Tri Louisville

Going into the race today, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The course is a 4-loop bike and 2-loop run – all of which take you around downtown Louisville. I have been training for Muncie/Ohio for a number of weeks now, and I was planning to use this race as a training race to see where I am in all disciplines and to know better what I need to continue to focus on. With anxiety being a bit high the 24 hours prior, and motivation being just “meh,” I showed up and chose to “just finish,” the Olympic distance tri.

Got to the race earlier than I expected, which was probably a good thing considering limited parking and the amount of triathletes that were already there and setting up 1.5 hours before the race was set to go off. I met up with Jenn Porter and we walked to transition together to set up, and then head down to the swim start. Along the way it was great to see so many Landsharks, and to hear words of encouragement and a huge representation of the club.

The swim was a wave start, which is actually what I prefer since there aren’t as many people to bang into and mow me over. Swimming out the first buoy went fine – I mean, you can’t really screw that up much seeing as it’s a straight shot and not too far out. However, after I hooked a left to swim downstream I realized, a little too late, that the “orange,” I was headed towards was not, in fact, another buoy but instead the vest of a kayaker. Whoops. Easy fix. I got back on course and continued to head down to the last turn buoy before navigating my way to Doc’s Cantina.

There were two minor stops I had to make along the way as I took in a bit of water and had to cough it up. And for whatever reason it felt like the swim was going on FOREVER. I remember thinking at one point that I must be nearing the hour mark, so you can imagine my surprise when I got out and stopped my watch at 33:50 – a full 5 minutes faster than my fastest Olympic swim in Knoxville in 2010. Plus, that little detour tacked on almost another .2 miles. Happy to say, I rocked that swim.

If I rocked the swim, then I made the bike my bitch. Headed to T1 I felt great and super confident. I hopped on, spending a mere 2:50 in transition, and made my way onto the course. There weren’t as many turns as I was expecting, and since it was flat it was a very fast course. I was apprehensive about doing the same loop four times, but I actually really enjoyed it. I’m a numbers gal, so when I can tick it off by telling myself “one down, three to go.” Or “okay, just one more of what you just did (two laps down, two to go),” it helps mentally. I kept looking at my watch in disbelief that I was holding about a 17 mph average. Considering I qualify 15 mph as a good day, I was stoked. Finishing up my fourth lap, after seeing and cheering on numerous Landsharks along the course, I came in at 1:25:09 – a 16.9 mph average. (side note: my Garmin registered 23.8 miles rather than 24.8).

Off to the run and to finish this race, I felt good and strong despite wobbly legs. The run segment of a tri is always my worst as I am typically pooped after the bike. I remember thinking this on this bike course in particular, as I was crushing it so hard I was concerned I would have little left over. I started off with a plan to do 3:1 intervals but, alas, the fatigue and heat set in and I ended up planning to run what I could and to attempt to walk no more than one minute at a time. This plan worked really well for me as it kept me going but not feeling overwhelmed as if I couldn’t accomplish the goal. After two loops around the course, I found myself coming in at 1:12:41 – a 12:38 pace (again, I must announce that the run course was only 5.75 miles rather than the full 6.2).

Overall, I was VERY HAPPY with my race. I felt the best I’ve ever felt during and after a triathlon, and didn’t have any negative or self-deprecating talk creep up like I sometimes do. Looking at my results from Rev 3 Knoxville in 2010, I came in a full 38 minutes faster this year than I did 6 years ago – a new PR!

Even though the distance is twice as far (sans the swim) I am looking forward to Muncie in a few weeks. I have a few 60 mile rides planned between now and then, and hope that I can keep up the momentum on that run course as I did for this one (although slow by most triathlete standards, it was a win for me). So happy, again, that I got to see, hear from, and encourage a number of my Landshark friends out on the course today. You guys represented big time!