Tri Latta Sprint Triathlon 2011 Race Recap

I was lucky to have finished school the Tuesday before the race, therefore freeing up time to travel to the Charlotte area on Thursday.  Now you might wonder why this was important.  The the open divisions, age groupers, athenas, and clydesdales all race on Saturday at Tri Latta, leaving Sunday for the novices.  As Ryan and I both compete as age groupers it made for our first Saturday race.  I don't know if the result would have been any different but I do think it was a game changer traveling on Thursday and having Friday to relax and prepare for the race on Saturday.

Pre-Race: Saturday 4:45 AM

Alarm clock goes off - time to get out of bed, stumble to hotel lobby and obtain "grab and go" breakfast.  Made it back to the room, was able to enjoy Special K Red Berries with Almond Milk and a Banana.  If you aren't aware this is my go to breakfast, preferably with frozen banana in the Special K.  After breakfast it was time to put on the race wear, fill water bottles, pump bike tires, grab the transition bag and head out the door by 5:15.  Next year we will leave at 5, as the parking situation at Tri Latta is almost a disaster.  We were a little cheated of some warm up time but we handled it.

The Swim - 750 m - 17:35

Post-Race

I need a swim coach.  I felt good in the water, I thought I was headed for a decent time around 15:00 - not quite, as you can see.  To date this was the most brutal swim wave I have ever started with.  All women ages 15-40 started the race at the same time.  I was smacked, pushed down, kicked, elbowed, and everything else.  Within the first 150m my goggles were kicked off my face, I had to stop, tread water, and fix the goggles after I stopped panicking for all of 1 second, though it seemed like about 30s of panic, wondering what in the world I should do about the goggles.   The water can make you go crazy and not think straight.  I drafted for about the first 350m, I thought that would have helped the time.  Most disappointing is the fact that this time is more than 1:00 slower than my time in the Kinetic Sprint last month.  Had I met my goal of hitting 15:00 I would have won.  Lessons learned from this swim are never settle for comfortable in the water and every course is different, at least it was an improvement from last year's time! Do you have any advice, any workouts, know any good swim coaches in the DC area?

T1 - 2:43

Improvement from last year and the Kinetic Sprint.  A bit of a hike from the water up to transition at Latta.  Put on socks and shoes, put on helmet, and off I went.  I tried a new technique with my hair, I left it in a ponytail under my swim cap, no messy bun.  When I took the swim cap off my hair was already in a ponytail for the bike, no messing with wet hair.

The Bike -  17 Miles - 51:42

One great ride.  My legs felt awesome the whole ride.  I taped a PowerGel to my bike frame for some nutrition around mile 11.  I need to start taking in more water during the ride.  Adversity struck again at the beginning of the bike when I went to mount the bike - my chain was off!  I tried to pedal and pedal with no avail.  Luckily I realized this before falling over and was able to quickly fix the problem. 

T2 - 2:02

This was a smooth transition.  Re-racked the bike, changed shoes, grabbed the race # belt, and fixed my hair on the way out of transition.

The Run - 5k - 24:57

A good run for me.  I felt great the whole way and was consistently passing people.  Saw a fellow FCA-E Teammate on the Run!  Reminded me of why I race and helped me push through.  Ample water stops along the entirely shaded 5k route were awesome.  1/2 cup in my mouth the other 1/2 over my head at every water table.  

Lessons Learned

I need to focus on my swimming, and pushing myself in the water.  My bike is going well and I couldn't be happier, I will continue to build on my strengths.  My run is also coming along in good fashion.  Improvement over my last running performance and felt great the entire run.  I would like to continue to improve my transition times as these are two areas I never want to look at think if I only would've transitioned faster.  Have you done any races lately that you've come away with some take home lessons?  If so what, were they?

Overall Time - 1:38:56

Finished under my goal time of 1:40:00!  Very happy with my overall performance.  I took home 2nd Place in the Women's 20-24 Age Group Competition.  Bittersweet, as had I met my goal swim time I would have took 1st Place.  Can only look to improve my weaknesses and keep building on my strengths.  Awesome race, I will definitely be back, it has a special place in my heart.  Ryan also improved his race time by about 4 minutes!  We are looking forward to an Olympic Distance Race in July and can't wait to see what we can do.

20-24 F AG Winners (3rd, 1st, 2nd)