I figure since I haven't written a blog post in forever, that I'll write up the Ma state report!
Well, it was an early damn morning. I slept poorly. In fact, I woke up at 1am thinking RACE RACE RACE! wait, no. Not yet body. Chill out. My alarm did go off at 4:30 am to get to Northeastern for my ride by 5:15. I owned the road with all my tri crap at least. My stupid aero helmet kept hitting my bag...so it was awkward biking.
The race was in Winchendon, Ma. For those Ma challenged people such as myself......central north Mass. We got there in plenty of time to check in, go to the bathroom 3 times (i have this thing before races...), put together transition, and go for a dip before getting started. The water temp was 77 degrees and it was already humid out. I decided to screw having a wetsuit, although turns out everyone else decided they wanted the "advantage". Since NEU helps volunteer I was given the "yellow cap sign" where everyone basically stood around me, then followed me everywhere to get ready for a wave. I ignored my nerves (i haven't done a triathlon in a long time it seemed) by dancing to every song that was played prior to wave 2 taking off. I like to pretend I am so not serious.
swim... .9 mile 22.33: I had no idea what to expect. I can count on one hand how many times I've been in the pool this YEAR. All my cambridge masters friends were there and giving me a hard time for not showing up to practices. I'm not motivated to swim much anymore. Anyways, they sent us off and i went as hard as my arms could go to get away from the big hussle of swimmers. It wasn't as bad as I expected, but my goggles decided to fog up, so I couldn't see a thing. All I could see what feet. I decided to lose the draft and un fog my goggles. that might have been dumb, but at least I could see. I fell back from the main group a bit and basically swam the rest of the way with myself. basically all in all. eh.
T1 1.11: nothing exciting. I put shoes on. WHOA! and helmet, glasses. stuff.
bike 22 miles 1.01.51: this was by far the most fun leg of the 3. I spiced my bike up with the aero bars (they had been off for a long time) and new carbon wheels. I FELT SO FAST! My garmin stopped working so i had no idea how fast I was going. Turns out I averaged 21.4 for the 22 mile rolling hills course. That is a crazy improvement for me. I actually started feeling better around mile 20, but it was almost done. The course was really pretty with things for Julie to look at. I passed a lot of girls and even some dudes! That neverrrrrrrrrrrrrrr happens.
T2 .46: There's not much you need to do here, so might as well make it fast right? breakfast socks went on!
Run 6.2 miles 50.12: I've been doing some training on the bike in the heat...it's been going fine. Running in the heat hasn't been going as well for me. It wasn't till I got running that I realized how hot and humid the weather was turning out to be. I stuck a GU in my pocket thinking I would eat it, but little did I know that the run would be a lot tougher than expected. The first few miles were ok and in the shade. They were going by so slowly and I had no idea what pace I was going (stupid watch). Miles 2-4 were death. The shade went away, the heat started getting to me, and nausea kicked in. I drank water at the aid stations and poured some on myself to try to get relief. At one point I started running towards the side because I thought i actually was going to vomit (dry heaved). This sort of made me feel better, but I saw two girls in my age group pass me, which was frustrating...so i picked it up a bit the rest of the way. I was surprised I still pulled 50 min for a 10k. DEATH! Everyone...be careful in the heat. bad things.
Anyways, total time 2.16.30. 3rd place in age group. 35 min off my former olympic tri distance time. lots of improvements, but lots of improvements still needed. I danced on the podium and everyone laughed. It was fun seeing all my triathlon friends again! I don't show my face as often as I probably should.
Thanks for all the cheers during the race! Great job to everyone that survived the heat!
I have a lot of work to do before Vegas. Goals: have fun, be happy, be prepared, and then drink booze. I'm a simple kind of person.
