JOHN TANNER SPRINT RACE REPORT
Swim(600m)- 10:54 Bike(13.8 miles)- 40:03 Run(5k)- 22:42
Total- 1:15:39 7th OAF 1st 25-29 F
There are a ton of pictures form this one because it’s one of Atlanta Tri Club’s target races! So there are tons of ATC folks snapping pictures! I absolutely love this race. It was my first tri ever last year! In that one I had a panic attack during the swim, like most first-timers, and ended up doing breast stroke for a minute or 2, contemplating whether or not I could even finish. I actually did this race for a second time last season too. They have an April John Tanner then another one in August. So this was my 3rd time doing JT and , boy, did it feel good having experience with the course. It helps so much with my confidence going into a race. Just knowing where transition is in relation to where I parked helps my confidence. No joke. Plus, I knew so many people racing! Which meant I also knew my competition.
I went into the race hoping for an overall podium, but I knew what I was up against and that would require a crazy perfect race on my end. Overall would be the coolest, but I wanted that age group gold so bad. When I raced JT last year I got second in my AG, which I was so proud of, but I had also been beaten by like 5 minutes. It was time to see if I could take my now friend, Katie, down. Haha. She races a lot of draft legal sprints and crushes them, especially on the run, so I knew I what I had to do. Get out fast on the swim, crush the bike, and hold on for dear life on the run!
That morning: I woke up with my usual upset stomach, because 5am… I did your standard 1 cup of oatmeal with vanilla almond milk, blueberries, and a huge scoop of almond butter. I think I actually managed to eat all of it that morning, which is strange for me. It’s an hour drive to John Tanner State Park so I left around 6 am hoping to get there right after gates opened. Last year there was a horrible thunder storm that morning with torrential rains and all the works. Thank gawd that was not the case this year. It was freakin’ beautiful out! I rocked my favorite pre-race album, Hologram by Stonerider, and the last song ended right as a pulled into the park. FREAKIN’ PERFECT. I was pumped. I headed over to the pavilion for sign in, got my chip, PUT IT ON IMMEDIATELY, and started getting my transition area all ready to go! Sprints are rad just because you don't have to worry about quite as much shit. “I won’t lose my nutrition, because I won’t have it!” Got everything set up, slipped on my orca wetsuit, ate about half of an almond butter Bonk Breaker (I always do that…) and headed to the beach to get aaaaLLllll warmed up.
SWIM: The swim for this race is a nice loop around a small lake in the center of the park. I was so ready to see if I could come out of the water close to the front of my wave, which consisted of all females under the age of 40. That meant my wave consisted of some of my closest homies! This race is so rad. Warming up with my pals, chit chatting, all feeling excited together…THE BEST. My coach, Bethany, and my awesome friend, Carrie, kept joking about how I should start slow on the swim then settle in so they could draft off my toes the whole way! They are total badasses and crush it….but they were the ones that deemed me a “swimmer” and they expected me to go fast…so I was damn sure going to try my hardest to go fast!
I seeded myself right up front and started my watch about 3 seconds before the whistle just so I wouldn’t have to worry about it any more. Then it was time to go! I went out blazing. Trying to keep my form strong and pull as much water as I could until I found open water. The JT swim start is always rough, though. It’s a small lake so the waves before us were already causing some chop and its a pretty tight group start which is always a little scary. I barreled ahead and kept my eyes peeled for fellow pink swim caps. I kept to my usual routine of only breathing on the right and sighting every 2-3 strokes in a sprint. Turned the first buoy to head up about 100m to the second turn buoy, targeting us back towards the start. Took the second turn and went to sight and couldn’t see a thing! I don’t know if it was because of the direction of the sun? Or if my goggles suddenly fogged? But I could barely see in front of me. Through the fog I was able to see a girl a little ahead of me stop and clear her goggles so she obviously had the same issue. I don’t know if you’ve seen this meme but… “Ain’t nobody got time fo dat.” I definitely wasn't going to break my stroke so I just sighted every now and then and hoped to see a pink-capped-blur close by. It worked, cuz I made it to the last turn buoy about 150m from the exit and from there I could figure it out, whether I could really see or not.
BIKE: I have developed a very serious case of “race face” coming out of the water. But hey…I take this shit seriously. Ha. If I recall correctly, I think my friend, Michelle, yelled that I was 6th out of the water as I was running up the hill to transition? Or I dreamed that? Not sure. Anyway, I really gotta figure out how to take off my wetsuit faster, for real. I think I only managed to get it off my arms and to my waste about 10 feet from my bike. Oh well! My bike rack was still pretty damn full so I was feeling confident! Bethany and I had kind of practiced flying mounts and dismounts a few days before…but I just wasn’t ready for that yet…especially since the mounting line is at the bottom of a small incline and there is a speed bump not too far ahead. I threw my helmet and shoes on then took off.
