First Tri of '08 - Check!

The Spenco Sprint Tri was the first race on my 2008 events calendar. Last year I used the Olympic distance as my pre-season tune-up. (It actually ended up being one of just two races I did last year. Oops!)

Anyway, I was going to do Spenco, but then Panther & I decided that my legs weren't ready and I should wait and do Skeese Greets instead. Which was a fine plan until Dionn got a wild hair and convinced me to do Spenco anyway. Ultimately, it was a good idea - we've both been feeling somewhat unmotivated lately. Well, maybe not unmotivated- but we were both looking for a reminder of WHY we do all of this training. Friday we signed up for the race, and as an added bonus, convinced Maggie to join us.

At 4:40am Sunday, my alarm clock went off. I snoozed until 5:10, when I realized that there were actually people coming over to pick me up and take me to San Marcos. I hadn't packed a thing nor given it much thought at all. Luckily Maggie put everything together for me and off we went.

The race was very small - only 35 females, 50 males. However, there was also an olympic tri, duathlon, and 5K going on - so it was very hard to see who was doing what. Luckily it seemed that the really fast girls (i.e. the girls who had professional suits with their names on their butts) were doing other races. It was also very cold - about 60 degrees at the start.

The 500m swim was pretty uneventful. I didn't push it, swam pretty slowly, and tried not to be discouraged by all of the pink swim caps ahead of me. Ran to transition and was surprised to see Dionn sitting there. Seriously, the girl was just lollygagging away, and I was wondering if she even felt like biking today. I sat down and started a conversation about ant bites. But then I looked up and she was gone. Good - a rabbit for the bike!

I'm very pleased with my bike. I took it easy up the hills and pushed the flats. I passed a lot of people on the front half, including Dionn, and prepared to get smoked on back half. However, I didn't get smoked. In fact, I even passed people on the hills. I battled for territory with one girl -I didn't think I could pass her, but I was risking a drafting penalty since I was right on her tail. Finally, I thought, "just freaking take her Erin. Good lord!" So... I did. I also kept thinking, "just don't let Dionn pass you." I ended up with a 19.1mph average and the second fastest bike split of the females. Not sure what that really means since the timing mats including transitions, but I'll take it.

The run was uneventful. I settled in to my usual comfortable pace, didn't push it too hard, and had a relatively lackluster finish. I wasn't motivated to push it because there was no one around me. I didn't have anything to gain or lose and just couldn't mentally make myself go faster. 5k= 25:46. 8:19 pace. I really need to run sub 8:00s, but I think it's feasable soon. (I need more hate, I guess. Or more not-liking!?!)

We waited around FOREVER for awards, and Dionn won third place overall female. Maggie, Dionn & I all won our age groups, and Amy got second in hers. A good mental boost indeed!

Post-race lunch at Trudy's was great. Maggie & I got some strange looks since we still had numbers written on our calves. Ah, the life of a triathlete. ;)