Sullivan Sprint Tri Results

I arrived at the Sullivan Sprint Tri with the idea that I was going to participate but stay with Hubby for the entire event. With the whole calf issue, I had decided it best to take it easy and not risk further aggravating the sore calf. Hubby, though, kept insisting I compete at my usual intensity. I began to wiffle-waffle about the whole thing. After much debate, I did a few down and backs in the pool, with no adverse effects, and decided I would go ahead with my original plan to enter the pool at my designated time and see what happened from there.

What happened was I finished the swim just fine. The calf cooperated the entire time, and even though my mind wasn't in a good spot before or during the swim, I muddled through and finished a minute faster than I did last year. I arrived at my bike and began getting ready for the ride, thinking I was going to wait for Hubby at this point as I had promised him I would stay with him the entire time. While I was pulling shorts on over my suit, I heard Hubby yell at me to pick it up. I looked up and saw him standing at the fence, urging me to go, go, go. I shook my head, saying I was waiting for him, but he told me no, that I needed to go on without him. He seemed perfectly fine with me going, so I did.

The cycling was great, and part of this was because of the wonderful weather we had for the event. As I started out, the sun was shining, the temp was around 65 degrees, and a 20 mph wind was blowing out of the WNW. For about 40% of the route, the wind was at my back, helping me keep the speed up around 23 mph. As soon as I hit the turn around, the wind came at me, slowing me to 16.5 mph. I managed to keep the speed fairly consistent while heading into the wind. I finished the 11.7 miles in 38 minutes, an 18.3 mph pace.

My transitions were okay. Nothing to really whoop about. With this race, I went in so unsettled that I never really established that one thing I wanted to work on like I had with the other sprint tri's. I ended up just going through the motions for the most part, even with the transitions.

Then came the run. Like my other runs, this one was slow, slower than both Purdue and Petersburg. There were no hills to deal with. In fact, the course was mostly flat and easy to negotiate, and I really enjoyed the scenery. But I just felt tired. I'm wondering if all the mental anguish during the days leading up to the event took a toll on my energy level. Whatever it was, I finished in 32 something, a 10:26 pace.

In the end, I finished 2nd in my age category with a time of 1:23.48, and 23rd out of 71 women. While I'm happy with having shaved 19 minutes off my time from last year's Sullivan Sprint Tri, I'm disappointed in my run. I definitely have come a long, long ways from last year, and I'll keep at it because as Hubby is fond of pointing out, I am very, very competitive with myself.

One very memorable thing happened at the sprint tri that will most definitely be laughed about for a long, long time. I met up with Hubby at about the two mile mark and walked most of the last 1.1 miles with him. As he neared the finish line, I cut across the field to get a picture of him finishing. When I reached the finish, I turned and saw some of the results posted, so I meandered over to see if my times were up. I stood there, searching for my name, my times. When I saw all they had for me was the swim, I turned to watch Hubby cross the finish. He was nowhere in sight. I searched the road leading up to the mats. I turned and scanned the part where I had just left him. Nothing. Then I turned and looked behind me. He was coming towards me after already having crossed the finish line. I totally missed him completing the race. It will be a very long time before I hear the end of this one.

Comments

J said…
Wow, look at you! Even with an injury you rock.

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