This will probably be a pretty short report since I was seeing stars the entire way, and I really don't remember many details. My day started at 5am for the race I've been focusing on all year, and I felt good when I got to the race site this morning. I wasn't nervous at all, just focused.
It ended up being a wetsuit swim for age groupers by about half a degree, but the water was pretty choppy with a strong wind coming off the lake for our entire race (and died down just in time for me to finish). My race strategy today was "don't think - go faster" so that's exactly how the swim worked out. I had a good start and got clean water out in front of everyone. I felt strong throughout the swim and was second out of the water behind some guy who had lead out of the water in every race he's done this year. I came in at 10:47 in choppy conditions... pretty much the swim of my life.
I got on the bike 20 seconds down from the leader, I knew that it was just a matter of time before going by him so I relaxed the first time over the big hill and just bombed the descent. I took the lead about 4k into the bike and I just kept my head down and gave it everything. I was riding scared the second lap hoping that I wouldn't be passed, and I ended up riding pretty well. I didn't get a bike split but I think I had the top bike split or close to it, around 32 mins (edit: I had the top bike split at 32mins and change...never thought I would win a race with a strong swim/bike, rather than running guys down). The course ended up being pretty slow today as we had all the climbing with the tailwind, then the way back into town which was supposed to be fast was into a pretty good headwind. But I came off the bike 50 seconds up on 2nd.
When I hit the run I immediately knew it wasn't going to be easy, everything just hurt and nothing was clicking. I stayed relaxed and tried to get into a bit of a rhythm...since at that point it was my race to lose (I discovered today that its much easier to chase than to be chased on the run). I was only sure that I had it with about 800m left, and it turned out that I put another minute into second place by that point. I was still feeling terrible and was on the verge of throwing up, so I let off a little just to make sure I didn't blow up in the last km. I ran an 18:10 or something...pretty slow but enough to hold on. I probably pushed too hard on the bike for a better run split, but I won the race on a really good swim and strong bike, so I'm not going to sweat the run time.
So I'm age group national champion. I'll be doing my autograph signing/baby kissing tour when I come back from Australia in a few weeks. And yes I'm aware its not that big a deal, but it basically ensures that I'll get my elite card next spring and can come back next year to race elite nationals which was my goal for this season, and its my first race win. I decided that I should win more often, that was fun! I'll post a few pictures when I get around to it. I feel like sleeping now.
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