Anyway, after doing the Crossfit Triathlon, I was re-inspired to swim, bike, run and whip myself into shape to have a better than average race at Fairport!! I paid my $20 early in hopes it would force me to train, but alas I swam zero times between the 2 races and got out on my bike 2 times the week before the race. I did however manage to pick up some OT in the weeks leading up to the race and even hit 52 hours one week (so now I am richer and lazy).
I waivered on doing the race until e-speed stopped by and said she was coming to cheer with NC and daisy, and then A-train reminded me it was KP's annual birthday celebration after the race too. It wasn't too hard to convince me to go.
Packet pick-up was a little slow (like usual), but for $20 really who can bitch? I had gotten there early and had plenty of time to prepare.
Me and Twizzle before the swim
T1 takes forever to run in, change and run out of. It was fairly smooth, except for the fact that I had left my race belt clipped and decided to wear it on the bike for some reason. As I ran out of T1, I tried to awkwardly put it on and steer my bike, but no dice. I had to stop at the mount like and do it. T1 was probably around 2:00, but it's added into the swim time, so no exact time for sure. (Swim and T1 were 12:30, per results -- I think). The thing is I was the fastest swimmer in my age group and probably in the top 10 women. I'm guessing there weren't a lot of strong female swimmers at this event.
The bike course was the same as usual on the way out flat and fast with a tailwind and only minimal turns. The tailwind was not as strong as in past years, which meant the headwind wouldn't be as bad on the way back either (YIPEE). I figured there were 10 or 15 girls tops in front of me. I was about 3 miles in when I started to feel tired. I hit the wall and was overcome with this urge to stop and lay down in the grass. I kept going trying to shake it off, but then a girl on a cervelo passed me and I knew I was in trouble. I tried to get amped and go after her, but I had nothing. I was out of shape and weak. My endurance was lacking (I was slow). A few miles later I caught up to a girl and realized it was MJ. She looked really strong. I asked her if she was running too and she said "no" she was doing the relay and someone else was running (she had been one of the women that had beaten me out of the water sans wetsuit). She pushed me to ride harder on the bike and I took the lead when the turns on the course increased. I noticed a guy drafing off her when I looked back and thought that was pretty shitty, but once we got back out on to Fairport-Nursery Road, MJ dropped that guy and caught me and then blew by me in the headwind. I tried to duck down as low as I could on my aero bars, but she just rode away from me like nothing. Thankfully that guy was even worse off than me and couldn't catch me to draft off of.
Me and MJ after the race
I came down the hill to the T2 and volunteers were screaming at us to slow down. I didn't really listen, whoops! I had no time to soft pedal and get my feet out of my shoes, so I did something really stupid. I unclipped on the right side, swung my leg over to the left and stayed clipped in on the left side with my bike moving and then it dawned on me!! I was stilled clipped in and going to try a flying dismount. Oh my God!! My foot was still locked in the pedal and I was going to crash. I thought about grabbing the brakes and stopping and then dismounting, but my weight was all on the left side and I would fall for sure. I did what I had to do. I sent up a very silent, but huge prayer to God "Please let me make this dismount without crashing. Please God protect this idiot!!" I cracked my left foot at the last second before I hit the dismount line and the curb in hope my left shoe would release from the pedal. It did!! It worked. My feet were on the ground and I was running for T2. YES!!! YES!! YES!! I ran in ditched the bike and was off like a prom dress. My bike split and T2 were 39:20. I remember my total time was about 52 minutes at that point by my watch.
I started passing people right away and that was pretty much the way my whole run went. I told every person, "good job" or "keep going." One guy said I was "running great" and wanted to know my secret. I told him "I'm trying to hurry and get this thing over with." In years passed I have always had one woman pass me through the condo/apartment complex at about the half way point. I swore it wouldn't happen this year and I started running harder, but it happened anyway. NH passed me from the Erie Tri Club (Damn!!!). I tried to keep the gap as small as possible and surged on and off from there to the finish. As I turned to run through the grass I picked it up to a hard effort, in hopes no one would try to challenge me at the line (I really didn't want to sprint, but I would have if need be). No one did and I finished in 1:13:54. The run was about 2.8 and I did it in 21:59.
Me running to the finish (that's about as fast as I get these days)
The race itself was fun, but I am losing to people I used to beat and that is a hard pill for my ego to swallow. I am killing myself in these races and I'm slower. I just can't come up with a training schedule with my ever changing and time-sucking work schedule (heck, I can't even find time to type up a race report hardly). I like racing, but my ego is definitely getting a little banged up in the process.
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