Race Season 2013: Race 2 Recap

Labor Day weekend brought my first Oly distance race. It was predicted that we would have perfect weather on race day, so naturally it rained the night before. We stayed a few minutes away by bike, so getting to and from the transition area was easy. 

Nervous as anything, I got into my wetsuit and hoped it would come off more easily than it was going on. Raised my GU with two other team members a bit before the swim start, checked out the water temperature, and posed for a group picture, all with butterflies. My age group went second, and it was a group start on the swim. Because of the open water, wetsuit, and oh yeah, my first time doing an Olympic distance, I started near the back and off to the side. The course was a simple out and back. I zig-zagged a bit on the way out, turned left and swam across to the other set of buoys, and started coming back. The next buoy seemed really far away, but I kept swimming for it. Just as I was about to reach it, someone came up to me in a kayak.

"I'm sorry, you're almost back at the 'out' side. You have to turn around and go back."

Oh boy, did that get me moving. I had wasted so much time trying to reach a buoy that I had already passed. After that, though, I caught up with and passed a girl from my team, made it to the shallows, and was halfway out of my wetsuit before even the professional photographer got a shot of me with it on. The rest of it came off in about a minute (could have started singing, had been stuck in one in a previous race) and I was out of transition and biking in less than 4 minutes. I think that's a personal record. 

I had been led to believe the hills on this course were going to be killer, but they weren't as bad as I had expected. The worst one in my opinion was at the very beginning of the course. I saw Abbs on one of them and kept telling her to not give up, that she was almost there. She made it to the top, I passed her on the way down, and that was the last I saw of her on the bike. Then there was some "leapfrogging" with a 16 year old later, where we passed each other but neither got a good lead for a while. He left me in the dust though.

Then came the run. This is the leg I'd been most worried about. I started at a jog to prevent my PF from flaring, and Super A passed me about a half mile in (on his second lap). He was pretty impressed, the look on his face was great. I jogged and ran most of the first lap, but my legs kept giving out. Turns out not running for 3+ months means those muscles start to forget how to work that way. Despite that (or maybe because of it) I liked the run. I wasn't the only one struggling, so I'd pace with people who were about to give up (kept me from doing the same) and even challenged a teammate to pass me (which he did) and paced with an injured teammate (she was so determined to finish) until my legs gave out again. Ended with running, and crossed the finish line 7 seconds before my goal time of three and a half hours. Definitely a good first Olympic distance race! Can't wait to do it again next year!