I can't believe this race marked my 5th triathlon in exactly one year. My how far I've come...
C and I planned on doing this race for awhile but we signed up super last minute. I did this same race one year ago and it was my first ever triathlon. I loved being able to do the same race again and really see how far I've come.
I hadn't really trained for this race at all. May was insane for us and I just didn't feel motivated. In fact, before this race, I hadn't ridden my bike in 1 month, since the last race we did at the beginning of May. But I figured I'd be able to get through it just fine.
And what would a race be without a little drama...somehow the alarm wasn't set Saturday night. That means when we finally woke up at 7:00am, transition had already been closed for 15 minutes. In a state of panic, we shoved waffles in our mouths and decided to head out to the race and beg the officials to let us in.
Well, it worked. After a quick reprimanding, we were allowed into transition to rack our bikes and get set up. Nothing like a hectic morning to get your heart rate going before a race.
Our waves didn't go off until after 8:00am so in the end we had time to get ourselves together. However, those waffles did not have enough time to digest, which proved to be a bit of an issue for both of us.
This race, miraculously, was wetsuit legal. I know, insane that the water temp was below 78 degrees in Dallas, in June. I love my wetsuit because it makes me feel fast and I'm super buoyant in it.
When it was time for my wave, I felt really good jumping in the water. I was able to keep my heart rate down before the start which was a huge change from last year. The horn went off and I started swimming with ease. Before I knew it, I was climbing the stairs out of the water. Supa fast.
I breezed through transition and was off on my bike. I figured since I hadn't been on my bike in a month that I would be struggling. I pushed myself to take advantage of every downhill and tried to tackle the hills as best I could. I was shocked to see that I averaged 16 mph which is over a full mph faster than all my previous races. Improvement!!
Heading out on the run, my legs were definitely feeling a little weird. After about a half a mile, I felt much better and started to get into a groove. About half of the run was shaded which was really nice. I also dumped a few cups of water on myself. I held a good pace but was a little disappointed to see the the run course measured short. Oh well.
Overall, it was a great race. I beat my previous year's time by over 10 minutes and the bike part was 3 miles longer than last year, that's a major improvement! It's also good to know that I don't lose that much fitness in 1 month :)
