Top Gun Tri race report

Race went better than expected. When entrenched in ironman training and racing a sprint tri, one never truly knows how the body will respond. I do remember in my workouts on thurs and fri prior, I was breathing really hard with super heavy legs. I didn't expect anything great, just wanted to go out and give the hardest effort that I could. Woke up around 4:15am to get out of the house early and get to the race early (I'm anal about these things). Everything went fine, got our race packets then had to have one of the bike mechanics in the Outspokin tent run my gears because they were skipping with the race wheel on. No problem there, waited around a bit but got to catch up a bit with Donna S. Got to my rack which was filling up fast and found an acceptable spot. No racing Elite, I'm going for Master's victories now that I'm 40! There were only 3 girls signed up elite and, alot of times, my own age group is more competitive! We started with the men 40-44 which is always a clobberfest! I kind of got tripped up on the sand which slowed my entry into the water a bit but got my feet back underneath and headed for the turn bouy with everyone else. Getting around the bouy, I got a heel to the face and my goggles got popped off. I calmly stopped and emptied the salty water from them and sealed them back down and went on my way. I swam hard, only 1/4 mile so really a sprint! We had a bit of a current to swim into so the times were quite slow. I got out, didn't even look at my time just cruised into T1. I had no idea where I was place-wise because there were tons of other people exiting the water from prior waves. Got on the bike, gears working great, and tried to really hammer. I had my HR monitor on and, luckily, it worked on the bike (have Polar bike computer) but it didn't work the remainder of the race. Total waste! Oh well. It was the least windy day I can remember at Fort Desoto so really tried to keep my HR steady around 172 which was painful but it's only 10 miles! I really ride scared because the bike tends to be my weakest event and some of the girls in the age group are really fast riders. Got into T2 feeling pretty taxed but looking forward to nice, hot 5K run. Had my usual slow transitions - I just can't get my shoes on very fast. The run was 1/2 on sand and 1/2 on pavement; thankfully, the sand was first. I pushed pretty hard, probably too hard in the first mile (6:20-something) and really paid the next mile. I backed off a bit the next mile and tried to keep the tempo up in the last mile. I was really happy to see the finish though! I had no idea what position I was in but I did see who I thought was going to be my greatest competition in the age group behind me on the bike so hoped I got the win. I did win Master's (my first) and actually won overall the women with the fastest time overall. This was quite a shock to me because all of my training has been aerobic; my runs have been averaging over 9 minute miles to keep my HR down. I was really pleased how hard I was able to push myself while basically racing alone. The race was a lot of fun because we got to see a lot of people we haven't seen in a while. The Dane gutted out a top 5 in his age group which was one of the most competitive. Not bad for someone who hasn't gotten in any training in almost 2 weeks! We had a fun, relaxing weekend. Looking forward to getting back into voluminous training again this week in the final 12+ weeks to IM Florida. I can honestly say I'm pretty happy about my current fitness level. A good place to be at this time. Cheers!