John Tanner Sprint Aquabike
Date of Race: 04/27/2013
Total Race Time = 1h 05m 20s
Overall Place = 6/12
Age Group = Female 30-34
Age Group Place = 3rd Overall Female
Pre-race: For an 8AM race, I set my alarm for 4AM. This allowed me time to snooze at least twice, double check my gear, eat, load the car, and wake Scott. Around 5:00, I popped an english muffin in the toaster. (Some article, somewhere, said to eat 3 hours prior to race time, so I did.) The plan was to leave the house around 5:30 for the hour drive to JT State Park, but we didn't leave until 5:45. While only 15 minutes later than planned, I started the "oh no, I am not going to have enough time to set up transition."
It took about an hour to get to the race, and like last year, I had to pull off the road and use the restroom at the closest gas station right when we got off the highway. Dang nerves! Once inside the park, we parked the car, and I headed towards packet pickup. Every line was almost empty, except for the "S-Z" line. When another line opened up, they would take someone from our line. I think after 20 minutes of waiting in line, I finally jumped in the "A" line. They gave me my number and I could finally head to transition to set up. At this time, it was well after 7 and I certainly felt rushed to get set up and get in a decent warm up.
Warm-up: I have learned so far this year, that I need a long warm-up for a swim workout. I figured that would translate about the same before a race. After awkwardly getting on the wetsuit, I jumped in and swam about 200 meters. The water was a lot colder than I typically like. This warm up was not long enough, but I was worried I wouldn't have enough time between the warm up and my start for my comfort.
Swim: I positioned myself in the front of the pack of pink caps. I found that I didn't have the nerves I typically do before a race. It worried me a little. This was hands down the worst swim I have ever experienced. Not because it was a bad swim, but I have never been hit and kicked this much before. I typically get out in front of the pack in the first 10 seconds or so and it is smooth sailing. Not this time. I started next to Melissa and I could see that she was right next to me for the first 100 or so yards. One girl immediately took the lead and I ended up using her to sight before the first turn. It was much easier to find her pink cap in front of me than the orange bouys. At one point, another girl was in front of me and I was right at her feet. I had a brief moment of "ooh, I can draft." Unfortunately, as I was deciding, I lost my moment; she was gone.
Part of the miserableness of this swim was pushing through the purple, yellow, and green caps. When I arrived at the first group of purples, a few of them were on their backs, floating along. My first race, I went around the group in front of me, and I almost hit a kayak. I learned my lesson and I come barreling through. The problem - it's like the start all over again! I was hitting, getting kicked... no fun at all! All in all, the wetsuit didn't hinder my swim as I thought it would.
My takeaway from this is that I know I am faster than the swim time. My pool times are great and I need to transfer this to the OWS. I don't like the fact that getting from the swim exit to transition is included in the swim time. I was barefoot, and with no brace on the injured foot. I started running, and then immediately stopped. I walked the entire way to transition.
Swim Time: 10m:40s
T1: Worst transition ever!!! When I got out of the water, I was so worried that I was going to have trouble with the wetsuit, so I started trying to unzip it immediately. The pictures of me at that moment have my hand at my zipper with a terribly frustrated look on my face! By the time I got to transition, my wetsuit was halfway off, and I couldn't feel my feet from the cold water! I didn't have as much trouble getting it all the way off as I thought. I dried my feet and put on my ankle brace (a must per the Dr.) and shoes. Helmet and glasses - check. Race belt - check. I grabbed my bike and ran out.
T1 Time: 2m:21s
Bike: I mounted the bike without too much trouble, and I was off. The first few minutes on the bike were horrible! My heart rate was sky high, I couldn't catch my breath, my legs felt dead, and EVERYONE was passing me. My thoughts: "Is this just me? Why do I suck so much?" "Does everyone feel this way? If so, why are they so much better at this right now than I am?" "Why the hell do I put myself through this?!"