I have a naturally high heart rate so one thing I struggle with during sprints is getting my heart rate down a bit once I get on the bike. I wanted to hammer it though. No messin’ around. I was passed by some of the gals in the age groups above mine, including my beast of a friend, Carrie, and my Orbea sister, Jaclyn, but I hadn’t seen any one in my age group for the first few miles. I had a feeling there was at least one ahead of me, so it was time to go. I found Kelsey, a collegiate swimmer I believe, around 5 miles and we started playing leap frog for a while. I’d pass her and stay for a few minutes, then she’d pass me, then I’d pass her…you get the point. Around mile 9 I thought…”there’s only about 5 miles left”…it was time to experiment and see what happened if I really picked up the pace and dealt with the pain. I wanted to get away from Kelsey and hopefully stay far enough ahead of Katie to hold on, so I put the pedal to the metal and amped up my wattage. It hurt, but it felt good. I actually had a little bit of a strategy to win my age group so I was mentally patting myself on the back for being prepared. Ha!
I knew the course, so once I took the turn back towards the park I sped up my cadence and started preparing to take my feet out of my shoes. It was time for me to try my first flying dismount during a race…surrounded by a shit load of people I knew…with cameras. Now please reference photo #3…does that tell you anything? HA! I hopped off, my shoe hit the ground, and sent my rear wheel flying! Luckily, I was already on the ground and managed to stay upright! I’m not known for being graceful…but I am known for somehow managing to keep my shit together!
RUN: I knew my legs weren’t going to feel like spring chickens after those last 5 miles, so I wasn’t surprised when they felt like lead. At least I was mentally prepared! I felt pretty nauseous as soon as I headed out of transition, though. I think I tried to chug a good bit of my Base Amino mix a couple of miles from transition…and it may have been too much too fast. I just had to keep it down for just over 20 minutes! That’s all! This run is pretty cool. Its a nice semi-loop around the lake, over some gravel, up a few gnarly hills to a turnaround, then back down to the finish. I like the part around the lake…it’s flat and gives you this happy feeling like triathlons don’t hurt that bad. Then you get to the first hill and it punches you in the face. My watch beeped and said my first mile was in the 7:30′s so my lead legs were doing better than I thought! Only 2 more miles, hot damn!
The 2 biggest hills are on the straighter part of the course where the turn around is. They aren’t long, but they hurt. I got a chance to see who was ahead around mile 2, thanks to the nice out and back stretch. I wasn’t doing half bad! I hit the turn around and saw Bethany crushing right behind me and little ways down I saw Katie! Bethany had been dealing with feeling rough over the last few weeks, but I was still super surprised she was behind me. I just assumed she hadn’t felt well on the bike and had dropped out, because she is an absolute beast and won this race both times last season! Even on a bad day she kicks my ass! She came up behind me and grunted, “C’mon.” So I did! I picked up my pace and it actually didn’t suck. I didn’t think I had it in me, but I was able to stay about 5-10 paces behind her for the last mile. Thanks Bethany! I needed that grunt, because I’m pretty sure Katie would have caught me if I hadn’t picked it up.
The finish line! So many ATC’ers! So many people cheering my name! How cool is that?? That will make anyone move faster! I feel so lucky to have such an amazing triathlon community! I was feeling that nausea rrrrrrrrreal hard at this point, but it was almost over! There were people cheering! I forced a strange grimace/smile combo and sprinted across the finish line 5 seconds after Bethany. Feel free to reference photo #4. We were spent…and I was about to barf. I always feel that sensation of “uh…uh oh...yeah I’m gonna puke…wait no I’m not…or am I?” at the end of races, but I can usually look straight up at the sky and force it all back down. Not that day! I headed for the closest bushes and threw up a little bit of the Base Aminos that had been sloshing closest to the top of my stomach, I suppose. After that I felt fine though! Woo!! I actually felt really proud of myself for pushing to the point of puking. Haha. I have a mantra during my track workouts, where I imagine I’m in a race and I repeat: “You either puke and win- or you don’t puke and lose. Which is worse??”
I had won my age group! :]:]:]:]:]
I’ve gotten first in my age group once before, but not against that kind of competition! I hope I’m not coming off as braggy, but I was so proud of myself! I PR’ed the course by almost 5 minutes! I love this sport so so much. I was worried my second season of triathlon might not be as exciting as last year because I’m more experienced. I know what’s coming. But holy jamoly, getting to see the results of all the hard work I’ve put into it is even better than the adrenaline of being a “first timer.” I was flying high after this race for daaaays.
After the race we all went to the ATC Cookout and ate a bunch of food and drank some beer. I was happy all over! What a day!!!!
