Right on the heels of my half marathon I did a sprint tri. I think I have done this race a dozen times. It is a short pool swim (300 yards), a 12-mile bike and a 5k run in and around the campus at UNC-Wilmington. Like most years, I didn’t have any expectations going into it. It is a very early season race and there is always some part of it where I feel unprepared. This year, I felt strong in the swim and the run. I did not feel strong on the bike. I literally just put my pedals back on the bike (from Kona) on February 16. I had ridden the Peloton about once a week for the past few months, but it was not consistent. I have been on my bike - and my new Wahoo Rollr - for about two weeks and I went out for a real spin on the road the day before the race.
ANYway……I was excited to race. I arrived early to set up and get myself ready in transition. This is like a first day at school and as introverted as I am, I like to chat and visit with friends I hadn’t seen in a while before the race. Brianna, Jennifer, Tracey, George, Dan, Kitty, Ann - so many of my tribe were there! I also took some photos for Set Up Events - the race directors (see below). After spending 20 minutes on the pool deck, I headed back out to transition and changed into my race gear.
I warmed up in the diving well for a bit and then stood in line for 15-20 minutes. I chatted with the woman in line behind me and as I always do I said: tap my toes and I’ll move out of your way at the next wall. Deal! She said. Fortunately, it was one of the smoothest pool swim ever. I never got caught and the three passes that I made were at the wall. Either the swimmer ahead of me stopped and waited or I passed under them at the rope. As always, my finish time was around 4:50.
I headed out into the brisk wind and ran to the bike - which was about 100 yards from the natatorium. I whined a little about the cold, but I warmed up quickly on the bike. This two loop bike course has a lot of turns, has some questionable road conditions (including a dozen speed bumps) and quite a bit of traffic on one of the main roads. On my first lap, I got caught up behind a row of five cars - the first one was a student driver - who were lined up behind what looked like a fairly new cyclists. There was no safe spot to pass (no bike lane) and all the braking made me super nervous. The second lap was a little better - more cyclists than cars - still a dozen speed bumps.
I finished and headed out on the run. Remind me to train for this part next time. My run has been strong, but man, it hurts to run off the bike. I didn’t look at my watch - I listened for my metronome. My right foot was frozen, but I could hear it keep up with the beat on my watch. Because it was numb, it sounded like: splat, splat, splat, splat every time it hit the pavement. I had come in off the bike close to Mr. Triad. He had started two spots ahead of me in the swim and I had caught up to him. I like your pink helmet, he said as we put away our bikes. Thank you! That’s a good reminder that I need to take it off! He came out of transition behind me followed me to the turn-around - where he made his pass. One of his buddies came up and they started running together. I kept him in my sights because he started adding in walk breaks. If I can keep running, maybe I can catch him in the end. He would walk, I would catch up to about 10 feet and he’d take off again. This happened a few times and I was sure I was going to pass him at the finish. No such luck! After his last walk break around Trask he disappeared!
I finished in 1:16:ish and was happy to finish triathlon number 76! I chatted with Sami and Kitty afterward and changed into warmer gear. I also chatted with Natalie - the gal who had been behind me in the swim start line. We took pictures of each other on the podium and exchanged numbers - in case she needs a bike buddy when she returns to Wilmington. That was the best part of the day: I made a new friend!
Triathlon Barbie
So excited to be on the podium!