Saturday we had a team time trial practice out on Sauvies's Island. The first lap was a little sketchy. Riding my Kuota K-Factor in aero position in a group takes a lot of trust and confidence. You have to trust your teammates and yourself to hold your lines and speed. The breaks are a long ways away when your hands are out on the aero bars. I really needed the practice, but afterward I felt much more confident in my areo position bike handling skills, even if I scared my teammates a few times with a few jerks and some slowing on some of the corners. The adjustments I made to the bike helped out a lot. My shoulder did much better than last week, and I could generate a little more power. I still need to work on my hip flexors. They are not that flexible and are causing some knee pain.
Sunday was the Hawthorn Farm Triathlon . It was amazing. I was late registering, but the race director Rod graciously found me a spot even though it was with the super fast swimmers. The format was a 500 meter pool swim, 13 mile bike (20.9 kilometers), 3 mile run (5 kilometers) point to point. It was the first pool swim triathlon and first point to point race I have done. Point to point means that the transitions and finish are at more than one location. In this case the swim was at the Hawthorn Farm Athletic club while the bike and run both finished at Hilsboro Stadium. With a pool swim you keep doing laps until you reach the distance required. Usually there are 4 swimmers to a lane. Often the faster swimmers need to pass the slower ones so they tap on the feet of the slower ones to go by. I lucked out and there was only one other swimmer in my lane. For a second I thought that I was going to get to be all alone. Here's how the morning went down.
I woke up nice and early and full of nerves. Spent some time around the house, ate breakfast and headed out to the course. The first stop was to setup my T2 area. Chilling out to some good music I took my time getting everything just right. Towel set, shoes set, wrist brace set up, rain shirt ready and then covered the whole thing with a plastic bag to keep the it dry in the event of rain. Then it was off to T1 and the swim start. At T1 I found a spot for my bike and got all my gear arranged. Because of my shoulder disability I need to run in a shoulder brace. I decided to put that on in T1 instead of in T2 because it goes under my top. After getting everything just so it was time to go watch a few heats and eat some Cliff Shot Blocks and mentally prepare.Just before the swim start I told my lane mate that I was a little slower and to go ahead and pass me which she did, twice. I felt pretty strong on the swim especially since I haven't been swimming that much. I did the whole thing side stroke. I thought about going with the one arm free style but I'm just not confident that I can hold that and transition between side and free when I run out of O2 swimming free style. That's something I need to work on. The swim took 10:21 and I was expecting to be the last one out of the water, but I wasn't. That placed me 127 of 219 swimmers.
Transition 1 went badly again. Trying to put on my shoulder brace while wet just doesn't work. I'm going to have to adjust how I do T1 in the future. It felt like a long time in T1 but, unlike last time, I didn't let it phase me. I built up speed and intensity on the bike course. For the first 2 miles I just let myself settle in. That was a big difference from Elma where I dialed it up to full intensity right away. Letting my legs adjust really paid off. I felt strong and confident the whole bike phase. I probably could have pushed it a little more and hopefully with all the stretching I'm doing my hip flexers will agree in two weeks down at Duck bill.The bike to run transition was fast and smooth. The only slight issue was the bike dismount. I need to practice that a few times. Coming out of T2 my heart rate strap fell down, and I was without a good reading for the run. This time I built into the run just like I did the bike. What a big difference. The few brick workouts that I've been doing lately are really paying off. I felt super strong for the whole run. Again, I probably could have and should have pushed the second half more. Coming through the finish was awesome. My Dad and a few friends were there to cheer me on! Felt so good to finish strong.
Afterward I hung out for a bit enjoying the nice sunny weather and chatting up my father. I always love it when my family members make it out to a race. Little brother is coming up to visit in May or June so hopefully that comes with a race too.
Next race is Duckbill Thrill in Eugene, OR on May 17. That will be the first Olympic distance race and should produce my qualifying time for PC nationals in New York on July 26th. This week more training and a rest day on Monday!
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