Vermont Part 2: Nationals Race Report

Saturday August 20th was race day.  I was in Burlington, VT for the USATriathlon Age Group Nationals race (1.5k swim/40k bike/10k run).  This was the third year in a row I've competed in this race (the first two were held in Alabama) and I always look forward to coming back to it.  It's fun to race against some of the best age group athletes and the competition is always fierce.

Transition stayed open until 7:30 and our hotel wasn't too far away, so we were able to sleep in until 6:00.  I had checked my bike in the day before, so I didn't even have to worry about getting it packed up.  Once we got to the race site, there wasn't any parking close, so Matt dropped me off and went to hunt down a parking spot.  By the time I got all of my stuff set up in transition, Matt was back and we headed over to the swim start.

Swim- 28:57 (47/77 in age group)

I was in the second to last wave, so I had to wait around for quite a while.  The one good thing about that was I got to see the first few waves go through the entire course which helped because it was a little confusing at first glance.  I grabbed a last minute GU and when it was finally time for my wave to go, we jumped in, treaded water for about five minutes, then took off.  About halfway through, we made a turn straight into the sun and I couldn't see a thing.  I started just following the group around me because I had no idea where the next bouy was.  I ended up going a little wide and wasted some time looking for the bouy which hurt a little, though I'm sure pretty much everyone had the same problem.  The swim was in Lake Chaplain and it was beautiful, though that wasn't something I  really got to appreciate until I saw the pictures afterwards :-). 

Bike- 1:10:23 (24/77)

I had driven the bike course the day before the race and was a little nervous after seeing how hilly it was.  It was a lollipop-shaped course and the first half was tough!  We had a little bit of a headwind and a lot of climbing, but once we hit the turnaround, it was pretty nice.  We still had a few climbs, but the majority was flat or downhill.  I was passing a lot of women, but most of them were from the 30-34 age group that had gone in the wave before us.  I only noticed about 8-10 girls in my age group that I passed and with the way that the course was, it was hard for me to get an idea of whether I was in the front, middle, or back of my wave.

Run- 40:59 (13/77)

Right out of T2 there was a killer hill.  For those of you who have done grandman, it was similar to that hill, but a little longer.  Once I got over that, got my legs under me, and took in a GU I felt surprisingly good.  I wasn't sure what to expect after the tough ride.  The run course wasn't too bad, after the first hill, there was just a gradual uphill until about halfway through after which it was pretty flat.  A lot of the run was on a bike path with some parts shaded which was nice.  The lack of humidity was great too!! 

Finish 2:22:49 (25/77 in my age group 112/664 overall females)

Once I finished, I really had no idea how I had done, I felt like I had a pretty decent bike and run, but didn't feel great about the swim.  The good thing about this race is that you can get a print out of your results as soon as you are finished.  When I got mine, I was a little disappointed that I didn't finish in the top 20 in my age group (my goal going into the race), but I was glad to see that there was still a chance that I could get a spot to go to the World Championship race next October which I should hopefully find out within a week or two.

We really had a great time in Vermont.  It was a cool little town and some of the mountains and lakes were breathtaking.  As always, the race was well organized and top notch.