Tri the Illini Race Report

I was sitting on a couch a month ago while A was sleeping and I felt like I needed to do some races. Now! And that's how I ended up racing 2 sprints the last two weekends.

This race was in Champign, IL organized by University of Illinois and it is a 2h15m drive. In an effort to save some money we decided to drive up in the morning which meant getting up at 3 to allow enough time for 1 feeding before we hit the road and a feeding and pumping before the start. Goid thing A is an efficient eater and always gets done to business and is done in 15-20min!

After last weekend's tri I felt like a pro packing which turned out to lead to underpacking....I didnt bring anything to keep me warm in the morning and I didnt bring a swim cap. I didnt realize that they do not give you swim caps in races that have swims in a pool. But it makes sense because they dont need to have different swim caps colours to distinguish waves. Thankfully some friends from work were racing and one had an extra cap. So I was sporting South Africa championship cap with some south african beach sand in it for good luck:)

Pre race was uneventfull, as uneventfull as it can be with a 10 week old baby that needs to be fed and breasts that need to be emptied...... I didnt have time to warm up at all because no matter how much extra time I thought I had, it was somehow spend on things other than warm up. I need to remember this for next year when I am actually racing.

Swim: 300m zig-zag style in an outdoor 50m pool. I have never done swim like that and I didnt like it because I was stuck behind people, other people were stuck behind me and I was slow! 6:30, which is really slow and I was disappointed. I cannot blame it entirely on the swim format but I am sure it contributed to it.

Long run to transition, put my socks, shoes, helmet, race belt on, check with Nathan on baby status (sleeping in babybjorn)...I am not breaking records in transitions and even Nathan told me I need to be faster:) I know, I know. Next year.

Bike: 14 miles. I biked 43:30, which was slower than last week but I know that no two triathlons are comparable so it is ok. I felt little slower than last week, probably because there were some inclines and I dont do those well. I need to start working on my climbing for Madison 70.3!!! Flats and downhills no problem though. I mentally stayed in the game the whole time, being focused and only positive talk.

Transition was not that great again....

Run: 5k around U of I campus. I felt good, stronger than last week, ran 24:45, so faster than last week. I realize that I take these tiny little steps, which leads to shuffling rather than running and I need to open my stride and run! But it hurts when I run! I need to work on being ok with being uncomfortable. One girl passed me (dang it!), but then I passed her back, she passed me again and then I passed her back for good at around 1.5miles. But another girl passed me and she was not running super fast but faster than me and for a second I contempkated trying t stay with her but then I did not..... I need to work on my racing game.
With about 400m to go a girl came up by me. I was like what? Where did you come from? And she looked good and fresh! I stayed with her for 50m and then we got to the intersection and I went right and she went left! She was not in the race. She was just someone out for a Sunday jog:))) It was a relief, I had to interest in sprint finish!

I ended up 3rd in my age group. I cant find results so dont know how many people were in my age group but they said the race had over 400 people! That's quite a lot. It is probably a season closer (is that a word? Since season opener is a word) for many.

Overall I am happy again with how I am progressing. I am glad my body is doing well, adjusting to training and allowing me to have fun!
These two races allowed me to see where the biggest gaps are (bike climbing, transitions) that I need to really work on.

Up next is just training, training, training and more training with a few 5k with Nathan thrown in.

In other news, Nathan took Alex to visit his mom on Saturday afternoon and although I love them both I was so excited they were both gone! I was finally able to vacuum the whole house, organize A closet and my closet and clean the living room. It was awesome!