Riverwood Sprint 2009 Race Report

Here is my full race report for the Riverwood 2009 Sprint Triathlon in Clayton, NC.

Related articles: Race picture & Quick Race Recap.

Official Results:

Swim 300 yards: 05m 42s Avg HR: 153
T1: 1:28
Bike 14 miles: 41m 28s Avg HR: 158
T2: 1:24
Run 5k: 26m 35s Avg HR: 165 / Max HR: 196

Overall time was 1:16:35
HR: 160 avg / 196max

Got Third Overall Female!

Pre-race routine:

Riverwood was my very first race ever, four years ago (race report). Back then I was dead last in my age group! I wanted to get top master female today. Also, I remembered how people were so friendly to me back then, and I wanted to return that favor today.

Before the race, I wrote my bib number on my hand. That way I could rack my bike before heading over to packet pickup, so I don’t have to drag my bike around with me. When I got to body marking and showed the woman my bib, she commented “Oh, that’s an easy number to remember!”. My bib was 123…1-2-3. D’oh!

Set up transition. I usually cut slits in my bike race number and mount it to my saddle bag by threading the straps thru the slits. I don’t like it on my top tube because it rubs my legs! But I forgot scissors. Someone nearby said just skip the saddle bag and put the number on my seat tube. Made me nervous, but, that’s what I did. Great idea! I’d definitely do that for sprints from now on!

Event warmup:

Race start was 8am, my start time was 8:35. Went to the porta potty at around 8:10. No line, yay! One nice thing about staggered swim starts, I guess! Peed. Did some strides. Ate a Gu, drank some water. Peed again. More strides, more peeing. Races make me nervous, so I pee alot. lol!

Swim

Comments:

I was so lucky to have “fresh water”, meaning that there was a 2 min break right before my start. So, nobody got in my way. 🙂 I swam pretty hard, trying to make sure nobody would pass me. Nobody did. I was vaguely aware of a guy in black closing in on me. At the last turn, he was on my heels, but not close enough to let him pass. I could tell he was racing me to the ladder, so I picked up my pace and beat him. Didn’t want him to delay my exit out of the pool.

What would you do differently?:

maybe swim a little harder

T1

Comments:

I have some new triathlon bike shoes which should be easier to put on than my roadies. Trouble is, I did not practice it, so fumbled with them a bit.

Bike

Comments:

I rode somewhat easy until I got out onto the main road. Just felt I needed to catch my breath or something. Then put the pedal to the medal and went hard! I wasn’t sure where my running was, so wanted to get a great bike split.

I had my HR monitor on, and had mph displaying in my bike computer. I was shooting for a 20+ mph bike pace. I passed everyone I saw. I kept looking at my HR and seeing 155ish. I kept pushing a little bit harder, thinking I should be 160+ range. I kept trying to feel burning in my quads. I was breathing hard. I kept chanting burn, pain, burn in my head to make myself go harder. Never really did feel pain, but I was breathing hard and working hard.

I ate a Gu about ten minutes into the bike.

About half way, my pace was showing 22 mph. I thought “Woohoo, I’m smoking this course”. Then it occurred to me that I hadn’t studied the elevation profile of the course, and maybe the 1st half was more down, and the 2nd half was more up. That turned out to be true, and I lost 1 mph by the end. I wasn’t worried about it, because 21 mph is still and awesome pace for a tough course.

At mile 10, I ran out of water. Ooops…was planning to eat another Gu right near the end, but now that would have to wait till T2.

Near the end, I remembered something Heather Golnick said. Keep a high cadence on the bike, so that when you transition to running, you will have fast feet. So, the last bit of the bike, I was spinning high cadence.

What would you do differently?:

I passed every person I saw. Nobody passed me. This is a beginner race, but still, I expected some males to pass me. Whenever I passed someone, I tried to say something nice like “looking good”, or “good luck”. I was really flying by people really fast, tho, and wondered if my words came off as arrogant rather than friendly. I remembered when I was a beginner, people flying past me saying things like that, and I didn’t really like it. So, after a while, I decided to not say anything.

T2

Comments:

Spent too much time thinking about what all I need to grab.

What would you do differently?:

Need to practice transitions. Easiest way to cut a few seconds off your race!!! My T times were way slower than my competitors this race, and usually mine are right up there with the top women.

Run

Comments:

I ate a Gu and drank some water while jogging slowly. Then I started running hard. I tried to focus on fast cadence and upright posture. I checked my heart rate and made sure it was in the 160’s. It was. I had a vision of Cait Snow’s fast feet running style in my mind and tried to mimic that.

Got to the first mile marker at 8:10. Was pleased with that, except for the fact that I was going downhill, so felt it should be going faster. So, I tried to step up my pace a little more.

I was again trying to say nice things to people in a spirit of friendliness. I’d say things like “nice job”, “phew it’s gettin hot”, stuff like that. I felt it was coming off as friendly, so kept that up.

Then it dawned on me that if I can speak, I am not going hard enough. A sprint race should be run so hard that you are practically dying. So, again, I picked up my pace until I could no longer speak. Still wanting to be friendly, tho, I waved or smiled or gave a thumbs up at people that I saw.

At the turn around, my time was about 13 minutes. If I could keep up my same pace, I could get a 26 min split. That’d be good in my book. BUT, the 2nd half was uphill!!! I had to put the hammer down even harder and not let those hills slow me down.

Again, I focused on fast cadence and good posture. I tried to attack each hill without letting it slow me down. And it was getting really hot, so this was hard and I wanted it to be over. I told myself that the faster I can run, the sooner it would be over. So, I just kept up my hard pace.

Crossing the finish, I was very pleased to see that my run split was 26 and change, meaning I had split the course about even, despite the hills. Just glad that hot hilly run was over.

What would you do differently?:

nothing, played the run just right.

Post race

I walked around looking for food and water. They hadn’t set up any food yet. I had to ask a Setup Events employee where the water was, and he seemed miffed that I interrupted him. That miffed me! Turns out the water and power ade was inside the buckets of bull dozers. Cool idea, but hard to find! I drank alot of water. Then went back to my transition spot and drank a bottle of Boost and grabbed some snacks.

I chatted with lots of people after the race. I tried to look for folks that were by themselves and wanted to reach out and be friendly to them. I love doing that after races, it always makes people smile. Makes me smile too!

I got third overall female. My goal was to make top master’s female, but third overall trumps all masters spots! It was very exciting to go back to my first race and see the result if four years of hard work! Triathlon is the funnest hard work I have ever done.

Race Photos