Route 66 Sprint Triathlon Race Recap in Photos

Heading into transition as the sun rises.

Setting up Transition

Lake El Reno...quite muddy!

See that little speck of turquoise blue to the lower edge of the pack...that's me!

So happy to be done with the swim.

Yep, my race twin and I finished near the same time for the swim.

Finishing up the bike.

Getting ready to run...should have grabbed some sport beans:(

Thankful to be in the last 200 yds of the run!

Yeah, I'm Done!

Hanging out by the playground with my cheering section, Lindsey and Tim.

1st Place in the Athena Division!!!

Route 66 Sprint Triathlon Race Recap (Long Post)

I have to start this recap with Whoo Hoo!!! As I posted yesterday, I won the Athena Division of the Route 66 Sprint distance triathlon in El Reno, OK yesterday.  The race site was about 45 minutes away from my sister's house and we were up and headed to the race early.  I was wearing my new tri outfit and was a little disappointed to see another girl there with the same top...she became my race twin for the day! I'm still working on growing out my hair so I went with pigtails because you can't not have a good time when you have pigtails in!

The weather was low humidity and a slight breeze before the start.  Sadly, the temps quickly warmed up and it was probably low 80's by the time that I finished.  The transition was unique with assigned spots...unfortunately someone had claimed my spot.  The head ref was standing nearby and I asked about it and he grabbed the race director to move the bike and stuff.  I proceeded to setup my spot and make sure everything was organized.  There was a pre-race meeting at 7 AM and the race directors gave instructions on the course and the head ref also covered penalties. 

The swim had a triangle shape with the men starting first followed by the women's wave 3 minutes later.  I started on the outside of the group thinking I could cut over but I ended up in water that was too shallow so I couldn't ever get situated.  Once I hit the first buoy, I was a little disoriented because the depth went from really shallow to deep water quickly.  I was able to get a little more relaxed after I made that turn but for a little while I thought I might have to make a grab for one of the kayaks.  As I made the 2nd turn, I noticed a lot of people cutting the swim short and not swimming to the final buoy.  I made the final turn and ran into the problem of not being able to tell when to begin the run out of the water.  The swim exit was on a boat ramp which made a run out nearly impossible with very slippery concrete in the water.  I got up to the edge and a nice volunteer gave me a hand up onto the carpet and then I could start my run into transition.

The bike course was broken up into several 2 1/2 mile sections with a couple small inclines.  I was surprised to not see the lead males until I was about 5 miles into the race.  The length of the bike course was 13 miles and it was fairly flat and included time on Route 66 and the old Route 66.  The bike felt great...I got passed a few times and I did some passing of my own. 

The run course was an out and back course that was a serpentine around the lake.  I quickly realized as I was leaving transition that I didn't take in any calories on the bike and that the run was going to be tough.  I was hungry and the temps were now hot.  I took walk breaks every 6 minutes or so.  I made up my walking ground when I went back to running never getting too far behind those that started near me.  Every one was looking hot and the water stop was a welcome relief and I was glad that they had it set up so you could go through it on both directions.  Finally, I was glad to see the finish and knew that I could suffer a few more minutes of pain.  I thought my run time would be a lot worse than it was but I know I can do better next time.

My time was 1:34:54 with the following breakdown: 12:24 swim, 1:36 T1, 46:32 bike, 1:23 T2, 32:57 run.  Overall, I'm super happy with my first triathlon for the season but I have room for improvement and will be doing a lot more brick workouts before my next triathlon. 

Quick Triathlon Update

I took part in the Route 66 Sprint Triathlon this morning in El Reno, OK.  My time was 1:34:54 which was good enough to win the Athena Division!!! More details to come in my race recap including pictures.  The division prizes were cool license plates instead of medals or plaques...kind of neat.

Memorial Day Speed Workout

Every year Mike Rush surprises our group with a special holiday workout for Memorial Day.  The week before the group votes on whether or not to switch the workout from the typical 6PM time to 8AM.  Again this year, the group voted for the 8AM start time!

Last year, the workout was a 5 minute all-out effort run to see how far you could go in that amount of time.  We weren't in for such a treat this year...our first clue should have been watching Mike place cones around the track.  I got an easy warmup in...maybe 1 1/2 miles and then took some time to do a little stretching.  The warmup finished and Mike started to tell us the workout.  To start with we would be doing plyos...approx. 50 m of each: High Knees,  Butt Kickers, Gum Check to the front, Gum Check to the back, Bounding, Lunges, Grapevine to the right, Grapevine to the left. This covered a full lap of the track.  At the conclusion of the plyo lap, head straight into a 800m at 5K pace.  REPEAT until your 800m pace falls off by more than 5 sec. 

I had super tight hamstrings and with my race on Saturday didn't want to stress myself with so much plyos.  I did the first lap with reduced lunges and then went into my 800 and was good with my pace.  From then on, I did partial plyos and then shuffled jogged to the next plyo start.  I kept up my pace and did 4 repeats of the set.  I had to take a short break to run to the car for my water bottle with ice in it before the last repeat.  It was overcast but still warm and humid and regular water just wasn't helping me.  My recovery was probably more than it should have been between each 800 but I'm okay with that.  I stayed on pace and that is a good confidence builder for me going into my first outdoor triathlon of the year this weekend!

