Square Lake: Wrap Up

After I posted about Square Lake without knowing my results, I continued to sit at the computer and click the refresh button repeatedly. There may have been some mild cursing between clicks, but beyond that I was mostly just wasting my time staring at the screen. About 20 minutes after my blog post, my husband walked in and mentioned that the results had been posted, just not on the web page indicated on the race website. The results were on a completely different page and didn't show up on any of my google searches. So frustrating! At least I have them now and can put my race into perspective.

There were 376 people in the race and 25 in my division of women aged 35-44. In my division, I finished 17th out of 25 with a time of 2:14:29. Overall, I was placed 281 out of 376. I was the most pleased with my swim time. I swam a half mile in 18:42 which placed me 8th out of 25 and 208 out of 376. Swimming has turned out to be my strongest leg this first season which has been surprising to me.

As I had suspected, my bike leg was slow. I was also correct that the course was shorter than the 18 miles advertised. The results indicate that the bike was 17 miles, and I think it was closer to 16.5 miles. My time of 1:00:48 gives me an average pace of 17.3 m.p.h. using their math, but 16.4 m.p.h. using mine. I really think I am right about this one. Either way, my place of 15 out of 25 is a little slower than I would have hoped. This is one area that I think I can improve on during the winter. Riding with my bike on the trainer on bad weather days doesn't sound very exciting, but I know I can bike faster than I am currently.

Finally, the run portion. I ran exactly 5 miles in 50:09 for an average pace just over 10 minutes a mile. I wish I could say that I see lots of potential for improvement in this area, but I just don't see it happening. If the conditions had been better, I think I could have run about 30 seconds a mile faster at the most. I certainly need to keep up with my run training, but given my limitations, I don't see my times getting markedly faster. I ranked 15 out of 25 for the run and am actually surprised I didn't finish a little lower.

My overall finish of 17th out of 25 is just about where I think I should have been. I'm feeling good after the race with the exception of some knee pain. There were a lot of steep downhills which I ran pretty hard to try and make up time that I spent walking up the hills. I've been icing it quite a bit and it is just starting to feel better. I think I should be able to run on a flat trail tomorrow and then hopefully get back on a normal running schedule.

The next race on my schedule is the TC 10 Miler. I'm very excited about this race even though I haven't gotten in any runs in over 7 miles. I can't believe it is only two and a half weeks away. It's been unseasonably warm here the last couple of weeks, so I'm hoping that some cooler temperatures will arrive soon. I love training in the fall and I'm looking forward to running more now that my triathlon season is over. The kids are back in school so I can venture a little further from home to run. I just picked up a book from the library detailing running trails in Minnesota. Boy, I am a running nerd... I'm getting so excited about running someplace new. I can't help it!

Square Lake: Race Results

I've been clicking the refresh button on my computer screen every five seconds, but the results from the triathlon I did yesterday still won't appear. Since I've always downplayed the importance of my results, mostly because they are mediocre at best, I'll go ahead with my race report without the benefit of knowing the exact outcome. Maybe I'll get lucky and they will be posted before I'm done writing.

The Square Lake Short Course was the final triathlon on my schedule. It was a .5 mile swim, 18 mile bike and 5 mile run. Square Lake is in Stillwater which is an hour north east of Minneapolis, along the St. Croix River. The lake itself is a beautiful, spring fed lake with clear water and a nice sandy beach. The area around the lake is comprised of rolling hills and beautiful trees that are just beginning to show their fall colors. The best part of the scenery was my own cheering section consisting of my daughter, my friend, and my mom who was visiting. My mom had never seen me run a marathon or do a tri before, so it was great to have her there. My mom reads my blog (Hi, Mom!), so she kind of knew what to expect. My husband was unable to attend, so having the three of them there meant a lot to me.

The water was calm and the perfect temperature for swimming in a wetsuit. Here I am with my mom and daughter before the race.

Getting in the water and warming up before the swim is one of the best lessons I've learned this season. I started the swim calmly and got into a groove right away. I decided to spot less often and concentrate on staying relaxed. I may not have swum the shortest line around the course, but I enjoyed this swim more than any other race I've done this season. I stroked consistently the whole distance and got out feeling good. Since I probably didn't swim the fastest line, my time may not have been my best pace, but I feel like this was my best overall swim.

After exiting the swim, there was a run up a few flights of stairs to the transition area. I took it easy up the steps and I didn't have a very fast transition. I know I'm supposed to rip off my wetsuit super fast, but I'm just too worried that I will tear it. The wetsuit is a big investment, and I would rather take and extra 20 seconds to get it off than damage it. I exited with my bike and was feeling pretty calm.

The bike course was very scenic with lots of long inclines. With the 5 mile run following the bike, I planned to save some energy for run. During the first 5 miles or so, I was passed a little bit. We were not marked with our age for this race, so I couldn't tell if those passing me were from my wave or a later one. I only passed a few younger women on heavy bikes, so I'm guessing that my bike split will be a little slow. The road had a crack in it just about every 4 feet, so it was a very bumpy ride. This had to slow everyone down. My Garmin says that the course was only 16.5 miles instead of 18 miles. I think my time was around 1:01:30 which would be just over 16 m.p.h. It's not the greatest pace but I was working hard and felt like I was spending the right amount of energy so I would have some left for the run.

Transition 2 had slight slowdown when one hole of my number ripped out of my race belt. I was able to affix it, but it took me about 15 seconds and my number was crooked. Other than that, I made it out of T2 and onto the run without incident.

The run included quite a few hills and it was starting to get fairly warm. I'm still recovering from hamstring tendinitis in both legs and the uphill portions were difficult. I decided early on that I would walk the uphills and run the downhills and flats. This turned out to be a good strategy since I was already running pretty slowly on the uphills. I didn't loose too much time when I walked them but was able to at least conserve enough energy that I could run the rest.

Here I am coming up the last big hill. I was walking when my friend saw me and yelled to me. Of course I quickly started running again. I was caught!

I think I finished the 5 mile run in about 50:06, so just over 10 minute miles. While that pace is sure to put me towards the bottom of the results, I am satisfied with my run given the tendinitis and the hilly course.

Here I am coming down the final incline. I like this shot because you can see my terrible running form and the muscles in my right leg. It makes me kind of happy and sad all at the same time.

Finally, the finish. Since the results still aren't posted, all I have to go on is the clock time in this picture. It says 2:35. Since my wave started 20 minutes after the gun, my time should be right around 2:15.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to see my swim time and how I finished in my division. No matter how the results turn out, I'm pretty happy with my race. I was feeling a little worn after a full summer of training and I wasn't sure I was going to have the energy to give this race my all. I felt like I gave a consistent, hard effort and that I put into practice a lot of what I had learned over the season. It's great to end the season on a good note so that I have some enthusiasm to continue with swim and bike training during the fall and winter. Hopefully they will publish the results soon so I can stop hitting refresh!

YWCA Sprint Triathlon

Today I raced in the YWCA Women's Triathlon. This race is for women only and is held at Baker Park which is only 5 minutes from my house. I do a lot of my training at this park, so I signed up early for this one. The race sold out quickly so I'm glad that I did. About 450 women showed up after early morning hours of pouring rain and lightning. Just as I left my house, the rain stopped and conditions were fine for the race.

About half of the racers were doing their first tri and this was just my third. It's amazing to me that after just two races, a lot of the nervousness I felt at my first tri was gone. I got to the race, got marked, set up my transition area and hit the porta-potty. I signed up for this race with a friend and we have been training together this summer. It was great to have a friend there as support and company. As I came out of the porta-potty for the second time, who did I see?

My husband taking my picture! It was so humid the camera lens fogged up. Thanks, honey, for that great shot. It's just what every girl wants, a picture of herself coming out of the bathroom. Really, though, it was great to see him and our daughter before we headed down to the beach for the pre-race meeting. I was ready to go!

