You run? So do I! But only after I swim and bike.... GUELPH LAKE 1 Race Report

Guelph lake one... made the podium :D  Totally didn't expect that.  Had a fantastic race!  The one thing I did NOT like was the 1pm start, I prefer the morning, get up and go, have the whole day to recover and get other stuff done... but oh well!

Was nice to take it easy in the morning, had a good breakfast but it was too early and come three hours before the race I was too nervous to eat and could only choke back half a cliff bar.  Drove to leanne and kyle's and met my mom there, she was my cheering crew today :)

Everything went smooth, got to the site an hour and a half before the race, just how I like it.  I got a sweet spot in the transition area, right near the end of the rack.  Lot's of time to get registered and marked up.  Hung out for a bit and walked down to the lake for my warm up swim.  Did about a 200  m warm up swim and felt amazing, I didn't have any of the OWS panic feeling, it was just .... easy.  So hot out though, did not want to stay in the wetsuit!

This time I was in the second wave which I was nervous about, I like being in the first wave, although then a lot of people pass you.

SWIM
Felt totally relaxed right from the start of the swim.  I was able to grab a couple legs and draft most of it.  This time buoys were to my right so pulling to the right was a good thing :) I was still not swimming straight but they did help me at masters swim and I did better.  I was able to bilateral breath 90% of the race this time, so totally improving.  I even passed some people from wave 1 so my swim has come a loooong way and I timed in at 2:01/100m!  Killed my goal
The run from the lake to transition is looooong in this race and uphill.  Yuck.  But I ran the whole way.

T1
I still suck.  Can't get the wetsuit off, I was an embarassing 2:31 in T1.  Here is somewhere I can improve and was way more important in this race since I only lost by 3 minutes and could have saved a minute here!  Will work on it and invest in some body glide.

BIKE
This was the shittiest part about being in the second wave.  THe start of the bike was brutal.  Totally congested, people everywhere, I was trying to pass them, but hardcore people in their aero gear were trying to pass me (mens 35-40 were right behind me)  I kept yelling on your left, but people were not staying right and it was frustrating.  ABout km 3 I was able to get up to speed.  Said shut up legs and went as hard as I could.  Had a tailwind to start which was nice and kept up well over 36 for a bit.  The course was much hillier than binbrook but I stood and sprinted up the hills trying to keep in my big ring and recover on the downhill.  Passed tons of people.  Still had legs coming home into the headwind so I was able to keep it up and nobody passed me.  Got 1st in my AGE for the bike :D  31.3 km/hr, not bad with the hills and wind!  Met my goal.  Everyone was bitching about the roads... they were totally fine.  Might be a different story for the OLY though.

T2
Slower than it should have been but I did stop for a drink

RUN
This was horrible.  My legs didn't come off the bike well.  I never actually hit my stride on the run which sucked.  I caught up to Kyle at the water table and passed him, although I didn't see him.  He then ran and caught up with me.  I was dying to stop, had a horrible stitch in my side, and the whole course was hills which i was unprepared for.  Kyle and I stayed together for the entire run, it was nice to have someone to talk to and listen to my cursing.  It made me forget about my stitch and it finally went away.  But I literally hate running so much and can't understand why people are solely runners..... a run should only follow a swim and bike IMO. When we got to the last 500 m I thought the end was actually closer so Kyle and I decided to sprint.  Mistake, 500m is a long way to sprint, but now we were at the end and everyone was watching so we kept it up right to the finish and finished at the exact same time.  That was kinda awesome.  I collapsed at the end though, that run literally killed me, I felt like hell.  Didn't meet my goal, 5:10/km boooo... so close.  Either way the performance got me on the podium and the spring might have solidified it because the girl who came in 4th was only 20 s behind me.

Kyle and Lise sprint finish!!!

Really happy with the day and the race.  Was in a huge age group of 43 woman so I can't believe i actually came third.  very excited to keep training now, really going to work on the run..... I've already forgotton the pain and can't wait for the next race!

Final time 1:21:09  So killed my goal time!