I drove to Casey's house, loaded my bike into her truck, and then we picked up another friend for the drive. Casey is a two-time Ironman. A mutual friend connected us a couple weeks ago. Turns out she is doing all the same races I'm doing in the next couple months. We met on July 4th and did an open water swim together at Lake Barkley, KY, where her family was spending the day.
I had planned to drive to this race alone, so it was a bonus blessing to ride with two new friends and see some smiling, familiar faces before and after the race.
Back to Saturday morning... We drove the hour to Paris Landing. My nerves were steadily growing as I realized the road we were on WAS the bike course. And it looked like a steady uphill. But I told myself, "for every uphill, there's a downhill..." I knew I could gain some speed on the decline and rest my legs a little.
We got checked in and set up our transition spots to this sunrise...Can't beat that.
Two weeks til my first Olympic distance tri. (1500 yard swim, 25 mile bike, 6 mile run.) Trying to not get cold feet!! :)
Transition set-up
This was my 3rd sprint tri, but the distances are all a little different. Overall, I was pleased with the outcome!
I sped up in every sport plus I raced my first open water swim. (My first two sprint triathlons were in pools.) Swimmers started every 3 seconds. It was a bit awkward trying to spot the buoys in the sunlight, swim in a straight line to the buoys, and pass other swimmers (trying not to get kicked in the face!) But I think I managed a fairly straight line. Ha.
Here were my stats:
Swim (500 meters): 12:26
2:29/ 100 meters
Transition 1- 1:03
Bike (14 miles): 47:51
17.55 mph average
Transition 2- 59 seconds
Run (3 miles): 25.51
8.37/mile*
Total Time: 1:28
*the run was actually shortened to 2.57 miles (I think) because part of the run course was under water. So I may have been closer to a 10min/mile. My watch read a 9.25 min mile, so who knows!
Finished!
I am so proud of you!
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