Kemah Sprint Race Report 2015

I wanted to give you a little play by play of my first race of the season.  

The Kemah Triathlon offers both sprint and olympic distances. This was my third time doing the Kemah sprint distance.  I've never done the olympic distance but it's quite popular because you get to jump off of a three story paddle boat into Galveston Bay and swim to shore.   

A lot of people sign up just so they can jump off the boat.  

Maybe someday I'll do the olympic because jumping off the Colonel would be kind of fun but for now I'm ok with starting on the beach.  It's what I've always done.  I'm a creature of habit.

I arrived at the Kemah boardwalk at about 4:15am.  I unloaded my bike and walked to check-in for body marking.  If you're not familiar with triathlon speak, body marking is a way to identify athletes on the course during the race.  A volunteer uses a Sharpie to write your race number on both arms and your race age on your calf.  My race age this year is 48 because by Dec. 31st I will have turned that age.  This puts me in the 45-49 year old age group or AG.  My results will be measured against the other women in my age group.  That also means that during the race, I will be on the look out for any females in my AG so that I can do my best to stay ahead of them.  I don't worry about anyone else.  Unless they try to trip me on the run.....more on that later.

 My friend Rachele was volunteering at check-in so we chatted and took a pic.  Sorry about the strobe light behind us.  Everywhere we turned, there it was.

How can she look so good at 4:30 in the morning???

After I got marked, I walked to transition to find my race number on one of the bike racks.  I found #1479 and hung up my bike. While I set up my towel for the bike and run, I chatted with the other ladies around me.  Three of them were new to triathlon and this was their first race.  They were all a little nervous about the swim because it was notoriously choppy.  I loved talking to them and sharing what I knew about the course.   

My bike, Jenny set up next to my little "area" for transition.

 It was still dark and I had some time to kill so I visited the port-a-potties (Eww!!) and then walked down to the swim start to check out the water conditions.  The kayaks were just starting to launch into the Bay.  The water looked a bit rough but I expected that.

Kayaks heading out to the Bay

I walked back to transition and decided to start pulling on my wetsuit.  The race marshall walked passed us and said transition was closing in two minutes.  Wow, that was fast!  I tucked my goggles in my swim suit along with my purple cap and headed down to the beach.  When I got there the announcer was already calling for the purple caps to line up so I quickly jumped in the queue and entered the water.

 I did a quick warm up swim under the pier then took my place right beside the start buoy up in front of the pack.  In the past I've always been timid about the swim and positioned myself in the back of the group because I wasn't a very strong swimmer but this year was different.  After months of swimming four to five days a week in the off-season I felt confident enough to start up front and not be afraid of body contact when the gun went off.
The countdown began...10, 9, 8.... I treaded water and counted out loud with everyone, excited to get this party started....4, 3, 2, 1  BANG! and we were off!  Coachie had instructed me to go hard on the swim so that's what I did.  I kept trying to find some feet (meaning draft off of another swimmer) but everyone was too scattered out.  I swam hard and tried to stay in line with the buoy.  Once I reached the buoy I made the turn and pressed forward.  I started passing the previous wave of male swimmers-- a good sign that I had a decent pace.  I passed the next buoy and turned for the shore.  I started passing the wave two groups before us so I knew I was making good time but I still couldn't find any feet to draft nor did I know how many purple caps were out of the water.  I kept swimming until my hand touched the sandy bottom. I stood up and climbed out of the water with the help of a volunteer and took off for the wetsuit strippers.  Thank goodness they were shouting at me to come over to them or I would've missed them.  I dropped to the ground and laid on my back with my feet in the air.  Two ladies grabbed my suit and yanked it off in one pull.  "GO, GO, GO!!" they said as they shoved my wet suit at me.  I grabbed my suit and took off for transition feeling excited.

Wet suit stripped and running to T1

 I ran to my bike and dropped my wetsuit then grabbed my helmet and slipped on my gloves.  I don't always wear gloves in a sprint but a light rain had begun to fall and I wanted the extra grip on my bars. I pulled my bike off the rack and ran barefoot to the BIKE OUT.  I like to keep my shoes clipped into my pedals then mount the bike barefoot.  Once I'm cruising on the course I simply slip my feet into my shoes and secure them with the velcro flap.  It saves time and I run faster in bare feet than I do in slippery bike cleats.
We had a quick turn around under the Kemah bridge and then a straight shot with a bit of a head wind for about 6 miles.

At that point it started to rain, like really rain.  I just hunkered down and picked up my speed.  My goal was to stay above 19.0 mph because that's where my legs felt challenged but strong.  I passed a lot of people who were likely intimidated by the rain.  I started picking people off and looking for other females my age. I didn't see anyone but that didn't mean they weren't out there in front of me.  I held my pace and made it to the turn around then headed back towards the boardwalk.  

