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Sunday, April 14, 2013

Smithfield Triathlon and Monument Ave 10K


Best news of the week: I survived our respiratory/immunology module! Since I’m in denial about studying for our two Neurology RATs next week, I will right a quick update about my recent races. I traveled over to Smithfield, VA with a lot of my Endorphin teammates for a sprint triathlon last weekend and raced the Monument Ave 10K yesterday.

Smithfield Triathlon
Traveling Alone: I really never go to races alone. I’m fortunate to have family and friends who travel to races with me and provide me with race support. My father recently handed over his title of “general manager” to Tim, who now provides various race-related support including, but not limited to, taking me out to buy water bottles, electrical tape, and other things I forgot to pack, making late night trips to Target to obtain candles to cover up the smell of smoke in cheap hotel rooms, and generally reminding me that my self-worth is not based on my race results. Unfortunately, my general manager has a day job, and it’s one of the most intense day jobs around: 1L. So while Tim stayed home to outline Constitutional Law and Contracts, I drove myself, alone, to Smithfield. Heading over to the race, I was a bit worried about the drive. I mostly travel by bus, foot, bike, and carpool, so I am really not used to solo driving. I also have no sense of direction and get lost whenever I travel outside of (and sometimes within) a five-mile radius of home. The night before the race, I printed out paper directions, went over them multiple times while looking at a map, and set the GPS as backup support. Being directionally challenged is no joke.

Pre-Race: Due to my superior pre-night prep, I made it to Smithfield without getting lost. Pre-race prep went smoothly, and the only real snafu of the morning was that I missed swim warm-up because I had no idea that they would close the pool 25 minutes before race start. Also, I had to race as a 25 year-old (I turn 25 in November), which was difficult considering I haven’t even gotten used to being 24 yet.

Swim: Not much to say here. It’s always a little depressing when you’re faster in practice than in a competition. Of course, I did have to pass someone, and the lack of warm-up didn’t help. The swim was over quickly, and I was onto the bike via the slip-and-slide (aka muddy) transition.

Bike: While I was not pleased about the inaccurate swim seeds for the pool swims, my slow seed did provide me the opportunity to pass a lot of people on the bike. The fun in training and racing for me lies primarily in the opportunity to compete. My friends and I played a lot of games growing up, and my friend Amelia had this one where there was no winner. Amelia, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry, but I just never understood the point of that game. I could not wrap my head around why someone would design a game with no winner. Now I’m not sure if my love of competition comes from nature or nurture (Rechel family badminton tournaments and Gast Family Christmas Eve bowling tournaments are probably some of the more intense competitions I’ve ever experienced), but I just like to compete. I have more fun losing in a close competition (bananagrams with my dad) than in winning something where there is no competition (the game SET with my dad, although demolishing him in SET does wonders for my ego). My point in this digression is that I had more fun passing people on the bike than I would have if I had been near the front doing a solo time trial devoid of nearby competitors. I averaged 10 watts higher than I did on the same course in 2010, and I remember making myself hurt on the bike a lot more that year. This year, I felt like I was still getting used to the feeling of going fast with fewer watts on my new triathlon bike, so I think I could have held a higher average.

Run: I slogged through the first mile of the run while my stomach was having a fit but managed to pick up the pace for the last two miles and finally break the post-bike 18:00 barrier (17:44). It was really helpful to see so many of the Endorphin juniors during the out-and-back run course. I’ve had the opportunity to train with a lot of them, and they’re a great group of athletes. I ran 18:44 on that course three years ago when I was in excellent shape with UR track, so I was pretty excited that I dropped a minute on the same course even with my stomach problems.

Monument Ave 10K
Yesterday, I raced in my second Monument Ave 10K. I don’t really have much to say about the race except that I hit a consistent pace in nearly every mile except mile 5, which was a bit of a flop. I finished in 35:12 after winning a sprint finish with an Ethiopian. I ran with her for most of the last mile and said good job to her after the race, but she did not so much as look at me in response. I’m not quite sure if she didn’t speak English, if Ethiopians have a different cultural perspective on sportsmanship, or if she was just really mad that I beat her at the end. The incident sort of took me off guard because runners at road races are usually a really friendly bunch, even if they are complete strangers.

In the end, I was the first Richmond woman and came home with the promise of a $500 check just in time to pay taxes on the $300 I won for second place last year. Notably, my favorite 1L dropped 2 seconds from his time last year despite considerable school-induced time constraints on training. He makes his triathlon debut of the season in 2 weeks!

Back to the books,
Julie

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