Gator Bait Race Report

Felty* and me in the rain, approaching the finish line.

They don't cancel triathlons due to rain. It rained off and on the entire time yesterday at Gator Bait. All my stuff is still drying out right now.

The official results:
5th out of 22 in my age group
116th overall out of 240 finishers
600 m swim: 13:40 (3/22 in my age group!)
T1: 1:32 (11/22)
4 mile run: 38:36 (13/22; 9:39 min/mi)
T2: 1:19 (6/22)
12.2 mile bike: 43:43 (5/22; 16.7 mph)

I think Shelly and I both had great confidence going into this race because it was held in the same place that we practice every weekend. We swam from a different part of the lake than where we usually train because of the water levels; it was a triangle course around 2 buoys. There were 4 or 5 waves of swimmers and Shelly and I started dead last in our wave. But! We swam pretty much side-by-side the entire time and exited the water together, finishing the swim in the front of our wave. I can't believe I was 3rd place in my age group on the swim! Later, we found out that the swim course was long by 100 extra meters.

Because the swim was in a different section of the lake, we ran next. Shelly and I got to run together too. We pushed each other through a very quick (for us) 4 miles. It started raining on the bike segment. Thankfully, they shortened the course due to wet roads, so we didn't have to do the monster hill at the turnaround. On the way back, I battled it out with another girl in my age group (I knew she was in our group because she passed us on the run...grr). We passed each other a couple times but I picked it up on the way into the park and crossed the finish line first. She finished right behind me, and behind her were 2 other women in my age group. Hooray! It was really weird finishing the race on the bike. We had to dismount and walk across the finish line with our bikes.

We enjoyed post-race sausage wraps, Cheetos, and cookies. And then, to cap a fantastic morning, Shelly won the grand door prize! She got a free pair of Newton shoes from Tri-Sition Area. Even in the rain, it was a wonderful race day.

*Yes, I renamed my bike Felty. It just fit better than Eisenheim the Magnificent.

Open Water Swim

Boerne Lake

Shelly and I joined a training group from Tri-Sition Area to swim at Boerne Lake this morning. It was the first-ever open water swim for both of us, and our only opportunity to try one before CapTex in 2 weeks (unless we want to try swimming in the Gulf of Mexico when we're in Corpus Christi for Beach to Bay next weekend, but that is not happening, sharks).

There were tons of people at the lake when we pulled up at 6:51 a.m. A Team in Training group was there, and at least 2 other groups were there. Everyone else had also brought their bikes to practice a swim-bike brick. But Shelly and I were just there to swim, and maybe to run.

We were both very nervous about swimming in open water. I heard from lots of folks about how, no matter how much you want to and know you should, you may not be able to stick your face in the water. How true that is! We swam 400 meters out to a sandbar and then 400 meters back, and in the first 400, every time I tried to put my face in the water, it bounced right back out. I guess I was afraid of not being able to breathe, not being able to see, not being able to touch the bottom, being surrounded by green water and nothing else...it was pretty impossible to swim with my face in the water.

But on the way back, I forced myself to try again because I knew I wouldn't have another chance to do it before the race, and managed to get my face in the water for a few strokes at a time. At least I know I can do it and not drown. Maybe I'll be better at the race.

Shelly did great. She was way braver than me about putting her face in, and she was able to swim much more efficiently because she did that. We were told that wearing wetsuits would help too, but it seems like a lot of trouble and expense for a little 400 meter swim. The water was warm enough, and I think we'll be fine at the race. Each 400 meter leg took about 9:30. And hey, we just swam double the distance of the race in open water!

After the swim, we put on our running shoes and went for a run. We meant to run maybe 2 miles, but the weather was nice and we were feeling good, so we ended up running 5. The people passing us by on their bikes were really friendly and supportive. We ran along the frontage road of I-10 and got honked at by an 18-wheeler, which made us giggle. Then we walked one mile back to the car as a cooldown and more time to chat. Talk about a confidence-boosting activity. We're both feeling much more at ease about the CapTex.

But before that, we've got Beach to Bay next weekend. Woo hoo!