Troika 70.3 race report

Two Sunday's ago, August 5, I did my second half ironman of the year.  I like this race because it is a small local race that is well organized and always has a stellar race shirt. Actually, they give out a sweatshirt! That's the real reason I go back every year..

I'm learning to not let myself get nervous before a race and to trust my training and coach, it seemed to work out pretty good for me at this race!  Here's my report:

Swim: the swim started out with me drafting off two girls in front of me.  I was pretty proud of myself with this drafting because up until this race, I have not been able to find someone to draft off of because they were either too fast or too slow.  Sadly, this drafting only lasted about 500 meters because the women were too slow and faded.  It wasn't until the last 500 meters that I found another person to draft off of, great practice for me.  The challenge during the swim was that the sun was in my way to sight the buoys so I felt like I swam a zig-zag pattern.  I was the 5th woman out of the water, so I must have done better then I thought.
1.2 mile swim- 32:50

Bike: I tried a new thing on my bike this race.  Isn't that what races are for, to try new things?  Instead of putting my shoes on immediately after taking my wetsuit off, I left my shoes on my bike!  It worked well!  Not sure if it was any faster of a transition for me, but it was nice to let me feet dry off a bit more before putting my shoes on and not worrying about sliding when I run with the shoes on.  Anyways, the bike leg of the race went well.  The race plan was to keep my heart rate low for the first half of the ride and to steadily increase it allowing me to pass all the athletes that passed me the first half.  It worked!  I ended up passing a lot of people the last part of the bike who looked like they were struggling.  I felt great!  There were two struggles on the bike though, first I sneezed at least 20 times coming out of transition!  Not sure what was going on, it made it kind of a challenge to put my shoes on.  Second, I got stung by some insect on my forehead with only five miles left on the bike.  The insect got stuck in my helmet and must not have realized who he was dealing with so decided to sting me.  It didn't slow me down too much because I finished my ride feeling strong.
56 mile bike- 3:02:56

Run: the run is where the race begins.  Everything up until this point is a warmup.  This year Troika did not disappoint with the heat, and the temperatures were high. It was a very sunny and hot run.  I had the same race plan on the run as for the bike as far as my heart rate is concerned and it worked again.  Although the sun was hot, I kept plugging along on my run and ended up passing four athletes in the last mile!  Also in the last few miles of the run I got stung by another insect!   How does that happen twice in one race?!  I must have been running hard because I was stung on my tongue and didn't even see the bug until it was too late.  Looking back on my run, I am disappointed with myself that I did not increase my heart rate sooner and increase my pace earlier.
13.1 mile run- 1:50:10

At the finish line I learned that I was 3rd in my division and 7th overall!  Overall it was a pretty good race, I had a tough, high volume regimen the two weeks leading up to the race which may be the reason I was unable to push it sooner during the run.

I actually couldn't say it better then my coach, Chris Bagg (his website here) did in an email he sent to all of his athletes:

Congratulations to Sally Shadle, who took 7th overall and 3rd in her age group at the Troika 1/2 Iron this past weekend. It's especially awesome considering the two weeks Sally put in before this event, logging over 40 hours of training over the 14 days. Pretty stellar result on tired legs. Next up for Sally is IM Wisconsin in a month, where she'll actually get to race fresh for once!
Total race time- 5:28

My next race is ironman Wisconsin September 9.  I'm really excited about it as I will have loads of family supporting me there!  My "A" race is less then one month away!!

When is your next race?

Have you ever been stung by an insect during a race?

Are you going to be at the finish line of ironman Wisconsin to support me?

Here are my race statistics:

Race Standings

Race Place

55

Division Place

49

Gender Place

7

Age Place

3

Bib Number

137

Gender

F

Age

30

Start Time

07:05:00

Swim

00:32:50

T1

00:01:30

Bike

03:02:56

T2

00:00:34

Elapsed

05:28:00

Lap Times