- Weather: mid to low 60s to begin with. Swim start brought us a beautiful, yet blinding, sunrise.
- Swim: At first I thought I would use the wetsuit, but I waited too long to put it on to be comfortable and many others weren't using theirs, so I went back to transition to leave it behind. I have a full-length wetsuit so it keeps me very warm. The water was very refreshing! Ahhh. My new goggles worked like a charm! They improved their sighting buoys this year to include more orange thingies (dyed milk gallons?) so that helped tremendously. I kept swimming throughout and felt good, albeit slow.
- T1: Annoyingly slow. The field was so muddy so my feet were just covered in mud. That docked a lot of time unfortunately, but I said that I'd rather spend the extra time feeling better than paying for it later. I don't race for speed so I might as well have happy feet.
- Bike: Slow also, but my right hip didn't cause any pain so I was very thankful for that. With every turn my heart stopped for a second, but as soon as I got out of it I felt confident and proud. The course, per usual, went through scenic and ritzy Inverness. This probably added some time because I was enjoying the mansions and estates.
- T2: Fast, I guess? Throughout the bike I was thinking, "Ok, I'd really just like to run now." As soon as T2 started I kept thinking, "Eh, we can go back to biking now. My ankle is probably going to act up." Anyway, I set up my station well enough so I just grabbed my hat, music, race belt and shoes. I was off!
- Run: S...L...O...W... but consistent. I was hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that the ankle pain wouldn't rear its ugly head. Wishful thinking. It came on earlier than expected. Usually in a tri it will pick up near mile 2, but this race was all, "Let's be annoying around mile 1.25." Whatever, nothing I could do and stopping to stretch doesn't help, so I kept on keeping on. I walked through the second water station but kept right at it. I broke it up into two 2.25 mi runs, totaling 4.5 miles. I found some great tunes that gave me the boost I needed. The miles chipped away and I finished strong but somewhat out of breath. My speed wasn't great but my endurance was so that's all I cared about.
2012 Overall - 2:12:31
Swim: 17:00
T1: 3:16
Bike: 57:13
T2: 1:39
Run: 53:26
Run Pace: 11:51
2011 Overall - 2:18:11
Swim: 16:30
T1: 4:26
Bike: 59:22
T2: 1:47
Run: 56:08
Run Pace: 12:28/mi
Moral of the story for yesterday's race is as follows:
- Arriving early (5:00 a.m. for a 6:36 a.m. start time) is key. See transition area picture. Look at all this space!
- I shaved 6 minutes off my 2011 time!
- My endurance is way up but speed is roughly the same.
- Finishing the day with an Epsom salt bath, followed by a dinner of beer, cheese curds and a chicken wrap is yummy. See pizza picture below.
- Next time I'll try a few ibuprofen right before the race. Maybe that will keep the ankle pain at bay.
I'm No Ironman, but I Still Tri.
Swim Course:
Bike Course:
Run Course:
