Race Report: Woodruf YMCA Tri

Hard to believe but I had not showed up to race a triathlon in over 18 months. It almost felt strange pulling up to the race but as soon as I had my bike on a transition rack I was feeling the mixture of nerves and excitement that only the start of a triathlon can provide me. The race was a sprint triathlon which is the opposite of the ironman. The idea of this race is to go as hard as you can for a short distance (about an hour or less) and see if you can hold on. Unlike an ironman were you need to pace yourself and worry about nutrition, in the sprint triathlon it is just go fast and hold on.

 

The race started with a pool swim of 300 yards. This is a great swim for me because it is so short that I am not completely out of the race by the time I leave the water (I am a terrible swimmer). I actually swam the race about 15 seconds faster than I have ever covered that distance before. I was out of the water in 5:45 and running towards the bike.

 

It was a chilly 48 degrees and I was wet from the swim so I needed to put on a long sleeve shirt and socks before I could ride the bike. This slowed my transition time down a little but in no time at all I was jumping on to my bike and cranking my legs out of the parking lot. On the bike course I started to quickly pull the fast swimmers in one by one. Although I never caught the lead group on the bike I was able to get up to the fourth spot in the race before I headed out to run. My average speed on the bike was 20 MPH which I was pretty happy with.

 

The run course was empty, which I am not accustomed to so I needed to find my own pace and push it by myself. It wasn’t until a half mile remaining in the race that I was passed by the eventual 4^th place finisher. I knew that he would get me eventually so I was not surprised by him. As I made the run back into the parking lot I was surprise to see another racer coming up hard behind me. I immediately pushed as hard as I could to counter his move but there was no way for me to react. I had burned myself up to get to the end of the race so I didn’t have a lot of kick left in my legs.

 

I finished the race 6^th overall and 2^nd in my age group. I was very pleased with the results. It was great to race again and remind myself why I get up early and give so much of my body every day to do this.