Let's Go Racing!

Saturday I competed in the Clear Lake International Triathlon (not sure why it was called "International"). My goal for this race was to do a practice run for the Longhorn in 6 weeks - meaning a fast, steady, maintainable pace.

I was sure to properly hydrate and to not push too hard on the bike as to save my legs for the run (thought process here is that gaining 5 minutes on the bike will be erased if you kill your legs because your run time will be so much slower).

Results:

- 2:22:09 time
- 8th in age group (AG) of 17 competing
- 1000 meter swim time - 29:37(14th of 17)
- T1 (transition time between swim and bike) - 2:12 (11th of 17)
- 18 miles bike time - 53:43(7th of 17 at an 18.3 mph pace)
- T2 (transition time between bike and run) - 1:13 (5th of 17)
- 6.2 mile run time - 55:22 (5th of 17 at a 8:56 pace)
- 180/273 overall

Lessons learned:

Overall, I am happy with my performance. I know that I could have pushed harder on the bike and definitely on the run, but I felt very strong at the finish and had a lot of energy left. The top 3 in my age group finished between 2:04 and 2:15 and places 4 - 8 were separated by less than 2 minutes. It is clear that transition time can play a factor. It is also pretty clear that if I want to be competitive I need to get faster in the water!

The lake swim went well, but it was much more difficult than my pool swims. First, even though my age group started last and I stayed at the very back of the pack at the start knowing that I would be slow, I kept running into other swimmers / other swimmers kept running into me. The water was pretty warm and yucky - not ideal swimming conditions. Finally, sighting was pretty tough. Sighting is what you do as you swim to make sure you are following the right path (along the buoys). I felt like I was zig zagging quite a bit which made the swim longer. Sighting better in the water would have saved me a couple of precious minutes.

The swim was my least favorite part, but it was manageable and I didn't feel exhausted when I got out of the water! 6 more weeks of training in the pool and I should be able to fake my way through the 1.2 mile Longhorn swim.