FIRST TRI OF '07

Well, the first tri of the '07 season was interesting to say the least. I signed up elite because there was prize money and you never know who will/won't show up to contest it. I also wanted to get a chance to race out front in this new race (international distance tri at Ft Desoto) and, since I made the qualifying time to do this, why not? Anyhow, the weather was the story of the day. We had a front come through on Friday which made Saturday morning quite windy (20-25mph) which is always worse at the Fort. It was also quite chilly, around 62* at home. The good thing was that the water temp was near 70*! The race directors were trying to decide whether to cancel the swim and make everyone do a duathlon which is not what I wanted to do and I sure whined about it! The problem was the water was quite rough with serious current. The powers that be decided to cut it to 1/2 mile (from .9 mile) and just walked us up the beach so we could swim back with the current which I was happy with. So, we finally got going in the "swim". There wasn't much actual swimming for me as I was just getting clobbered by waves then trying to dolphin-dive back out into deep enough water to try and swim some more; this was killing my legs! Got out of the water, happily, with numb feet to take on the wind on the bike. I was happy that the Dane suggested using my Zipp 303 on the front because I was able to spend more time in the aerobars being able to control the bike in the cross winds. Out of the water behind 3 other girls, I had a sluggish start on the bike for some reason but rode the second loop much stronger, into T2 in second. I charged out of T2 with still numb feet in attempt to catch the next competitor. I was able to catch her just after the first mile split and didn't look back. I was able to catch up to the Dane on the second loop ( he passed me on the bike with an awesome ride) and we ran together for a bit. I tried to press on not wanting to be caught by anyone and was elated to cross the finish line as the first woman. The Dane was very gracious not to try and outsprint me at the end which was wonderful of him! We did hear from someone who GPS'd the run that it was closer to 7 miles than the scheduled 6.2 which explains the slow run splits. I was really happy to win this race and feel my fitness is in a good place with a lot of room for improvement still having not begun speedwork yet. I didn't get to see where my swim was too much because of the conditions but it was good enough. We start speed work this week in the build up towards Florida 70.3 and hopefully this will give a further boost to the run and bike fitness. I feel stronger than I did at this time last year and have the MarkAllenOnline program to thank, it's paying off already! We were able to celebrate a bit with friends for St Paddy's Day and slept in today which rarely happens! Thanks to everyone who gave me words of encouragement it all helps! Next race is Escape from Fort Desoto on 4/15 which is the traditional "beginning" of the tri season and one of the funnest races of the year. Hope everyone had a fun St Paddy's day, we sure did.