Race Report Catchup, Part 2: John Tanner and Tri the Mountains
Well I guess if I’m going to move to a Chattanooga 70.3 race report I need to cover John Tanner Sprint and Tri the Mountains first. More results on the Energy Lab Weekend Report!
John Tanner was a super fun day. We had tons of ATC and EL athletes racing. In fact, it seemed as though every triathlete in town was either out there racing or cheering. JT is getting quite a reputation for being competitive. That’s one of the reasons it’s so great! This year was no exception. Most of the competitive age group ladies in town it seemed all had it on their docket.
It was an exciting race. I had asked a few people to tell me where I was at out of the swim. Someone said something like tenth so I knew I had some serious work to do! Onto the bike. I was able to pass several girls and got to where I was riding with Kinsey. I knew she was a strong rider and that I was doing well if I could keep around her.
When we got off the bike we still had about four girls in front. I felt strong for the first time running at John Tanner in about three years. It was hot and humid and I didn’t feel fast but started making up ground on some of the ladies. After the turnaround only Amy was ahead but she was too far ahead to catch. I crossed the line second, but then it was a waiting game to see if any of the 40+ ladies starting 3′ behind could make up group. It ended up that Abby came in a few seconds ahead and Kristin Wueste a bit ahead of that so I got bumped into fourth OA/ 1st AG. Lots of great competition! I will say that I wish at these local races all the ladies could start together because I think racing head to head would bring out the best in all of us!
Overall it was a great day and we enjoyed lots of Dusty barbeque afterwards with the club and Team Podium. Great way to start the season and congrats to everyone that raced!
A few weeks after that we raced at Tri the Mountains. I also did this race in 2015 and it was my second time winning money by placing 1st in the ‘elite’ (like seven sets of air quotes) division. Carrie, Cori, and I all started in the elite wave but it was only us, AJ, and another guy. There were no other females in the division.
By this point I had realized that my wetsuit was sized for a tiny child after having an epiphany post John Tanner that I have been swimming faster in the pool but slower than ever over the past six months. Coinciding with the period since I bought the tiny wetsuit. I was hoping an adult sized wetsuit would help. I knew given the fact that it was just Cori, Carrie, and I were in the first wave there would be some strategy involved. I had to, Had to come out ahead of Carrie in the swim or I was afraid I would be left behind unable to bridge the gap and fall too far behind to make up on the run. I knew super swimmer Cori would be out ahead of both of us!
Fortunately the new wetsuit helped a bit and I ended up swimming solo coming out a ton behind Cori (like 40″) but ahead of Carrie. I transitioned like a maniac and was surprised to still see Cori just her rack. We joked later that the way I looked at her was a combination of happy that I caught her but also mad that she hadn’t effectively used her swim advantage. That’s how it is when you’re racing with your friends!
The way it ended up was that Carrie came in just a bit ahead to T2 and we ran together for a bit. I managed to pull away on the long downhill but ran scared knowing there was a good degree of uphill terrain later in the race where I could end up seeing her again. In the end we crossed 1,2,3 and managed to stay ahead of the ladies racing in the other waves. It was a super fun day with lots of great performances!
Notably, Andy got his first ever tri podium and FIRST in his age group. Sarah took SEVEN minutes off her bike split from last year and got first age group. Carolina placed 1st AG as well. Definitely will plan to do this race again!