The Swim

It's been warm here the last week, so I decided to swim without my wetsuit. I got in the water and swam around a lot before my wave. The water was a little cold, but once the race started I was fine. The start was crowded with some jostling and I swallowed a little water, but it wasn't too bad. After rounding the last buoy, I ran into a lot of swimmers doing breast stroke and back stroke. I switched to breast stroke so that I could see better around them. I can do breast stroke just about as fast as I can freestyle swim, so I don't think it slowed me down. The swim course was for sure longer than 500 yards. Winning times were about 3 minutes slower than last year's times. I came in about 3 minutes slower than I had expected at 13:09. I finished 30th out of 99 in my division for the swim.

The Bike

I had biked the course before the race, so I knew it was going to be hilly. I decided to push myself as hard as I could on the bike. Looking at my results, I was ranked 16th for the first transition, so I gained a little going into the bike on the faster swimmers. Quite a few had worn wetsuits so that slowed them down. I think I then held my place throughout the bike. About 12 miles into the 15.5 mile ride, 3 over 50 women passed me. They were amazing but I was surprised that more older women didn't pass me. There is no denying that the bike is just a heck of a lot of fun. My average speed was 17 mph, which on the hilly course was a little faster than I had expected. In my division I was 16th out of 99 at 55:01 for the 15.5 mile course. Again, this was longer than the advertised 15 miles.

The Run

The most shocking thing to me this triathlon season has been that the run, which I thought was my biggest strength, has turned out to be my biggest weakness. I don't mean that I'm markedly slower than I thought I would be. I've always been a slow runner and I knew going into it that it would drag my time down. The surprise has been how difficult it has been just to complete the distances and how hard it is to run after the bike. By the time the run rolled around, the sun was out and it was warm and humid. The leg started on an uphill and I had to walk right away to catch my breath. I did better the second mile, and the third mile brought more walking up a hill. I walked more than I had hoped and my time was slower than I would have liked. The course was actually 3.2 miles instead of 3.1, so my time of 30:40 gave me an average pace of 9:30. I finished 28th out of 99 in my division for the run.

In the end...

Overall I finished in 1:44:49 which was 17th out of 99 in my division. I'm pleased with that and felt like I had a good day in general. The Sprint Distance is a good fit for me right now. I feel like I've learned a lot this summer and I particularly feel more comfortable on the bike. I can see that the run is where I really need to improve. I have one more triathlon this season, Square Lake Short Course on September 12th. The course is quite a bit longer than the Sprint, but it's shorter than the Olympic (thank goodness). I have almost a month to get ready for it. After today, I'm looking forward to getting back to training.

Splash & Dash

In July, Steve posted about an event he did called "Splash & Dash". It's a series of three sprint races, each consisting of a 200 meter lake swim, transition, and a 1 mile run. After the first swim and run, you take a little rest and do the whole thing over again. It's hosted by Gear West, our local Tri store, and it looked like a lot of fun. The first one of the series in June had been cancelled due to weather, and Steve had done the second one in July. The last one was last night. The location was 5 minutes from my house and the weather was perfect. No excuses!

Steve had linked to a video of the last event, so that helped me get mentally and physically prepared. I could see that no one was sitting down, putting on socks and tying shoes during the transition, so I put Yankz on my shoes so I wouldn't have to tie them. Steve said he was okay with the short run with no socks, so that alleviated some anxiety I had about that. Other than that, it looked like goggles, swim cap and shoes were all that was needed.

I could also see from the video and the results posted that everyone racing was pretty fast. They only had 7 participants for the July race, and the slowest mile recorded was an 8:44, with only one other time over 8 minutes. I knew that I would be the slowest person there. My daughter was going to the race with me, so as I was packing up I decided I better warn her. She's 13 and, although she still likes me, I'm sure I embarrass her on occasion. I told her that there were going to be some fun athletes to watch because they were so well trained and that she shouldn't be surprised if I was quite a bit behind the pack. She said, "Mom, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you are going and doing it." Now I was ready.

