"...In the end, people either have excuses or experiences; reasons or results; buts or
brilliance. They either have what they wanted or they have a detailed list of all the rational reasons why not."

~ Anonymous
(taken from Matt Erbele's, It Takes Time to Get Good)

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Race Report: Uvas South Bay Triathlon May 18, 2008

Uvas South Bay Triathlon: 3/4 mile swim, 16 mile bike, 5 mile run

What an awesome race! I am so glad I did not chicken out. Picture: Uvas schwag. Note the lack of medal. Irritating, but still an awesome race. The race was held in Morgan Hill at the Uvas Reservoir. It is not open for public swimming except for this one event. I went to high school in Morgan Hill and it wasn't my most stellar time, so it was a little cool to go back as the person I am now and do some demon stomping! RBR 1 Demons 0


Because I am such a baby about doing new things alone my run buddy came with me. I am not sure what I ever did to deserve such an amazing friend, but I am very grateful for her. Picture: Me and Run Buddy, pre-race ham shot.

The transition area was organized by age group, but the race numbers were not, so this created much confusion in the transition area. There were many unhappy triathletes, but I lucked out and we found my rack spot pretty easily (yes, 'we'. I snuck my run buddy into the transition area, shhhh!) I set up, suited up and headed down to the water.

The Swim (35:52, Woo hoo!)

Let me just say that fresh water open water swimming is WORLD'S better than ocean swimming! Warmer, not salty, no waves, no sharks. What more could you ask for? The swimming practice and pre-masters classes have definitely helped me feel MUCH more comfortable in the water. I had a great swim. I can not sight for beans, but even with the extra 1/4 mile that I am sure I swam I had my best swim time EVER! I don't have my official chip time since it isn't posted yet, but when I looked at my watch after (yes, AFTER!) I ran to my transition area I swear it said 37 minutes! HO-LY SHIT! We'll see when they post results, since that seems impossible for me. Regardless, best open water swim I have had. Update: Chip time 35:52. that is 2:43/100 yd. pace which is really good for me. Awesome!

T1: 5:09 (as compared to the 10 min transition for Pac Grove 2007 where I was deciding whether to continue or not. I will take it)

The Bike (1:00:52, 15.7 mph ave)

My transition from the swim is much better when I am not seasick, so I was out on the course pretty quickly. Hubby told me to push the bike hard to see what I had gained by the hill training and extra riding I have been doing. I did just that! the course felt pretty flat, but the elevation chart shows that it more challenging than it felt. There was one tough climb and several people had to get off and walk, but I went right up. Pictures: Elevation chart of bike course. Me heading out on the bike. Overall, great ride.











T2: 2:14


The Run (51:23, 10:16/mi. pace)

My legs were pretty heavy, but marathon training has taught me that I can handle discomfort for long periods of time and that it almost always gets better. The run course was an out and back. It was hot, but the run course was pretty flat. Slight uphill on the way out, and slight downhill on the way in. Just the way I like it! I have no idea what my pace was (Update: 10:16/mi. pace). I didn't wear my Garmin. Lame. Should have took two seconds to put it on. But I think it was pretty good. Especially on the return trip. Pictures: Me heading out on the run, feeling pretty good. Me coming in from the run, feeling pretty great!


The Finish

I crossed the
finish line and stopped my watch, 2:35:38! I had hoped to finish under 3 hours, I was ecstatic!
Update: Chip time 2:35:30!

Ok, this next part is mean,
but remember Bag of Hair Boy? He did this triathlon too. It was his first.

I BEAT HIM!

Not by
much, and I am certain he struggled on the swim and went out too hard on the bike. He is young and strong and there was NO reason for me to beat him, .... but it still felt good!

16 comments:

Willie said...

Way to go! You are the RBR rockstar. You make all that sounds easy for goodness sakes. Look at those leg muscles, Woo Hoo!

Good record with the demons but I bet it's better than that if you counted them all up. Keep that record positive and life ROCKS!

Congrats on beating bag-o-hair! That must feel great but beating your goal time by almost 1/2 an hour can't feel too shabby either!!! You are going to have to reset your standards and goals! Have a great week, school's almost out isn't it??

Stef0115 said...

Congratulations -- you rocked it!!!

Pics are great!

Anonymous said...

you EFFIN rock!!!!! And I love that you beat that j@ck@$$! Reading your race reports get me in trouble, you almost make ME want to try a triathlon!

Girl, you just continue to inspie me, blowing past all expectations! What's your time goal for San Diego?

Calyx Meredith said...

RBR=Record Breaking Rockstar!!!
Yay RBR! What a fantastic day you had. Congratulations on your best everythings ever - but especially on the swim. And I'm with Willie on the demon tally. From afar it looks like at least three (hs bs, swim, b-o-h boy - b/c even minor demons count when you're stomping them!) I hope this give you some serious confidence as you eye that H-Iron training plan!

Southbaygirl said...

I think beating the bag of hair boy rocks! And that would rank pretty high in my book-ok conquering the swim would as well!!! You did rock it! And I'm very proud of you! Not that that really matters for shit! And damn you look hot in shorts! Is that bad for a woman to say that to another woman???

I'm thinking of a tri-but I like you HATE to swim and am finding a hard time fitting in running let alone getting to a pool!

As for the PCTR-holly crap man! They aren't jocking! they are serious hard-core trail runners!!! Shit! But I'm planning on doing another!!!

Work beckons!

Angela said...

You rock! That's awesome girl!
-Angela

Lou said...

Congrats on a great race! I think it's awesome that you beat bag o hair. Haha. It's sounds like he needed to be brought down a notch to two :). Slow my ass.

Jane said...

What a great race - great swim, that bike course looks hard - you did well on the hills.

And to think, you were worried!

Jane said...

Hey - that's a really great time. I thought it was a sprint, but it was
an almost olympic. Weird distances, though.

ShirleyPerly said...

Woo hoo -- GREAT JOB!

I've never seen those sprint distances before but you are definitely ready for any Oly tri with the way you trampled that course. You look really strong on the run. Great pics.

CONGRATS!!!

Jaime said...

Congrats!!! I am glad to hear all your training paid off!

Reese said...

Wonderful job, and you can tell Bag of Hair Boy that 2:36 plus IS slow. But I know you won't.

Anonymous said...

I just realized two things:

#1 You did a triathlon DURING YOUR MARATHON TAPER; and

#2 Two of my running buddies (real live ones) are now reading and commenting on your blog! Cool!

Tater said...

Let those younger guys stay cocky! I like beating them. Sure love the look on thier faces when this old, fat gal passes em up!!! Should be a Mastercard commercial ... goggles $8, trishorts $95, beating the young, athletic guy who wore the swim cap with a shark fin on top PRICELESS!!!

You are rocking it out. I wish I could learn to run like you lol. I will some day. That's what I am concentratin gon right now. I can swim for days and while my bike isn't super fast it has improved drastically over last year so is time to work on the dreaded run *sob*. I think half my prob with the run is mental because I was doing up to 4 miles several times a week a few years ago and then .... injured knee. On crutches for 3 weeks. Basically gave up and headed into the food pit of despair and gained about 30 pounds in 2 months *sheesh*. Pretty much just gave up and gave in. Not gonna do that again but I am petrified of another injury. So need to just train best I can and try to get past it.

...much easier to write those race reports when its fresh lol.

Anonymous said...

Stacey,
Youa re fabulous!!!! Great job!!!! I'm so proud of you and admire all your fitness acheivements. I totally look up to you!!!!

Maryland Girl aka Michelle said...

Way to Go! I am just catching up on blog post! Woo Hoo you are my triathlon idol!