I was in an interesting situation the two weeks leading up to the race because my sublease in DC was up at the end of July but my internship went until August 5th. Basically that meant I was living out of my car, my office, my gym and wonderful friends who would house me - not ideal for training! Then the weekend before the race I went on a road trip to Asheville, NC with a friend and went to a vegetarian festival plus I got some hiking and biking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The way I sort of designed my training program, that week and weekend were supposed to be my most training intensive, followed by an easier taper week down to the race. Instead I was forced to work a little harder than I wanted to the week running up to the race, plus I was driving from DC up to Boston. I had an utterly amazing last week in DC that I wouldn't trade for anything, but it did kind of mess with training!
Details of the race:
I went out way too fast on the swim and had to slow way down before I could find my rhythm again. The pond was calm and warm (I didn't wear a wetsuit) but the sun was super bright right over the exit for the swim so it was difficult to spot where I was going looking straight into the sun. I may have wasted some energy and time not really going in a straight line but overall it was fine.
The bike was on rolling hills which made it both difficult and my kind of race because I happen to like hills and can generally blow past people on the climbs - I have more trouble holding my pace on the flats. It was 16.1 miles and I kept above 17 mph on average which is what I wanted to do.
The run was hard. I don't know if its because I haven't been sleeping that well but my legs didn't feel super rested to start the day and off the bike they were obviously extremely tired. And it was also rolling hills which is much more fun on a bike that on the run. I think I ended up negative splitting but not enough to make much of a time difference.
Compared to the DC tri earlier this summer I was a few minutes slower; that course had a longer run and this one had a longer bike so they kind of even out, although I would say this was a tougher course.
I now have more crazy traveling ahead of me in my schedule, Dallas then Vail then back to Boston and I'm doing the Massachusetts Spartan Race (5k obstacle course) with some friends when I am back but I have a few days of rest and a birthday this coming week! So for now I will kick back, drink some of the craft beer I brought back from Asheville and eat what I want for a few days!
This summer has been amazing and I have had so many incredible experiences from my internship in DC to training and competing in triathlons and I can't wait for what this fall holds in store for me!
