A full distance triathlon that is inexpensive, close by, and a great venue - sign me up!!!
Going into this race, I had zero expectations. After tripping and hitting my injured knee AGAIN at Kat'cina Mosa, I focused on plugging in as much training as I could without pushing too much to make my knee worse. My training going into this race wasn't what I would have liked it to be, but I knew it would be enough to get me through.
Swim - 2.4 miles (4 times around the buoys shaped like a diamond in Bear Lake)
Start time 7 a.m. Brrrr!!! It was COLD outside - in the 30's! After setting up transition and pre-race meeting, I walked down to the water. By the time I got to the water my feet were frozen! Stepping into the water it felt COLD! This was the first year that they offered the full/ultra distance. The weekend before they had the sprint and Olympic distances. This weekend was the half and full. 18 of us "full" distance triathletes (small, really small, field) walked out to the starting buoy and it wasn't long before the race started. Luckily my body got used to the water quick and only my feet froze. 1:29:16 and I was done with the swim. Nothing spectacular, but I was good with it. In fact, I had the 2nd slowest female swim time. That's okay, plenty of time to make up on the bike and run. Up the beach, Chad quickly stripped my wet suit and into transition. T1 - 2:11
Bike - 102 miles - 2 loops around the lake.
Heading out on the bike, I was grateful that I had gloves and a jacket. It was still a bit nippy.
Oh, and my feet felt like rocks. It would take until mile 80 on the bike for them to fully defrost. 1st lap. Legs felt great and I kept a nice, steady pace. I have biked around Bear Lake before and was familiar with the course. Pretty much flat on the west and north side and then rollers on the east side. 2nd lap. Where did the wind come from? My speed tanked and my knee started to ache. A girl passed me and was cursing the wind as well. Mile by mile slowly went by and I was so looking forward to the run. 6:24:04 - and I was finally off the bike! 2nd slowest female bike time. I was definitely okay with it though. I didn't want to push my knee too hard. 2 things in my favor - my transition times were fairly quick and oh how I love to run! T2 1:13
Run - 26.2 miles (out and back - 2 times)
When did it get so warm?! Well it didn't matter, I had my running shoes on! The run course was a mile out of the Rendezvous campground area and then a short jaunt on a dirt road. Then back onto the pavement going into Laketown.
The course was pretty flat for 4 1/2 miles and then it turned and and had a few hills. This I didn't mind since I knew I would get to run back down them after the turnaround. I kept a good pace heading out to the turn around. I could also see who was in front of me. I only counted 1 female and she was a good 5 miles in front of me. I was kind of surprised. I knew that there were more ladies that were faster on the bike. Perhaps they were stuck in transition. Not sure. Keep moving forward. On my way back to finish my first out and back, I could see the lead lady coming back out. About 3 miles ahead. I was closing the gap, but not sure if I would be able to make it up. And then I hit a wall at mile 15. I didn't feel so well and my knee hurt. I decided to walk for a few minutes. I knew that there were a few girls not that far behind me and at that point I wouldn't have been surprised if they had passed me up. I was definitely moving slow. I kept moving forward and began to run again. Up the hills to the turnaround. About a mile from the turnaround I saw the lead lady heading back down (2 miles ahead). Maybe I could catch her, maybe not. After I hit the turnaround, I started to feel a little better and picked up my pace heading down the hill. Only a 10k left! Just before mile 22, I could see the lead lady. She was walking and looked like she was struggling. I quickly caught up to her and I as I passed I asked if she was okay and needed anything. She looked like she was in a lot of pain and that her legs were cramping. She said she was okay, so I kept going. The sun was starting to go down and the temperature was getting cooler. Perfect conditions to finish out the final 5k. I wanted to finish before the sun set, so I picked up my pace. 4:08:32 - run completed! And my final finish time: 12:05:18. 3rd overall. 1st overall female. Not my best swim, bike or run, but it was enough.
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