sad until she started walking, and I caught her and passed her.\u00a0 Then she passed me.\u00a0 Then I passed her.\u00a0 Finally she started running with me and was asking me about my camelback and oddly enough I was able to make fairly coherent conversation.\u00a0 She passed me, and then started walking again, so I decided when I passed her, it would be the last time.<\/p>\n I turned on the heat.\u00a0 I was feeling good, I knew the finish was pretty close people were cheering us on, my legs responded well to the request to kick, so I went with it.\u00a0 Best spectator ever: instead of “almost there”, he said “you have about 500m to go”.\u00a0 That was perfect.\u00a0 Just about a 400m sprint.\u00a0 I can do that.\u00a0 I turned it on more.\u00a0 Other best spectator ever told me I had 200m left and the finish was around the corner.\u00a0 I kicked as hard as I could and booked it through the twisty turny corral and hear them call my name and I saw the clock: my time was in the 1:39s.\u00a0 I finished feeling AWESOME!<\/p>\n I beat lady 34 by 1 second.\u00a0 She was 8th.\u00a0 I had no idea until I saw the results.<\/p>\n Run time: 32:07 for 5k – 10:18 pace<\/p>\n Would I have run a better race with a garmin?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 Maybe I would have gone out too fast and crashed.\u00a0 Maybe I would have gone out fast and made it work.\u00a0 I suspect I might have been able to hit my goal of under 10 minute miles if I knew how close I was (considering how well I kicked at the end, I had a decent amount left in me).\u00a0 Apparently, this race I was meant to run without my garmin and while I probably wouldn’t do it again, I can’t say I’m really disappointed with how the run went.<\/p>\n Results:<\/p>\n 1:39:44 total Top 1\/3 of age group (and almost gender), over top half overall.\u00a0 I am pleased as punch.\u00a0 I hit both my A goal and my placement goal.\u00a0 This was a great way to end the tri season – PR, a beautiful course, and an amazing day.\u00a0 While I wasn’t sure anything could top my mood after the Pflugerville tri, it did.\u00a0 Favorite tri so far EVAR.\u00a0 We will SO be back next year, whether we decide to do the sprint, olympic, or half distance (we’ll see where I’m at in a year, there’s plenty of time to decide).<\/p>\n Overall, I have such a good feeling about the Kerrville.\u00a0 Just the pure JOY I felt before, during, and after.\u00a0 At no time (beyond maybe on a few of those run hills) did I curse out the course or feel frustrated or angry or taking revenge on the course or honestly be anything but fueled by rainbows and sunshine and puffy clouds and unicorns and sparkles.\u00a0 I spent most of the race just grinning ear to ear, thankful that I was out racing on such an amazing day.\u00a0 Even thinking about it is giving me chills.\u00a0 They can’t all be like that, but I’ll take as many of those as I can!\u00a0 Love, love, loved this day.<\/p>\n We’ll leave the goals for next year to a future post.\u00a0 Please enjoy drooling over what I celebrated with once I got home, and now I’m resting and in taper week 2 – See Jane Run Half Marathon in less than a week!<\/p>\n
\nI should have probably mention that this is the smallest tri I’ve done – only about 250 people signed up and only 208 showed.\u00a0 However… there were only FOUR swim wave starts.\u00a0 39 and under had a TON of people and there was a lot of fighting for space.\u00a0 Oddly enough, while there was a lot of jostling, I found that for the first time in a lake swim, I was getting that “water in my ears” feeling.\u00a0 Which meant I had settled into a comfortable stroke like in the pool.\u00a0 Cool.\u00a0 I took care not to get caught up in the excitement and go too fast, just settle into a steady and relaxed pace even with people swimming over me.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-ak-snc7\/310487_10150387401417603_699762602_9950565_1243965879_n.jpg\")
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\n7th Age Group\/21 total AG
\n42 gender\/120 total chicky-poos
\n96 total\/208 total tri people<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-ak-ash4\/293582_10150340380029450_789139449_7805777_606681177_n.jpg\")
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