5/20/07

Lake Murray Sprint

Hello everyone!  I thought I would send a race report out to everyone to recap this weekends race.

 

Let me first start out by saying that Saturday I had 2 hour ride early in the morning, and then decided to do the bike course and run course when I got to Lake Murray.  By the time I got to lake murray and got out on the course it was around 4pm, and I could feel the earlier workout when I started to bike.  I kept telling myself that I was training for the Half Ironman in Macon and not to put too much pressure on myself.  I decided to turn it around and try the positive thinking approach.  One thing that lifted my spirit was that when I was on the run course I heard a bunch of leaves ruffling and turned around to see about 10 deer running through the woods.  What an awesome sight, that is until I did the turn around and was almost trampled by 5 more that came darting across the road.  That is one thing I love about this sport is the scenery that you get to see.  I went to bed that night not extremely excited about the race, and feeling a little off.

  

Sunday morning I woke up a little tired, but all in all not too bad.  I did all my usual things in preparation for the race, and felt fine.  The swim was an in water start and as the gun went off I started my not so successful journey.  I got my rhythm until the first buoy,  at the turn you were looking directly into the sunlight and couldn’t see where to go next so I just followed the feet in front of me.  Big mistake.  The feet obviously couldn’t

 

 see either, because when I finally stopped to make sure I was on track I was dumbfounded as to how far off course I was.  I didn’t get a good rhythm again until the last buoy, and then I tried to hall some major tail to make up for time.  I came out of the water frustrated only to look down at my heart rate monitor and see that something had hit the stop button so I didn’t even know my swim time (15:14).  Someone mentioned later that was probably a good thing, and I completely agree.

Transition was good and solid, I even managed to try the “no socks” thing my coach preaches about for sprints.  The bike normally feels pretty good to me lately, but I had heavy legs that I knew were from my workout the day prior.  I mentally dug so deep to finish this race that I am still surprised I am not sitting on the side of the road waiting for someone to pick me up.  I managed to still finish the bike avg. 20 mph on a 16 mile rolling course (45:26).  

I head out onto the run feeling a little better just b/c I know I am not that far from done.  The first mile of the run feels pretty fast, and I start to question whether I should slow down.  I have a tendancy to really like that first mile b/c you can’t feel anything  The second mile was a little slower I am sure, but then I saw some competition.  I just told myself I had come way too far to let someone beat me, and I needed to step up my game.  Someone I coach bought me a shirt a couple of months ago that said “pain is temporary, but pride is forever”, and I have to say that’s exactly what drove me to the finish.  I finished the 5k right under 23 mins which isn’t bad considering, but I am never completely happy.
I finished 9th overall

http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=633

And 1st in my age group (barely J)

http://www.setupevents.com/files/lkmurrayfeage.html

view some pics

https://www.birdseyeview.net/cgi-local/store/imageFolio.cgi?img=0&search=257&cat=Triathlons%2F20070520_MUR&bool=and&numtolist=50&sortfiles=2&x=72&y=15

If I take anything away from this race, I know that even if I don’t feel like doing something I can make myself do it.  On a side note, this race was free and I am way too cheap to pass up a free race!  Hopefully Macon’s Half ironman in two weeks will feel so much better!

Thanks to Trisports.com, Dukes Mayonnaise, Atlanta Bread Co., and Barracuda!  Couldn’t do it without you!

 
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