Amica Sprint Championship

So I signed up quite a while ago for the last race in this new Amica Sprint series, the Championship down at Lake Pleasant in Phoenix. Now that it was coming around I really didn't feel that much like doing the race, but afterward I am glad I did (isn't that always the way).

The water at the lake seemed colder than even Lake Powell a couple weeks ago, which seems odd to me. But this time I was able to get out there and float around a bit, let the cold water get in my wetsuit and get warmed up. When the swim started I think I started a little fast, but then I got into a decent rhythm. I still have a hard time breathing properly when in an open water swim... I just breathe on every other stroke, rather than 4 or 6 like I can manage in a pool now. Not sure what that is, but I'm sure it isn't helping my times. Also, I need to find some new goggles to use there. It seems like mine are fine in the pool most of the time, but in races I just seem to have problems with them. I think a different (darker) tint would be good too. So, I managed the swim okay, and felt pretty good about it... and also managed to run up the boat ramp and actually pass people there. Total time for the swim and T1 was 21:51 (I think that's both).

This time in T1 I was more prepared than Lake Powell. I got my wetsuit off, and my socks and shoes on, got my watch on this time, and made my way out to the bike. The bike course was a lot more hilly than I was thinking from looking at google maps before. It was 2 main laps out and back, and each one had 3 hills on it I think. The hills as always killed my speed (well duh). But, the downhills were fun, I think I got over 30 maybe 6 different times. For some reason, after those 2 out and back laps, they have a little extra detour on the way back to transition. I don't know why they decided this race should be extra long on the bike (17 miles rather than around 12), but this little detour had a couple hills too. Time on the bike was 1:08:14, el pokey (14.4 mph).

Now for the run. I don't know if it was something I ate the night before (philly cheesesteak maybe not such a good idea), or my gatorade and bananas during the race, but either way, on the run my stomach was stabbing me. Every step would hurt or feel uncomfortable at best. I tried to find ways to run without bouncing so much, but to no avail. So, I alternated running and walking a lot, and was pretty slow overall. I felt like I had more juice than that, but would stop because of my stomach. Total time on the run ended up being 35:31, pretty slow, but not bad considering. I was still hoping I might break 2:00 for the whole race, so I fought through a bit more at the end (and always run more at the end with the people all there).... but that wasn't enough. Final time was 2:05:36.... not too far off my goal/estimate.