When my Tri schedule began, I had no idea I was going to make a quest to Nationals in Burlington, but I caught the sprint racing bug hard this year after my lingering summer cold and I've been enjoying the distance so much, I decided to test my efforts against our country's best.. so it's on to Burlington, VT this coming weekend for USAT Sprint Nationals.. more on that after the break (I mean race.. I've been watching too much reality TV)
So here's a mini recap of my fun summer of racing exploits with a few bumps in the road and a lot of fun
Summer season started with a mini sprint duathlon (Daffodil Duathlon, May 20th) before I had to catch a business trip flight to Washington D.C. I had a carefully orchestrated time schedule, drive 30 mins to Livermore, CA, compete in a super-sprint duathlon (1 mile run, 7 mile bike, 2 mile run), eat a quick breakfast and drive home to catch a noon flight. It all worked out except that I actually ended up winning the race outright (go figure, that is very rare in my "seasoned age group") and I couldn't stay for awards. but it was a great bike tune up and fun way to test the lactate threshold level.
After that, I had two great back-to-back sprint races planned but life had a bit of a curve ball and I caught a rough summer cold. I did manage to race one of the two, the Reservior sprint triathlon in Morgan Hill on June 4th. It was a tough challenge to race not at 100% but fun to see fellow triathlete friends and the day turned out beautiful. I ended up placing 2nd in my age group luckily because they took the top three ladies out of the age groups and two of them were my age. nice to see four of the top 6 female finishers in the over 40 category!
Following reservior, I had a favorite race, the Mermaid Sprint triathlon in Alameda on June 11th. This is a race where we ladies get spoiled... a nice flat, fast course -- 500 yd swim, 11 mile bike, 2.5 mile run -- followed by pancakes, jewelry charms for finishers, really cute shirts and nice awards for winners. I was still fighting the summer cold so I couldn't push hard enough to contend for top three overall (they win massages!) but I managed an age group win with a fast bike to compensate for my not so quick run. I highly recommend the Mermaid events!
After Mermaid and Reservoir, I faced the first big challenge of the season with Rancho Seco International distance triathlon .. a fun, fast olympic course that was also serving as a special qualifier for USAT nationals... the big challenge ended up being the weather, however as one of the few very hot days showed up and the temperature hit 104 degrees by finish of the race.
I'm luckily a heat athlete however and felt great on the swim and bike.. I do have to admit the run was tough to manage however.. I had to slow down significantly and take on a lot of water. the good news is that I ended up winning the age group and getting the invite to nationals.. more on that soon! I highly recommend racing at Rancho Seco, it's flat, fast and fun...warm lake, nice gentle rolling bike and gentle rolling trail run -- could use a bit more shade but overall really nice venue.. even the cooling towers play a role by giving a nice sighting point on the open water swim. (and the nuclear plant was never active so the water is pristine!)
So that takes me to mid June.. but I'm running out of steam.. more on June, July, the oops calf pull and August to come... time to swim!