It took a while until I found my legs. My heartrate never went down for the entire duration of the bike. The first part was pretty hilly. Every time I came to a hill, I couldn't breathe. I probably put my bike into an easier gear than I should have and crept up each hill, gasping for air along the way. About 15 to 20 minutes in (almost half of the bike,) I finally felt decent. I made a mental not to give it my all and then some for the rest of the bike. So far, it wasn't pretty. As I passed the 10 mile mark, I got a last blast of energy. As everyone was slowing down to prepare for their run, I was just getting started. It felt awesome to finally be passing people on the bike! The whole time, I was waiting for Robin to come catch me on the bike. I rode with her last weekend, and she has certainly gained some speed on the bike, while I have been struggling. I was disappointed that I didn't see her (but secretly happy that I was ahead of my team competition)
This bike was 2 minutes slower than last year's bike at JT in September. I have to tell myself that I was in prime shape to race Augusta then. Right now, I am not in any kind of bike shape. I am just coming back from an injury. While I have a new super speedy bike, I do not have my bike legs back yet. Comparing my heartrate this year to last year.... this year averaged almost 10 bpm higher than last year. While my time was slower, it appears I worked harder (Or, I am just that much out of shape!)
Bike Time: 51m:20s
T2: Pretty uneventful. Rack the bike, take of the shoes and hit the exit. I forgot to take off my helmet, so I finished helmet in hand. Oops!
T2 Time: 42s
Run: Lets see. I exited transition and ran through the finish barefoot. Nothing much to say.
Run Time: 15s
Post Race: I crossed the finish line thrilled that this was over. About a minute later came Kyan from her aquabike, and then Robin. I stayed at the finish line for about 5 minutes and then headed about a hundred yards up, where much of the ATC group was cheering on thos who were still racing. I will admit that doing the aquabike lets me finish in a reasonable amount of time and cheer on my teammates. Loved it!
Because the aquabike was so small, I knew I would get a medal for my age group. My ultimate goal-- to place overall. And I did just that! My first every racing bling. I can't say how exciting that is (even though there were only 6 females in aquabike.)
I have some great takeaways from this race to gete me through training for IMLOO. First race of the season served its purpose - get back into the swing of things, and do some learning.
Rate your overall experience with this race: I love this race! The course is hard, but so worth it. My only feedback would be the checkin lines. If all the lines can check in any letter, they shouldn't have some of us waiting for 20 minutes to get our packets. The best part of this race was the crazy ATC showing! We are so awesome!!!
" Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have." Norman Vincent Peale
Date of Race: 04/27/2013
Total Race Time = 1h 05m 20s
Overall Place = 6/12
Age Group = Female 30-34
Age Group Place = 3rd Overall Female
Pre-race: For an 8AM race, I set my alarm for 4AM. This allowed me time to snooze at least twice, double check my gear, eat, load the car, and wake Scott. Around 5:00, I popped an english muffin in the toaster. (Some article, somewhere, said to eat 3 hours prior to race time, so I did.) The plan was to leave the house around 5:30 for the hour drive to JT State Park, but we didn't leave until 5:45. While only 15 minutes later than planned, I started the "oh no, I am not going to have enough time to set up transition."
It took about an hour to get to the race, and like last year, I had to pull off the road and use the restroom at the closest gas station right when we got off the highway. Dang nerves! Once inside the park, we parked the car, and I headed towards packet pickup. Every line was almost empty, except for the "S-Z" line. When another line opened up, they would take someone from our line. I think after 20 minutes of waiting in line, I finally jumped in the "A" line. They gave me my number and I could finally head to transition to set up. At this time, it was well after 7 and I certainly felt rushed to get set up and get in a decent warm up.
Warm-up: I have learned so far this year, that I need a long warm-up for a swim workout. I figured that would translate about the same before a race. After awkwardly getting on the wetsuit, I jumped in and swam about 200 meters. The water was a lot colder than I typically like. This warm up was not long enough, but I was worried I wouldn't have enough time between the warm up and my start for my comfort.
 |
| Me awkwardly putting on the wetsuit. Wow! |
Swim: I positioned myself in the front of the pack of pink caps. I found that I didn't have the nerves I typically do before a race. It worried me a little. This was hands down the worst swim I have ever experienced. Not because it was a bad swim, but I have never been hit and kicked this much before. I typically get out in front of the pack in the first 10 seconds or so and it is smooth sailing. Not this time. I started next to Melissa and I could see that she was right next to me for the first 100 or so yards. One girl immediately took the lead and I ended up using her to sight before the first turn. It was much easier to find her pink cap in front of me than the orange bouys. At one point, another girl was in front of me and I was right at her feet. I had a brief moment of "ooh, I can draft." Unfortunately, as I was deciding, I lost my moment; she was gone.
