My first Olympic distance triathlon is in the books. What a challenging race! What a tough course! What the hell was I thinking?? :)
I had increasing anxiety and stomach distress as the week progressed and I grew closer to race day. In fact, I actually had tears in my eyes as I walked away from IronHubby this morning toward the swim start. This seemed like such a good idea when I signed up several months ago, but now... Ack!
I was most worried about the swim and most confident about the run. Boy was I wrong. The swim was fine. I went at my usual pokey pace and stayed calm, coming out of the water in 44:27 (I figured I'd be between 40 and 45 minutes... closer to 40 with a wetsuit, but the water temp was too warm so wetsuits were disallowed).
The bike course was tough. Rolling hills throughout. Most of the roads were in good condition, and the shade was plentiful. I hoped to finish the 24 miles in about 1:15 to 1:20. Actual time, according to my watch, was 1:26:19. Not so good.
I had to pee for about half of the swim and the entire bike ride, so unfortunately I detoured to the porta-potties before starting the run. Since I had to cross the mat to do so, the potty break time was added to my run time in the official results. Drat.
Onto the run, my strongest event. My running has been pretty solid this spring and summer, and I wanted to maintain about an 8:30 pace for the 10K. Um, not so much. The course followed the first 3.1 miles of the hilly bike course before turning around and heading back to the transition area and finish line. Inexplicably, it was uphill both ways. (Someone please explain to me how this happened!) There was no shade whatsoever on the run, and the sun was strong.
My splits tell the whole story.
7:37 (gaaaa! too fast!)
8:58
9:02
9:13
9:38
9:28
1:50
Total time (by my watch) was 55:50, which IronHubby says is perfect for my first Olympic, considering my 10K PR is 50:45. So 5 minutes slower than my PR. When I look at it that way, it doesn't seem as disappointing as it was this morning.
I ran to the finish chute screaming, "This SUCKS!" to my friends, eliciting big laughs. It was a hard morning, but I'm proud of myself for sticking to my training and gutting it out.
Oh, and I lazed by the pool for 2 hours, tried unsuccessfully to nap, and ate ice cream this afternoon. :)
EDITED TO ADD:
I was DFL in my age group. I am beyond humiliated. Without the potty break, I would have been second to last. Whoop de doo.
6 comments:
uggh...i deleted my first comment...
You are so amazing! I am so proud of you!!! You have inspired me more than you ever will know! I am glad you ate ice cream...something that I would have done too. ;)
You should be proud! You went out to do something and you did it well, regardless if you hit the times you wanted. You rock my friend!
Way to go! A tri, let alone an Olympic distance, is an amazing accomplishment!
Great work Alexis!!! We are always our own toughest critics so don't be so hard on yourself. You rocked it!!
Your still badass in my book! While this Oly might not have turned out how you had planned, there is always another one down the road.
I so cannot swim for 45 minutes! And then bike? And THEN run???!!! You rock Alexis! Don't beat yourself up silly! Focus on the day's positives--like ice cream! J/JK;) Nice work!
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