Race Report TriAmerica Clermont International Distance ~ Sunday 4/2/06 ~ Clermont, Florida
I was pretty excited about my first race this season because I’ve had a decent winter of training. I was pretty pleased with my performance, I felt good overall and really strong in all 3 disciplines, especially the run. And best of all, my body isn’t destroyed post-race like has always happened in the past. It just felt like another training day.
I was in the 5th wave with the first group of women (34 and under). It was wetsuit legal but the water was warm enough to not need it. I wore it anyway, it’s good to practice for Collegiate Nationals in Reno, which will be COLD. I was looking forward to catching the Virginia Tech guys I know (in the wave ahead of me, 5 min up) since they’re mostly runners, not swimmers. I wore my orange Swedish goggles because the water was dark and it was cloudy so my normal race goggles would be too dark. Swedes were a mistake – as soon as I dove into the water, they came unsealed and filled with water. I still knew I had to get out ahead of people so I tried to swim through it. Soon however, I decided to do a breastroke stroke and dump the water out of my goggles and after that they were fine. It was odd leading our wave out because I’m used to having trouble staying in the draft on the swim. Definitely a confidence booster! I was pretty sure I was if not the first, in the top 3 of our wave. Passing all the guys in front of us was like dodging bodies on a battlefield. I passed 3 of the VT guys somewhere in there. I was kicking a lot more than I did last year and I felt really strong. I really booked it out of the water and up through transition to practice for ITU because those are so fast. I got my wetsuit off pretty smoothly, but that probably still needs work. I hauled through transition area, hopped on my bike no problem and got my shoes on smoothly. My swim was 19:54 and my T1 was 1:52.
The bike was rolling, not too hilly, but there were some bigger hills. I passed a LOT of people. It was kind of fun. Only 1 guy passed me successfully. I was in my aerobars for the whole race, they felt really comfortable but I still feel a bit too high. And my knees knock them when I climb. I passed our last VT guy going down a hill and we were near each other for awhile because he’d come up and catch me on the hills. I lost him after a bit though, and I focused on catching the women. I only saw one girl ahead of me, and she was pretty far up, and by the end of the bike, I didn’t think I was going to catch her. At the end of the bike, I took off my shoes a bit early because the course was long… (26.8 miles!) so I had to ride with my feet on top of my shoes for like ¾ mile, including a hill which wasn’t too fun. A girl was coming up behind me, and I was NOT going to let her beat me to transition. I had a great dismount, and sprinted into the transition area with my bike, completely disoriented. I ran way past my rack, and spent a confused time trying to find it. I finally figured it out and got my shoes on and didn’t pick up my visor because it had been cloudy the whole time. I ran very fast out of transition, setting a fast pace early on. I finished the 26.8 mile bike in 1:11.53 and my T2 was a 1:32… haha.
The run went on a familiar path that I had run and rode on the year before so I was comfortable with the terrain. It was kinda rolling, but not huge hills. The sun came out (of course) when I started running and I was sorta mad that I didn’t take my visor. I was passing a lot of guys and then I spotted the girl who had passed me in transition. She was running pretty quickly but I still caught her by 1 mile though. I focused on a quick cadence and good form (trying not to slap my feet) and switched to hunting mode, watching for the girl I knew was ahead. I went through mile 2 in 12:15, which was really encouraging. I felt very strong on the run, very comfortable. I finally saw the girl ahead of me at about mile 3. There was another woman ahead of her, but not too far. I was excited to be gaining so quickly and feeling so good. Just after the turnaround I ran by one of them and worked on catching the next one. I knew I would be the first woman across the line. For the last two miles I focused on my cadence, trying to negative split, and trying to make my goal of sub-38 minutes. I also was slightly concerned about someone in the wave behind me beating me, so I was able to keep my pace up pretty well. I kicked it in through the last 400 meters and ended up with a 38:25. Still a PR and without really being pushed. I was pleased. My total time was 2:13.33, which was a little slow because the bike was 2 miles longer. So it’s definitely a PR! Woo hoo.
It was a fun weekend! We drove from Blacksburg to southern South Carolina on Friday night and stayed with Fran Tuttle who put us up with great beds and a delicious breakfast! We finished the drive on Saturday with a stop in Jacksonsville for a ride and to visit the beach. We camped at a nearby state park on Saturday night, raced Sunday and now we’re on the way back, driving straight back to Blacksburg on Sunday night. We all raced well, making it known to other colleges at the race that VT is not to be messed with.
