Sac Intl Tri

The past few days have been hectic/tiring/long with flying to LA and back, moving, etc (plus I was a little convinced I had carpal tunnel, my right arm has been going all pinched nerve wierd), so here is my race report from this weekend.

Although the Sacramento International Triathlon was not a high-priority race for me, it was also the first real race of the season (due to all those other circumstances with those other races) and I hadn't done an Olympic in a year, hadn't really done a triathlon in a year (except for Bearathlon back in February) so I was really excited to see how my training is coming along and where I was at right now.

I had three goals:
1. Break 2:20. (Really, I wanted to break 2:15 but I figured I'd have some kinks to work out of the system)
2. Win. Obviously, dependant on who showed up.
3. Work out said kinks.

Short Report:
1. I did it in 2:11:40.
2. I actually got 3rd overall (contrary to reports that I got 2nd) and the first two women were FAST.
3. No real kinks right now. I need to not cry during the swim.

Long Report:
I don't like 2 transitions. Even the announcer was confused. At one point, while I was standing around getting ready, he says 'I don't know what's going on. Don't ask me.' That made me feel good.

I got to meet Loren and Chris, other ZteaM members and bloggers, while I was searching for somewhere to set my bike. Then, while I was walking down to the swim, Sarah said hi too. Lots of people to meet! The race was running about 15 minutes late, and I had already warmed up running, so I just stood around in my wetsuit for awhile and made sarcastic comments to strangers. (It's kind of a specialty of mine.)

Swim:
The swim was actually measured from the bank of the river and then you were suppose to swim across the river, turn and head all the way down the river, turn and come back. BUT, BUT, while Sarah and I are standing watching the start of the Sprint swim, we realize that they're letting people line up all the way across the river, so that if you start all the way on the other side, you save yourself a decent amount of swimming in the race. This turned out to be some good thinking.

The swim also started with ALL men and women together. It was about 150-160 people. I get a little spastic in swim starts in general. I have been known to panic/asthma attack. So I was happy when at first the swim was just bad, not awful. I had some space around me. Then I got hit on the left. Then I got hit on the right. Then the two guys started veering into each other and squishing me in the middle. Somehow, I got stuck in the middle of all these guys, most of whom were just flailing, and I got punched and kicked and pulled. At one point I was accidentally hitting the feet of the guy in front of me just because i couldn't see and, you know, it's swimming, things happen, and he started kicking me. Not like he started kicking to swim, he started deliberately trying to kick me. Hard. Then I tried to pass him and I had to swim over his legs some, so he turned and hit me. Literally. It was bad. And I started to panic. All I could see was all these guys in front of me and all these guys around me. At one point, someone wacked me and I almost started to cry.

By the time we got to the turnaround I was in a complete panic. I was convinced this was the slowest anyone had ever swum ever, that I had never been in the water for this long, that this was the worst I had ever swum. I started trying to calm myself down, saying it's ok, it's your first swim of the year, if you come out of the water and see a really slow time, don't panic, it's ok, you can just come back on the bike. I even started doing that thing where you 'sight' just to see how much fucking farther this swim is.

So, when I stumbled up out of the water and run up the little walkway (passing people who were putting their shoes on, hah), I look at my watch. 19:40!!!!!! Yes, ok, it was a tiny bit short, and also I managed to save myself a decent amount of official time by starting in a strategic location. It was probably more like a 21:00 minute 1500m, but I was 3rd woman out of the water and I've never been 3rd out of the water and I've never swum that fast, so I'm going to be happy with my sub-20 1500, ok?

And, the interesting thing to note is, I never ever ever would have swum that fast if it was just 2 women in front of me and me by myself in the water. I'd have freaked out and thought I was swimming too fast and that I couldn't do it. Instead, all I saw was lots of guys and I thought I was doing awful. There's something about the power of perception here.

Bike:
As I was running to my bike I saw another girl who had gotten out of the water before me. So I rushed and got on my bike right behind her and I passed her as she was putting on her shoes from her flying mount. Hah. This is when I looked down at my power meter and saw 375W. Um, shit, I forgot to calibrate it, so it was reading a bit off. I had to use speed, since it was very very flat, and other people to judge my consistent effort. The girl ended up passing me back shortly after and I tried to stay with. Oh, I tried. But slowly the mandatory 15 feet of no drafting turned into 20, 25, then she was 30 seconds ahead of me and I was all 'just keep her in range'. Right. She ended up winning.

The rest of the bike was uneventful. Flat. Fast. I passed the other girl who must have gotten out of the water a minute before me. I drank ALOT of Gu2O and water, which was good because it was getting warm and, of course, I handle heat really well. Lots of guys who swam slower passed me. I passed some guys.

At the turn around, I made the turn and there, right behind me, were two other woman. Shit. They passed me, kinda *cough* drafting. And they looked good, fast. I picked it up a little to keep up and ended up passing the woman in back. I'm trying to hang with this other woman in front and I'm staring at her legs and they're huge and ripped and I'm just like fuck. I keep thinking 'just keep her in range, you can get her on the run.' And, then, I'm like 'oh yeah, no you can't, you don't run fast anymore.' Eventually she drops me. And I bike the rest of the thing pretty by myself. That woman, according to the official results, did the bike in 1:03 including the time for T1. That's just nuts. She got 2nd.

I stayed pretty consistent. Stayed hydrated. And did the bike in 1:06.

I never saw the woman who passed me at the beginning on her way back from the turn around, so I started to think maybe she had been doing the sprint and not the olympic. I was a little dissappointed to hear I was in 3rd, then, when I came in off the bike.

Run:
I saw Steve once on the bike cheering me on. But when I came in to start the run, he was on his fixed gear and rode out with me for the first almost mile. As he's riding next, he's yelling things. And I'm feeling good, strong, soo good that I start talking to him. He's like what the fuck.

I divided the run up in my head. It was 3 miles there and 3 miles back. And 3 miles is easy. I hit the first mile at 6:50, slowed down a little after that. At every water station I grabbed a cup, drank a sip and poured it on myself. I just really wanted to make sure there was no blowing up. Things past 4 miles have not gone well lately. Lots of not knowing if my hip will give out or my knee or if I just won't be able to run because I haven't been able to do alot of training/base. So it's always a concern.

Eventually, I see the girl in front on the way back. But I can't even see the turnaround yet she's so far ahead. She had 4 minutes at least on me then and was picking up speed. A little after the turn around I see the woman behind me, maybe a minute back, and we see each other and I think we both picked it up then at exactly the same time. She was running strong and if I blew up she was going to pass me. I really wasn't sure how things would hold together, but I was feeling good.

I had one brief flash of my hip stabbing pain around mile 4 but it went away. The last 2 miles were rough, my calves and quads cramped up, my legs hurt alot. But I kept up the pace. And by the time I got back to where Steve was waiting I felt good. I came in strong over the bridge to the finish. I think I even managed to smile for one of the photographers.

I got 3rd. The first two women won by like 5 minutes. That's really not even close. The woman who won was 29 though (bleh) and so I got 2nd in my age group, which is just annoying.