Annapolis Inagural Triathlon

By Nikki




I had to set up the two transition areas race-morning, so my day started at 4:30 am, but my race wave didn't go off until 7:30!



THE SWIM (29:33)
I felt like I hadn't swam in months when I hit the water--pretty much because I hadn't swam in months! The water was really warm, and very murky brown. Apparently the wave behind me was a vicious attack of drowning attempts, and pulling legs to propel ahead, but I didn't get any of that in my wave. Perhaps because I just don't look like much competition in the water!

T1 (2:09)
I felt fine running out of the water, but when I got to my bike, my suit got stuck on my left ankle, so I flexed my toe to remove it and my calf seized up with a Charlie Horse. Nearly took me to the ground in excruciating pain! Had to stop and massage the calf for a good minute because I figured better once in T1 than have it cramp again on the bike.

THE BIKE (1:08:07)

The course was very crowded, single-file many portions and hard to pass, and had to use brakes to keep from drafting where there was no room to pass. Way too crowded! My calf was still very tight, but never seized on me. Had a good chase with the USNA and USMA girls--between me and the Middy we pushed really hard and in the end we pulled the USMA girl out of her comfort zone and she bonked on the run. Go Navy! Beat Army! The last few kilometers, a guy in a Mid-Maryland kit commented on my Bella pink, and we battled each other all the way to the transition, it was fun, but if he's reading, you still got beat by the older chick in Pink! While this was my fastest split ever, since the course was 2K short, no idea if this would have been a PR for me or not.

T2 (1:40)
It was an uphill dismount and people were stopped all over the place way before the dismount and I nearly crashed. Once I got off the bike and tried to run with the bike, my calf seized again; so I limped my way all the way to the back of T2 to my rack and had to re-massage my calf. Took 4 more thermalites and 2 excedrine and limped out of T2.

THE RUN (53:39)
I started out very slow, small steps, and rolling my foot fully to stretch my calf muscle as I ran. Mid-Maryland guy was right behind me, and I kept expecting him to pass me but he never did--took 'till mile 2 before my calf finally loosened up and I didn't feel it at all. By mile 3 I glanced down at my watch and saw that I was at 2:09 overall. Quick calculation said that I could probably get under 2:39 so I picked up the pace. At the top of the bridge my hip flexors were hurting, but I knew I had more in me so I took big strides coming down the bridge and picked up the pace.

THE FINISH (2:35:05--a Personal Best!)
At 400m to go I smiled to myself and thought of the last 400m on the Port de Bales climb and knew this was gonna be a piece of cake; then a chick with a "36" on her calf ran passed me, I kept pace, she picked it up, and at 200m we were in a full sprint, everyone cheering us both on, and as I saw the opening to the Stadium I bounded ahead, leaving her in the dust!

Overall, I was really frustrated that it wasn't a standard 1.5k/40k/10k race as originally advertised, but the finish line was pretty cool! And I got to see fellow Navy teammate Tommy Brown (what a cutie!) take the overall Professional Win too!


Complete Results
Overall Rank = 50/377
Age Group Rank = 8/53