A Race Report Of OUCH!

Things I was reminded of this morning about sprint triathlons:

1) A very long warmup is required because when the gun goes BOOM, there isn't any time to mess around!  (luckily I remembered this before the race also and warmed up for almost as long as the race itself :)

2) They are very, very painful.  Like OUCH!  I think my heart was pumping out lactic acid instead of blood from the gun!  (and it took me a good 5 minutes to stop breathing hard after I finished :) 

3) Young kids can swim very fast and also run fast too.  The swim today was in a LCM pool and there were 4 people/lane with two starting on each side.  One of the people starting opposite of me looked to be about 15 years old but also looked to be QUITE a swimmer.  Indeed, he lapped me!  (keeping in mind, he lapped me after about 500 meters!)  Also, on the run, I got passed like I was STANDING STILL by one of Oscar's high school runners (who is also a very good triathlete).  And the kid is 14, just about to be a freshman.  :)

4) Despite being painful, sprints are also over very quickly!  I JUST started to feel pretty good when we had about 1 mile left to go on the run.  :)  Also, they are FUN!  Especially today, when I knew so many other racers.  I had a ball!  (plus the bike course has an ITU feel with 5 laps so I got to see Oscar a gazillion times!)

Did I get my goal of beating my time from 2006?  Yes!  In fact I even set a course record today, the previous mark held by another Penn State runner (who was a freshman the year I had graduated so we were not teammates).  Also, I won some MONEY!  Woo-hoo!  Straight to the "power meter for Beth" fund!  :)

North Park Triathlon: 700 meter swim/12.5 mile bike/5K run
*It should be noted that T1 is included in your swim time and T2 is included in your bike time.  Unfortunately no extra time is included in your run time (it's just that slow)!  The run is just gnarly as all get out - all on trails (except for the last 400 meters) and rocky, rooty, HILLY and brutal! 

2006: 12:52/33:47/22:22 = 1:09:01
2011: 12:23/31:57/21:38 = 1:06:01 (split times are off my watch so they might not be exact but final time is correct)

Yeah fun!



On the "podium" with 2 great friends, Mimi and Jen!  :)

Such a fun morning and great to see lots of awesome performances including many first timers, many up and comers and many seasoned veterans!  And I'm already home, unpacked and finished with my race report!  :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend and congrats to all who raced!