Lake Lanier Islands Sprint Tri Race Report

In short, a good swim, good bike and good run. FINALLY!!

1st AG/5th OA. Yahoo!!!

So, so happy and thankful that all three sports came together for me for this race. (I think it was the first race of the year that it seemed to really gel.) Great timing, huh? My last race of the year. Doh. But, hey, no complaints. I am just pumped that all the hard work paid off on Sunday.

I had read Jen's blog about focus the week before the race. Something really grabbed my attention..how she says she's so focused in her race that it is like she's almost in a trance...and I thought, "I am NOTHING like that.". I am the complete opposite of that. I am really unfocused during my races...thinking about everything else but the race...since the race HURTS. Watching other racers, waving, talking, looking for my family, for anyone's family to be honest.

So, I tried to really focus. On what I was doing, how I was feeling, where I was going next, who was ahead of me...etc. A novel concept.

But, it seemed to work for me. I was 100% focused out there. Not that hard for just over an hour, but it's a start.

SWIM -- 400 yards/7:40
Wore the wetsuit and pushed hard here. Tried to remember that feeling of going anaerobic on the swim for the first 100 goes away and not to panic! It did. And I was fine. Mike said he could tell where I was in the water because I was taking 2 strokes for every 1 of the (amazingly fast and smooth) girl in the lead. Hey, you do what works. 400 is over pretty quickly....2nd out of the water! NICE! And then the HILL. The long, steep, dry-heave inducing hill up to transition. She's a bitch. No joke. Wetsuit was a struggle to get off...I was super dizzy and could not find my balance to to the "dance" to get off the sausage casing as fast as I wanted.

BIKE--13 Miles-37:07/21mph
Rolling hills. Hey, it's North Georgia....we don't have much else. But, no wrong turns (this is the same course as Iron Girls where I added an extra 4 miles to the bike course) and I pushed and worked on staying focused. I didn't want anyone to pass me (that was my goal for the race. DO NOT let anyone pass me!). Goal accomplished (for the bike.) Roll into transition and zip out onto the run.

RUN --3.1 Miles --20:53
I really wanted to have a good run here. I have not yet felt strong on the run all year. And I have run out of chances! Time to GOOO! Run was hillier than I was expecting (or told Jill. I thought it was going to be the same run as Iron Girls, which was pancake flat, this was a different course and it was not quite as flat as I said. Er, sorry, Jill!) But, I felt strong and actually felt stronger as the miles went by. At the turnaround, I saw 2 super fast girls booking it about 50 yards behind me....and I did not want to get caught. I picked up my pace. I tried. But, I heard those footsteps. Those super fast, light on her feet footsteps.

With about 1/2 mile left, the eventual overall winner caught me (damn! she was from the wave behind mine, so had already made up 4 minutes on me) and I tried to stay with her, and did, for a little, then started to dry heave and slowed down to my own pace. Saw Mike. Then headed on to the finish...happy and done.

Results are here.
1 33 724 Kate Parker 33 Roswell GA 2 7:40 2:31 2 37:07 21.0 0:54 1 20:54 6:45 1:09:04

So glad to end the season on a high note. Huge thanks to my mom for coming over to our house before dawn to watch the girls so Mike could come with me. And a big congrats to Jill on a great race, especially after a migraine the night before. Oof.

Me and Jill post race