I think I jinxed my self by calling the New Orleans 5150 swim cancellation too early. My prediction came true and the swim was in fact cancelled. Water conditions were definitely a little rough.... far worse than the NOLA 70.3.
Prior this year I've only had one swim cancellation due to rough waters and this year I'm 2/2 for swim cancellations. GEEZ! Sometimes I think we need to ask ourselves: isn't this what triathlon is about... sucking it up and facing the conditions? I don't think WTC would agree lol.
But getting to the race report, I 'll keep it simple to spare you from my negativity! Instead of the 1500 m swim, race organizers opted for a 2 mile run. Yay! Right up my ally....
2 mile Run
As the run took off, I kept reminding myself not to go too hard or get super
excited. I knew if I did my legs would pay for it on the bike. I went out at a decent pace and stayed with the top 5 women or so.
Run 14:22
40 k Bike
Again very similar to the NOLA 70.3, the winds were a nightmare=gusty and unpredictable.... Given the conditions, I tried to keep up my cadence and keep my heart rate in check. After the first 5 miles or so 2 girls from my age group passed me. I tried to keep them in my sight but my legs and heart rate just said F-U Heidi...I was frustrated but tried to just focus on my race.
Bike 1:13:45 pace 20.2
10k run
I knew if I wanted to be competitive at all in this race I had some major making up to do on the run. I took the first mile easy and tried to focus on my turnover and cadence. After mile 1, I loosened my bike legs and dropped 30 sec off my mile pace. I was able to keep my pace between 7:30-7:50. At the 3 mile turn around, I could see the 2 girls that I needed to catch. They were both a good 2-3 minutes ahead of me. Lots of making up still to do. I caught a group of people here and there but still no sight of my AG girls. As the last mile approached, I tried to keep it up as both my pace and positive attitude faded.
Run 47:24 pace 7:39
Final time: 2:18:03, 5th AG 30-34
On a positive note, my 5th place finish earned some nice swag and also qualified me for the Hy-vee Age Group Championships. Yay for that!
Mary and I are debating Hy-vee... Girl trip?!
Anyway you can probably tell from my tone that I was disappointed with my race... Ultimately I believe certain days we race like champions and on some days we don't. Yesterday was not one of my days. After every race, I try to go back and examine what went wrong... what could I have done better? Looking back at this race there were no glaring, huge mistakes. I haven't missed any workouts. Nutrition was spot on. No injuries. I just didn't have my Heidi spunk. For me, that makes it that much more frustrating! Am the only one? Solid day buy I know I can do better!
Regardless, I will move on and be positive and know that "my day" will happen in the near future :) Congrats to everyone else who tore it up this weekend at the NOLA 5150, Rev3 Knoxville, and the Florida 70.3. And as for next week, I am thinking about signing up for IM Texas 2012..... Who's with me :) ?
