pardeeville race report

Run - 9 miles, 1:32
Swim - 2500yd, 44 min - including 1 mile continuous @ 30:10

[7/1/06 Saturday]
Pardeeville Sprint Triathlon - .25 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 5K run - 1:16:23
Bike - 56 min, 15 miles - recovery ride

I love the Pardeeville triathlon. It is my favorite triathlon because it is a beautiful and fast bike course with rolling hills, the lake is nice, it is friendly to triathletes of all abilities, and it is close enough to Madison that I can always get friends to come out and see me.

I was totally on in all three sports today and had a great race. I set a sprint triathlon PR by 4 minutes over last year. 4 minutes! I was in a great state mentally, had fan support, was positive, excited, and confident to race, and had done all the key workouts to prep myself for the hard effort that a sprint distance race requires.

I took my usual caffienated gel packet 15 minutes before the start and was drinking a bottle of Gatorade in the 30 minutes prior to the start. I had a feeling it was going to be a good day when my warm up swim (one lap of the course) was 6:38, 22 seconds under my swim goal time of 7 minutes. My wave was last and I approached the start very calm and focused. As the gun went off, everyone started sprinting out and I held back until I got past the first buoy. I know I am a strong swimmer so there was no way that these women were all going to hold that pace for the entire swim. I let them pass me and get out of breath, and then I took off, passing all but one and I was second out of the water for my wave. I paid very close attention to staying right in line with the buoys and swimming absolutely the minimum distance required.

I grabbed the hand of a volunteer on shore who was helping pull people out of the water and took off sprinting to the transition area while peeling off the top of my wetsuit, my cap and goggles. I heard a few of my friends shouting my name but I was too focused to look up and see them. As I got to my space in the transition area, I was struggling to get my breathing under control. Taking off the rest of my wetsuit was not as smooth as it could have been, but it was not a disaster. I put on my helmet and raced out of there.
Swim split: 6:27

I hammered the entire bike ride. I mean, I really pushed. I gave it everything I had and didn't let it be comfortable for even a second. I passed lots of people and after a few miles passed the leader from my wave. I was racing first in my wave! As I got back to the park I did my well-practiced flying dismount where I take my feet out of my shoes (which are still on the bike) and swing my leg over the bike, then smoothly leaping off and running as I reach the dismount line, no seconds wasted. There were no other bikes back to transition from my wave! This was really something and I knew I was going to have to keep hammering on that run to stay in my top position.
Bike split: 43:30, 21 mph

Again, it was hard to get my breath under control as I began the run. Is this what they mean by "maximum oxygen uptake"? I felt like I was sucking in the maximum that I could but it was not quite enough. I maintained my lead until about 1 1/2 miles and then someone from my wave passed me. It was mentally tough because I didn't know if there was anyone else behind her. At Lake Mills I lost it on the run and gave up mentally when that happened. Today I was determined to give it my all no matter what. I did that and ended up with a decent run, though not as fast as I have gone in the past on fresh legs.
Run split: 23:35

It was a fun race and it makes me remember that when I am having a good day, I really know how to race these things. Last year I was 3rd. This year I was 2nd. Can I continue the upward spiral next year?

Thanks to my friends that came out to see me!

Final result - 1:16:23
2nd place, Female age group 25-29
11th place, Female overall


[6/30/06 Friday]
REST Day

I was feeling tired and sleepy at 5:30am when I was scheduled to get up and go jump in the lake for a 2.4 mile swim. I listened to my body over my training schedule and I decided to stay in bed. The day before a race, this couldn't hurt.