Tri girl tri! 6th place in my age group!

A great sprint tri here in houston! Raced hard today was wasn't able to crack that elusive top 5 in my age group.

Regardless of that fact, I cut 5 minutes off my time from last year!!! Still a pretty big deal to me! Add in the fact I am getting sick....just thankful and happy I wa able to pull it together to enjoy my last sprint of this season!

All that remains are the 2 big ones-Austin tri Olympic and longhorn 70.3. Training resumes tomorrow or whenever I feel closer to 100%.

More later...

--

Despite not being sure If I was going to race due to a nasty and quick-acting head cold that happened to me Friday afternoon, I made it out to the start line feeling strong and with flying colors. Everything was on schedule and working like clockwork, even though I waited until the morning of the race to pack my bag AND clean my bike (usually not the *best* thing to do, if almost the WORST, and I have learned this by experience THE HARD WAY). Even had time to use the restroom, eat a gu, take a pre-swim warmup and take some pics, all the while not feeling rushed doing any of it. Devine.

I started too far back in the swim, I am guessing, as I ended up getting slowed down by quite a few girls that had no sense of being in an open water swim, or at least in the front of it. I guess I can relate, as I use to struggle with OWS, but today I was just ready to TEAR IT UP! My goal from the get-go was to place in this race, and it’s even more enticing at this particular race since they give out 5 placings per age group. Last year I was 7th, missing out by 2 spots. This year, 5th was to be mine…at least…

Looked at my watch after the swim and was super happy to see 6-something, my shortest and fastest swim this year! T1 and Kiki caught me starting to get comfty and taking my time…”HURRY UP!!!” I zipped out of there and got excited about riding Whitey. This is the 2nd time Whitey has been to Houston, so she gets excited by the flatness of it! We love this course, but unfortunately, a week off the bike left me feeling sluggish and labored near the end of the 11 miles. First 6-8 miles I ave. 19.5, and man, those last 3 miles…’what a shame,’ I thought. ‘No reason NOT to be flying on this EASY course!’

T2 was quick and then on to my favorite part, the run. Although I really enjoyed the bike today (despite being slower than I *should* have been), I was ready to make up some time on my feet. Passed a million ladies, as usual, cheering for all the gals in front of me since the course is an out-and-back. I picked up speed along the way as I noticed myself slowing down (which, I was slower than I should have been the first 2 miles). The last mile, I looked for all the girls in my age group and tried to pass them all up, which I think I did…

Even with a sprint to the finish, I was beat out of 5th place by a very skinny and petite girl about 5 seconds in front of me (did not see her until the finish shoot). I was so happy to be done though and excited by a great finishing time (took 5 minutes off my time from last year!) that it really didn’t matter! Stayed to watch my girls Lou (2nd tri and 2nd place in her age group) and June (1st tri!!!) finish, had a snack and watched awards, and then began the long trek back to Austin.

All in all, a great race, albeit not placing. This marked my last sprint tri of the year and probably my last Houston race of the year, also, since I will not be doing the Houston Half-Marathon this year in October, since it’s the same time as Longhorn 70.3. I’m excited about my last two races, although they will definitely be more endurance events, and my only goals with those two are to finish, and finish feeling GOOD. Here’s onto a few more months of tough Tri training and Houston Marathon training too!

The Stats:

6:32 300y swim
1.31 T1
35:39 11m Bike (18.5 mph)
.52 T2
24:07 3m run (8:02/mile)
=1:08.42

6th out of 45 in the 25-29 age group