Race Report-Sophia Fuller-Rancho Seco Sprint Triathlon
Pre-Race: I woke up at 4:30 and had all my stuff laid out for the triathlon. I ate a light breakfast and got dressed and got my stuff in the car before settling down for the long car ride. When I got there, I set up my transition area and found some of my teammates and began talking to them. About half an hour later, I quickly put on my wetsuit and went down to the water. The distances would be the longest that I have ever raced all together. An 800yd swim, 16 mile bike, and 5K run, I knew this was going to be a challenge.
Swim: The person rang the bell and we took off. I had to position myself to go right towards the first buoy and I swam about at a medium pace. I'll just say that I was glad that I had my wetsuit, some people were talking about the cold before the race started. I got around the first, second, and 3rd buoys no problem, I knew the swim was going to be the easiest for me because I do about 4 times more than that every day and my swim practice. As I went through the balloon tunnel/swim finish, i pulled off my swim cap and the arms to my wetsuit.
Transition 1: I sat down at my transition area and pulled my legs out of the wetsuit. I quickly half-dried my feet and pulled on my bike shoes. I threw on my helmet and sunglasses, quickly unracked my bike and ran through the transition.
Bike: The first part of the bike was easy. I was only passed by 20-30(?) year old men throughout the whole bike portion. The bike course was kind of hilly and at the end after going as hard as I could and staying in my arrow bars basically the entire time, I was dying. I passed one girl that looked about my age while going back. I literally felt like I was going to pass out. I was relieved to get close to the end of the bike and got ready to quickly jump off my bike.
Transition 2: I racked my bike, threw down my helmet, changed shoes as quickly as possible, and grabbed my race belt. I then jogged to the run start feeling as though I was going to throw up.
Run: It was the longest 5k I had ever done. I have only done 2 or 3 5k's before that race and those were hard for me too. I grabbed water at all the water stations. My stride was shorter than usual, the sun was burning into me and I felt as though I was going to melt on the spot. The rocks and loose dirt did wonders for this problem, adding peril to everything else. I was again passed by mostly grown men who looked like they were runners. At the end I heard a girl named Emma running up right behind me. She was my age and I felt I needed to beat her. I sprinted and left everything I had on that course. I ended up getting 4th in my age group, with a time of 1:43:42.
Congratulations to Kayton Avilla (overall USAT winner), Ryan Messersmith, and Mark Whittock (USAT age group winner) for competing and doing well in the race.
Thanks for reading, Sophia
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