Michelle Golovine - Clearlake International Tri Race Report 8/25/2012

Interesting race today. I did the Clearlake International Tri...the bike course is a bit long though. It is a 1.5 K swim, 46 K bike, and a 10 K run. Windy day, but I cannot complain because for an August Texas race it was a "cool" day. I am still dealing with this crazy bronchitis...going on day 12 now. It probably isn't helping that I keep racing. LOL. 

 I actually woke up and wasn't immediately coughing though, so I figured I would give it a shot. I decided to take it fairly easy on the swim because I didn't want to risk a coughing fit while in the water with hundreds of people. Unfortunately, at some point during the swim, my Garmin 310XT broke...and FYI, they do NOT float. I really considered stopping at that point. I am so used to training and racing using my power data on the bike and pacing for the run. It was really windy and I was afraid I may go too hard on the bike without being able to judge my power and then blow up on the run. I decided to go for it though. 

The bike is a 2 loop course that takes you around the lake. You have to cross over a long, steep bridge twice...I definitely enjoyed the down side more than that climb! I don't get a lot of climbing practice in here...pretty flat country. I had no idea how fast I was going, but I did notice I was passing a lot of people...which worried me that I might be pushing too hard. Other than almost getting hit by a huge garbage truck that decided to suddenly veer into our marked off lane making me have to slam on my brakes to avoid a collision (in which I would be the loser), the bike was uneventful. 

I felt pretty good going into the run, a 3 loop course that has a couple of grassy sections and one steep grassy hill....but around mile 2.5, my chest suddenly tightened up and I just could not breathe. I really got worried for a minute. I was at least 1.5 miles away from my inhaler, so I just tried to calm myself and slow the pace way down. After about a mile and a few productive coughs, I was able to catch my breath. I gradually picked the pace back up and had a good finish. I had no idea what kind of bike or run split I was going to end up with. I was REALLY surprised when I found out I won my age group......I was plain shocked when I saw my bike split....23.2 MPH for a 28.8 mile course!!!! A huge PR for me! My run splits weren't nearly as bad as I anticipated either...I managed to hang on to a 7:57 min/mile average. My swim was a bit embarassing though....35 minutes for 1500 meter. I had the fastest Female bike split and only 24 men had a faster bike split. That is crazy to me. Somehow I knocked over 5 minutes off my finish time from last year...even being sick. Maybe I need to start leaving the Garmin at home, LOL. Oh yeah....It's at the bottom of a lake! :)

Race stats:

I finished 1st Age Group, 7th OA female, and 48th OA.

Fastest Female bike split and 25th Fastest bike split OA.

My finish time was 2 min 13 seconds behind the OA female....thinking I could have taken her if I was fully healthy...oh well.  Next time.