IM Louisville: 26 minute PR
Wow! that was some dirty water! Having grown up in Cincinnati, I would never have though of swimming in the Ohio River!
Okay, here we go:
1. this was a time trial start race. that means we each pop int the water on our own one after the other. Having just done state (cycling) time trails and being beat by 29 seconds even though I beat the lady across the finish line, I knew not to be the "rabbit". so I started a half hour after everyone... drank some fluids,went to the bathroom and chatted.
2. Swam the best I could for the conditions. I usually like to follow the feet in the water but couldn't see anything and sighting was difficult. Lots of first timers who did not go around buoys so I didn't want to follow those folks anyway.
3. shortened up my time in T1 by wearing calf supports and not full socks.
4. rode the bike 'in the zone' meaning between my AT and my LT so as not to burn out. (rode "in the box" so to speak.) Used my powermeter to know where I was and backed off when I knew I was out of those zones
5. Shortened time in T2 a little bit
6. Ran between every water stop. kept my pace at MGP plus about 30 seconds to a minute slower until mile 18. except for first three miles... I was too excited and ran a bit fast. At the end I skipped a couple of stops as I was feeling so good.
The other folks in my age group had finished long before me as I had started late intentionally. They didn't realize I beat them until we got on the podium! so basically, I raced my race, and never saw the other folks.... and had some fun!
Best training session? the 120 mile bike ride with 10,000 feet of climbing in Colorado about two months ago and doing the state time trials.
Most needed change? more open water swims n funky water (practice swimming in a straight line)
Most fun aspect: riding through miles of horse farms and trying to channel Miranda Carfae on the run
thanks for teaching me EN. Hopefully I can make through the next couple races as well.
Patti
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