Nautica RR

Nautica Race Report:

Well, this was my first triathlon of the season. I decided last minute to sign up since the Auto Trader group needed a swimmer and a cyclist to do the relay.

I ended doing the 1/2 mile swim and the 19 mile bike ride.

 

The Swim:

I was on the relay wave so I was actually about the second wave group to go. I swam with all the rest of the relay swimmers, and a bunch of other divisions. I decided to start off on the right hand side and to sort of go on the side avoiding the massive swimmers jumping on top of me. I also learned to bypass them and to not really fear them kicking me. I swam to the first buoy, so far so good, did my turn and took off. Another Hammerhead was panicking in the water and talked to one of the lifeguards (I do not remember her name) but I gave her a pep talk and said come on hammie you can do it you can do it! I also swam for a while with Chiara and it was so comforting to swim next to another HH. Then I sort of got lost and started venturing towards the left. I am not a good spotter but my method of spotting is by following the legs and the water splashing. All of a sudden I got sort of lose and was venturing way out to the left. One of the lifeguards whistled at me to swim more towards the shore (I was swimming to deeper water) so I lost about 2 minutes doing that. I never panicked. Told myself to breathe in and out and do my every other stroke and bilateral breathing (which I know slows me down) but that's another post! Next thing I know I see the last buoy make a right and swim straight to the shore. Frank taught us this crazy bunny jumps to do right when you are closer to the sand instead of running on the shallow part (which is hard and exerts more energy) do these bunny dolphin jumps where you are jumping over the water. I did that and got some major sand burn (instead of carpet burn it was just like sand burn on my knees) Ouch! I saw Chris and Gabe, I smiled for a pic and then I ran up to transition. I was so tired. This is a picture of me coming out of the water.

Next thing I was at transition, put on my socks and cycling shoes, snapped my helmet, grabbed a honey stinger and took off. I have not learned how to run barefoot with shoes already clipped onto the bike. I am running with my cycling shoes on (ouch!) and went took off. The bike was 19 miles, a couple (or maybe more like a lot) of bridges along the way. I was actually cold as I didn't even dry myself and it was a little windy. I wanted to do the bike in 60 minutes. I took off and had my one and only honey stinger and water. I was so tired and my heart rate was so high from sprinting from the water to the bike. I saw Chris on the way back, smiled a dorky smile with my hand sticking out, went to Transiton, gave my chip to the runner and off he took.

I ended up doing the swim in 24:16 for 1/2 mile. Last year I did it in 24:44 so I was 28 seconds faster AND I did not panick.

I ended up doing the bike in 1:02:31 which was an average pace of 18.2. Last year I did this same course in 1:09:50 at an average pace of 16.3. I improved my bike time by over 7 minutes. I'll take that!

I also got no chafing and no sea lice so I was very happy about that.

I did use a new hoohah cream. Mistake #1. Do not do anything new on race day. I used the new hoohah cream that morning. It worked wonders. Hoo hah

 

I also used this awesome lotion that has SPF that protects you against sealice and jelly fish. Either the water was clear or the lotion really worked but I had no new bumps!

All in all, this is a fantastic race. I would totally do it again next year and do the longer distance. It's a bit of a challenge because it is the first triathlon of the season.