Women of Steel Sprint Tri Race Recap

WOMEN OF STEEL SPRINT TRIATHLON

Pre-Race
- Hour drive to the start 
- Coffee, Cliff Bar, 1/2 a Power aid Zero







Once I set up transition I warmed up:

20 min bike w/ spin ups and 10 min run/jog with strides




Swim 
6:37
The swim was the most frustrating part of the race for me. 90% of the time I was either stuck in-between people or being hit in the head... I definitely got whacked more here than open water. Self seeded with the '5:45' group but only ended up with a  2:12 pace which I know I could have hit faster if I started further up. 

-Start up further in line!!
-50 meter and outside pools are my new favorite


 
T1
2:17
Coming out of the water I felt great.
-Pulled on short
-Shoes (decided to go without socks which I liked)
-Helmet and Glasses
 
Bike
38:54
2 loop course. First half of the bike is significant uphill... then you get a fast downhill the last half.  One section people were walking their bikes up the hill.   I really zoned in and powered up the hills.  Averaged 19.7mph

-Was planning on taking a gel on the bike as well as drinking water and for some reason I didn't do either. 

T2
1:47

Newbie fail.  Couldn't find my spot to rack my bike!
-Visor
- Bib
- Gel












Run
21:08

Run felt wonderful.  The first portion of the run is up the same hill you start the bike loop on.  I was breathing hard but felt in control the whole time.  I think my splits were 7:28, 7:12, 6:54, XX??
- Garmin wouldn't go off of Bike mode so I just restarted it about .25 into the run
- Took 1 full gel at the start
- I don't think I pushed myself hard enough on the run... The end came quicker than I expected and I had energy at the end for more of a kick


 Cool Down 15 min run/jog

Overall Time 1:10:45

AG 2/83

Overall 12/693 

- I didn't ever feel that good 'hurt' so I think I could have pushed myself a lot harder.
- I need to figure out my multisport option on my Garmin and HR monitor.  HR info didn't record and everything recorded in Bike mode?

 
This was a wonderful event.  I am an organization freak and really appreciate when you can tell much thought has gone into the organization of a race.   

Improvements & Steel Spring Sprint

I have been working with Teresa for about 3ish months now.  

Getting a coach has been the Best. Decision.

I feel more confident in my training and I feel like each work out has a purpose to it. 

...... 

At the first of the year, I hated swimming was hard!

I had no idea what I was doing.

My swimming workouts were simply back and forth in the lap pool.

Then Teresa came along with–

            ‘Main Sets, 100’s, Descending per 50, Pull, Kick, ON 1:05, 

Paddles, Catch-up Drill, Zoomers’… 

What was this new language??? 

So intimidated at first; but now, I am loving jumping in the pool.

I use to be a professional at windmill free-style swimming – :) After this time with T, I can not imagine how I was able to swim laps like that before.  Anyways here is my swimming progress over the past 3ish months:

THEN                      NOW

400’s in 8:20            400’s in 7:36

200’s in 3:44             200’s in 3:32

100’s in 1:55            100’s in 1:35

Still have a long way to go… but it is so nice to look back after a couple months and see improvements!
Whooo

Post-marathon recovery went great!  Took 3 days off running completely with light swimming only, then introduced easy jogging, and I am now back doing tempo runs.  My body feels stronger than before the race. I was telling Teresa how much easier my faster paced runs felt and she told me ‘Athletes gain a lot of fitness when racing.’ 

Double Whooo!! :)





Biking has also improved! A few weeks ago I took a 1.5 hr ride that I use to average 15-16mph at the beginning of the year... this time I was in the 17-18 range!!! I still have a little fear after getting hit I need to get over to really push my cycling to the next level!. 




Steel Spring Sprint Tri next weekend – This will be my 2^nd Triathlon.  I am SO excited to see the improvements since Olympic Lake Powell last fall. (Little nervous about racing in a lap pool though– hopefully I don’t swim into someone. Open water it is allowed to hit into someone… lap pool, no excuse to right??? :)

And a few hiking photos from 2 weekends ago... My dad asked me to go on a 'easy' hike. We got lost and easy turned into a challenging 17.77 (to be exact)