Tri for Real #1

Tri for Real #1 by TBF Racing
Rancho Seco Park, Herald, CA
Olympic Distance - 1500m swim/40km bike/10km run
Overall: 82nd (out of 318 total including relays)
Female: 6th
Age group: 3rd
Total time: 2:30:35
Swim: 27:53 (144th)
Bike: 1:15:20 (includes T1+T2 I think) (112th)
Run: 47:22 (50th)

This weekend I switched out the cycling cap for my triathlete visor (not that I wear a hat under my helmet) and raced the first Tri for Real olympic distance race of the season down in Rancho Seco. And I actually tried to race this one. Rancho Seco is this nuclear power plant thing that has a cooling lake and a recreation park next to it. It was a 45-50 minute drive from my apartment in Folsom. Since it's south, that meant the rolling  roads are relatively lightly trafficked and smooth or chipseal surfaces.

The day before the race, Saturday, brought the first 90+ degree temperatures to this area for the year, which was actually pretty late. I remember last year sweltering in May. And of course I was out riding in these 90 degree temps on Saturday, maybe not the smartest thing to do. I had to go visit my bike shop in the morning to get my rear wheel setup looked at since I am freaked out about flatting in races.

Race morning I felt fine despite the 3.5 hour aerobic ride the day before. It was sunny and mild. Drove down to the park and got there with over an hour before the race began. Got my stuff ready, chilled out. I was using my sleeveless wetsuit this time for experiment - after at least 3 dismal races in my full-sleeve wetsuit I decided maybe part of the problem was not being able to feel the pull when my arm in encased in neoprene.

Got in the water just before my wave started. We were the 5th wave, behind all the men and relay teams and before the 35+ women. The water didn't feel cold at all. There weren't that many women in the wave, maybe 30 or so. Race starts, I take 2 or 3 strokes, look up, and many women are way ahead already. I'm like oh shit and basically swim by myself for the entire swim, occasionally finding a straggler from the waves before and a couple women in my wave. I actually try to swim moderately, not hard because I am not good at that in open water, but not completely useless like I did at Wildflower.

Come out of the water, look at my watch - it says something around 27-28 minutes! Hurray, I haven't swam this fast since last year's Wildflower Olympic race. See my friend Nicole (thanks for the photos!) cheering the swimmers as we come out of the water.

Run into T1 (this is a first, I usually stagger into T1) and have to sit down to get my wetsuit off. Maybe I need to practice this - I am terrible at it and usually spend a couple minutes struggling. Shoes on, helmet on, out of T1. By my calculations, both T1 and T2 are included in the bike time.

Onto the bike, and passing everyone. Bike course is an out and back on Hwy 104 (which I drove in on). Rolling, chipseal to flat. Hammer hammer hammer, trying to give it all I got since I told Joe at Wheelworks that's what I was gonna do. My Garmin tells me 1:10:56 for my bike time, which gives me a 20.2 mph average. Not too shabby, fastest Oly bike time yet I think. I only get passed once - by a woman in her 40s who is FLYING. On the way back I start getting annoyed with the bumpiness, not such a big fan of chipseal. I slowed down at that point, need to work on that for the next race. No mental failing when the road surface is unfavorable!

Back into transition, Nicole is cheering! Bike racked, switch shoes, helmet off. Race belt on, open gel, and run out. Someone tells me I'm in the top 10 women... but how many are in my age group? Grab water as I head out onto the run course. The run course which is NOT flat. It is hilly and mostly dirt with some patches of gravel and the course out and back from the turnaround is on road. Which in hindsight is actually better for me since I can run decently on dirt and hills and switchbacks. It was getting hot by this time and there weren't many aid stations. Grabbed water and sports drink when I could. Passed many runners, didn't get passed at all. Maybe I could have run harder here, though not sure since there were moments I wondered if I was going to pass out. Heading to the turnaround I count the women in front of me. 5, maybe 6? The turnaround itself was sudden, there was only a sign marking it, no actual person standing there. I guess they figured you were desperate enough to finish you weren't going to run farther and fellow competitors wouldn't let you cut the course. The way back was full of the switchbacks and single track fire road.

Heading towards the finish line in the chute the only thing I repeated was "Don't puke don't puke don't puke." Luckily I didn't, but crossed the finish line shaky enough that I felt I did an okay job of giving it my all. Ended up 3rd in my age group, 1st place was also overall female winner. I was 6th overall female, meaning my age group took 3 of the top 6 spots. I always forget how fun it is to do local races - got to see some friends from around Folsom and made some new ones who live around here and the Bay Area.

So what do I need to work on? First off, swimming strong in a wetsuit. I think this is important for Buffalo Springs, which is in less than 3 weeks. That means I'll have to go swim in open water a few times between then and now... egh. Not a big fan of open water swimming. And second, staying mentally strong during both bike and run. I need to tell myself I can bike strong and also run strong. And then of course I actually need to do both!!

Upcoming weekend is the Auburn Century on Saturday and then a 5k at work on Sunday. Hopefully I am not too trashed after the century so I can do a hard bike/run brick on Sunday after the 5k. Oh, and maybe get in some OWS.