Race Recap: Icebreaker

Coming into race season this year was more challenging than last year. I wasn’t “feeling” it like I was last year. Mix of busy life and burn out from the following year. This year had started off a little slower than I would of liked. However, the last 8 weeks, I was finding my mojo again.

I enjoy the Icebreaker as a kick off to race season.  You never know about the weather but it’s a fun sprint tri, and it’s a course I am very familiar with!

Race morning was typical. I did have butterflies. I still hear Andy in my head reminding me when the butterflies stop, it stops being fun. So butterflies are great! Hubby and I headed to American Fork and met up with my awesome Tri Living It team. It was so fun that there were I think 17 of us! It’s exciting how much our tri team as grown in the last year. It’s so awesome to have such a great coach and fun teammates! It was a little chilly but not as cold as it was after the race.

This was my first time “racing” in my new Betty Design Kit. I love the way it fits!! (By the way, if you’d like nice discount, email me for a code!) I had a ton of compliments on my kit and gals asking me where I got it. It was a fun conversation starter to making new friends.

Jodi, Mark and I lined up in the 2 group. We are swim buddies. It was nice to swim looking up at familiar feet. I felt SO strong in the water. Better swim time over last year by 16 seconds.

Jumped on the bike and headed out strong, got to the first hill, shifted and my gears jammed. I wasn’t sure what was going on. I messed with them while I pedaled trying to figure out what was going on. I was pretty sure they snapped. And they did. I was stuck in hardest gear climbing the hill and there was no moving it. So that was my gear for the entire race. UGH!! I was frustrated. Having a few minutes lead on some of my team, they passed me wondering what the heck was I doing. I appeared to be pedaling very slow. Well, I was! I had to mash in that hard gear to get up the hill. I tried to make up time on the flat and the down hill, but I knew my uphill time was putting me about 7-8 minutes behind where I should have been. I was totally bummed. I had two choices. Call it and get a DNF or just push through. I pushed through. I would much rather finish than NOT! (I need Pastor Rob to bless my bike next time!)

As I came around on the first loop, my hubby was wondering what I was doing, too. He knew how strong I left T1 and when he started to see some of my teammates come by and I didn’t, he knew something was up. As I pedaled by, he was yelling, go go, go – thinking why is she pedaling so slow?! HAHA!! It wasn’t until I ran out of T2, I yelled to him what had happened on the bike.

I came into T2 and knew I was behind. It was awesome the volunteers took our bikes and followed us in to T2. That was a great help!! I decided to not waste time putting on socks and went out with just my toe pads in my shoes. My legs were heavy from mashing on the bike. I knew I had to keep going. I pushed on the run and tried to make up time again on the down hill.

It was fun approaching the finish line and my team pal, Mark, came up behind me and yelled, “let’s run in together,” so we did! It was fun!

Mark & I crossing the finish line

I finished!!! 7 minutes slower overall than last year. UGH! Oh well. The silver lining…. the bike snapped before IRONMAN 70.3 St. George coming up in May. The bike is going in for some TLC this week.

I needed this race mentally to get me reenergized for triathlon season! I had “forgotten” how much I love this sport! I love the energy of racing, the camaraderie with my team and the other athletes and kicking some butt on the courses!!

Wins:

• Felt strong and Ready
• Improved T1 & T2 times
• Felt confident in the swim
• Excited for IRONMAN 70.3 St. George
• Hanging with the team

Bummers:

• Broken bike
• Bummed gal who wanted a better time

Lessons Learned:

• Crap happens to your bike you can’t control. Even when you had a tune up and new chain a few weeks before.