MIT & Nautica South Beach

MIT

On March 20, I raced the Miami International Triathlon. It was my first Olympic distance race of the season. I was really nervous going into the race for some reason. I usually get nervous for my first one of the season. I had a great warm up and everything and donned some clear goggles for our early morning start.

The gun went off and I got on the fast feet of Christine Jeffrey. I was hoping we'd be able to hold onto McLarty but she was gone right away. I came out of the water in 3rd place and took off on the bike. I had a rough start after getting sent off course briefly. I began riding and I honestly thought I was going ok, but I was getting caught by girls about half way through the bike and that I had out swam by over a minute. I upped the pace with the girls around me and rode most of the second loop pacing off of two other girls.

I came off the bike with a bunch of girls and I fell slowly off the pace. I felt flat and finished up 6th place, and pretty disappointed with the race. More importantly I was motivated to get back to training. I spent three weeks doing tt sessions with Sara Haskins, literally getting schooled on how to ride steady watts. It was a fantastic opportunity and I'm so grateful to have her as a training partner. I had a great three weeks of training and I was really looking forward to a little redemption in South Beach.

Nautica South Beach Triathlon

I had never been South Beach before, and it is nothing like I could have imagined. I completely missed the pro meeting because I couldn't find parking. I have never seen so many people! It was insanity. I couldn't wrap my mind around how we were going to have a triathlon at this place the next day.

Race morning started early with a 4am wake up call. I ate breakfast and got a ride down to the race site with my awesome homestay. I set up transition and went for a run warm up with Haskins. We couldn't even find the swim start at first because it was so dark! I got in a short swim up and before I knew it, we were toeing the line.

I had a good start and knew I wanted to get behind some fast boys in the water. It was kind of cool starting with the boys. I lost Haskins and McLarty in the water and focused on catching people throughout the swim. I caught and swam through three different groups of boys and exited the water a minute back of McLarty and Haskins. I went onto the bike in fourth place and moved into third about 5 miles into the bike. I knew I was riding better than in MIT and did my best to stay focused on keeping the pace fast. I got slowed down a few times on the course, once by a bus that stopped across the bike course and another time by a group ride of about 50 cyclists that decided to cross the course. I couldn't believe it!!!

I went onto the run in 3rd place, 2:40 down from second place. The run course was out and back on a boardwalk in South Beach. It was not closed to pedestrian traffic. It wasn't too busy at that hour in the morning, but there were plenty of walkers and runners on the course. Near the turn around I could see that Haskins had a big lead, but that McLarty wasn't too far ahead of me. Shortly afterwards I got to see where the people behind me were. Nicole Kelleher and Becca Wassner were not too far behind. I felt like I was moving well and that there was a good chance I'd be able to hold them off.

At mile four I passed McLarty, and hoped that my pace would be good enough for 2nd place because I was starting to feel the heat of South Beach. Not too long after I passed McLarty, Nicole passed me, and I matched her pace for about 400m. It wasn't even 9am yet, but I was beginning to overheat, and I had to slow my pace. With a mile to go, I knew it was do or die and time to dig in for 3rd place. With about half a mile to go to the finish Becca came by me and I just couldn't respond. I always wonder whether you should look back and I almost did a few times, but I didn't so I would stay focused on being in third and part of me sort of wished I had just looked back! Maybe if I had seen how close she was I could have dug that little bit deeper. Who knows, either way I was very happy with 4th place. My bike split was over 2 minutes faster on essentially the same course, my run split was solid and so was my swim.

Next I will race at the St. Anthony's Triathlon. It should be extremely competitive so I'm looking forward to the opportunity to really push the pace against some the best girls in the sport!