Carpinteria Triathlon Sprint Race Report

I LOVE ending my triathlon season with this race! It’s such a fun race & usually the only Sprint distance I get to do each year J. This is a great first race for people looking to get into the sport… its short, relatively flat, of a smaller scale and with usually great weather. I’ve had quite a long season this year and, to be honest, didn’t even want to race this morning.  I was so anxious for the race (& last triathlon of the year) to be over with that I didn’t experience any of my pre-race jitters or excitement. I was freezing cold this morning and way too low on sleep, so I really had no idea how the day was going to go.

I set up my transition area in my usual A-type way, & was surrounded by girls who had never raced before. They looked to me like I was some Tri Guru & asked me any/all of their race questions. I’m still new to the sport myself & am definitely still figuring out a LOT of things. Among the “newbies” that raced today were 2 of my cousins. It’s a family affair now, y’all!

Me: “You guys. Where are your wetsuits?”

Boys: “We’re swimming without them.”

Me: “Of course you are.”

 

I made the long walk to the swim with a few SB Tri girls & thought “ok, let’s get this over with!” My nerves came back when I got to the swim start & waited for the “3…2…1… GO!” The water temperature felt great & I struggled from the beach to the first buoy as I always do. I’m not a strong swimmer by any means & that first leg is all about me not hyperventilating! I’m always so thankful to get around that first buoy because then I can settle into my rhythm (for a whole 12 min. Last year was 17 min!).  The swim felt super short, & I was grateful (as always) to be out of the water & back on dry land. I tried to transition as quickly as possible & make up for lost time on the bike.

I was able to redline the whole time on the bike… I wonder what those pictures look like. I was ZONED & think I had my tongue out most of the 9 miles. By this time the weather had warmed up a lot & I was having such a great time passing people (for once) out on the course! I’m getting better at shifting with my aero bars now but didn’t feel brave enough to ride down in the aero position this morning. (32min this year, 34 min last year)

T2 took a little longer than usual because I had to wait to drink & fuel up until that point since I have to relearn getting used to grabbing my water bottle and GUs on my new setup. I also didn’t have enough time the night before or that morning to put my speed laces in, so had to spend a few extra seconds tying my shoes. Little did I know this would be my downfall.

The first mile of the run was a bit rough, but quickly settled into a strong comfortable 8:30 pace. I didn’t feel the need to stop for water since it was only 3 miles, but my dang shoelaces came untied so I had to stop & retie them because my shoes felt so loose. It was then when the girl in my age group, who I passed on the bike, shot past me on the run. Crap. I thought I had her. I didn’t think too much of it though because I’m not usually fighting for a first place spot. I figured that now I’d be 6^th instead of 5^th, or 8^th instead of 7^th. There were still a lot of bikes on my rack when I left for the run, but I had no idea how many of those girls were in my age group. I was able to sprint into the finish line & was SO happy the race was over & felt really solid about my race performance. (Same run time as last year. Womp womp.)

It’s OVER! My long season was finally over! I was so happy to have the possibility of getting a small training break, thankful that we had beautiful weather & that I stayed uninjured and thankful to have a strong race and be surrounded by so many familiar friendly faces. Thank you family, friends and fellow teammates! You guys are super awesome.

John told me that the results were posted, so we walked over with high hopes & guesses of how we did. Even though he beat my time by 17 whole minutes, I scored (for the first time ever!) a podium spot! “Wait… is this real life!? Maybe there were only 2 girls in our division? (there were 8) Wait. WAIT.A.MINUTE. That one other girl who passed me at the last straightaway beat me out for first!?!” DANGITTTTT.  $#&* shoelaces! I lost to her by 24 seconds. When I realized I was less than 30 seconds from first, I immediately started analyzing every second of the day, kicking myself for every little mistake I made during the race.

BUT… happy nonetheless to finally be in the top 3! I also shaved 6 minutes of my time from last year, which is no 42min difference… but still an improvement! Now I get to kick back & have a cupcake & watch Breaking Bad totally guilt free & satisfied! TREAT YO SELF. One more race (SB half marathon in November) and then I’m really done for the year. Here’s to a great year of racing & improving. Can’t wait to say the same thing about 2014. J

 

“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.” ― Jon Krakauer