RockNRollMan Sprint Triathlon

For those that don't know, I just recently turned 30. Yep... I am in a new age group. So how did I celebrate my transition into a new age group? By racing on my birthday of course!!!

June 4th- RockNRollMan Sprint and Half Iron Triathlon (I did the sprint of course!)

Kenny and I signed up for this race about 2 weeks before race day. Honestly we have been really wishy-washy about what races we want to do this year, so we didn't sign up for any. It eventually got so close to race day that we just decided to jump in and do it. Because this is a local race we had that option. No real dedicated training for this race but plenty of swim, bike and run athletic activity so we were more than prepared.

Pre Race Setup

The idea of racing on my birthday was both a fun and nervous idea. I both loved and hated the idea of extra attention from a million and one people. However, the hatred of extra attention on my birthday didn't last long once I actually got on the race site. LOL. At the first step of body marking, I was ready to declare it was my special day.
Volunteer: And what is your age on December 31 of this year
Me: I am 30 as of today!
Volunteer: Well HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Hey, did you hear that? This girl just turned 30. It's her birthday!

I left body marking with a smile on my face and was on my way to setting up my transition spot. As luck would have it, Kenny and I got to our rack early and I claimed the end spot. Even luckiler was that out of the 6 bikes assigned to our rack, only 4 showed up. That kind of luck doesn't come often!

The first race of the season seems to put you on your toes. I wasn't really nervous for this race but more so concerned that I would forget to put something in my transition bag or forget part of my transition preparation. As luck would have it, I remembered everything in my transition bag and set up went off without a hitch. Now just because I put everything in my transition bag doesn't mean I got it all done. Somehow I forgot to put my helmet sticket on. Oh well! I figured if a race official found me, I would just say it blew off.

I visited the port o potties for a little prerace business and was finally "prepared" for the race start.  For those of you non-triathletes, I am guessing port o potties are a disgusting idea. Well I have said it before and I will say it again, there is no modesty in the sport of triathlon. Port o potties are a welcome sight race morning and they see plenty of action. I hate to be that real with you on this blog but it is the honest truth. Just helping the newbies out there.

I gathered with some of my Fellow Crazy Joes for a morning photo before we headed down to the swim start. Randy and Joe on the Left hand side were doing the Half Iron. Gen, Kenny, Myself and Blake were doing the Sprint!

Gen was also a doll and had a special message on her shoulder for me and her daughter Josie! I should have written something on my shoulder so that people would cheer for me as they passed me!

This was actually the first race where I jumped in the water pre-race for a warmup swim. It felt good and I felt less nervous about this swim start than I have felt about others. As I came out of the water the Crazy Joes sang Happy Birthday to me. I felt special!!!!!

The Swim

Because of the 4 different races going on (Half Iron, Sprint, Long Course Duathlon and 10K) there were a million and one different start times. The Half Iron folks started at 7am with the sprinters starting at 7:30am. We saw Joe and Randy off on their Swim start and then it was waiting time. 30 minutes doesn't sound like a long time but it seriously took forever. There were actually more participants/finishers in the half Iron than in the sprint, hence the long wait in between race starts. I thought that was cool/unique because I would have imagined more sprinters.

We waited and waited and waited and ... I believe we were discussing race strategies with our newest Crazy Joe Chip (In blue) who was a first time Triathlete!

But soon enough the time came for us to race. The men's start was a bit of a cluster because there was supposed to be a pro/elite wave at 7:30 with the Men's wave at 7:34 and the Women at 7:38. Well 7:29:30 came and the announcer said "Get ready men you have 30 seconds". The poor men, none of them were that prepared to go. But off they went admit the confusion.

For those of you wondering what a swim start looks like, here you go. This is the men's wave start once they got a tiny bit away from shore. This picture isnt even that bad but you can definetly see where the swim start gets the nickname the "Washing Machine." The swim was at Lake Tobosofkee (Tobo).

Gen and I were lucky enough to see Randy come out of the water from the half iron course before our wave started. We cheered so hard for him that we got light headed. He was 13th out of the water including the pro/elites which was AWESOME!!!

