Race Recap: Mini Mighty Man Triathlon April 19, 2015

Yes I know I haven’t posted for a long while, and for very good reason….life and tri training has certainly gotten in the way!  I have lots of race recaps to post, but I’ll start out with yesterdays mini tri.  It was a 400m pool swim, 6 mile bike, 2 mile run.  It’s described as a mini tri for obvious reasons, and it was the kick off for my tri season.

When my alarm went off at 5:30 I woke up feeling sluggish.  My teammie text me good luck and I replied “Thx! I’m tired don’t feel like it” I have to laugh at that now because its so true and is exactly how I felt!  I didn’t eat before the race which is a big no no, and is probably part of the reason I wasn’t feeling 100%, but I had to press on!  Luckily this race is very close to home, so I was out the door and at the race within 20 minutes.  A short commute to the race is always nice.  I reached the site around 7:15 so I had plenty of time to set up my bike in transition(which I didn’t get a picture of), get body marked, and get in to the pool for a warm up swim.

I was able to get in a 200m warm up which was desperately needed, and still was not enough.  I’m usually pretty tight on my swim for the first 350 meters or so, so warming up 30mins b4 the race, and standing around freezing for 25 didn’t help my cause at all!  This pool was the home to the 1998 Goodwill games, so it is Olympic sized.   The race is very controlled, but can get hectic very quickly.  We are lined up along the back wall of the pool according to what time we think we’ll finish the swim portion.  This is done strictly on the honor system which I think they should change; primarily because people start in a faster time slot than they should and end up hanging on the rope,  or swimming much slower and holding faster swimmers behind them up.  I had an ok swim with a time of 10:15.  I’ve been swimming pretty consistently in the high 8’s to mid 9’s so I know I could have went faster.  Having to go around people hanging on the wall, slower swimmers in front of me, and men trampling over me I think led to the slower time, but this is preparing me for Eagleman so in the end I was happy for the distractions.

So I’m out of the pool and running out the door to get to the bike transition.  There was faux grass carpet down and I was thankful for that, but the rocks underneath…ouch!  My left foot is still a bit sore from running on it, but off I went.

My transition1 time was pretty slow at 2:51, but after running on the nasty dirt there was no way I was putting my filthy feet in my socks and shoes…enter girly girl mode.  So I had to clean off my feet properly, get my helmet and shoes on, un-rack my bike, and off I went!  I think the bike went pretty good with a time of 19:11.  I’m still getting to know Ruby (my bike) and am feeling wobbly in aero, so that time could be faster, but it’s a good starting point.

Here’s some video of me dismounting after the bike portion…yes I need some work, but I’m learning!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ8f5G7D5Mg&w=420&h=315]

Bike to Run Transition was 1:35, much faster than T1, and off to the run I go!  The run felt pretty good.  My feet didn’t feel like total bricks since the ride was only 6 miles, but it did take most of the first mile to get my legs back.  By the time I got to the start of the 2nd mile I was feeling pretty good and ready to bring it home.  After a cup of water I high tailed it to the finish.  My run leg was 19:09.

All in all I thought it was a good race.  I almost want to register for the same race next month but the all woman version to better my time.  I placed 5th in my division.  Just 2:30 minutes or so out of 3rd place, so I think if I speed up a smidge on each leg I can podium next time….we’ll see!