I set out this year with three goals.
I failed on all three counts.
My overall finishing time was 3:14:25. I had set my event goals so that I would finish in three hours exactly. I met (or exceeded) all my goals except for one.
I had planned on finishing the swim in 30 minutes, and then gave myself 5 minutes for T1. My swim time was actually 30:30 (only 30 seconds slower than I hoped) but my T1 time was only 4:19. I left transition 11 seconds ahead of schedule!
The bike ride, however, killed me. This was where I lost it all. I had been training my swim and my run like crazy, thinking that the bike would be fine, since that was already my strongest event. Was I ever wrong! I jumped on the bike and basically pushed way too hard up Lynch Hill. When I got to the top, I was overly tired. And I never recovered from that. I suffered the whole bike ride, having to reach deep into my reserves several times, just to keep going. When I finally got off of the bike, my planned 1:20:00 ended up being 1:34:58. I was a over 15 minutes slower than I had anticipated! I never felt "strong" throughout the whole bike ride.
I had budgeted 1:05:00 for T3 and the run. The combined actual time ended up being 1:04:42. Once again, I was seconds faster than my "expected" time. Last year's hot hot hot run was not repeated. In fact, the run was almost bearable this year. Maybe it was because I trained more for that event this year. I don't really think so though. My run time only improved by a few scant minutes over last year. I think that the run was just happier because it was cooler and I knew what to expect form the course. There was even a very nice aid station set up at mile 3.7 (which is where I died last year) handing out ice chips. I put a handful of those inside my running cap and let them melt on me for the rest of the run. By the time I made it to mile 4, the ice was gone, but I was not overheating like i had last year.
My overall finish time was 3:14:25, almost 15 minutes slower than my goal. I blame the poor bike time, since that was also around 15 minutes slower than expected.
I was finisher #162 out of 235 in my age group.
I never even saw Kristen on the course, and very little after the race. This was good for me. I felt very good about myself being able to turn away from her when she was right there, making herself sultry. "I'm going to be over there" she would say. Fine. You be over there. I'm not going to follow you around like a sick little puppy. I went home feeling like I had achieved a personal victory in that respect, even if it had nothing to do with the race.
After I got home, I checked the finish times and I was happy to see that I was faster than her, but not by much. Her finish time was 3:16:43, only a mere 2 minutes and 18 seconds slower than me. She kicked my butt in the bike and in both transitions, but I pwned her in the run and was faster in the swim.
Jamie passed me near the top of Beach Hill. It was actually quite humorous. I was plodding along doing my run, and then she jogged past me, not going much faster than me, but still going faster. As she passed, I realized who she was right away and I muttered, almost to myself, "You are NOT allowed to pass me!" I thought I was barely speaking, but apparently it as loud enough for her to hear, because she turned around to see who it was that had said that. I smiled. She looked at me like I was crawling out of a vat of untreated sewage; it was the most disgusted expression I've ever seen on anyone's face.
I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad. When I got home and was able to see the actual times, I saw that Jamie had placed #12 in her age group F20-24, with an overall finish time of 2:51:56. That's pretty darn fast -- The #1 woman in that age group only came in at 2:36:52!
Despite that I failed to meet any of my three goals, I was faster in every respect. My swim time was a new Personal Record for a 1.5km swim. My bike time was a new Personal Record for the hilly Wildflower course. And my run time was a new Personal Record for the Wildflower course. My transition times were faster than last year as well. In every single respect, I improved on this race.
I will probably not be doing another triathlon until after my P.E. exam is done in October.