Reverse Sprint Tri Race Recap

[emilyj]

My first ever race recap!  I should preface this by saying a) my swim/bike training has been utter crap, b) I've been dealing with an achilles that has made my running non-existent, and b) the week leading up to this race was a nightmare.  I wanted to do better in this race than I did last year, but I knew that it wasn't likely to happen.

I did the reverse sprint tri at Ft. Benning.  I really like this race - it's laid back, casual, has great volunteers working the course, and overall is a great course.  Pretty flat run, pretty nice bike course, and the swim is in a (very cold) 50m pool.  

My plan had been to get a good night's sleep, get there early, get a good run warm up in to get my feet/achilles warmed up (or numb to the pain) and just see what happened.  My training runs (such as they were) have included a lot of walking, and had yet to break the 45 minute mark.  I was expecting to be the last one in on the run, like I was last year.  What really happened is I got about 4 hours of sleep, hit every red light between my house and Ft. Benning, and got to the race with about 25 minutes to spare.  Awesome.  The nice warm-up never happened, so I took the quickest jog I could, stretched out, and hoped for the best.

The cannon went off, and I positioned myself in the back.  I started shuffling, and after a little bit looked at my Garmin for my pace.  10:03.  Um.  What?  I figured my Garmin was screwed.  I managed to run up the first hill and felt good.  I was surprised.  I wasn't last, but I was close.  I kept up a decent pace for me, and when my Garmin beeped at mile 1, I looked at my pace.  11:03. My first thought was "Shit."  My second was "OMG. I feel good!"  So I kept going.  My second mile split was 11:28.  About 2.25 miles I started to lose it.  Honestly, my lungs gave out before my body did. At mile 2.5, there was a small hill that I ended up having to walk because my achilles screamed and me, and I never got back into a groove after that.  I got screwed up at the end - I got to the "Finish" flag and what I thought was the 5K mark at 36 minutes, but my official time was 38:something.  My time last year was 39:57, so not only did I beat last years time, but I beat all of my training times I've done lately.  I'm not going to complain at all.

The bike was meh.  I didn't do as well as last year.  I came in at 47 and change.  I had a moment about halfway in where I thought I was bonking and was going to DNF the race.  I knew, based on my lack of riding that the bike wasn't going to be as good, so I took it for what it was.  I was pleased with what I managed to pull out.

The transition between the bike and swim was so long.  And I was so tired.  I could have run it, but my feet were screaming, so I just walked.  I knew I wasn't going to podium, I was kind of bummed at my bike, and I wanted to break 10 minutes on the swim, so I went for conserving my energy.  I love doing the swim in a pool.  I also kind of love that since I suck so bad on the run, the pool is pretty sparse by the time I get to it, so there's not a lot of people to fight through.  I did have to swim under one woman who wouldn't move.  My swim was 9:05, so I was very psyched about that.

My overall time was right about the same as last year.  I'm a little disappointed, because I think with better training and no injury I could have blown last year's time away, but for what it was?  I did better on the run and swim this year, so like Meatloaf says, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. 

My next race is an Olympic aquabike in June, so I can work on getting my achilles back in to fighting shape.  

[skwcm80]

Great recap!! Way to fight through less than ideal conditions.

[libbygrl109]

Great job hanging tough. Hope your Achilles gets better soon.

[sadlebred]

Enjoyed your recap! Sorry you are dealing with injuries, but it's still a great time!

[G22]

Way to push through all those obstacles! You still did a great job!

[gt7301b]

Great recap, anyone who finishes a tri is bada$$.

[kams]

Awesome job!!! Reverse sprints totally mess with me! Solid day!

[Deleted]

Great recap, sounds like a fun race!

I just dealt with an achilles thing, it took about 3-4 weeks to recover entirely I rested it, used a brace, skipped a few runs, iced it and took Aleve 2x/day. I ran my half pain-free (well, at least, from my achilles).

[Susie]

May 17, 2014 21:08:58 GMT -5 emilyj said:

 I did better on the run and swim this year, so like Meatloaf says, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. 

:Y:

[bostonmichelle]

Congrats on pushing thru all the obstacles and finishing!

[runblondie26]

Great job pushing through! Good luck with you're upcoming race!