Girlfriends and Dudes Sprint Tri Race Report

I signed up for this race on a whim a couple of weeks ago after just a couple swim and bike workouts, and just wanted to do it for fun. I am in the midst of ultra training and ran 16 miles the day before the race so this definitely wasn’t a main focus. But still, I was really excited to do my first tri in a couple of seasons!

It’s been kind of a rough week for me, physically and mentally. I had a couple big trail runs Thursday and Saturday – which went ok except that on both of those runs I took big falls. Same kind of fall both times - caught my foot and straight up belly-flopped onto the trail. No harm done but I was shaken up. Anyway, a bit of family stress in the mix and I was pretty worn out. Saturday night we went to an Avett Brothers concert and didn’t get to bed till about midnight. So worth it though, they are amazing. I knew I would be a bit tired for the race but it was just for fun so who cares!

The real excuse came on Sunday morning when I woke up.

Barf. It was POURING. At 7:00, when I was supposed to be leaving the house, I was sitting on the couch in my robe watching the rain pour down.

I had pretty much talked myself out of going. I texted Emily and Amy and told them I probably wasn’t going and that they shouldn’t bother coming to cheer. Finally, about a half hour later, at the last possible minute I decided Fuck it! Let’s do this. I told Zach - guess I don’t have to bother with sunscreen!

We drove up to Vancouver and the rain had let up a bit. I set up my transition area, using a plastic drop cloth in place of a towel as a base and threw a small towel over top of my stuff. I listened to the pre-race meeting and we all walked a half-mile up the river to the start.

 

Swim: 1/2 mile

The water was cold, but this swim course was the awesomest. Like I said, we walked 1/2 mile up to the start. Meaning we swam a half mile downstream in the Columbia. On the walk I talked to a guy who did the race last year, and said my swim would probably take 5 minutes less than normal. Whaaa? I got in the water and it was very cold. My wave was second and not that large.

Off we went! I felt really good the whole time and could tell I was moving fast. I wasn’t pushing hard, but I was breathing every two strokes so I must have been working. I didn’t bump into anyone or freak out or anything. I had no trouble sighting since we were just along the shore and there were swimmers all around me. Oh and I could see Zach the whole time, walking along the shore! I even waved once.

 

Swim time: 12:42

For SURE 5 minutes faster than normal, if not more. Yay current!

I saw Emily and Amy by my spot in transition. So nice of them to come cheer for me!! I was really quick in transition and felt good.

T1: 1:38

 

Bike: 12.5 miles

The bike course was super flat. The road was wet but there were only a couple turns so it wasn’t much of a concern. I haven’t been on my road bike much so I figured I wouldn’t be terribly fast but wanted to push it as much as I could. My speedometer said 16-18 mph for the most part which was good. I was having a lot of fun and all the athletes were cheering each other on.

The friendliness ended briefly when I was passed by a group of women who were quite bunched up. I know that happens sometimes, but after they passed me they kept right on riding together. WTF? I hollered out “Are we passing or drafting, ladies?” and it looked like a couple of them tried to move past of fall back. But for the most part they stuck together. Real close too, very intentional. I was pissed. So after a couple minutes I geared down and sped up, standing up to gain speed. I yelled out “on your left!” and proceeded to lecture the half dozen women about the rules of triathlon as I passed them. I was friendly enough, I started out my monologue with “I don’t want to be a dick, but…” I was pretty fired up so I rode fast for a while after that, but several of the women passed me back later. At least most of them weren’t drafting as much. I didn’t see a single official on the course which I thought was a weakness of the event. But still, official or no, stick to the rules. This applies to everyone, especially people who think they are faster than me.

It as a great ride though and I didn’t let that get to me. I did my best to let them know the rules, but then I moved on. It’s such a short ride I was not too tired toward the end. It  started raining again with a couple miles to go.

Bike time: 43:19 (17.3 mph)

 

More cheers from my crew in T2 and I was in and out. I wished that I had put quick laces in my running shoes because tying my shoes took some effort. The rain really started picking up.

T2: 0:57

The run was tough. My legs felt like lead for the first mile or so. I felt simultaneously like I was running through molasses and like I was working way too hard. I focused on picking off women ahead of me. I assumed that they were all part of the drafting pack and felt very determined to pass them back. There’s no cheating in the run! I got passed by two women, a super leggy and fast 25 year old and a ridiculously athletic 46 year old. Plus a number of guys. I passed quite a few people too. My first mile was 8:10 and my second mile was 7:55. Right about where I hoped to be! I knew I was doing really good and was getting close to the finish. I saw one girl who I know was one of the drafters and barely passed her with a few hundred yards from the finish. I said mean things in my head. I sprinted to the finish with cheers from Emily, Amy, and Zach!

 

Run time: 24:32 (8:10 pace)

Total time: 1:23:08

A sprint distance PR! I was super psyched. I was tired but not too bad! I got a medal and a souvanier water bottle too then met up with my fans.

The girls had to take off and Zach went to get the car. I walked over to the results area and saw that I had placed in my age group!!! When Zach pulled up I told him to park and we would wait for the award ceremony. It was absolutely dumping rain and we stood around for about a half hour. It was worth it though! I got a bad ass trophy for placing 2nd in the F30-34 AG. I even got to stand on a podium!

 

Official results: 1:28:03

2/24 AG

22/134 Females

 

I was SO cold and wet, so of course the post-race priority was a long, hot shower. Then we walked down to the pizza place and ate a ton of food while watching the soccer game. I followed that off with the perfect race-day treat: a 2 hour nap. We went over to Deana and Dana’s house for dinner and I got to rock the race numbers and boots:

It was a really great day. Not sure if I’ll do any more tri stuff this summer so I’m glad I sucked it up and completed this race. Now I’m back to trail running until September!

Thanks so much for reading and for all the support!