Traverse City Tri Race Report (August 18, 2013)

My 3rd Triathlon this month!  I finished 1st overall WOMAN!  I've never won a triathlon before!  I was so excited. I was competing with a girl on the bike -- -I would pass her, then she would pass me, I would pass her, and she would pass me again.... we did this for 12 miles.  We came into transition together ... she unstrapped her shoes as we approached transition and I thought "she's got me for sure!".  I left a bit after her on the run (still working on my transitions!)  but could see the back of her jersey still so I wasn't far behind.  At the 0.5 mile mark, a volunteer told me "she's in 1st - now go get her!".  I kept closing the gap, but inside I was battling.... should I tuck in behind her and just run her pace?  Am I happy with 2nd place today?  After all, 2nd place is not bad, right?  And I'm supposed to be taking it easy today because my Ironman race is next Sunday.  It was at that point that I decided to go for it - 2nd place was not good enough today - I WANTED 1st!  I started to pass her at about the 0.75 mile mark and just kept going.  In my mind, I thought she might be able to catch me, so I kept pushing my pace, kept pushing my pace.  I knew part of this race was on trails and of course less than a half mile after passing her ---- the trail portion started!  ugh!  jumping some tree limbs and running through a sandy forest bed and on to a grass field that had one narrow strip cut.  I kept pushing and didn't look back!  I had no idea where she was but I didn't want to look back for fear that she was right behind me :)  I caught up to a guy and told him to cough really loud if a girl ran past him - he smiled and said "as long as it's not my wife - I will cough" :)  I rounded the final turn toward the finish and yes, I looked back to see if she was there and much to my surprise - SHE WAS NOT!  I couldn't even see her.  That didn't slow me down though - I kept pushing and the downhill of the last 0.25 miles really helped that push! 

A news reporter found me after I finished to tell me that I was the overall female winner and she wanted to interview me! 

http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=935496#.UhYvZIzD-zl

 Getting my award :)

 1st WOMAN - sprint division!!!  So excited!  1/178 overall

 Ross competed in the Olympic distance - finished 8th overall and 3rd in his age group

Splits Split Name Leg Time Pos Cat Pos Gen Pos Swim 00:12:47 13 1 5 T1 00:01:49 37 1 15 Cycle 00:36:45 9 1 2 T2 00:00:55 32 1 13 Run 00:21:46 6 1 2 Race No : 296 Gender :   Category :   Status :

Iron Girl Pleasant Prairie, WI Race Report

 My sis-in-law, Erin, and I jumping

Race bling --- got a necklace pendant that says "Every Girl has an Iron Core" for placing 2nd in my age group.

I finished the race in 1:07.32 --- improved my time from last year by 6 minutes!  Placed 5th overall out of 1044 women and finished 2/188 in my age group.  I really worked on my transitions in this race and improved a bit. 

(half) Ironman Steelhead (70.3) Race Report

I'm a little behind on my blog.... been busy racing this month (a race every weekend in the month of August)!  Ross and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary by competing in Ironman Steelhead 70.3 (half-Ironman distance) on August 4th.  It was the perfect race day --- clear skies and not too warm but I was SOOOOO nervous.  A good nervous, but really nervous. 

The swim was a little... ok A LOT... wavy.  I was trying to breathe every 4 strokes but quickly found out that with the rhythm of the waves, breathing every stroke was much better.  It was 1.2 miles of swimming along the shore of Lake Michigan.  There were 4 sets of yellow triangles and 4 sets of orange triangles to pass in the 1.2 miles.  My mantra became "just keep swimming, just keep swimming!" 

I took my time transitioning to the bike and my goal was to maintain around 18 mph for the 56 miles on the bike.  I ended up much faster on my bike than my original goal - overall pace 19.7mph.  After going a bit faster than I expected on the bike, I wasn't sure what to expect for my run.... 13.1 miles.  Again, I took my time in transition before heading out for the half-marathon.  I actually surprised myself and felt pretty good on the run, averaging 8:12/mile overall. 

Overall, I placed 7th in my age group and 341st women.  Enjoyed the race and wasn't too sore the next day :)  We spent the week in the Coloma area and enjoyed some time at the beach with the kids.


Sara Randolph

Rank: 7

Overall Rank: 341

BIB:	529
Division:	F35-39
State:	Sturgis MI
Country:	USA
Profession:	Homemaker

Swim:	38:57
Bike:	2:50:35
Run:	1:47:33
Overall:	5:27:27

Congratulations, Sara, on your finish!

Swim Details Division Rank: 6

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
Total	1.2 mi	--:--	38:57	--/100m	6	237	46

Bike Details Division Rank: 10

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
36.6 mi	36.6 mi	1:53:49	2:38:19	19.29 mi/h
56 mi	19.4 mi	56:46	3:35:05	20.50 mi/h
Total	56.0 mi	2:50:35	3:35:05	19.70 mi/h	10	450	60

Run Details Division Rank: 7

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
1.6 mi	1.6 mi	12:41	3:52:35	7:55/mi
4.6 mi	3 mi	23:54	4:16:29	7:58/mi
6.6 mi	2 mi	15:52	4:32:21	7:56/mi
9.6 mi	3 mi	24:34	4:56:55	8:11/mi
13.1 mi	3.5 mi	30:32	5:27:27	8:43/mi
Total	13.1 mi	1:47:33	5:27:27	8:12/mi	7	341	45

Transition

T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE	5:33
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN	4:49

sorry for the sideways pictures....

 Ironfamily :)

 smores!

 fresh picked blueberries in a pie

 the beach

 jillian swimming

 a fruit and veggie stand along my bike route