'09 Season Review

I figured it was a good time to reflect and review my season now that it's officially over. (for real this time) As I hoped, the bike was definitely my strength. I sometimes paid for it on the run but I am pleased with my progress on the bike. Riding with Roadies week-in and week-out has definitely helped. I am still the fastest woman on the shop rides. :)

My training started slowly as I debated in January if I wanted to do triathlons this year. My formal training didn't start until the 3rd week of January and went well. Once I started looking at races, I decided I wanted to stick to sprints this year because the training is less involved and I could do 6 days of training (2x each sport) fairly easily.

The season played out like this:

• Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon: this was really just a fancy training day and it went pretty well. I had one of the highest lap counts in the pool, I ran late for the bike so that cost me and the run went well for me. I finished 15/50 women, 38/83 overall.
• Xterra Fort Yargo: Ugh, I had planned for this race to go so much better. This was actually my first A race so I could take revenge on the course after the first time I did this race. Those that have read my race report know all the details. The swim was mediocre, TWO flats right out of transition (of course it was the back wheel. Nooooo, it's never the "easy" front wheel) and an okay run. I finished very BOP but I finished, even with the two flats. I felt deflated after this race because I thought I could place better but something out of my control threw it all out of whack. Thankfully, that wasn't the story for the rest of the season.
• Tree Fest Triathlon: My sister and I traveled to Baxley to do this race. I was going to support her as she got back in racing and decided to race too. While I felt my swim went just okay I still finished 1/5 in my AG, the bike went very well (2nd woman O/A, 1st AG), and the run was a PR for the 5K distance. I got 1st in my AG and was very pleased with my performance. At this race I qualified for AG Nationals but didn't know it at the time. DUH! I was relaxed (but focused) and had one of my best race performances.
  
• Iron Girl at Lake Lanier: This was the longest race I did this year and my second A race. The swim was (again) an okay performance for me. The bike went well where I placed 15/155 for AG, 67/915 Overall, but then the wheels fell off. I lost about 12 spots on the run, running the 5K a full three minutes slower than the Tree Fest tri. I pushed it hard on the bike and fell apart on the run. I still finished a respectable 32/155 in my Age group but I should have placed better.
• Georgia Veterans Triathlon: My sister and I drove down to Cordele but this time I was the only one racing. Going in to this race I felt confident I could place in the top 3 in my AG if I had a similar performance to my Baxley race - the conditions and courses were similar because they were pretty flat - and my training had been going pretty well. My swim was okay (see a trend?) and the bike went okay as well. I had a good split but it didn't go as planned because I had to fight a couple waves of nausea in the middle of the bike and then eeked out a craptastic run. I finished 6/9 in my AG but I know I should have done better, before the run I was in 2nd. I beat myself up over a few details that could have made a difference. After this race I thought my season was over but life had other plans.
• Lake Lanier Sprint: A week before this race I scored a number transfer but started having second thoughts as soon as I accepted the number. I had not been doing any serious training in about SIX weeks (over those 6 weeks I think I had only 2 or 3 swims, a handful of runs and 1 or 2 bikes a week) so going in to this race I decided to stay relaxed and try to have fun. My other races were sort of like controlled suckfests and I didn't want to finish the season that way. My swim went as well (or better) than expected, my bike went well (6/74) and my run went better than expected. Overall, I am happy with the results of this race, especially considering how much training time I put in over the 7 weeks prior. The training volume I put in the rest of the year allowed me to enjoy this race and finish a decent 16/74 AG and 388/821 Overall.

Upon further reflection I know I need to work on running off the bike. I don't really have an excuse, I just didn't want to run as much as I should have. Going in to a race the best plan for me should not have been "hammer the bike and hold on for the run" because now I know I can't do it. I'm not a fast runner to begin with so I can't afford to give up any more spots to "real" runners. Although, that line of thinking isn't a terrible plan, either, now that I think about it... as long as I don't cook myself on the bike. That is where I made the mistake. I hammered the bike like I was doing a shop ride where I don't have to run after. That might be the key point. At Lake Lanier, I held back on the bike to save some for the run and it paid off; at that race I ran my second best 5k.

I don't know what happened with the swim. In the pool, I got my previous speed back (and then some) but it never translated to open water. I think I put in decent yardage for someone training for sprints, my longest race swim was only 880 yards. I am 100% self-coached (didn't swim on a team as a child) and I think I've taken my swim as far as I can by myself. I can't afford a Master's program so for the moment I'll have to be satisfied with mediocrity on the swim. I guess it's not too bad as long as I have the stroke and stamina to finish a swim MOP with plenty left in the tank for the bike and run. My only hang-up with the swim is that if I want to go to AG Nat'ls next year, the mediocrity ain't gonna cut it.

So, there you have it. My 2009 triathlon season in nutshell. There were definitely ups and downs with lots of room for improvement. Now I just need to figure out if I want to focus on triathlons next season with just a dabble in bike racing OR focus on bike racing with triathlons as cross-training and a way to break up the season.