Race Report: Lanikai Sprint Triathlon

Yesterday, right before a 50 mile ride followed by speedwork mile repeats, I decided to do a triathlon the following day.

Here's how it went down.
Coach (to group): "How many of you are doing the race tomorrow?" (Does head count) "Good! Now go ride!"
FL (to coach): "Hey coach, about the race tomorrow....well, I want to do it, but I'm flat broke. Any chance I can come help you guys set up this evening and get a comped fee?"
Coach: "Absolutely. Show up at 1 and help me out for three hours. Now go ride!"

Halfway through the ride, my week of training caught up with me. If I had known I was racing, I probably wouldn't have pushed myself so hard at the track and pool on Wednesday, grinded hard up Tantalus on Thursday, or snuck in two extra swim sets this week. My hamstring and calves were cramping, and my legs felt like lead on the run. I hightailed it to an ice bath, zipped over to the race venue to setup the transition area, then headed home to have some love with my Recovery Socks and TP Therapy rollers and balls. Yeah, that's right. I said it, you pervs. I played with my balls on a Saturday night.

A few hours later, I headed to the race. I was TIRED. My body was sluggish and my calves....oh Lord, my calves. I decided that it would be a great training experience, and was glad I didn't take it seriously.

Part One: The swim. I was SO EMBARRASSED. I don't know what happened, but I lost the pack and got sucked out with the current. The next thing I know, I'm on the opposite side of the lifeguards on surfboards. I swam by myself the whole time, and what should have been a 500m swim was likely a 700m swim for me. Pathetic. Nothing but pathetic.

T1: My transition was pretty good. 1:42. Put on shoes, put on glasses, put on helmet, put on race belt. Could have been faster, but decided to squirt water on my feet to get rid of the sand. Could have skipped that part.

Part Two: The bike. One word? Mediocre. I had my zipp wheels on and SHOULD have been faster. I just wasn't sure how hard to push it on the bike. I didn't get passed at all, but definitely finished with too much gas in the tank.

T2: Another decent transition. 0:57. Aside from losing my balance, I quickly dumped my bike, shed my helmet, slipped into my Brooks T6 racers (which I rubbed sports shield into the heel last night so it wouldn't make my heels bleed) and threw on my cap.

Part Three: The run. I decided not to wear any timing devices, so I ran on feel. Well, let me tell you, I wasn't FEEL-ing it today. My legs did not want to budge. Cardiovascularly I felt great, but my leaden legs were throwing a tantrum. I passed a lot of dudes, but got passed by two chicks. The run is usually my thing, but today it wasn't. All in all, I averaged 7:03/mile for a 5.5k run, which isn't too bad considering about 1/3 of a mile was on loose sand. But I finished that race with way too much left in the tank.

At first, the timing system said I was 1st in my AG. I remember another girl with "27" emblazoned on her calf speed by me with a half mile to go. I tracked her down and took her over to the timing officials. I explained what I witnessed (turns out it was a big timing chip mixup) and told them that she took 1st place fair and square. Besides, after my performance today I didn't feel like I deserved 1st.

All in all, another race for the books. A HUGE Mahalo to Raul Boca from Boca Hawaii for "sponsoring" me in this race. Aside from my complaining, this race was organized so well. All the volunteers were knowledgeable, they actually had referees (and gave out penalties for headphones---booyah rulebreakers!), and they made it a safe and fun experience.

I'll post more photos once they go online, but I'll leave you with the one photo I have of me and one of the Ohana: