Columbia Triathlon Race Report

I need to stop leaving races before results are posted... Yesterday I raced the Olympic-distance Columbia Triathlon here in Maryland. I was really pleased with my race and was curious about how my times were compared to other women, but it started to rain right after I finished and with 2000 participants, the race was a total mob scene, plus I was of course starving, so we opted to get out of there pronto and just "check results on-line in a few hours." A "few" turned into many which turned into me waking up several times in the middle of the night to hit refresh... finally saw the results at 8 this morning!

I had the 3rd fastest woman's bike split of the whole day (all divisions) at 1:09:14, 2 minutes behind Amanda Lovato and 1:15 behind race winner Rachel Wassner, and ahead of the rest of the Pro and Open and Age Group women. Woohoo! I thought I had a good ride but I didn't know it was that good! I am excited because since switching to triathlon last fall, I have focussed my cycling training solely on time-trialling, and it seems to be working. I feel much better about this ride than my ride at Wildflower, where I finished the race feeling like I went too conservatively.

I felt decent about my run yesterday too, there were 4 women in my Open division who ran faster. My time was 42:48, I wish I could say I ran faster than that but I have to remind myself that I have been training my run since only this past August. I have already improved a lot and I am actually really excited that I feel so good with my run at this early stage of my multisport career!

As for the swim... I swam a 29:33, which was :27 faster than my goal of 30:00. Oh and my wetsuit zipper split apart 8 minutes before my wave start! Thank god my aunt Glenn and a very kind stranger helped me get back together, I would have swum without it but I would have been a bit cold and I definitely wouldn't have made my time goal.

So my overall time was 2:24:48, good for 10th in the Open division. I am psyched about that, I knew that in such a strong field I would not be able to make up my swim deficit so the goal for the day was to have a good-for-me swim and then tear it up on the bike and the run. Also to have fun, which I totally did, especially thanks to my mom and my aunt cheering for me and taking pictures, and Greg greeting me at the finish.(Me with Aunt Glenn)

Anyhow, I really like the Olympic distance, and I can't wait till my swim improves even more and I can feel even faster out there! My next race, Battle at Midway, is another Olympic distance race and I am really looking forward to it.