Culpeper Sprint

Once again, I've been bad about posting. My runs have been going great- my longest is 13. The leg feels awesome! I've been swimming 3x a week and feel pretty good about that too. The problem is the bike. I haven't been out on the road in over 6 weeks. I've been on my trainer 2x a week for 45-50 minutes but it's not the same.

My goal for this tri was to use it as a training run for the Columbia. I wanted to get some open water swim practice in and also get on my bike. I knew I'd get killed on the bike but at least I'd be getting an actual bike ride in. I wasn't worried about the run.

I drove up to Culpeper Saturday afternoon to pick up my packet and look at the race course. It's a 16 mile bike course and it was very pretty. It starts out on a big hill and is rolling from there. There are some sharp turns along the way, but it didn't seem too bad. The run was hilly, but again, I wasn't worried about the run.

Sunday morning we left the house at 5:50 and the sky was very overcast. I was stressing about the weather all week because I didn't want to ride my bike on wet roads. We got all settled with about 15 minutes to spare and hung out by the water. My goal for the swim was to do more freestyle. I wss the 4th wave and I started on the outside because I didn't want to get kicked. The swim actually went pretty well. Except for a few wayward swimmers running into me, I didn't get stuck. I swam way more freestyle which was good, I think. My dilema here is that I swim breast stroke about as fast as I swim freestyle. Not a good thing. I figure with both being equal, I'd pick breast every time because I can see. I'll have to work more on that. I was encouraged because when I did do free, I swam really straight.

I took my time in transition because I wasn't "racing" and I didn't care. Also, apparently my oldest daughter has been using my bike helmet. Because I haven't actually been riding my bike, the first time I put it on was as I was about to start the bike leg. It was way tighter than I usually wear it. There was no time to fix it so I wore a super tight helmet. It was lightly raining as I started the bike. This turned into pouring and I got to the point when I just wanted it to be over. I got passed so many times it started making me mad. I knew I wasn't going to do well, but I still hate to get passed. I don't mean just someone getting in front of me. These people were flying by me like I was standing still. Not fun. There is a very sharp turn at the end of the bike that I was praying about as I was riding. I didn't care how slow I went, I just didn't want to fall off my bike. I made it and off to the run I went.

My transition was good- except for getting the helmet off. I couldn't. It was tight and I actually contemplated what I would do if I had to run in it. Luckily, I managed to get it off. When I started, my legs were dead. I seriously couldn't feel my toes. My socks were soaking and I felt like I was shuffling. I haven't practiced any "bricks" and I can tell I need to. It took about a mile to get feeling back in my legs, but then I felt pretty good. I passed tons of people which felt good. I finished strong and as usual had way too much energy when I finished.

I was completely exhausted after I was done. I was just so happy to have it over with. I need to seriously work on my bike in the next three weeks. I also need to work on some bricks to get my legs used to going from one event to the next. On a good note, I'm not sore today. I was going to swim this morning but decided my body would appreciate the rest.