Part of the miserableness of this swim was pushing through the purple, yellow, and green caps. When I arrived at the first group of purples, a few of them were on their backs, floating along. My first race, I went around the group in front of me, and I almost hit a kayak. I learned my lesson and I come barreling through. The problem - it's like the start all over again! I was hitting, getting kicked... no fun at all! All in all, the wetsuit didn't hinder my swim as I thought it would.
My takeaway from this is that I know I am faster than the swim time. My pool times are great and I need to transfer this to the OWS. I don't like the fact that getting from the swim exit to transition is included in the swim time. I was barefoot, and with no brace on the injured foot. I started running, and then immediately stopped. I walked the entire way to transition.
Swim Time: 10m:40s
T1: Worst transition ever!!! When I got out of the water, I was so worried that I was going to have trouble with the wetsuit, so I started trying to unzip it immediately. The pictures of me at that moment have my hand at my zipper with a terribly frustrated look on my face! By the time I got to transition, my wetsuit was halfway off, and I couldn't feel my feet from the cold water! I didn't have as much trouble getting it all the way off as I thought. I dried my feet and put on my ankle brace (a must per the Dr.) and shoes. Helmet and glasses - check. Race belt - check. I grabbed my bike and ran out.
T1 Time: 2m:21s
Bike: I mounted the bike without too much trouble, and I was off. The first few minutes on the bike were horrible! My heart rate was sky high, I couldn't catch my breath, my legs felt dead, and EVERYONE was passing me. My thoughts: "Is this just me? Why do I suck so much?" "Does everyone feel this way? If so, why are they so much better at this right now than I am?" "Why the hell do I put myself through this?!"
It took a while until I found my legs. My heartrate never went down for the entire duration of the bike. The first part was pretty hilly. Every time I came to a hill, I couldn't breathe. I probably put my bike into an easier gear than I should have and crept up each hill, gasping for air along the way. About 15 to 20 minutes in (almost half of the bike,) I finally felt decent. I made a mental not to give it my all and then some for the rest of the bike. So far, it wasn't pretty. As I passed the 10 mile mark, I got a last blast of energy. As everyone was slowing down to prepare for their run, I was just getting started. It felt awesome to finally be passing people on the bike! The whole time, I was waiting for Robin to come catch me on the bike. I rode with her last weekend, and she has certainly gained some speed on the bike, while I have been struggling. I was disappointed that I didn't see her (but secretly happy that I was ahead of my team competition)
This bike was 2 minutes slower than last year's bike at JT in September. I have to tell myself that I was in prime shape to race Augusta then. Right now, I am not in any kind of bike shape. I am just coming back from an injury. While I have a new super speedy bike, I do not have my bike legs back yet. Comparing my heartrate this year to last year.... this year averaged almost 10 bpm higher than last year. While my time was slower, it appears I worked harder (Or, I am just that much out of shape!)
Bike Time: 51m:20s
T2: Pretty uneventful. Rack the bike, take of the shoes and hit the exit. I forgot to take off my helmet, so I finished helmet in hand. Oops!
T2 Time: 42s
Run: Lets see. I exited transition and ran through the finish barefoot. Nothing much to say.
Run Time: 15s
Post Race: I crossed the finish line thrilled that this was over. About a minute later came Kyan from her aquabike, and then Robin. I stayed at the finish line for about 5 minutes and then headed about a hundred yards up, where much of the ATC group was cheering on thos who were still racing. I will admit that doing the aquabike lets me finish in a reasonable amount of time and cheer on my teammates. Loved it!
Because the aquabike was so small, I knew I would get a medal for my age group. My ultimate goal-- to place overall. And I did just that! My first every racing bling. I can't say how exciting that is (even though there were only 6 females in aquabike.)
I have some great takeaways from this race to gete me through training for IMLOO. First race of the season served its purpose - get back into the swing of things, and do some learning.
Rate your overall experience with this race: I love this race! The course is hard, but so worth it. My only feedback would be the checkin lines. If all the lines can check in any letter, they shouldn't have some of us waiting for 20 minutes to get our packets. The best part of this race was the crazy ATC showing! We are so awesome!!!
" Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have." Norman Vincent Peale
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