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| Race Day Selfie with this cutie! |
Due to it being a typical crazy Saturday at our house, the IronSherpa wasn't able to make it. I was fully prepared to make the trek to Salem on my own, but IronKid #1 wanted to come. I was surprised that he wanted to, but thrilled at the same time. I explained we would have to get up pathetically early and leave, and it would mean a long car drive (1.5 hours one way) and lots of waiting. He said if I bought him a drink and snack at the gas station he wouldn't complain. DONE!
Pre-race:
IronKid #1 and I headed down to the race. I haven't done this one before and am not that familiar with the area, but we were still able to find it okay. It was a blast hanging with my oldest. He's a hoot! I thoroughly enjoyed his company. Great kid!
We got to the race and he helped me with my bike, offered to carry stuff, etc. What a great help! He also held my stuff while I got my race packet and timing chip.
It was fun to have reserved racking as being a Triple Play participant. Loved this! No crowded racks at all! I also got to see several of my friends from my tri club. It was shaping up to be a great morning!
SWIM:
This was a 800 meter swim in the Salem Pond. Not a huge pond by any means, and it did look pretty nasty. However, after swimming in Lake Woodlands and the Utah Lake, it wasn't so bad :). Typical greenish duck pond. I was in the 35+ Women's wave, so we went very last. I stayed dead on straight for the first two swim buoys, and I started off too fast too. My heart was beating through my wetsuit and I was struggling to breathe. I dialed it down a notch, but had a hard time finding the 3rd buoy that was on the other side of the bridge. I am not a straight swimmer, and I noticed I veered way too far to the right. Dang it, Katie! Rookie mistake! I should totally know better! I was glad to find the buoy and stayed on course for the rest of the swim. I did notice however, that when I would put my head up to breathe, the water smelled bad. Eeewwwww!
I finished the swim and was glad to be out of the water. My heart rate was crazy high, so I knew that I needed to chill a bit on the bike to bring it back down.
Final Swim Time: 15:01, fastest swim split of my age group, ....HECK YEAH!!!
T1:
I wanted a really fast transition because I have been working on them. Apparently it paid off, my T1 time was 1:23! Very pleased!
I must note two things here. 1) My transition was only this fast because some nice spectator decided to act as a wetsuit stripper and got it off super quick 2) My truly pathetic/embarrassing/what the hell was I thinking moment happened here when I went to get my bike off of the rack and took down the entire rack with it. Since I am a fast swimmer, there were still a ton of bikes on it. Whoops! Thanks heaven for good volunteers!!
BIKE:
This is a two loop 12 mile bike course. It starts off circling the pond then up a short, but steep, hill. Once to the top of that hill it is a false flat with climbing for a bit after that. No real chance to settle into aero until you are a couple of miles into it. However, the second half of this loop is FAST! I loved it and at one point got up to 31 mph. I was pleased with how good I was still feeling! My heart rate was high, but then again, I reminded myself that this is a sprint, not an IM, so no need to get into Zone 2! I was supposed to be working hard! I decided to ignore HR for this race and just go as hard as I could stand. I was especially pleased with how good I felt, so I decided to put the pedal on the gas until I ran out :)
First bike loop was fun, but I was glad to pass several people that were slow and had no clue what ON YOUR LEFT means. Move over people! I am well aware there are people faster than me, and when they say that, I get over! Apparently several people didn't get the memo on this. The second loop was more spread out, and I didn't have so much of this issue then. I was able to power up the hills, and tuck in on the down. I also passed many people on this course. I felt very fast and strong on this bike...it's about freaking time I felt like this on the bike!
Final bike split for this race was 42:35...second fastest bike in my division. Man, some really crappy cyclists must have been on the course today if that was 2nd!
T2:
Again, I wanted this to be crazy fast. Though I have been practicing flying dismounts, I decided against it seeing as how the bike dismount area was at the bottom of a decent hill. Nope, not happening. Still got off the bike fast and quickly switched shoes. Decided to go sockless again for the run since this worked well for me at Icebreaker.
Final T2 time was 57 seconds.....HECK YEAH!! First time I have even been under a minute on transition! In and out Baby!
RUN:
This is a simple, and pretty boring 5k run along the chip seal roads and neighborhoods near the pond. There is another short steep hill, but it isn't bad. I was running comfortably hard, and my run mile splits were 9:51, 10:22 (where the hill is), 9:19, and 8:27 for the last .1 mile ;) This made for a final run time of 30:36 or 9:46 avg pace. Second fastest run in my division as well. I will definitely take that!
Final Race time for Salem Spring 1:30:36.
POST RACE:
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| ON THE BLOCK!! |
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I loved this race, and not just because I landed on the podium. I love the course, and I was reminded how much fun, yet hard, a sprint can be! It is a total different kind of racing, it is all about going as hard as you can! Totally different from the Ironman, when you have to pace yourself and go long. I really think that I could be content doing the short distances and taking on a different kind of challenge for awhile after this. Plus, the training would be fun, I need to focus on speed anyhow! Definitely gives me something to think about for 2016 :)
Also, another shot out to Racetri. I love these guys! I love their races! They seriously know how to take care of their athletes! The races are always fun, yet challenging, and I see myself doing many more in the future! The only thing I didn't love about this race was the orange shirt. I look like a traffic cone in it! But they more than made up for it with the awesome medals and awards!
WHAT'S NEXT?
School is out on Wednesday, so I am looking forward to my summer off and some good training, as well as more down time with the IronKids. I have the Rock Cliff Olympic in two weeks, then nothing until the Utah Half in August. However, I did get into the St. George Marathon for October 3, so I will officially start my training plan for that right after Rock Cliff.
I am excited to be "back". The past two weeks were tough and I hated the residual fatigue and crappy workouts. I am glad that I am back on a plan, of some sort. Technically I have 2 weeks until my marathon training officially begins, and I am going to continue doing what I want and only if I feel like it until then, as I don't want to take on too much too soon. Ironman takes a lot out of you! Though I do feel lost without a training plan....
In the meantime, Happy training and Racing all!!
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| Two medals, one day...I could get used to this! |
Great job!!!!
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