It was a good season opener in that I realize some things I need to work on. My goal this year is speed, which means most of my workouts have been very different from the past. Since I have such limited time for training and I get plenty of recovery time im just trying to attack every workout that I can and go as hard as I can. SO heres my wee race report:
Got to Miami at 6am on the dot. Breezed through registration and got my transition area set up. It was pretty cold - about 32 at the time and I was wondering if this race was such a good idea. I had been suffering from some Stomach issues for the past week and almost scrubbed the race but could not bear the thought of wasting the money on the entry fee so I went. They had a bit of a snafu over the timing chips so I had to wait till I basically started the swim to get my chip. not real happy about that one. SO anyway I did some warm ups in the pool and that helped with some nerve issues then I just kinda chilled out for awhile. I brought my mp3 player and had queued up some good tunes and just really relaxed and watched the shuffle around me. Im really happy with my pre-race routine. Felt great.
Swim: The pool at miami is AWESOME but we do not get along. I dont know why but I hate swimming in that pool. Like years past I seated myself way in the back knowing that I would rather be passing than being passed. Also the tail end of the swim is ALWAYS less congested so less bottlenecks to slow you down. I felt like I was flying through the swim. Very calm and very relaxed and just kept picking off people left and right. For the most part everyone was hugging the lane on the right so I just stayed left and more or less had open water the whole time! Got out of the pool and checked my watch 8:13 - slow by many standards but a PR for me by over a minute in that pool. Guess my swimming has been helping!
T1 - ungh one of the things I hate about the miami race is how cold it ALWAYS is. I had decided via my primary sponsors recomendation to wear my long sleeve top that I bought from finishing IMFL. Its a great top very warm and very comfortable. However I really struggled getting it on and gave up a TON of time in T1 b/c of it.
Bike: I ran out of T1 and hopped on the bike and started to crank away. B/c of where I was sitting in the swim I was again picking off people left and right. Mostly mtn bikes and older road bikes so I knew this was mostly the first timer crowd. I felt pretty good through most of the bike but did notice some cramping in my calves which I attribute to the cold weather. I hate cold weather. About two weeks ago I got a new pair of Tri-specific bike shoes. They are Pearls and I really like them but I need to practice getting out of them more. It took me way to long to get my feet out SO thats something I need to work on and get faster with.
T2 came into t2 and hopped off the bike and well first time ever but I lost a shoe! so I had to run back and grab that. DOH! into transition I racked my bike - off with my helmet then on with the runners....I said on with the runners....what the!!!! I put like TONS of body glide all around the opening of these fricking things.....why wont my foot go in.....man my feet are numb....oh come on why wont my foot go in my shoe.....finally. In short not the best t2 for me.
Run: ungh got out on the run and was feeling the affects of the cold even more. Calves were really cramping and my stomach issues from the week prior started to hit. I just kept thinking "Man am I happy this is only 3 miles." Ran easy for the first mile and then on mile 2 I started to try to pick up the pace. Just focused on whoever was in front of me and tried to pick them off. I think I probably negative split each mile in the run but it was still really slow.
Finish!!!! w00t w00t I finished in a time of 1:21:?? This was a bit outside of my sub 1:10 goal but im thinking that is perhaps unrealistic. Next years goal is 1:15. SO anyway I was 192 out of 652 people who signed up. Not to shabby for the season opener.
SO what else is new. Well im racing again in about 1.5 weeks and again Im really excited about that. Its a local race for me (like 5 minutes away!) and it will be warm!!! so excited. SO look back for a race update then.
Oh and coming soon will be my post about bikes I swoon for!
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment