SMW Collegiate Champs!
This past weekend was full of fun competitive energy. Our region had its first ever Collegiate Regional Championship that qualified almost all of the teams to go to Collegiate Nationals on April 21st. I am the Collegiate Commissioner for our region so this was my event. I had worked so hard leading up to the date to make sure all the teams were eligible and verified to compete. I made sure we had the correct scoring system, fun individual prizes, and cash team prizes as well! The whole event was inspiring, with students from 15 different schools. Cheers, laughter, and worried faces all gathered to attempt the "almost-olympic" course of 1000m swim, 19m bike, and 5mile run at Joe Pool Lake, in Dallas, TX.
Since I was playing "advisor" of the race, It was a super stressful time period leading up to the race, and I almost forgot that I actually had to race too!Friday, we headed up to packet pickup, and then went to the course review clinic. Afterwards, we got our transition stuff packed, ate a pasta dinner + delicious icecream/brownie dessert and headed to bed early. 5am Wake-up calls always come fast, but luckily since I teach bootcamp at the same time all week, this feels like the normal. I ate my normal breakfast, but couldnt help feeling hungry again by the time we got to the race site. I was worried- I am never hungry before I race!! I wondered if I didnt eat enough the night before. Maybe I was so stressed, I was burning extra calories and just didnt even realize it. Oh well, I knew I could do the race, I shouldnt be worry about my energy levels! The race! After checking in the bikes, I got my timing chip, road and shifted through my gears, jogged around and then tried to sit for a few minutes to relax. But I was so hungry!! Before we knew it we were racing. I even got to give a pre-race meeting speech unexpectedly--with my wetsuit half down--tres cute. Anyways, The SwIm: 1000 meters sure goes faster than 1500. Since last race I kind of freaked, my goal was to start far away and never loose sight of the top girls. The waves were kind of choppy so I kept going a little off course, but I hung on their feet the whole way and came out top 3 with the girls. My avg pace ended up being around 1:19y pace which is pretty decent for open water. The bike: The bike was a super fast 19 miles, with a 2 loop course out on the dam. It was so annoying because once again the boys were not letting me pass. Finally, on the second lap I blew by them and left them in the dust-- the power of endurance!! My computer wasnt working, so I had no idea how fast I was going, all I knew was that I was in the lead and I wasnt going to back down. At the end of the second loop I was starting to feel a little lightheaded and was worried I didnt have enough calories on the bike with me. I sucked as much of the cytomax drink out of my bottle as I could before heading into transition for the run. Turns out I had a pretty good ride with an avg of 23.3 mph- my fastest yet!! The run: I totally forget about my energy level problem on the bike and just ran. I wanted to try to push it a little because I dont generally run fast off the bike unless I have other girls around me. I had no girls, but this was no excuse to slow down. Unfortunately, I havent done speed work in a while, and I seriously just couldnt go any faster. I could have held my pace for another 10 miles, but Icould not go any faster. I ran pretty well, no cramps, with an average pace of 6:34, but I really need to do some speedwork so it comes easier in the race!
I was satisfied with my race and didnt feel like it took too much out of me. In fact, today after one day off, I felt awesome on my run this morning and feel ready to rock and roll! I did some conversions to find out what my actual olympic time would have been if this race was the full distance....2:08!! Now THAT, is something I would be very happy with. Progress- step by step. In the mean time, I also found out I won the female bike and run primes, my womens and male teams won the overall teams awards, and Texas A&M Triathlon was crowned the SMW Regional Champs! Whoop!
After the awards ceremony, Me and Dustin headed from Dallas to College Station to Kemah to Galveston to meet up with his parents for the evening, and check out the Texas 70.3 race on sunday! It was so fun. We even got to see Lance Armstrong, and some of the best pros in the area compete. We saw lots of friends and had a great time hanging out with everyone. Watching a race is always a good way to motivate yourself to train and do well. So even after a good individual performance on saturday, sundays race-watching, motivates me even more! 2 more weeks of work and then its Nationals. I-can-do-this! Overall it was a great weekend, and I cant wait to do it again!