After working packet pickup from 2-6pm I got the privilege of staying over at Nick Brunson's house in Lexington for the evening. I had a great time eating, playing with kids and the dog,
talking with Nick and Jennifer, and prepping for the race in Nick's garage. Thanks for a great time and a couch to crash on!!!
Nick and I got to the race site just before 7am to get the FCAe tent set up. Nick scared us both when he missed the last step down to the field and rolled his ankle. We both have the loose floppy ankles from earlier sports, so I knew exactly what he did. Thankfully, I loaded him up on ibuprofen and BioFreeze and he felt good enough to win the whole race! This guy has put in the work and it paid off at the finish line.
After the tent was up, I went about finding all the novice racers I could and checked on them for last minute questions and forgotten items. I loved this! I've done it some before with the folks right around my bike rack, but this was intentional and super cool! The best was helping out a lady that was a single-leg amputee who was "doing this for the experience!" Seeing her cross
the finish line was awesome.
Ok, the race...My thoughts going in: my swimming has been sporadic and terribly slow, biking has been off and on, but not terrible, and the run will be good but not my best. So I wanted to hold my spot on the swim and/or get on the feet of anyone who passes, work hard on the bike but don't blow up, and lay it out on the run.
Swim: 500m 9:10 including run to transition. I was 2nd in the AG...there are no swimmers in this AG!! I started by leaving my lane partner in the dust. I passed the two in front of my about 200m. I felt some tapping on my feet and the two behind me passed at about 300m. I held on to them as long as I could and ended up about 10m back by the end. I was ok with the effort.
T1: 2:10, TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!! Where to start? I was worried about the temps (~43F) and freezing on the bike. So I didn't swim in the tri top, which is so hard to get on wet, I put on arm warmers, and I put on socks. Note to self: "if you want to win your group, you can't be a puss."
Bike: ~9mi, 30:49, 5th AG. I definitely held back some. I still can't find the balance between hammering enough on the bike or saving some legs to run. My lack of bike fitness is a definite contributor to the la
ck of confidence and speed, obviously! Work to be done here too.
T2: 0:37, now that's how to transition. I even picked up Nick's aero helmet out of the middle of the aisle as I made my way in!
Run: ~2.95mi, 18:11, 1st AG. I felt good on the run, but not knowing the run course I took off pushing for what I thought was the end to find that I still had to run up some stairs, then a gradual hill, before circling back around to the finish. The too early of a kick cost me some time. The run is my strength and I want to continue to build on it and be one of the top runners in the race time and time again.
1:00:55, 2nd AG. I lost 1st by 2 seconds!! I only blame myself for several mistakes and the nap I took in T1, but I wish I would have saw my competitor. Being a Time Trial pool start, he was about 1 minute in front of me the whole race and I never saw him to go after him...live and learn!
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