Let me start out this race report with a thought. Which is better: running a personal best, or returning to running pain-free? I would say the latter, because it just makes you feel so grateful just to be able to put one foot in front of the other. As I stood in the murky water of the lake before the gun went off, I took a moment to think about how lucky I am to be able to compete and how happy I was to be wearing the orange and blue in an FCTC race.
The weather wasn't spectacular, but it was a balmy 68 degrees or so at the start. Clouds coated the sky in a patchy layer, and there was a slight breeze whisking the race day excitement through the air. As we were setting up transition, the announcer proclaimed that the water temperature was 66 or 67 degrees. Luckily this was false, but it definitely scared me for a moment. After jogging around for a while, I left my shoes and nerves in transition. It's race time!
I chatted with teammates by the lake before taking my cautious first steps into the water. It felt like the Florida Pool on the day after a good rain. I submerged my whole body so as to avoid that shocking feeling as everybody sprints into the water. As the start grew nearer, the other college teams started doing their cheers, so all of us TriGators gathered together, and after a moment of deciding which cheer to do, we began our normal cheer (which sounds best when you have at least 10 people; we had 6). Just when we were about to say "get up and go", I look to my left to see all of the college athletes sprinting into the water. All of us yelled some sort of expletive as we galloped after them. I heard Daniel (our president and main cheerleader for the race) laughing hysterically as I dove into the lake. I was really funny, and it actually made it so I didn't feel any pre-race butterflies. We'll try not to do that again, though.
I felt strong in the water. The course was two loops in the counterclockwise direction. There a was a long diagonal straight into the sun before turning left across the lake and then back to the start buoy. The diagonal was the hardest part for me, and when I sighted, I was sighting other swimmers instead of the buoy itself. I was hoping everybody else knew where they were going. I also felt a strong current pushing me away from the finish, and it seemed that every time I looked up on my second lap I was getting sucked into the middle of the lake. I emerged from the water breathing hard, but not as taxed as normal. Thank you, Master's swim!
The run to transition was long, so long in fact, that on the results it is reported as T0. It took me 1:40 to get to my bike, which was patiently waiting for me to come and drop the hammer. I have been working so hard on the bike, so this is my first test. In my mind, I almost made this race into a duathlon of sorts, because I knew my run was going to be much less than stellar. So I took off on the wings of my Pegasus, and sped out of Moss Park. The first lap went great; I felt smooth and comfortable as I rode (illegally) in a pack of 4. But then we ran into a poorly marked turn around, and I rode about 20 feet too far. I lost contact with the group. I pounded my pedals to try to catch them again, but it was no use. Fatigue really set in after mile 16 or so. My pace was still pretty good, but it had dropped off significantly from where I started. I kept telling myself that my race was over after the bike. I hoped that this would help me push as hard as possible; the bike was what I cared about most in this race. But of course, the reality was after I cruised into transition I had to put my running shoes on.
I started the run conservatively, both because I wanted to be careful and because I was quite tired. I was probably pretty dehydrated as well: I dropped my water bottle at the beginning of the second lap and had no water in 35 mins or so. The run course winded around the park, with tents and campers dotting lining the road. I think I saw a big group of boyscouts, and smelled some bacon cooking somewhere towards the end of the run loop (the run was also two loops, and when I smelled the bacon for a second time, I knew I was almost done!). There was a group of little kids cheering us on; they would shout "Go UCF!" or "Go Gators!" and then say "Keep going!" as we ran past."Yeah," I thought, "just keep going." I got passed twice on the run, which was a bit disheartening. That never happens. More motivation to get back to form. Despite the slight misery of the run, it ended rather quickly. Before I knew it, I was sprinting toward the finish line. My legs didn't feel like lead, but rather springs, and I flew across the field and through the finishing shoot. I gave my teammates high fives as I gasped for air and grimaced with exhaustion. I forgot how hard Olympic races are.
I finished 5th in my age group (my FIRST time racing in the 20-24 :O ) and overall felt really happy with how it turned out. I'm not exactly where I want to be fitness-wise, but I have confidence that I can get there before Nationals. My splits were not as good as I thought they would be, but I discovered that I did this race 5 minutes faster than last year, so I can't complain. I even managed 7:11 miles after barely running at all in 2 months. But you know what? I remembered the most important thing of all: triathlons are fun! Oh, and that I love my triathlon club :)
Upcoming races: Great Clermont 3/25
College Nationals 4/21
St Anthony's 4/29
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