Fairport Harbor Race Report

aka TRANSITION IS NOT A PARTY

or

aka DON'T DICK AROUND IN TRANSITION

or

aka PRETTY MUCH BEST DAY EVER

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I apologize ahead of time for the length of this post! I had too much fun today not to write about all of it!!!

Last night I spent several hours preparing my bag for the following day's festivities. I'm one of those people that likes to be prepared. Whenever I go on a trip, I bring two pairs of underwear for each day and then throw in four more. I'm just always worried that I will need something and not have it. Soooo, I packed all sorts of stuff that I might want or need just in case.

I got up early enough and then of course had a few delays that were annoying so I don't need to go into the details, plus I'm over them now! As a result, I was running late (I know, SHOCKER!). I got there just in time!!! 7:55am to be exact.

As I was heading towards the water I saw JenC and her friend Hallie. She asked me to keep an eye on her at the start so we waded in the water and I chatted her up a bit. Then we ran into Beth and the three of us chatted till it was time to begin.

the SWIM
Things went better than I expected. (sshhhh, I haven't been swimming - pool or OW - for over two weeks!) As I was getting out of the water my watch said around 20 mins so I was pleasantly surprised! I'm not sure I would say it was harder than I expected, more like around what I thought it would be like. I had to rest more than I'd care to admit and doing a modified backstroke saved me ALOT of time for sure. I had a boat ask if I was ok and I instantly thought of Matt C's quote: "I'm not drowning, that's just my backstroke." I couldn't help but smile! :)

T1
Here is where things get a little well, totally weird and totally me. I was so excited that I was doing my first tri and that I had made it in time and that the swim wasn't nearly as bad as what I had prepared myself for so I kind of lost track of time. I went to the bathroom because I had to pee SOOOO bad!!! Sat down and chatted with my 'fan club' aka mom and gram, had some sport beans and a ton of water and then all of a sudden I realized that there weren't any bikes left in the transition area!!! WHAT!?!

the BIKE
My last encounter with the hill at High Street had me slipping, falling and landing on the ground. I totally did NOT want a repeat with all the crowd support. So I walked from the transition area up the hill. When I got to the top I waited for a few cyclists to come in and then the woman looked at me and said, "Wait are you in the race!?" I just laughed and got on my bike.

I couldn't believe how great I felt! I was trying to remind myself not to start off too fast, which I ALWAYS have a tendency to do regardless of event. I got to see some of my gals coming in off the bike which was great. I felt awesome the ENTIRE ride. I was shocked and surprised and thrilled. :) The bike was about 50 mins total (including walking up hill). My avg speed was 13mph and my max was 20.6mph, my best speeds EVER! I caught up with 3 or 4 people and passed them. One of the guys I passed I saw just before the turn around. He had already gone through the turn around and I passed him on my into the turn around. As I caught up with him, I said hi and great job and passed. I was about 5 bike lengths ahead and I heard him exclaim, "C'mon, you've got be kidding me!!"

T2
I came in off the bike feeling strong but tight through my hamstring. I grabbed one of my water bottles and changed my socks, threw on my shoes and went. I was at 1:39 when I left.

the RUN
I walked up the hill and my legs were feeling tight. I figured that if I did run, I probably wouldn't be any faster than if I walked. So I just walked at a good pace and enjoyed the day. This young kid I passed that was struggling with his mountain bike caught up with me about 15 mins into the run(walk) then the man that I passed caught me around 25 mins in. I just kept up the walking and tried to stretch out some.

I seriously had such a GREAT day. Things went better than I expected. I learned alot and enjoyed every minutes of my day. I was able to check my HRM and BS, although I would have liked to check in each transition, and tried to make sure I was keeping things in check.

Here is the breakdown:
SWIM: 20:00
T1: 27:30
BIKE: 50:00
T2: 1:30
RUN: 55:00
total: 2:34.51

BS prerace: 97
BS postrace: 98

HR avg: 163
HR max: 180
cal: 3691

bike avg: 13.0mph
bike max: 20.6mph

GREAT JOB TO ALL THE CTCERs THAT WERE OUT THERE TODAY (JenC, Beth, Adam, MattC, JT, etc.)