Me and my baby sister before the race... still smiling. I have goggles around my neck.
On August 21, I competed in the Pink Power triathlon in Richmond, VA. After listening to me talk on and on and on and on about triathlons and triathlon training, good and bad, my sister decided she wanted to do this too.
I’m not sure how I convince other people to join me in this crazy endeavor. It’s not really that much fun. Crossing the finish line though is fun, and I must have talked to my sister enough to make her think this was a good idea.
Liz trained hard and she had an awesome race. Me? Could have been better but I crossed the finish line. I didn’t train enough and I wasn’t ready for the hills in Virginia, even though Liz warned me over and over and over again that this was a hilly race. I signed up thinking this would be an easy race. All women, a pool swim, 11 mile bike and 5K run. But I wasn’t prepared for the HILLS.
I headed down on Friday for the race (on Sunday). I had to put my car in for brakes and an oil change that morning. Almost $700 and 4 hours later, I had two new tires along with new rotors, and an expense and time suck I didn’t anticipate. Most. expensive. triathlon. ever.
I got on the road late. And then stayed on the road for almost 11 hours. Normally, this trip takes 7-8 hours. There were traffic jams, construction, and storms. Scary, driving rain storms. And I still had a race to get through.
Saturday morning we drove the course– my first real chance to see the hills and then we rode a bit. The hills were deceiving. They didn’t look that bad. They were. We rode about 3-4 miles and I managed so I figured I could handle this. Oh, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
Race morning we got up at 4:30 to eat something and get to the race start by 5:45. We racked our bikes, set up transition, hit the porta-potty and waited. And waited. And waited. The race started at 7:00 but based on the swim times we had entered, we had plenty of time before we started…. I like pool tris because swim starts aren’t quite as nerve wracking as in an open water swim. But the waiting…. that’s a killer.
The other issue with a pool swim? The honor system for seeding yourself by time. I can’t tell you how many people we talked to who estimated their times without actually timing themselves. One woman told me someone told her to seed by her run time. If you’re a good runner and a novice swimmer, that doesn’t work. Neither does it work the other way. Ok, so many, many women seeded themselves far faster than they should have and that made things go slow.
I seeded at 10 minutes (the swim took me 10:12). I got in the water around 8:40 and by the time I was on the bike course, it was hot.
My sister came out of the water a couple of minutes behind me.
Transition 1 went smoothly. Fortunately, the race director told us the day before to start in a low gear as we started out the bike on a hill.
And then continued to go up. The course was rolling hills for the most part so I was able to get some momentum on the downhills and get up parts of the uphills. The uphills though? They seemed to be a lot longer and steeper than the downhills. And mile 7 to 8, which I was warned about, was a mile of pretty steep uphill. Some people walked. I managed to stay on my bike and pedal away but that hill definitely slowed me down. Overall, considering I rarely train on any hills on the bike, I was ok with my bike time, which I’m guessing was about 47 minutes. Somewhere in the middle of the course, Liz whizzed past me. She’d been training on these hills and it showed.
On the time, I’m guessing a bit because something went wonky with the timing system and the transition times got lumped in with the bike time. 52 minutes total, which I’m figuring included 5 minutes of transition time.
Second transition went smoothly too. Grabbed some sports beans and some more water and started out.
NOTE to Race Directors, especially in all-woman races: Please put a porta-potty closer to the Run Out or in transition for us. Even a port-potty at the water stop around Mile 1 would be great. I’m not looking to break any records and it’s tough to race when all you can think about is how bad you have to pee. I get that this is a relatively short race, but considering some of us had to wait almost two hours to get into the water, it’s not that short.
In this race, the potties were just too far from the run out to go there. So on the run, I was very distracted by how I was feeling. Not to mention, by the time I hit the run course, it was 85 degrees. No wind, blazing sun, minimal shade. Ugh.
And more hills. We started on a downhill and that was ok, but by mile 1, I had to walk a bit. The run course turned into a lake and wooded area– the shade was awesome– but the hills started there. Some steep, short inclines; some more gradual up and up. At this point, between how I was feeling, the heat and the hills, I began walking/running.
Out from the lake and into a neighborhood, it got REALLY hot. And there were some more hills. More walking. The last three quarters of a mile back to the finish line was uphill again. A steep one. I walked some more. Through the trees though and into the finish chute, I was able to run that and cross the finish line. Run time was 41:11. I was disappointed in this, but I was happy to be done.
My lovely sister, who kept waiting for me to catch up to her on the run, was already done! She finished in 1:39:21.
I finished in 1:43:34. My goal for this race was to finish in under 1:45 and I did that. Overall, I was happy with that although I would have liked a better run. The heat really impacts my performance. I have to learn to overcome that before next year since most races are in the summer.
The race was challenging, but in the end it was fun. They are always fun when they are done. And it was great to do a race with my sister! Brickman Tri (same course, nicer weather) in October? Maybe… we’ll see.
Related posts:
—Diane,
xx
Loooooooove the photo
So cool to see a pic of your sister w/ you. have heard so much about her for so long – all good things!. Congrats to you both for being there for each other and finishing it! Way to go!
Diane, I raced the Pink Power too and remember seeing you two girls in your matching trisuits! It was my first triathlon, I had been training with the TriGirls team who I’m sure you saw in our pink trisuits all over the course. I could not have done it without them–the coaches and the other trainees. A support system was just invaluable to me, physically and mentally. I’m training with the TriGirls again for my next sprint triathlon on Oct. 2 and trying to decide on my next goals (I like to have my next race paid for before I race my current one to avoid the post-race workout slump). I’m debating really amping up my race goal to shoot for an IronMan in Nov. 2012, training with the TriGirls again. I’ve gotten mixed input, some say go for it with the support of the training and built-in longer races to get me there, others say take it slowly and work up to it in a few years. I’m torn and need to really make my decision based on my own goals. I’m excited to have found your blog to get more positive input from you and your followers. Thanks! Becky