Friday, July 25, 2014

Mill City Race Recap

So it seems every year this race comes up and I can't help but sign up. The race is rather small and local but there is something really nice about knowing all the logistics of a race with no new variables. I mean I know this one so well that I know the race director is going to start about 5 min late because something will come up at the last minute. I know there will always be a USAT official at the race. There will always be homemade awards for the overall winners and top age group winners. And if it is sunny the run course will suck!

We headed out to the race not so stressed about logistics which was nice, not having to rush since we knew most variables and didn't have to control them. Checked in race morning. Got marked. Strangely no age on your calf this year. No one could explain why only they though it was strange too.

Layout was pretty good.The transition area could have stood to have been swept. HOLY ROCKS! I did a little shake out run and headed back to the car with the rest of my stuff. The weather was holding at a cool temp, thankfully.  We headed over to the swim start across the street. There weren't a ton of people participating this year but that doesn't matter to me.


Swim- 28:21- There is always a current in this river- I was 17 min to the turn around and 11 min back - hello current. It is always a bit long too 1.25 mi. A bit faster than the year before so can't fight with that.

T1- Long run across the street. 2:00 and ouch those rocks! Got our fairly quickly. D came running in from his sprint swim as I was heading out on the bike.

Bike- 1:19:53- I knew as I headed out on the bike I was toward the front. The plan was to keep it around 19mph. I pushed when I could. The course is fairly flat in spots so I used that to my advantage. The road was rough in spots so I tried hard to avoid a flat. D went by me in the first 5 mi. then he had some sort of bike issue and I passed him but not for long :-P. I had a few women get by me on the bike so I figured I was in 3rd or 4th. Bike is 26 mi and last year I did 1:24 so some good gains!


T2- 0:59- love when my T2 is sub 1 min! D had finished his race and was there yelling for me. Focus was to RUNNNNNN!


Run- 53:32- It started to get warm as I hit the run course but just dig in and get through. I was hoping to stay around 8-8:30 pace. 8:38 was the final pace- not too shabby. Last year I was 1:00 so big gain here. I had one more woman pass me on the run. I figured that meant I was out of the contention for overall. But I tried to keep my focus on my gains in this race.  As I came into the finish D was screaming!!!

I ended up finishing 19th OA, 4th female OA and 1st in my AG. Last year this was the first race I went sub 3 at 2:59. This year 2:44:46. I am so happy with the improvements! I made huge improvements on the run. A little on the bike and swim. This was great to see going into Nationals in a month. It is great to see some of the hard work I did paying off.










No comments:

Post a Comment