Karen's Wasa Olympic Race Report

Karen’s Wasa Olympic Race report:

Swim:
Did a few minutes in the water beforehand to get water down my zipper and do a goggle check. I started at the very very back on purpose because I was pretty nervous and didn't want to get clobbered from behind. It was a clockwise rectangle, and I kept accidentally veering to the left (outside the pack), and needed to keep pushing myself to the right...I suspect there might have been a bit of a current, but not sure. After the first 5 min or so, was able to quit freaking out and calm down and just swim. It felt tedious and long but I kept going. Time: 35:39, not much different than my pool swim time trial, which was a bit faster than I suspected. In age group: 18/26.

Bike:
I was so happy and relieved to be on the bike, that I just wanted to giver and have fun. It was on the bike where I began to realize that the level of competition is different in Olympic than in local sprints (and lots of drafting marshals). Usually on the bike in a little sprint race I can pass a few people, but on this race even though I was going all out, there were a lot of us that were about the same speed and not as much passing as I thought. At the bottom of a hill I shifted down to the small chainring and the chain fell off, but I remembered from in our spin class when someone lost a chain and you just said to shift and keep pedalling so that's what I did, and YAY! The derailleur brought it right back on! Bike felt strong and I was happy with how I felt. I sort of cruised/fast spin during the last couple of km instead of pushing super hard because I wanted to get my legs ready for the run. Time: 1:27:31, 13/26 in age group.

Run:
It was pretty hot out by the time the run started (the women's Olympic started at 9:10, after the men's Olympic and sprint). I just started going and figured out fairly quickly that I wasn't going to be able to maintain a pace of 6 min km (or even 6:15), so I just made sure I was always under 7 min km, and I walked every second water station (there were 8), and got the kids to toss water on me at the others. Yes, I could have probably kept running through all the water stations, but it was a good motivator to know I can walk a few paces in a few km. And probably because of that I can say I had a fun run. It was still hard, but I just talked to lots of people and tried to enjoy myself (as much as it's possible to enjoy oneself on a run!) The last 2 km were tough because they were right near the finish line - hard to not stick in an extra walk break. Time: 1:06:35, age group: 21/26. When I compare this to my own runs and experiences, I think it's pretty good.

A couple of things I learned:
1. The field in Olympic races is much more competitive because there are fewer beginners, and I should quit comparing myself to everyone else.
2. I need to be very very careful about letting pre-race nerves interfere with my ability to stay calm and be ready on race day.
3. I felt like this race was long enough for me...maybe I'm fooling myself about someday thinking I'd like to do a 1/2 IM?? (I think you can do this Karen)
4. Regardless of what I did yesterday, I feel just fine today.

Should I have gone harder? I could have....I realize that now, but it most definitely didn't feel like it at the time. And that's all I got. Well under 4 hours and better than expected. :)