Monday, June 22, 2009

Dextro Energy Triathlon Race Report





So here is my rambling race report! I apologize now for any grammatical errors! Here are the silly pictures.

Born Not To Run and I looking tough! Ha ha. Check out my guns! Jeanne is a great cheerleader! Thanks Jeanne!





I seriously need to do my hair color! Ha!











They put your age on your calf!








It was still dark when I arrived in transition!







The swim dock. This was taken on Saturday. The Potomac was VERY choppy on Saturday. Not so choppy on Sunday but the current was strong! It looks so angry in this photo!

I was pumped on Sunday morning. My heart rate was up before we even jumped in the water. I jumped in and felt fine in the wetsuit and the water. Once we were given the go I had trouble getting going. My chest felt tight, I couldn't catch a good breath. The current was tough. The water was murky. I just doggy paddled/breast stroked until I felt better. I even felt like I might not be able to do it, but I talked myself out of that notion. I think of myself as a strong swimmer. I have snorkeled in the ocean, no land in site, why can't I do this! Once I got around the first buoy I felt a little more in sync. I did keep veering right away from where I should have been going, but the helpful men in the kayaks made sure I didn't get too far off course. Now I know I need to work on my open water swim and starting from a floating position.

I tried to run from the swim to the transition area, but I did have to walk some of it. I think I did pretty good getting out of the wetsuit, but I'm not sure what else I was doing for over 5 minutes. Contemplating Life??? Once I got on the bike I was feeling in the groove. The bike course was awesome. It was great to ride on the roads I have driven on so many times and to have nothing but other cyclist around you. I felt strong on the bike. T2 wasn't as long as T1, but still! I got running and it didn't take too long for my legs to feel okay. Those brick workouts have been helpful! I felt good during the run. I may have been able to push myself a bit more, but I think overall it was a good run. I meant to grab my camera for the run, so I could take pictures as I went past the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument and then as I was coming down the finish line with the Capital behind me, but I forgot!

It was a fun race! I am so happy I decided to throw this one into my line up. I was awesome to see the pros racing in the ITU Championship! They were so fast! I was also inspired by the older women that were doing the age group race. There were a handful that were over 60. Many former iron man distance competitors. Post race I walked back to my car (several blocks away from transition) with Mary who is 68. She is amazing. She was coming back to triathlon after nearly a 2 year break due to illness. I hope that I am still doing triathlons at 68. She said she used to do mostly iron man and half iron man distances, but that she really enjoyed doing this sprint distance.

I will say all of the women that I have met thus far in connection to triathlon have been super!
When I get my official race photos I'll post them too.

Here are my stats for the Dextro Energy Triathlon
  • Overall time: 1:46:55
  • Division: 14 out of 17
  • Gender: 142 out of 169
  • Overall place: 425 out of 477
  • Swim (750m): 23:27 (3.08 per 100m)
  • T1: 5:18!!
  • Bike (20k): 41:13 (18.1 mph)
  • T2: 2:44
  • Run (5K): 34:15 (11:03 per mile)
I was penalty free! Now I have a PR for a Sprint Distance. I came into this event without any expectations in terms of time. I just did it for the experience, but I am pretty happy with it overall! I really liked this distance. I didn't feel all beat up when it was over, which is good!






5 comments:

  1. Woohoo! Congratulations on your sprint distance PR! Coming out of it all unscathed is a bonus! Loved the pictures, too. :)

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  2. That's awesome! I'm so proud of you!!!!

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  3. Congrats on your new PR! Looks like you had lots of fun as well!

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  4. fantastic report, are you kidding?! you're hilarious! I think I saw you pull a book out during T1, or maybe it was the Sunday newspaper??? Ha ha. At least you didn't have a GU wrapper in your shoe for your entire bike ride, like ahem, some people. What a great first race you had. You were outta control on the bike!

    WELL DONE!

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  5. Love the picture of you and Jeanne looking fierce! Great numbers chica - but even better was how much fun you had. Maybe someday we could race together by meeting in the middle - say, Richmond?

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