Back to racing? First race update in 9 months (3rd AG)

 I cannot believe that the last time I updated this blog was after Regal Beagle 50K in November 2020. Has it really been 9 months? 

Oh well, I forgot to write a blog about Outrun 24 race in May. I showed up at the race with a goal of just to finish a 50K because I wanted to save my legs and energy for the Olympic tri race at Deer Creek. At O24, I ran 35 miles and went home. Then, I got sick a week before Deer Creek and did not go to the race :(I was very disappointed as I was training pretty well and felt like I was "ready". 

Then, we took off on a 2-week vacation in the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador and I felt like my training went backward a little (with minimal running, biking, and swimming during the two weeks). However, the vacation was something that P. and I really needed after more than a year of staying at home and no traveling. 

After coming back from vacation, I saw someone posted in the Cleveland Tri Club Facebook group about the Spring Classic Sprint Tri (in Youngstown). It's about an hour drive from home, which is not too terrible and I can drive there by myself without staying overnight or asking P. to drive me to the race. It was an easy decision to sign up for this race but I wanted to make sure that it would not ruin my race goal this year (Half Ironman at Cassadagaman Tri). So, I asked my coach and he said "yes" immediately. 

The week leading up to the race was kinda...'blah'. I was unmotivated, annoyed (with something I did not even know), and tired most of the time. I also had too many meetings and added commitments at work. About a day or two before the race, my coach texted me and told me that the goal for this race was to practice nutrition, get back into racing a tri, and have fun. Those were quite easy to do. 

The race was on Sunday and we had to teach the #QuarantineCooking class on Saturday night. To me, teaching consumes a lot of energy regardless of the subject. So, I was pretty "out" by the end of the day. I set up my gears and outfit and went to bed early. 

The morning of the race I woke up and drove to the race by myself. It's just an hour drive and I did not want P. to hang around waiting for me for 1.5 or 2 hours. I got to the race about 30 minutes before the race started, set up my transition area, and used the bathroom. Somehow I missed the pre-race meeting (oops) but everyone said that the courses were pretty well marked and they had volunteers at every turn. 

The swim was in the pool. After swimming at a pool throughout winter, I felt very comfortable in the swim. I told myself - it's just another pool swim day. Because they had a limited number of lanes, they divided the start into multiple heats and each heat was based on your expected swim time that you submitted when you signed up for the race. I was in Heat 4 (out of 7). They let the slower swimmers start first. The maximum time for each heat was 20 minutes. So, my heat did not start until 8:20am. The swim was a breeze. I had to share the lane with another swimmer whose predicted time was close to mine. So, I tried to stay on my side of the lane. Since it was a 25-yard outdoor pool, we had to swim 10 laps (for a total of 500 yards). 

Then, I jogged from the pool to the transition area, put on the bike gears, and left the transition area. The bike course was pretty flat. As far as I remember, there was only one long climb and it was not terrible. It was an out-and-back course. I stayed pretty conservative during the first half of the bike course and sped up during the 2nd half. I notice that I got passed by a couple of people on the bike (*Note to self - work on getting faster on the bike). 

I came into the transition area and changed into the running shoes. The run was very very flat. It got warmer at the start of the run and I forgot to prepare a water bottle in the transition area (Note to self- need a bottle of water at the transition area). I took a gel after I ran out of the transition area and did not bonk during the run (yay). No tummy issue this time. I think it's because it's a shorter race. I crossed the finish line feeling great. Nothing went wrong today and was pretty pleased with my performance. 

I wanted to know my official time and they had to wait until the last person finished before they announced the results and awards. So, I stayed for the awards and it turned out that I came in 3rd in my age group!

Overall, I was very happy with the race. It was well-organized. The courses were flat and fast. It's also beginners friendly. So, I highly recommend if you want to use this race as your first triathlon. 

Next - Tri CLE Rock and Roll Run on August 21.