There were a bunch of different races going on at Lake Louisa State Park including an age group draft legal race, youth elite races, and the pro races. The elite women's race was the lace race of the day - at about 3:50 pm! I have never raced in the afternoon before, but I kind of liked it. It was about 88 degrees but pretty windy too so I didn't really notice the heat except for a little bit on the bike.
I woke up at my normal time on race morning, had some breakfast, and did a short warm up run with some strides to get the blood flowing a little bit. Then it was time to basically be a bum and wait until it was time to head to the race site. I made sure to eat a good lunch about 4 hours before the race so that I'd be fueled and digested and then had a power bar a little closer to the race start. I made sure to also have plenty of electrolytes since I knew it would be hot.
The water level in the lake is SUPER low, so they moved the swim start out about 100m into the water which was unusual. We walked out to the start line which was about waist deep water and waited for the horn. I did not have a good swim start, which I am learning is crucial in these draft legal races and especially in a sprint race. If you are at the end of a line of swimmers, it is very hard to work up to the front in only 500m of swimming (the rest was dolphin diving / running). I need to be more aggressive at the start and not be a wide-eyed rookie! I made some tactical errors as far as deciding when to swim/dolphin dive/run and was toward the end of a long line of women coming out of the water. About 50 seconds of a gap from the first woman to me.
Once on the bike, I was able to work with two other women to try and catch the packs that had formed up ahead of us. The bike course was 4 loops of an out and back type format so it was easy to see where the other packs were. We worked well together but weren't catching the 2 packs ahead of us that had 8 - 10 girls each. The lead pack had some really strong riders - Sarah Haskins, Kerry Lang - and they were gaining ground on the chase pack and my group. We maintained our distance from the 2nd chase pack but didn't catch them. I was putting out a LOT of effort on the bike to try to catch the other packs. It's a sprint so i figured i wouldn't have much time to run down some of the women ahead of me.
I had a mishap in T2 which cost me a little time before going out on the run. I felt pretty beat up after the bike ride but just put my head down and was able to catch 5 girls over the course of the 5k run. I finished 25th overall and while this is not the result that I would have hoped for, I am not disappointed in my race. This is all a learning proccess since it's so new, and I am excited to be even competitive at this level. I learned many valuable lessons and have some amunition for my training for my next big race in Dallas in June. I am working to get stronger on the bike, something I have not put much focus on in the past and better at bike racing/pack riding, and will continue to work to improve my swim.
Even though these sprint races are short and "fun", I'm glad to move on to the olympic distance for the rest of the season. I do not have the punchy, anaerobic fitness for the sprint races that some of these women (and men) have. I am very grateful for my parents for coming to Florida with me and cheering me on and being awesome in general - go here to see some videos of the pro men and women that they were able to capture during the race! you can see how different the swim was! http://www.youtube.com/user/battiata24?feature=guide
