Danskin Triathlon Race Recap

Happy Monday, all!

Hope you had great weekends and did something fun as we approach the last few weeks of summer! I know a lot of folks are disappointed summer is winding down...but honestly? It can't end soon enough for me. I'm not a big fan of hot weather and ready for the cool, crisp fall days to be upon us...which of course also signals FOOTBALL SEASON! Woot!
But back to the subject at hand - my race yesterday!

I honestly went into this race not expecting much. I actually debated last week about doing it at all. This is the one I won a free entry to last year - I think based on my finish at the race I did in Howell. But the one last year was about 250 people. This was shaping up to be 1,500+. I'm not a math major, but that's a pretty big jump, and the biggest of any triathlon I have ever done. Foreign territory for sure.

Saturday 
I met up with Christy to get our packets and drop our bikes off at transition. I had looked up my number before going and thought it was a typo - I was listed as #8 and in the Elite wave. How? I have no idea and I have never had that low of a number ever! I didn't choose it nor did I request it...so my guess is that they based it on my finish time from last year. Odd but I'll take it. What I found out is that it meant I got to start in the first wave with only a few other women  - can you say wide open spaces and not running into people in the swim?! Sweet!

We then headed over to transition, racked our bikes, checked out the swim start, and parted ways to go home and gather all our crap for the next day.

As most of you know if you read my blog, I have a major battle going on with my bike right now. Many days I want to chuck it off the nearest cliff. And as you know, I rented a Cervelo in Florida and became slightly bat-crap crazy obsessed with it. I was determined to find one and after searching on eBay, other websites and calling local bike stores, I FOUND ONE! The store about 15 minutes from us had a P2 in my size, in stock, and it was "on sale". I literally dropped what I was doing and headed out. I did a test ride but already know when I saw it that I had to have it.

So I went for it! Here is my new baby - I really need a name for it now!

Be still my heart...

Race Day

I actually woke up before my 4:30am alarm (Seriously who wakes up that early on a Sunday?!), grabbed my stuff, a banana and bagel and headed out the door - with my new bike in the car! I decided I had to try it out so I would swap out my original bike for this one when I got there - perfect!

Christy and I met up again, got all set up, started chatting with some folks and ended up meeting Andy Potts' mother! For those who may not know, he's one of the elite professional triathletes and consistently wins Ironmans, including one 3 weeks prior in New York! Super nice lady and we swapped stories about Michigan swimming (Andy swam there in college) and many people we know in common. Fun start to the day.

With Mrs. Potts

Christy and I are ready to race!

The Swim





There ended up only being 8 of us in the Elite wave, so we lined up at the start, listened to the National Anthem and we were off. I opted not to wear a wetsuit but also forgot to zip up my tri suit top completely! I was wondering why I felt so much drag. Dumbass. The swim was fine - I sighted well, had no one around me and finished with no issues. The run back up to transition was long but on asphalt so not too tough on the tootsies. My time was 13:11 - not sure where they stopped the clock though but I feel like either the swim was long or I didn't go as fast as I should have. Blerg.

The Bike
I was so excited to get on my new bike and hammer it. Overall the course was flat with the exception of a steep, short hill to get up onto the I-90 bridge over Lake Washington. I was able to figure out my gears,  get down into aero and just crank. There are a couple of rollers on the bridge and the cross wind was wicked but I felt good and ended up finishing at 34:43 or 21.4mph average pace for 12.4 miles! I was giddy - by far my best bike EVER!
The Run
Quick transition and I was off on the run. I was just behind one of the other women in my wave and was determined to catch her. (she had just finished Ironman Lake Placid 3 weeks before) I felt great on the run and caught up to her around the 1.5 mile mark. We were stride for stride until just past 2 miles and then they threw an evil hill into the mix. I said to the volunteers that the hill was just plain mean. This thing was nasty - short, but so steep. I was not ready for it but ran up the whole thing, although it took me a bit to recover from it. And she passed me by and I couldn't catch her again. Damn. But I finished the 5k run in 21:49 (7:02 pace) which isn't far off my 5k PR time (without a bike and swim before it!) I would have been sub-7:00 had that hill not eaten me alive. Double damn.

Overall
My finish time was 1:12:56 which was good enough for 8th place overall out of 1,529 finishers! (the official results have me 9th but one listed ahead of me was a team! Sort of feel like they should have been in their own category of finishers but whatever). I have never, ever done that well in a race of any kind that is this large. I've finished in the top 10 at really small races of less than 100 or 200 women) but never 1,500+! To say I was excited is an understatement!

This race really gave me a boost of confidence as I head into the final 90 days of Ironman training.

And holy hell do I love my new bike!

I was fortunate enough to see Christy and my friend Nicole finish too which was awesome! Here they are coming into the end of the run:

Christy!

Nicole finishing her very first triathlon and she beat her goal time!

They both KILLED it - congrats to them both on amazing races!

That's the last triathlon I have on my schedule before Ironman. I may see if there is one more I can do but not sure - depends on my training and how I'm feeling I think. I know I have some crazy rides and runs coming up so another short race may not fit into my plan, which is ok. Maybe I'll go and cheer or volunteer at a race!

Thanks for reading!

Questions:
1) Did you race this weekend? How was it?
2) What should I name my bike?!
3) Do you have any more big races coming up this summer/early fall?