After the track workout, I hopped on my bike for a workout on fatigued legs.  I had a couple of hills that took it out of me but on the flats I tried to hit a good cadence and maintain steady legs.  I was supposed to do a brick run after the ride but I don't think 1/3 mile really counts.  I started thinking about Chick-Fil-A towards the end of the bike and just couldn't get my head into the run.  Lesson learned!

Monday Brain Exchange - Lessons Learned

Jill over at Finishing is Winning posts a new topic for bloggers every Monday.  Feel free to join in!

This weeks question: It goes without saying that anytime you challenge yourself, you learn something. What are some of the things you have learned on your own personal journey through fitness, whether it be from triathlon, running or just simply training?


Bullet point answers seem to be working well for this topic so here are a couple of my lessons learned...

• The mind doesn't always understand what the body is capable of accomplishing.
• Pushing your limits is sometimes painful but well worth it!
• A little ice cold water can improve my attitude during a hot summer run.
• When riding up a hill, just keep pedaling! Forward motion no matter how slow is better than not moving up the hill.
• If Mike Rush says it's going to hurt...it's going to hurt.
• When pushing through a tough spot in a workout, a little song can help.  I don't know why but a few weeks ago while doing bike intervals I just had to hum the Star Wars theme song...ended up with great times so it helps!
• If the weather requires too much debate, it is probably best to move your workout indoors or take a rest day.
• Splurge on good gear...shoes and apparel make a huge difference.
• Use race registrations as motivation but make sure you have goal races.

Elm Tree Wildcat Rumble 5K Race Recap

Saturday morning was the Elm Tree Elementary School's Wildcat Rumble 5K in Bentonville.  This was going to be a family event with both of my sister's and their children participating in the Fun Run and 5K too.  Lindsey and I were signed up for the 5K which had an 8 AM start time.  My goal for the race was to finish in under 30 minutes in order to run with Gavin during the 1 mile Fun Run that started at 8:30. 

 The Rush Running Team was out in full force with Mike and his store employees timing the race.  Last year this race was a little short so I was happy to note that the start/finish line had been moved to lengthen the race.  We kicked off the race and it was fairly uneventful for me.  The temps were low 70's but it felt hot with most of the course being in the sun.  The course was an out and back that included two loops through two different neighborhoods.  I got to see Lindsey as I exited the second loop just after mile 2.  I also ran into a co-worker who was heading through town to the Big Ride on his bike.  He rode next to me for a few seconds and we chatted. 

I was disappointed in the lack of course support at this race.  There were no directional arrows or signs anywhere on the course.  I knew the course only from doing it the previous year.  As I exited the first neighborhood loop, I ran into a walker who didn't know that she needed to go up one more street before turning.  My sister who was run/walking made a similar comment that she just didn't know where to go.  Also, there were a couple of street crossings that didn't have anyone there to manage cars for the runners.  As I was finishing there were some kids near me running by themselves and I was worried that they wouldn't look for cars before crossing the street to return to the school. 

Overall, the race went well and I think my time was around 29:06...good enough for 2nd in my age group!  I was happy with that time since I hadn't run much during the week and it was HOT!!!

A little race hardware!

After the run finished, I was trying to figure out where the fun run was starting.  As we were waiting, Lindsey finished and was just in time to do the fun run as a cooldown.  All morning Gavin had told us that he was just going to walk for the fun run and not race.  We should have known that wouldn't stick because as soon as the fun run started Gavin wanted to run.  Lindsey told him he should run with me and so off we went.  The fun run started by crossing a grass path and then running a lap around the school.  We had a little stumble near the end of the grass path where it transitioned to sidewalk.  I thought Gavin was going to be out of the race with the face he made and the limp he started to have but he shook it off and we got back onto our pace.  Gavin finished and was so proud of beating Whitney! He couldn't wait to tell the rest of our gang.  I sort of told him that he couldn't have any ice cream until he did the fun run and even then I had to make him wait a few minutes more until Lindsey and Kristen finished with Lily Cate. 

My nephew Gavin after our one mile fun run.

Change of Plans Tuesday

Tonight's workout plan for my friend Kyla and me was to do a brick workout by riding with the International Group and then doing a run afterwards.  As I was getting ready to leave the house, there was thunder rumbling and dark clouds forming.  It looked like the storms were to the North and we might be able to ride but these were the pop-up kind of storms.  In a span of 15 minutes, the radar went from just a few storms in the area to a line of storms to the West (the main direction of most of our rides.)  We debated for quite some time on what to do...wait out the storms or change plans.

In the end we decided to totally change our plans and go for a swim at the Fitness Center.  As we got to the gym, the rain started coming down really heavy so it was a good choice! We swam for about 45 minutes and the main focus of our workout was 100m repeats.  The interval was perfectly challenging...it stressed me out just enough but I made it and kept my splits fairly even.  The rest time went by way too fast though and  I definitely need to work on my flip turns because I am losing time when I don't do them.  We concluded with a set of 50m's where we did IM strokes for the first 25 and then crawl for the second 25, so the order was Fly/Free, Back/Free, Breast/Free and repeat.  I'm still struggling with my butterfly so I've been doing it with one arm and trying to improve my rhythm. 

Swimming faster with the interval work tonight made the workout challenging but somehow swimming feels more relaxing than either biking or running.  It was still raining some as I left the gym and I saw a huge rainbow on my way home!