One Last Race...

I am not ready to stop racing this year. I think that is a good thing! No burnout- high motivation- long season. I wish I had another ironman in the near future. (Sigh)

I snuck in one last race before winter shuts down the racing opportunities- the Heber Spring Sprint Triathlon. You guys know I love to race in Arkansas. The venues are always gorgeous, and I have a lot of family to visit. I was 4 weeks out from Ironman Wales, and I knew I was recovered, but not feeling fast by any stretch of the imagination. I am a solid zone 2 right now- a solid SLOW zone 2. Tim had me do two (normally) easy and short zone 3 intervals the other day on the bike, and I could hardly do them. Ha! I knew a sprint would really get me out of my comfort zone.

I started in wave 2 with Walt Rider- thus my only goal became to beat Walt out of the swim. Ha! (Walt is a former pro and local friend who used to race with the likes of Mark Allen and Scott Tinley). Seth, his super-swimmer son, was in the first wave, so I had someone else to chase as well. I was swimming along just fine until we turned back into the sun and I couldn't see a thing. I had to stop 5 or 6 times and tread water with my goggles off to find the buoys as there was zero visibility with the sun. I finally started to head to shore and realized I had missed a buoy while I was following some guy. Shoot!!!!! I turned back around and swam back to the missed buoy. I know that other people missed the buoy and I could have kept going, but I just didn't want to be that person. Knowingly cutting the course would feel much, much worse than a slower swim time.

I thought I was really fast in transition, but it seems I was more than a minute slower than the fast guys. ???? I have yet to figure that one out, but it seems I guess I needed to hustle a little more on the beach run.

The bike was fun. I tried to hold off Walt, but he passed me heading out. I stayed within striking distance of him until the turnaround, and then I lost connection when I came around the turn. I think that is just sloppiness from not racing a lot. The invisible string was broken. He came off of the bike a little over a minute faster than I.

And my legs were like..."what is this! no, no...keep the HR down! What is that burn in the quads? That does not belong here!"

The bike course was pretty tough, but fun. It is one of the first sprints in a long time that had me average under 20mph. Walt was right at 20mph- so it was a slow course for sure.
This is a funny picture of me leaving T2. My legs just don't even know what fast feels like anymore. They kept saying, "hey, if you run marathon pace this will be a lot easier...just slow down and enjoy the day!" I kept pushing them, but I didn't not have a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear. I didn't wear a garmin, so I don't know my pace since the course is longer than the results. I am definitely slower now than I was earlier in the year, but I am sure a little speedwork will bring it back. I outran Seth by 3 seconds, and Walt kicked both of our butts.

And BTW- I gave the tri-suit one more try. It is just not me. I have to sport the one-piece swim suit to feel like myself.

I love this picture, even though it is blurry. Walt and Seth Rider are in the background watching me finish (which means they finished ahead of me!) :)

In the end, we finished Walt 3rdOA, Seth 4thOA, and me 5thOA. I also grabbed 1stOA female. This year, Walt and I are tied at 1-1 and Seth is beating me at 2-1! Seth was 16 seconds ahead of me, so he knows I am coming for him next time.

The very best part of the day was meeting Susan! I LOVE meeting new friends through triathlon. Susan came up to me and introduced herself- she recognized me from blog land! (sometimes I wonder if anyone still reads blogs...yes, they do!) It was so nice to meet her, and it is absolutely the reason I keep this blog going. It was so cool to meet her. Susan did awesome herself and won the master's division. Susan and I will definitely have to meet up for some local races.
Memphis had a nice little group at Heber Springs. I love to hang out with my friend post-race.

My cousins came and watched me race, which is always very special to me and much appreciated. Joe left the race and went home to ride his mountain bike. I think I have him convinced to do a relay next year! :)

I ended the weekend with some girl time with my beautiful cousin Meg. (There is nothing like hanging out with a very popular high school girl to make you feel a little old-ish.) We went out to eat and then went shopping. The goal was for me to buy some jeans that did not show my butt crack when I bend over. I am sad to say that I did not leave the store with a new pair. Do they even make jeans anymore that don't show your crack AND cost under $100?

Sigh. Again. Tri season is over for 2011. I am already looking forward to the spring races.