The race was a sprint, 1/3rd mile swim, 14 mile bike ride, and 3 mile run. After placing in the Saratoga race I went into this event with a different mindset. I thought, hmm, maybe I can place again. Since this was my first event of the season that required a wetsuit, I purposefully took my time putting it on. Slowly and carefully I inched every buckle of the suit over my body, being mindful not rip it. The gal next to me promised to be my moral support since putting on a wetsuit is demoralizing to the likes of jeans shopping. Visualize putting on your tightest clothes right after you've gotten out of the shower and finding glue on the insides. The experience wasn't as bad as usual though. Boom, it was on! I turned to the gal who was helping me, gave her the thank you, finger pointed at the camera look, and darted into the water. I wanted to get right in to acclimate to the temperature. I'm not big on doing too much of a warm up but I wanted to go out harder than usual for the race. I probably swam 200 yards to get my breathing up, felt the 64 degree water under my wetsuit and on my neck and head, and got water in my ears.
As everyone gathered by the start, I looked around and sized up the other girls. Some people hadn't even gotten in the water to warm up, some girls didn't wear a wetsuit, some girls wore suits that were too big, and then there were the girls who you knew would kick butt. Generally, I was impressed with the level of fitness that people seemed to have and, on a side note, there were a lot of hot guys.
My wave went second, just after the 30-39 year old men. I usually line up to the far outside of the pack so that I have plenty of room, but this time I decided - screw it. I got right up front and in the middle. I figured, if a girl wants to pass me, she'll have to work to get around me. We took off and I did my best to keep my breathing under control. Part way out to the bouy I rolled over on my back. My backstroke is pretty strong and in the open water I don't think it makes that big of a difference if I'm swimming freestyle or backstroke speedwise. I usually roll over and do both during the race since it's easier to breathe on your back. I was thinking about my swim coach during the race and realized why we do all those stupid sprint sets and how I should really try to stick to the set better during practice and not slack. In the midst of this, I was looking around to see where I was in relation to the other girls but the men were wearing the same color swim caps as we were, so I really couldn't tell how I was doing.
As I came out of T1 and up the first hill, my buddy waved to me and said, see, I knew you would pass me! I didn't know it at the time, but he had a terrible transition and his derailleur later crapped out on him during the ride. But still, passing him right out of the transition and knowing that he is a stronger swimmer than me and that he had a 30 second lead at the start, still felt good. I thought, cool!
Off I was on the bike. Usually I get smoked on the bike and people pass me like crazy. This was a short ride, only 14 miles, and it didn't seem like many people were passing me. There were two women that went by but they weren't in my age group. I didn't know where I was in relation to the other girls in my AG, but I thought that the faster girls must have already beaten me out of the water. As I would later find out, I was 4th out of the water in my age group so there were only a few girls ahead of me on the course.
There were a couple of hills and I tried to push it as hard as I could. I re-passed a couple of the ladies who had passed me and overall my bike pace average was 17.4. Coming into transition it seemed like the fans were on top of me, which was awesome. I need to get the pull shoe laces to speed up my run transition, but still my T2 was 1:13, which isn't too bad.
After seeing my splits from the Saratoga Duathlon my plan was to run as hard as I could. I pushed it right out of the gate and subsequently my breathing was sky high. I didn't care though. I pushed it past the mile marker then got a little disoriented looking for the turnaround. I thought it was an out and back run course, but it turned out to be a lollipop. By the time I knew where I was again I had finished the second mile. I'm pretty sure that the second mile was slow since I was hesitantly looking for the turnaround, but regardless I gunned it for the last mile back. .
Abigail PORTER 31 Winchester MA
3rd place AG
Swim Rank 4, time 9:44
T1 2:03
Bike Rank 5, time 48:11, ave speed 17.4
T2 1:13
Run Rank 4, time 23:11, ave mpg 7:44
Total Time 1:24:20.3
(rank by age group)
Female Overall Results:
16th out of 159 women, 12th out of the water, 34th on the bike, and 20th on the run.
I was happy and I got a pirate mug. I'm like a little kid showing off a trophy. Here it is!
Also, check out this IronKid running her race with her swim cap still on. Absolutely awesome!
aw, Ab, I really love hearing these play-by-plays from you, I feel like I'm in the triathlon myself (could you imagine?)! You are a very gifted writer. You're also very thoughtful :) (and thought- provoking) I'm going to follow you!
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