I played cat and mouse with a few guys, not intentionally but sometimes you pass people and then they pass you back and then you keep doing that until somebody gets dropped.  If anything, it keeps it interesting.  Eventually I saw the Kemah bridge ahead so I pulled my feet out of my shoes and pedaled barefoot to the dismount area. I turned into BIKE IN and swung my right leg over the saddle to glide over the dismount line and rushed to transition with one hand on my bike.  I made my way over to my towel and racked my bike then took off my helmet.  I bent over to put my running shoes on and --- UGGHHH!! A sharp pain shot into the right side of my abdominal muscles.  Wow, that didn't feel very good!  I felt a charlie horse knot up underneath my rib cage.  "Great, " I thought, "this could be a problem".  I massaged the lump with my fingers and tried to get it to release but no luck.  I bent over to try for my shoes again but stood right back up from the pain.  I took a deep breath and told myself to stay calm and relax.  I kept massaging the muscle until it finally released enough for me to get my shoes on.  I grabbed my hat, my water bottle and my race belt and high tailed it outta there.

The run for a sprint distance is a 5K or 3.1 miles.  I had been instructed by my coach to build the run mile by mile so that's exactly what I did. I turned left onto 6th street then made a right and settled into a good pace on a straight road.  The crowd was cheering, the rain had eased up a bit and I was enjoying the moment......and then I heard heavy breathing and the steady rhythm of feet hitting the ground behind me.  I didn't turn around because I wanted to stay focused on my plan.  I wasn't worried about being passed because a lot of people take the first mile too fast and you just end up passing them later when they peter out.  I was only concerned with the women in my age group.  It became clear that the person behind me was ready to pass me despite having an entire road at her disposal.  She decided to speed around me, brushing my shoulder as she stepped right in front of me.  I had to dodge left to keep from running into her and thought, "wow, lady, really?  Did you actually just do that in a sprint race?".  I looked down at her calf as she trotted off in front of me. Thirty-one years old.  Hmmmf.  I was certainly no threat to her and felt irritated that she was being such a bad sport.  I let the little whipper snapper go, vowing to deal with her at mile three. I passed the second mile marker and saw Johnny Z, owner of Powerhouse racing.  He cheered me on and reached out to give me a high five as I passed.  I was feeling good and picked up the pace to keep building my speed. I kept the whipper snapper in my sight, patiently biding my time.  She was starting to fade.  We rounded the boardwalk along the waterfront and I knew we were about three quarters of a mile from the finish.  I continued to build my pace, as instructed.  The Whipper Snapper was gonna rue the day that she messed with Mama D!  I past the guy on my right and then made my move and blazed past little Miss Snapper, feeling quite pleased with myself.  I kept pushing through the last mile as hard as I could go, passing several people in the process.  Now, let me add here that I am NOT a fast runner by any stretch of the imagination.  I AM determined.  I wanted my coach to be proud of me.  I wanted to be on the podium.  I kept repeating this like a mantra in my head so I wouldn't give in to the pain and slow down.

Making my move to pass the Whipper Snapper!  Am I really that short??

Splash, splash, splash!  I ran through huge puddles of water and made a turn for the final stretch. The spectators were cheering and the volunteers were directing us to turn right and assuring us that we were almost there! I could hear the announcer calling out people's names and could see the finish shoot up ahead.  I really put the hurt on and pushed my pace to give all I could muster on the final approach.  

Me in the back sprinting in to the finish....

It felt like my lungs were going to burst as I crossed over the timing mat.

WHEW!!  I made it.

Wow, that HURT.

A volunteer pulled me aside and took the timing chip off my ankle.  Another hung a finisher's medal around my neck.  I was happy to be done and ready for an ice cold coke!  I wondered over to the food tent, grabbed a drink and sat down to relax and wait for the results to post.  It wasn't long before I saw a crowd of people hovering around a bunch of papers taped to the side of a trailer.  They were all craning their necks to see their results.  I walked over to find the paper for my age group.  It was such a good feeling to see my efforts had paid off.  Second in my AG was fine by me :)

I looked at my splits and noticed the cramping issue during T2 cost me a full minute which was a bit of a bummer but all in all I was still happy.  I swam hard, I biked hard and I passed the whipper snapper on the run.  It was a good day!

During the awards ceremony it was raining so hard the announcer was forced to run through the names like an auctioneer.  I was so ready to get home and get warm.  I accepted my second place trophy, stood on the podium for quick pic and then took off for transition to pack up.  I got to my car feeling exhausted but happy for a great day.

This race was a good start to my season.  Despite having to recover from knee surgery and get through some minor bumps in the road I was able to push my body and race hard.  I'm really looking forward to the Galveston Half Ironman on April 26th.  Being a triathlete is da bomb :)

Back home, warm and dry.