Race Results!

Kristine Senko     200/203
Female     94/96
25-29     17/17
Swim 17:17     T1 1:54     Bike 1:23:39     T2 1:12     Run 47:54
Overall 2:31:55
Pace 15:27

This morning i woke up at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. (; i left the house at 5:35 and reached Highline Lake at 6:28. i was in heat two (out of two), so we started swimming at 7:35. i didn't get nervous until about 7:31 (wading in after the first heat took off), at which point i breathed through it and said a little prayer. By the time i remembered my first gel (energy shot) i was already at the start and had no water with me, so i decided to have it after getting on my bike. The swim was utter chaos, i kept getting stuck behind people and not being able to go around them. As a result i did the breast stroke more than i intended to, but i got to draft off them. There was one mouthful of water that i spat out after a particularly large splash, and i didn't even freak about it, i just kept going. The distance from the water to transition was actually pretty far, i probably swam with an actual time of closer to sixteen minutes. i feel really good about how the swam went, i didn't panic, i kept my face in the water a lot (using a 2 stroke breathing technique), i felt strong. On the swim i was 153/203 (11/17), with a pace of 55:34, so i was passed by almost 50 people during the bike ride (i passed one guy on the bike, but then he passed me in the final stretch. i was quicker in T2, but he passed me again running).

Transition 1 was slower than i would have liked, and i'm not sure why other than the fact that i didn't run the entire way through the zone and the fact that the zone was so large. Actually, the bike computer fell out of one of my gloves as i was putting it on, i had forgotten to put it on the bike ahead of time, so that kind of slowed me down. However, taking only my transition time into account i was 58/203, so i feel pretty good about that! Even though the water was a warm 69 (it had to have been way colder than that last Sunday) i was one of the only people not wearing a wetsuit: i think a wetsuit would not have helped my swim enough to make it worth the extra time in transition, i would have been too hot and it would have taken me too long to take it off.

Let me just reiterate that i hate this bike route. There were three big hills, and i did alright on them, not great, but i got passed so much, but really do not think i could have pedaled faster. i kept telling myself that i wasn't racing against all of the thin people, i was racing against myself. About 2/3 through i started seeing spots and took my second gel about fifteen minutes early; that helped, but i still felt like i needed more energy for the run, and my left knee and hip were experiencing pain. i hopped off my bike jogging, ending dead last, with a pace of 05:13.

Transition 2 took me longer than it should have because i took the time to talk to my family while grabbing my stuff. They hadn't gotten to the park in time to see me get into or out of the water. As a matter of fact i passed Dad and Sammy on the road, and Mom, Aunt Polly, and Katie (i think... it's sort of a blur) were standing by the fence taking photos. i didn't remember to tell them that there weren't supposed to be any photos taken of people in transition until i was jogging off. My transition zone was 84/203 (12/17), i could have done better.

When i got to the sidewalk i started to walk. As i said, my knee was bothering me, and i needed to bring my heartrate down. When i got to dirt, i jogged, starting my interval timer, but walked across the asphalt. i did not get through my entire first 10 minute running. During my first one minute walk interval i had another gel and drank some water. i started running again after a minute but discovered that the rest wasn't quite long enough, so walked for about a minute and a half. so i ran about eight and a half minutes, walked through my second interval (plus 1 1/2 minutes), and ran for about six-seven minutes before reaching asphalt. i think this is right, i feel a little fuzzy on the details. Basically, i did poorly in mile one, better in mile two (which seemed to take forever), and was strong in mile three. There was a really big hill right after mile three (to get on top of the dam) that i walked up, then for about 20 more seconds, before running to the finish line, ignoring my last 1 minute walk. Abby, Polly, and Daniel ran with me part of the last .1 miles, and we passed Dad, then a cheering group of Mom, Aunt Polly, Katie, and Sammy, and i actually kind of sprinted up the final grassy hill through the chute. i was really out of breath when they took off my anklet, i kind of scared one woman by taking a couple of steps backwards, i think she thought i was going to pass out. i wasn't lightheaded, but i couldn't talk very well. My running pace was 15:26. As i noted earlier, i finished 200/203 and 17/17, which i'm not too happy about, but i am glad that i didn't finish last. i feel badly, however, because there was a woman that finished behind me because she had forgotten her inhaler and had to walk the entire run. She was behind me in line for the food and said that she felt like she had the energy, but she couldn't breathe.

i walked back into the transition zone, had my last gel, and some water, talked to my family, and we carried all my gear back to the car. The lunch was subpar in my opinion, an extremely bland sandwich, chips, cup of pasta salad, and a pickle. They didn't even provide water to drink! i had chicken salad, people were upset that there was no vegetarian option, and could have chosen a cup of fruit but i probably wouldn't have liked that better than the pasta. i left the park shortly after 11:30. i've peed a ton, taken some advil for the joint pain, have a slight headache, and think that i will go see Wolverine after a shower and changing. i must stink, but i can't smell it, just the bug repellent i put on after putting my bike in the car (i got bit by a mosquito setting up my transition, right on the buttock, but never had time to scratch).

So, overall... yeah it's disappointing that i didn't do better, but at least i wasn't 603/606 (last year there was over 600). i was faster than one of the teams! Dad said my tires were low, i had aired them up beforehand but they seem to have a leak, so that didn't help. i think getting a new bike, one that's lighter and that i have smooth tires for, would help a lot. Mom's chain is kind of rusty and her gears aren't the best (though i like her bike a lot better than Dad's). The swim and run i feel good about, i think i will improve upon losing more weight and having more training. It's hard to believe that i did this after training for only 10 weeks. My run was probably stronger today than the fresh run at Girls on the Run was! i totally could not have finished this without the Clif Energy Shots, and maybe i would have done better if i had been fully rested (instead of standing on my feet for seven hours yesterday and getting less than five hours sleep), but i am so glad that i finished today, no matter what my place. i did better than J.D. on Scrubs, i finished on my own two legs! Yeah, i'm pretty happy about how i did, i'm sure that i can do better next year, right now i'm just wondering what race to do next, because i doubt that i can do an Olympic event in three months, but i would like to do another Sprint or two this year.