My race began at 9:30, so I woke up around 6 and ate some oatmeal, a banana, a luna bar, and some coffee. The transport to the race came and picked me up from my hotel at around 745 to go to the race start and I drank a water bottle with a salt tab on the way. Once I was at the race site, I watched some of the boys race but was mainly concentrating on making sure I did everything I needed to do. Having never gone through these steps before, I was making sure I had my transition set up and got all my markings/photos/check ins done. With about 30 minutes to go until the race start, I did my swim warm up and had a GU and then waited for the start line call.
As I look back on the moments before the start, I realize that I wasn't in the race mind set. I didn't even feel the normal pre-race nerves that I usually feel, it was more a sort of shell-shocked feeling, where I was almost frozen. The horn went off and instead of being in attack mode I was in "lets see how this goes mode" and I didn't get into a great position for the swim. For the most part it was one big pack for the swim, but I was in the back of that pack. Going into my next race in a couple of weeks, I plan to be much more aggressive for the swim start so that I can get into better position coming out of the water. I got onto the bike with one other girl and there were two packs up ahead of us. I was trying to bridge the gap alone, rather thank work with the other girl, which tired me out and then I ended up riding alone for 3.5 of the 5 laps. Another learning lesson!-work with people around you. I finished the race with a strong run, and was able to catch a few of the girls ahead of me to put me in 10th at the finish. I'm overall very happy with this race and am glad for all of the things I learned. I think even this one experience gives me so much more confidence in myself going into this upcoming season. I know that Clermont is going to be very competitive and I'm really excited to go and race hard!!
Also- I must say that the atmosphere in Barbados surrounding the race was awesome. There is an overall laid back attitude there which I think definitely helped calm my pre-race nerves. The race organizers set up all of my transportation and did a really great job of promoting the event to the locals so that they would come out to the race.
Congrats again, great post.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: you mentioned not being aggressive enough at the swim start. Whenever I start off too hard, I feel heart raised too fast and actually lose energy. When I start off slow/decent always had better swim and felt better rest of the race.
By you starting off faster, will it not affect your breathing during swim or leading into the bike?
It's funny you mention about taking off on the bike. I remember seeing the IM Kona video from 2010 I believe where Alexander wasn't able to or didn't ride with the pack, Chris had extra energy for the run.
So much to triathlons, overwhelming and intriguing all at the same time.
Good luck at next race.
in the draft legal races, the swim is very aggressive because everyone wants to be at the front by the end of the swim so that they can be in good position for riding in the front pack. if you fall behind in the swim, you will miss the front pack out on the bike course and have to work that much harder, so it's worth expending a little more energy in the swim. I was in a bad position to start the swim and just think I should have attacked the start of the swim a little more to try to get a better position. Plus, since this was a sprint distance..starting off harder would not have been an issue since the race is only an hour. But i do think for longer events and non draft events, it is much smarter to have more of an even pass to conserve energy for the bike/run.
ReplyDeleteThat 2010 Kona race was epic. macca "attacked" on the bike to leave alexander and the runners but he was still with a pack and being smart/conserving energy for the run. i agree though there are so many aspects and things to consider for racing!