You guys are delusional
Race is over thank God. It didn't go as well as I'd hoped and I am disappointed. I can think of a thousand excuses as to why things didn't work out today, but in the end, it rests with me, and there is no excuse. What is, is, for today and I need to just be OK with it all.
Whats upsetting is that I have been in hardcore training for triathlons for the past 8 months straight. I've devoted myself to it, I've worked my ass off, I've seen major improvements in speed and strength and I've clocked some PR's out running or biking in practice. I go 100% in all I do and it shows....in my own little world. Then I get to the race, not with unrealistic expectations. I go with a performance in mind that is at or slightly better than something I've already done in practice. I rest for the race, I eat right, I drink my water. I live and breathe the triathlon that last week and then expect the best....then I fall flat. This has happened 3 stinkin times this summer!
SO if you care to read, what happened was this...I had a nice sleep but my dinner from last night was not settling well with me this morning. I got up, got some iced coffee to get it all out of my system and "get things moving" so to speak. Drank twice as much water so I didn't dehydrate. I ate half a PB sandwich before my race. I felt fine. The swim was fine. I used the tri shorts and they worked out. I felt oddly winded on the swim, but thought I may just be going faster than I should. I backed off a little and got into a groove. Its short. its just a half mile (900 yds in a pool) and it was pretty painless since it was over so fast. I was 2nd out of the water in my heat of women "34 and under" with a time of around 12 minutes. Out of the swim is a hill you have to run up. I paced myself up that hill because it wiped me last time. Once in transition area i WALKED to regain my breath and bearings. My transition time was slower than I wanted it to be but I felt like the smart thing was to pace myself there so I didn't go in the next leg of things totally hyperventilating, as I've done before. T1 time was around 3 minutes. Got on my bike and felt awesome initially. It was a realllly nice day weather-wise. My legs were a little fatigued but i thought they just needed to warm up since I hardly kicked on my swim on purpose. I never did feel warmed up. I felt like I had slightly flat tires (I didn't, but you know that drag feeling?) and I had a hard time reaching my anticipated average speed of 20mph. I held 18 average. The hills KILLED me and I usually tear up the hills. They are normally my strong point. I was very bummed on the ride. I rode the 16 miles in around 51 minutes! that is SOOOOO slow! I needed 48 at the very most. However, not many people passed me on the bike. I passed a handful. We must've all been having the same day. I had some "accel gel" on the bike and a ton of water from my camelbak. I was glad when that part was over. The run is where I bit it bad last time so I was bound and determined to be smart on it. I shuffle jogged out of transition and grabbed some water heading out. I kept that slow shuffle for a good 1/4 mile till I felt my legs come back. I felt pretty good compared to the last time I did it and I was able to increase my pace as the run went on. Its another hilly,dirt,rocks course so the soft dirt and rocks were the bugger on it mostly. The heat was hardly noticed and the turn around point came so fast. My pace was 8:45 ave. Without transitions my time would have been my goal of 1:30, but with the slowness of them the time was 1:34-something. I don't regret what I did as far as that strategy in transition but I need to work on being able to go from one thing to the next and hold it together without taking so much time.
I was 4th in my age group out of quite a few people and I should be proud of that, but I'm not. I had higher goals. I do recall being on the ride thinking "this is the last of these this year, I'm done with this"...although I know triathlons are a little like childbirth and after a few days I'll be combing through the events to find my next one. The one I have lined up is Sept 22 on my birthday, when I age up to the 30-34 age group! Its flat, and in cooler weather. We'll see. For now I guess I can look forward to the adventure race and the half marathon. The adventure race won't take as much of my time to train for and I can start focussing more on my running again and do more fun trail runs. If shin splints come back I'll obviously nix the half marathon idea. I'm not attached to it quite yet so it would be ok if I had to stop.
Ok so thats it. thanks for reading and all the encouragement. You guys are great.
You should be very proud of yourself, this is a great accomplishment.