2nd Reeds Lake Sprint Tri Race Recap

Wow, wishing I could voice-to-blog this one. I’m so sore from yesterday’s triathlon I’m surprised my fingers can type!

Yesterday was my last tri of the season–Rhoades McKee Reeds Lake Sprint Triathlon. Man. Triathlons are HARD, but I did really well! This was my second time at this tri. I bettered my time by a minute, came in 5th in my age group and ran my fastest 5K to date.

I followed a new, and VERY challenging 8-week training plan for this race. VERY little rest, a lot of doubling up on workouts and routinely running some bigger mileage. I’m proud of so many of those workouts, although overall the training plan was TOO taxing on me and not one I’ll repeat.

Here’s a break down of the race:

Swim
When my age group started an intense fog settled over the lake. It came on fast–the elite group starting 30 minutes before us had perfect conditions! It was impossible to spot buoys for turn points and people clustered together in the water more because of it. I routinely had to pop my head up and breaststroke to check I was on course. It definitely slowed my swim down, but I still gave that my full effort.

Transition 1
I had a good plan for drying off/getting bike gear on, going top down. I wanted to take my time to ensure my feet were dry so I wouldn’t have a cold/numb foot situation I’ve had at past races this year.

Bike
This bike course is a hilly one! Last year I felt like I pushed it too fast, so this year I tried to ride it strong without overdoing it. While I felt strong and in control through the whole ride, my bike is where I have the most opportunity to improve/grow.

Transition 2
This felt GREAT! I was in and out fast. Even taking an extra beat to calm my breath, I was really happy how fast that bike helmet came off, hat went on and feet went back out onto the course.

Run
I built a lot of mental and physical running confidence in training. I knew I could do it, but it was HARD. So many frequent thoughts about “retiring” how serious/fast I take these races and just moseying through them. Although it was hard, I ran strong. First mile under 8:30 (fast for me). Second mile faster than that. All I thought about for the third mile was getting to C to sprint to the finish with him. He was THRILLED to all-out-sprint, hearing the cheers from the crowd and seeing the finish line ahead. Nothing could be better!



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