Well crap, I think I’m about out of catchy sayings now.

The goal for this race, the final sprint of the season, was to cut off some time. Any time would have been great, but a couple of minutes was what I wanted to see. Was it possible? I wasn’t sure. ‘

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pre race pictures this time because I Iost my phone before I even warmed up. I checked my bag about 80 times, I retraced my steps to my car, I looked IN my car, nada. I checked the registration tent and no one had turned it in. Great. Well thats just great. And not a great start for a race either. In the end, though, I knew worrying about it wasn’t going to change whether I found it or not, so I just tried to switch my focus.

I did a quick bike warm up, and then got in the water. My warm up swim felt….unorganized. Not smooth. Choppy. Ugh. I was just not feeling it today. No phone, and not feeling it, great combination.

The Swim

Last Race: 14:36

Distance: still .3 miles or 600 yards, but I swear even though this is the 4th time overall I’ve done this, the buoys look SO FAR AWAY.

An awesome friend of mine gave me a couple tips to help cut some time off my swim. First, start on the inside. Second, try sighting every 8 or so strokes (I was doing so every 5-6). I attempted this idea in the pool and kept veering WAY off to the right, so I wasn’t really sure what I was going to end up doing, but I did at least start on the inside.

After the whistle went off, something clicked. I found a rhythm and went with it. I wasn’t passed by anyone doing the backstroke and I only SAW (key word here) one person in the group behind me pass me. I actually hit the shore in under 14 minutes, but struggled wading out of the water to the timing mat.

This Race: 14:06 (it turns out that I’m not sure I swam faster so much as straighter – I did 608 yards this time vs 625 the last)

Transition 1:

Last Race: 1:36

I’m not sure what I did here, but it wasn’t faster.

This Race: 1:39

I need some practice with this transition.

my only picture from the day and it was taken at home afterwards
my only picture from the day and it was taken at home afterwards

The Bike

Distance: 12 miles

Last Race: 36:16

Having done the course a couple weeks before, I was more familiar with the turns. The advice to me for this round was this: take the visor off your helmet and remove the bottle cages. Sounds crazy right? But anything extra on the bike can cause you to be less aerodynamic, and therefore slower.  I decided to haul ass and pray my legs weren’t mush when I got to the run. In fact, my goal was to make it farther before my friend caught up with me, and I did, so win. Actually, overall it was a huge win. I was only passed by one person (TAMI!).

This Race: 35:16

Transition 2

Last Race: 1:09

Still had to change shoes, and actually stopped to take a couple sips since I didn’t have a bottle on my bike, but I still cut some time

This race: 48 seconds

The Run

Distance: 3.1 miles (5k)

Last Race: 25:25

The run after the last race felt HARD, and I’m not even sure why because it wasn’t a particularly humid day. This time, it felt much easier. Weird. I didn’t need to stop at the water stations and felt great overall. 

This Race: 24:34

And all my friends say I'm pretty fly with my inhaler
And all my friends say I’m pretty fly with my inhaler

Final Standings:

Last Race: 1:18:51

This Race: 1:16:12 (PR!!!)

Age Group: 5/15 (just can’t quite make top 3)

Overall Female: 25/94

Swim Overall: 54/94

Bike Overall: 9(!)/94

Run Overall: 27/94

Oh, and I did find my phone! It must have been near the car because someone put it on my windshield!

Onward to Kiawah!