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Sunday, August 10, 2008

Acworth Women's Race Report!


I'm counting down to my final race of the year, Clearwater!


Today I raced a fun, local event that my sponsor helps to put on. It's an all women's race and is basically designed for beginners. It is a very short sprint: 400yd swim, 13 mile bike and a supposed 5k run.


Of course it's not any sort of an A race or anything, and quite honestly, though I do enjoy being finished in roughly an hour, sprints are just not my distance. However, I really like doing them as a test to my fitness level. How often are we told during our training to go threshold for over an hour?! So they make for great opportunities!


I had several little goals for the race...


1. Attempt to beat all of my splits from last year. In Sprint distance racing, this can sometimes be hard because there is not a lot of room to play with the time. But, I've got some pretty big room for improvement, so I figured I could do something small!

2. Hope to take off 1 min total from last year's time between the swim and transitions.

3. Come in the top on the bike and catch my teammate, Jennifer Lesser, who is an AMAZING swimmer, and whom I knew would be way up there coming out of the water before me. However, she's a great cyclist as well, so when I tried to catch her at Irongirl, it didn't happen. So I was prepared to work HARD today to try! :)

4. To continue working on trying to push on the run. I was told going into it that due to construction, they had to change it this year and they thought it was long... uhh.. yeah, it ended up being long.... 3.7 instead of 3.1! That's kind of a big difference for a sprint! :) So I was focusing on having a faster PACE than last year!


The good news is that I accomplished almost all of my goals!


Last year my swim was 6:49....This year 6:18, so a 31 second difference. Happy There! No I'm not a speedy swimmer. At least not yet! :) But I was pleased with the improvement. Oh, and my teammate Jennifer I mentioned earlier... she had the fastest swim of the day at a 5:05!! WOW!!


I wanted to focus on transitions on this race too. It never feels like I'm wasting any time in there, but I'm always on the slower side, so I was bound and determined to move my way through there today! T1 for last year..1:14.... T1 this year.. 1:04. Ok, again... pretty happy with that. Would like to see that go down to sub 1:00, but a 10 second make up from last year I'm happy with!


My bike I wasn't sure how much I could do with because I had a pretty good bike last year. The bike is short, but kind of hilly and I pulled off a 36:52 last year.... This year I did a 36:30. Again, really happy with that. I came in 3rd on the bike split for today! And I did finally catch Jennifer! Well, we kind of came in together pretty much. I beat her into T2 by seconds. And normally the bike is a place that I can work, but not kill myself and still do pretty well. Well today, I REALLY worked for that time!


T2... again, out to be super speedy! So far I've made up 41 seconds between the swim and T1, so I've got 19 seconds to go to meet my 1:00 time cut between all 3. Last year I did a 1:00 flat in T2 and this year I was at 45 seconds!! So, soooo close! I missed my goal by 4 seconds, but still happy! I'll take it and especially the sub min in there! THAT is a key thing I've been missing!


The Run... well here, is where I wasn't as happy. As usual I should probably say. I came out of T2 just ahead of Jennifer and another girl in my age group. Within the first few minutes, they'd both taken me. I came out of T2 in 4th place overall and ended up finishing 10th overall!


10 overall this year compared to 15th overall from last year... Yeah... that's great! But there is a part of me that wants to kick myself for losing it all there in the end! My run last year was a 23:58 for a 5k, which is a 7:44 pace. This year I ran a 28:53 for a 3.7 something run and again that is a 7:44 pace. It was a little hilly, but I CAN run faster than that.


I guess it's like I told Jen... there is something inside of me that doesn't want to go where I need to go to do what I need to do on that run. It's like I'm scared of running at that point where I feel like I can't catch my breath, and I'm going to fall over and puke at any second now! I know I can do it for 1/2 mile intervals, but I truly don't believe in myself that I can hold that for 3 miles, much less almost 4. It's like I'm running out there thinking, no... just hold back and conserve because if you don't, you'll blow up!


BUT... that's what makes these races so great! I can break it down and say, ok... this is what went right and THIS is what I need to focus on and learn, and take to the next level!


So overall I'm happy! I have a tendency to be really hard on myself about this kind of stuff, so I've had my kick myself moments and I'm now learning from it and moving on!


I've got 3 races left for the season, and I want each one to get me closer and closer to my season goals! An international race on Labor Day weekend at Callaway Gardens. I'm revisiting my first triathlon ever, so I'm really looking forward to that! The South Carolina 1/2 Ironman on September 28, and then CLEARWATER!!


So starting this week, as Jen put it, "Be Ready!" Game is on! Training is on full tilt! And I'm out to spend the next 3 months learning how to SUFFER for around 5 hours!! Anybody want to join me?!!

K

9 comments:

Danielle said...

Have to pass on the suffering...I have been doing enough of that recently. Great race out there today.... supposedly the results showthat the race was 3.7 miles, so the pace on there is reflects what they thought the actual mileage was. It was great cheering for you.... You did great!

Alberto said...

I had totally forgotten that this weekend was the Acworth's race. I have volunteered for a couple of years in a row and it's always so much fun to cheer on all you girls out there.

Congratulations for some great improvements on all the areas of the sport. Don't worry about the run, I know you will get where you want to be eventually. Though my humble advise would be to go all out on the run even if you think your going to puke. Why hold back? It's not an A race (as you said) and that's what makes Sprints fun. They are races to experiment all sort of stuff and they are races to practice what you have been training for. It honestly takes only one time to try it and right after you will know where you stand.

Congratulations.

Lane said...

Hi, i just found your blog. Great information and Congrats on the race this morning. I competed as well, this was my 2nd triathlon, Iron Girl being my first. I'm hooked to say the least. Already signed up for Tugaloo (that's actually how i found your blog-i searched for "tugaloo"). Anyway, i'll keep reading and tuning in to hear more about your races, training schedule, nutrition, and just the craziness and fun of how life turns out to be. Thanks.
Lane

Jen said...

Suffering....uh....no thanks :)

Great job on your race! Enjoy your training...it will all be worth it when you have a great race in Clearwater!

Mel said...

Good job on your race...sounds like you reached almost all goals and brought your times down from last year race...which is always good....I can't wait until I can start compairing my races and be able to set goals:)

Beth said...

Congrats Kellye!! Awesome improvements all around. How exciting!! And the run will come. I feel the same way about my swim but slowly and surely it's improving...just as your run will!! Happy training!

Paul said...

Great job!! Clearwater should go well for you! Can't wait to see how your run comes along.

Kevin said...

Great job on the race. You really looked like you had your hands full walking back to the car :)

Anonymous said...

I will join you after Louisville!!! I will be thinking of you while I am suffering away.

Great job T the race!!