Then it was 3...2...1... and we were off. My first 200 yards or so actually went well all things considered. I thought I was starting toward the back of the wave  but that only lasted for 2 seconds until we were hip deep in water and I wanted to swim while others were still trying to walk. I "politely" fought my way through the waders and was off and swimming. Almost immediately I came in contact with a female in an aqua top that would stick with me for quiet some time. And when I say we came in contact, I mean she beat me over the head, kicked me in the mouth, whacked me in the back, hit my goggles, swam in front of me multiple times and just in general always swam glued to my side. Either she had a personal vendetta against me or I just had some serious bad luck because she stayed with me for more than 3/4s of the 750 meter swim. I finally gave it a really good push to get away from her about 200 or so meters from the swim finish because I was tired of being beat up.

Sighting for me was really on during this race. Every time I would look up the buoy was right were I wanted it to be. This was a major plus for me seeing as I have done no open water swimming since Augusta last September. However, even though my sighting was dead on, it seems that a majority of the women were playing follow the leader with someone who was not good at sighting. The entire group of women minus the few out with me were all wat right on the course into the buoys. After first I thought I was wrong but I later talked to Kenny and he said the men did the same thing. I got to the first buoy and all of those women had to swing wide to get outside of the buoy to make the turn. At least I know to trust my better judgement in a case like this instead of being a follower.

I completed the course in 21:23. This includes a long run up a ginormous hill into T1. I was the 58th of 79 women out of the water Not my best but great for the first of the season seeing as I have done no real swim training at all. (I think I have been in the pool 5 times since Augusta.) I would like to be more middle pack for my swim time. In this case it means I would have needed to be just over 2 minutes faster for this crowd.

T1

Immediately upon entering T1 I saw Gen whose rack was right in front of the swim entrance. She and I are comparable swimmers so I knew this was good. At least all of my failed swim training didn't fail me at this race. Score one for me!

T1 went well except for my socks. For some reason my normal sock roll just didn't want to sit right on my toes. I guess it is time to start practicing the sock speed again. It probably only cost me a total of 5 seconds but was still aggravating none the less.

The transition racks were low enough that I had to tilt my bike to get it out from under the rack but still high enough that my front tire didn't touch by about 4 inches. Just enough to annoying. No real time wasted here but I could get quicker if I tried.

Overall time in T1 1:47. Not bad for running in bike shoes!

The Bike

I had heard horror stories about the bike courses for both the sprint and the half iron races. It is just a tougher hilly course no matter how you cut it (For the Georgia area anyway) I had not ridden the course nor drove the course prior to race do so I had no clue what to expect. Sadly it would have been easy to drive the course seeing as I work only miles from the race location but I never made it a priority.

I took off on the bike trying to be both conservative and aggressive if that is at all possible. I wanted to do the best possible without blowing up for the run. I took the first few miles easy because I know about two larger hills that started the course. I passed a fellow middle Georgia triathlete who told me he blew it up on the swim and was trying to recover. I did not at all expect to pass him but it was really nice to see a friend. 

Once over the first two hills, I put it into aggressive mode. I can honestly say that the only people that really passed me were men and women who were doing the half iron. I am not sure that any sprinters passed me and if they did I either caught them and passed them or I just didn't realize it. The one thing that I have learned is that no matter how much I hate hills, I do them well in a race setting. If you remember back to Augusta 70.3, I laughed the entire bike ride and forgot about the hills, they didn't bother me at all. The hills at Tobo didn't bother me either. I actually enjoyed the up and down. I even hit a mean 38mph on one downhill section. I can rock some downhills in the aero position!

The highlight of my ride was a fellow triathlete passing me saying "Hey don't you ride on Tuesdays and Sundays here locally?". I mentioned that I rode locally on Wednesday and Saturdays and we introduced ourselves. It was none other than Karen Sisk a local cyclist who was coming back to the sport of triathlon after an extended absence. She recognized my bike! I passed her a short while after our brief conversation and said hi again and cheered her on. It is amazing to know that my bike makes connections for me! Best investment ever!

I came into transition and completed the 15 mile bike bike course in 54:18. I was 51st out of 79 women on the bike. This was my "quickest" sport of the day compared to the other women racing.

Now here is the bad part. I totally thought I rocked the bike course. I had a really good ride. I will admit that I could have pushed a tiny bit harder but nothing too major. I was really disappointed when I realized that I only averaged 16.2 for the ride. I mean like seriously disappointed. I am not quite sure how the great feeling only equaled 16.2 but I guess it was just what happened. Normally I would be THRILLED with a 16.2 over a hilly course but I just couldn't bring myself to be satisfied with that effort. I have had some breathing issues as of late and on race was taking antibiotics for sinus issues. I can only assume that it played some part in my effort. I won't blame my results on that but am trying to be realistic and realize that I was sick 2 weeks before the race and this was my second round of antibiotics. Live and learn I guess.

