Training Log Archive: ginger

Smith Mountain Lake triathlon

Official race day temp was 69.5, and my wetsuit was perfect for the temps. For future reference, the wetsuit is good for 65-73, for anything between 73-77, I may want to think about getting a sleeveless one. The swim went quite well, fairly close to my expected time and I felt strong throughout.

As expected, the hills (and to a lesser degree, the wind) kicked my butt. Hard to train effectively for the hills where I live, but fortunately everyone else seemed to be on the struggle bus as well. Only got passed by a couple guys fairly early on, and then a woman in the age-group category toward the 15 or 16 mile mark. She wasn't going much faster than me, though so I kept her in my sights and just tried to keep my cadence up on the hills.

Felt reasonably good through the transition, then the standard tightness in my quads kicked in around the 800m mark. No worries, the first half of the run was largely uphill anyway, so I just slogged along at a fairly slow jog until my quads sorted themselves out. Then the little muscle medial and proximal to the patella (2 years of anatomy and I haven't got the foggiest idea what that muscle is called) started seizing up on both legs. That's new. But, it hurt the same whether I was walking or running (well, jogging), so I kept jogging. Finally, around the 4 mile mark, everything loosened up, except my feet were still quite painful, and I finally passed the 26 year old who passed me on the bike! Can't remember passing too many people on the run before, so I was quite pleased with myself. Finished in 4th place for overall women, and the 1st and 2nd place women just graduated from college, so this was the first year they weren't part of the NCAA crowd. Overall, quite pleased with my race, and looking forward to next season.