May 12, 2012 - TriRock Annapolis Sprint Tri

TriRock Annapolis May 12, 2012:

• Race Name: TriRock Annapolis
• Race Date: May 12, 2012
• Race Location: Annapolis, MD
• Race Distance: Sprint  (500m swim, 12.4 mi bike, 5k run)
• Division: F 30-34
• Total Time: 1:30:17
• Time Breakdown: Swim – 11:36, T1 – 3:21, Bike – 43:35, T2 – 1:39, Run – 30:04
• Age Group Placing: 30/83
• Overall Placing: 475/875 (overall)

Pre-race

Registration was online again this year. I decided early on that I wanted to return to my first race for a second go at it. Thankfully, I decided early enough that I got a discount on my registration. They had one side of the bridge completely blocked to traffic for the race this year. Packet pick-up was still kind of a pain since you had to do it Friday afternoon. They were doing a limited amount of pick-up on Saturday morning. The expo leaves a lot to be desired. They sold out the race this year – I want to say they capped the number at 1200 or so.

I’m so glad we got to the transition area super early this year. They were checking body markings and bike numbers to be sure they matched. 

The line got so crazy long, it was actually about half a mile up the road. On top of that, there were no port-a-potties in transition, so once you got in, you had to find a way out to go to the bathroom. Super inconvenient.

The weather was so wonderful this year! In the upper 60s and sunny, as opposed to last years low 60s and rainy.

I had been sick for about 5 days the week before the race. On race day, I still wasn’t sure how any of it would go seeing as how I hadn’t been able to do anything without getting light-headed leading up to the race. Of course, my mom, my nephew, Jon’s mom, Jon’s sister, and Jon were all at this race, so I felt some pressure to perform!

Swim

The water was beautifully calm this year! They had the swim go in a different direction this year, which was actually kind of annoying because as you got closer to the finish, the water got a bit crazy from all of the people. I saw my “crew” on the boat when my wave got in the water, so that was cool.

The water temp was about 62 deg again this year. I managed to find my rhythm in the cold water pretty quickly. Even though they put 7 minutes in between waves (and made the waves smaller), I still passed people in the wave before me. There were a couple of people that kept getting in my way (would swim away and then back towards me). I ended up kicking one guy just to get him away from me after he hit me a few times in a row. Ah well.

Bike

This year, the bike course had one side of the bridge completely closed down, which helped a lot. It also helped that it wasn’t raining and that I was in one of the earlier swim waves. All of that said… the course was still super crowded and there were parts of the course that I was still just as nervous on as I was last year. To have a 2-loop course with 2 u-turns on each loop is a bit complicated. Especially when you get the guys who are hauling butt and don’t care who or what is in their way. A few too many people were passing in the “no passing” zone, which was obnoxious as all get out. It was the only part of the course that was tight – they had everyone passing through 1 traffic lane with no shoulder.

I did remember to drink while I was on the bike this year, and I think that really helped me. This course is hillier than they lead you to believe, but it’s not horrible, just enough to bring your overall speed down!

(This is one of my favorite race photos ever. I look so determined!)

Run

I have a problem on the run part of a tri. I ALWAYS start out too fast. This race was no exception. I know I do, and I haven’t figured out a way to stop it. My Garmin told me the course was 3.05 miles this year (as opposed to the 3.3 or so last year). I’ve been wearing my HeadSweats visor for my runs – and I love it. Jon likes it because it makes me easier to spot.

My knee started bothering me around mile 2. I wasn’t sure what caused it, but I was pretty sure it was my bike shoes and the position they’re in. By the time I got close to the finish line, I was definitely ready to be done. After being sick the week before (and leading into the race), I was exhausted!

Transitions

Transitions went well this year. They marked the rows with numbers, so as long as you knew which row you were in; it was easy to find your rack. My transition times were much better this year, even though I had trouble getting my right foot out of my wetsuit. I picked up some TriSlide to help prevent that from happening again.

Post-Race

After the race, I got my banana, granola bar, and water and headed back towards the finish line. I was tired, but felt good. I ended up in the transition area and then couldn’t get out. I was happy to see everyone! They were all excited and impressed. Jon’s little sister was so excited, she said she wants to do a tri some day. Hopefully she’ll do the training and do it! I’d love to tri with her. The family who tri’s together…

The race results took longer than last year to get up. I’m not sure if that’s because of the number of people, or what. It was kind of weird, but it was fine. I didn’t really see any race officials, but they should’ve put some on the “no passing” zone part of the bike. It was annoying to be passed by a group of guys who were obviously drafting each other in the no passing area.

After I got packed up, we all headed over to a post-race lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. I put on my compression socks after my shower and showed up proudly wearing them. Every calorie I burned was worth that lunch!

Summary and Lessons Learned

Lessons learned from this race: 1) don’t bike with new shoes for a race unless you’ve done a brick in them, 2) don’t worry about family coming to the race, they’ll be excited no matter what, and 3) don’t be sick the week before and leading up to a race, it severely impacts your race!

I knocked off about 9 minutes from my time last year, not too shabby all things considered. Not sure if I’ll do TriRock again next year, but it was a fun race this year!