19 Miles of Awesome: 2012 Version

Ah yes, the 2012 Twin Lakes Sprint Triathlon was yesterday, the second year in a row I've participated. Also the second year in a row I haven't done an open water swim prior to the race or hardly any outdoor rides. Oops! :) After figuring out why the Garmin 305 wasn't syncing to my PC, I have results, soreness and uploaded courses. Here's last year's recap, and I bring you to this year's recap below. The details: 700 m swim, 14.5 mi bike (although my watch read otherwise) and 4.5 mi run.

• 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:

1. 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!
2. I shaved 6 minutes off my 2011 time!
3. My endurance is way up but speed is roughly the same.
4. 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.
5. Next time I'll try a few ibuprofen right before the race. Maybe that will keep the ankle pain at bay.

Anyway, I'm one happy camper. That's all. Next major race: Glenview Sprint Triathlon on July 29.

I'm No Ironman, but I Still Tri.


Swim Course:

Bike Course:

Run Course: