OK, here's how it all went down. Alarm goes off at 4 am, but I've been lying awake since 3:10 when I had to get up to pee. Crawl out of bed and get ready. 4:48 am, we're in the car heading toward Tempe. The SkirtChaser wanted to be running by 5:15 so he could be done with his long run in time to see me come out of the water. We walked over to transition and I kissed him goodbye. I pumped my bike tires, set up my little towel with my shoes and helmet and then went in search of my timing chip. The announcement was made that it would NOT be wetsuit legal (hooray!!). I walked my bike pump back to the car and went in search of my friend JA.
JA is an animal. She works at my fitness club teaching countless group fitness classes, boot camps and individual personal training sessions per week. We've become friends over the last year or so and she regurlarly kicks my ass on the bike or running. She rocks. Last spring she did her first sprint tri, but in all fairness it was a pool swim and so I counted today as her first introduction to triathlon... complete with open water swim. The swim was really intimidating for her and I was hoping to catch her in transition before the race to make sure she wasn't panicking. (Not that I could do much if she was, but I could try to talk her down from the ledge!!) JA was looking good- ready to race, so I grabbed my swim stuff and took off for the swim start.
Here's what I love about sprint triathlon. It's so fucking short! I had zero anxiety cause I knew I could handle anything for the 90 minutes it would take me. I was ready to get in and get my heart rate up. Most of my friends were racing the Olympic distance so I was excited to get done and watch them all come through on the run. I was in the third wave so after the first group was started, and the second group was at the start line, they let my wave into the water. I dove in and swam for the start buoy. I aligned myself inside hoping for a straight shot. Within minutes there were 50+ women all clawing and flailing and crawling all over each other to stay afloat. As I look around into the eyes of my fellow swimmers, I don't see the calm confidence of fast swimmers, who are normally the ones on the front lines. So I make a general inquiry... I assume if you are lining up here you all are pretty fast swimmers? The reply I get... an overwhelming NO. OK, I muse, thinking fast. With a minute to go, I swim to the outside right- away from the group. The airhorn sounds the start and I take off like a bat outa hell. Within 10 seconds I have a lead and some comfortable open swim space.
The swim is the swim. Was it long? I don't know. Does it matter? No. I swam as hard as I could for 750 meters. My time? 18 minutes. Significantly slower than I would normally expect for a 750, but I try not to speculate on the time because we all swim the same course. So even if it was a little long (which my SkirtChaser insists it was... I averaged 1:40 per hundred for 2.4 miles 2 weeks ago) it doesn't really matter. I ran through T1. I had not seen any other red swim caps (my wave) so I felt like I had to be near the front. I grabbed E'ly and took off on the bike.
The bike was AWESOME!!! I got in a hard gear and just pushed the entire way. For me, 12 miles is ridiculously short (100 miles less than my last race!) so I wanted to see what I could do. It was so much fun. I was passed by ONE person the entire 12 miles, and he passed me within the first 3 miles. After that I was flying by everyone. Now in all fairness, there are a lot of first time triathletes that participate in Nathan's (Red Rock Co puts on awesome events which are very athlete friendly) which means there are a lot of folks on mountain bikes and road bikes. But I was literally passing people like they were standing still, including 4 women who had all been in my wave start. I approached T2 on the wheel of a 5th gal, but I beat her out of T2 and after that... never saw another woman until after I finished.
T2: racked E'ly after praising her for her stellar performance. Slipped into my run shoes and Race Belt Skirt and off I went. After going as hard as I could in the swim and bike, I was definitely feeling it on the run. I had hoped to hold 7:30s... which I almost did. Again, only got passed once in the first mile... and I ended up staying with that guy, finishing just behind him. No one else passed me. Do you know how awesome that feels?? (Again, keep in mind all the first timers... lets not allow my ego to become too inflated.) I ran steady, even picking it up in the second two miles. I flew past dozens of men. Part of me wishes I had been able to see any other women ahead of me because they would have spurred me to pick up the pace a little bit. But I ran consistently, and finished with the clock reading 1:26. I took me a few minutes to realize that I was actually 1:18 because my wave started 8 minutes after the first wave. Then I became excited. I am 99% sure this was a PR by several minutes. I'll have to go back and check but I don't think I've ever broken 1:20.
The stats:
Swim 18:00
T1: 1:12
Bike: 34:14 (FASTEST women's bike split in the sprint race)
T2: 1:30
Run: 23:26
Final: 1:18:23
Of 280 women: I was 4th overall and 1st in my age group. I am super excited about my finish and really enjoyed being out there with everyone today. After my finish SkirtChaser and I went back to the car to change and then found a sweet spot on the run course to watch our friends. We saw everyone from the Phoenix Tri Club, TriScottsdale and Lifetime Fitness kicking ass on the run. And JA... she came off the bike smiling and in great form. She ran the second loop faster than the first and finished her first Olympic distance tri in under 3 hours. I am so proud of her! I can't wait to watch her kick some ass at her first half IM next month. When it was all said and done, I collected my award with JA cheering the loudest for me and we went to enjoy a nice breakfast with some friends followed by a much deserved nap.
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