I saw Steve and met his wife, Sarah, right away. It was so great to meet them. Thanks to both of them for all of their warm smiles and encouragement! I got in the water and got acclimated while everyone got ready. There were 16 of us and it was very casual. I stayed back and got in the water last because I knew I would be slow. The water was pretty shallow so I actually walked out quite a bit. The transition for the run was fun because it was so quick. I rinsed my feet, pulled on my shoes and I was off. Before I knew it, the first heat was over with. Although I clocked the slowest run time with a 8:52 mile, I actually came in ahead of two other women. Of course, one woman had shown up late and got in the water after I had already completed a lap, and the other woman had never open water swam before. Still, I thought I did okay.

After a rest, it was back to the beach to do it all again. The new swimmer opted out of the swim, so this time I was the last person out of the water. I was 4 seconds slower than the first time but only 30 seconds behind the lead woman. I had purposely gone in the water last, so no surprise here. My second mile time was 8:45. I was pleased with that! Honestly, that is about as fast as I can go right now. I came across the line last, but there were lots of people there to greet me and I was happy.

They had hot dogs after the race and I had a chance to chat with the other racers. Triathletes are the nicest group of people. I love how they encourage each other and all different levels will share tips and stories with each other. I had lots of sand in my shoes, but other than that I was no worse for wear. It was a great evening. Here are a couple pictures:

Receiving instruction before the start. I'm in the yellow top.

Me in transition during the first heat. Look, no socks!

Me coming across the finish. Thanks to Steve for this picture!

Next year I'll put all three of these races on my calendar. It will be a fun way to check my progress during the season as well as a fun evening out.

I'm a Triathlete!

I finished my first triathlon today, the sprint distance race at the Buffalo Triathlon. I am a triathlete! I'm still prouder to say that I am a runner, but the triathlete thing is pretty fun, too. Let's start with the results first:

.25 mile swim: 8:33

Transition 1: 7:09

13 mile bike: 49:27

Transition 2: 3:47

3 mile run: 26:46

Total time: 1:35:39

So much happens during a triathlon, I'll try to just hit the highlights. Buffalo is the second largest tri in the state and the first big one of the season, so we saw lots of people we knew. I met Natalie in person for the first time before the race. It was very cold and wet this morning, with temps in the mid 40's and light mist. It was freezing waiting for the swim waves to start. That was probably the worst thing about the race.

The water was 70 degrees, but compared to the air temp it seemed reasonable. I had a little panic attack when the swim first started, and it took me a few minutes to calm down and take some regular swim strokes. I finally got in a little groove and I came out without any one kicking me, so I'll call it a success. Here I am after:

As you can tell from my T1 time, I had a little trouble in Transition 1. I could not get the wetsuit off over my calves. I had practiced before the race and I knew this was going to be an issue. I am so glad that I had rented and didn't buy this suit because it was so frustrating. I lost at least 3 minutes and a lot of energy trying to pull it off. This is something I need to get figured out before my next race.

The bike was chilly and hilly, but thankfully uneventful. I noticed that older men with super cool bikes were passing me, and I was passing younger women with heavy bikes. Having a lightweight tri or road bike is such an advantage. Given the hills and the wind, I was happy with my speed of 15.75 m.p.h. I need to practice getting on and off my bike... that was a little embarrassing but I didn't wipe out or interfere with anyone else. Here's a bike picture:

The run went pretty well! My pace of 8:55 was better than I had hoped. This is when I was thankful that the weather was chilly. It was perfect for running and helped keep the fatigue at bay. My legs felt a lot better than they did on my brick run a couple weeks ago. Being sick this last week probably helped in that it forced me to give them a rest. It was mostly my cardiovascular system that was trying to keep up. It had been an exciting day and I was breathing heavily.

That's it! I finished happy, tired, and all in one piece. The race has given me some confidence for my Olympic distance race, and it has pointed out what areas need work. My husband, Mike, came along and was a huge support for me today. Not only did he take pictures all along the way, but he prepped and carried my bike, helped me set up my transition area, and took my coat from me right before the swim. I would have been a Popsicle if he hadn't been there. I don't know what I'm going to do at my next race when he will be busy getting himself ready to race.

I can't say enough good things about Buffalo as a race. It was very well organized. I always knew where I was supposed to be going, and there was plenty of support in the water. The swag was also first rate: a super-cool t-shirt, visor and water bottle, not to mention a great medal!