In order to be midpack for the bike I would have needed to cut about 3 minutes. Not terrible and completely attainable. 

T2

Going into T2 I could not get my bike racked. I am not quite sure what happened but I was just fumbling with my bike. Once I finally got it up on the rack I went to business. Looking back on T2 I really need to start running with my hat and race belt in hand in order to cut the time. I could always try a flying dismount but personally that scares me so until then I will forgo that aspect and try something else. My only problem with running and putting on my hat and race belt is that I also use a hand held water bottle. Makes things kind of difficult to maneuver. Any suggestions? Had it been a cooler race I would have run without a bottle but with a heat index of 100, I wasn't going to take any chances.

T2 overall time was 1:35

The Run

Oh the run. How I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love triathlons, I hate the run LOL. It is actually not that I hate the run, it is just that I hate being slow and I hate being inefficient. This is the one area where I could tell that I had not trained well. I had only done one brick workout prior to race day and really didn't have a lot of quality running in. The first mile and a half were brutal for me. I ran when I could and walked when needed. Walking SUCKED! I hated having to walk and not being able to mentally push past that part. I watched Karen pass me and then I watched another local triathlete Diana pass me (Among others who were flying by me as well). I took water at every aid station and dumped it on my head and drank the heed out of my bottle.

I was truthfully surprised by the turn around point. I did not know it was coming. Once I hit the turn around point I did hit a spot of mental clarity and was able to run the rest of the way in. It also helped that the return run as a net downhill. :) I tried my best to encourage those behind me on the out and back course as I was heading back toward the finish. I know how tough it can be to see people heading to the finish when you are still on your way out. Being in the back of the pack, you get pleanty of practice for that!

I finished the 5K run in 37:03. Clearly not my best effort at all. I was 68th out of 78 women. Seriously 68th!?!?!?!?! In order to be mid pack for the run in this situation, I would of needed to take 10 minutes off of my time. That is a lot of work over a 5k Distance. I have lots of training to do.

The Finish

Coming into the finish I immediately saw fellow Crazy Joes Gen, Chip and Kenny cheering for me. Just prior to this picture I threw my water bottle at Kenny so that I wouldn't have it for my finish line photo. I really want to advocate a table/trash cane just prior to the finish line where athletes can discard items that they don't want in their finish photo. I would gladly set my bottle down on a table and come back and get it once I was done. Makes photos so much more enjoyable. LOL

Then I saw Blake and his family cheering for me as I came into the finishers chute. I gave Blake a High Five I as turned the corner toward the finish.

I heard the race announcer call my name as a finisher and I did something I never thought I would do. I shouted at him "Today it my BIRTHDAY".

Do you know what he said?

He said "Good for you". Not "Hey everyone, she is racing on her birthday", not "Happy Birthday", just "Good For You". Really? Someone says it's their birthday and you say good for you? It is not like I said I am going to Disney World! :) In my selfish glory I was a bit disappointed. LOL

Overall Time 1:56:04. 61st woman out of 78 women finishers. 

8th out of 12 women in the 30-34 Age Group!

Post Race

I finally made my way back the Crazy Joes after a stop in the rain tent to snap a few more pictures.

Me and Kenny. Happy 30th birthday to me!

Four AWESOME Crazy Joe Sprinters!

Gen and I stopped at the Awards ceremony on our way to take showers so that we could get out of the tri clothing. Gen was amazing and won 2nd in her age group. Way to go Gen!!!

Some of the sprinter Crazy Joes waited for Randy and Joe to finish their half iron. Both of them did exceptionally awesome, clocking amazing times in the horrible heat. However, competing in such heat (And I do mean competing, both of them fought a hard hard race) can do a number to your body and your hydration. Both received an IV in the med tent after their finish. It made for some great conversation while both cooled down.

We kind of had to talk Randy into his IV. But he was a trooper and listened to caretaker Gen and got an IV.

Both looked much better after their med tent stop.

And Randy won first in his age group and scored the BEST award ever! I seriously need to get faster because this is some hardware I actually want. Totally beats a traditional trophy any day.

And that my friends is how I spent my 30th birthday. Hanging out with my closest friends being the athletic beasts that we are! It beats a party any day!