Yet another sprint in a long line of sprints this summer...my friend picked me up at 4am, I had coffee and a cliff bar in her car on our hour long ride to freeport, tx ( apparently, this tiny town butts up against Clute, tx, the mosquito capital of the world and we had no DEET). Anywho, we get to the race site, get marked, set up transition, and went for a 30 minute warm up run...at which point we started getting eaten alive. When we got back, we were scratchy and uncofortable, but the nice volunteers offerred to spray us down with OFF. The 500yd swim didn't seem very long from the dock, and it went by fast- I think my time was 8:26. I was 1st out of the water in my AG! YAY! ran into transition, goggles and cap off, shoes & helmet on, and onto the bike we went. Note: when I signed up for this race, they boasted 2 large bridges and a smaller one on the run. I train in Houston (read:flat). When I turned left and saw the HUGE mountain of a bridge after going about 20-21 mp/h for about 8 mi., My heart dropped and I think I may have cursed out loud. I started dropping gears and made it up at about 10mp/h (then back down at 30- the fastest my bike has ever gone). So we rode around for another couple miles and then back to the bridge (the wind now in front of me...) mp/h up the bridge: 6-8. Down, only hit 22 this time- really hard wind, coming off the coast...maybe due to Hurricane Gustav? Ended the 15 mi bike at 48:and change
Finally got to the end of the bike and started the run. Really didn't feel strong, I was sorry immediately that I didn't take the gel on the bike and started kicking myself for it. (I am supposed to be working on my nutrition plan for my HIM in November and I was feeling weak and mad at myself) I walked for about 10 sec. two times on the run, (more kicking myself). A woman in my AG rushed right past me, I couldn't even muster up the energy to try and keep up with her (more kicking myself)...anyway, the run over the small bridge wasn't too bad (hooray for my Friday hills group!) and finally finished the 3 mile run at about 26 min and change. I think my total time was 1:25: and change. I ended up getting 3rd in the bike and 3rd in the run in my AG...and I placed 3rd in my AG...but still, I wish I had felt stronger on the run- next sprint is Sept 21, so I really need to focus more on my nutrition in preparation for that and make that my focus on race day.