Grand Rapids Tri Done!
Posted by Samantha Fugate on Thursday, June 9, 2011
So last week was a very big week for me! On Friday I took my COMLEX Level 1 exam, which is the very first board exam I have to take as a medical student. I think it went really well, but it takes 4 to 6 weeks to get my scores back, so we will see. I felt pretty good about the exam, but I can tell you what I feel even better about: being done! Now I get to focus on training for 3 more weeks until I start my clerkship in the hospital. But rumor has it that there is more time for training in clerkship and I hope there is!
Now on to what you really want to hear about: my first race back since Collegiate Nationals! I traveled to Ada, MI with my fiance and my family for the inaugural Grand Rapids Triathlon. There were 3 distances available, but I opted for the Olympic because that is the distance I am really looking to be competitive in. I started with a great swim in a rough river! My goal with the swim was to really push myself so that I would stay close to the top girls. In the past I have been frustrated about being so far behind to top girls coming out of the water so I really worked on my swim this year and it paid off because I came out of the water very close to the leaders. Then I cranked the bike. Okay, I cranked the bike a little too much! Ended up with a bike average of 22.3 mph which is a little too hot for my legs! And I definitely felt it on the run. But at the turn around I did see that I had biked my way into the lead! Unfortunately my legs completely seized up only 1 mile into the run, which was a big downer. I held onto my pace, which was too slow for what I was aiming for. At the run turnaround I saw that I had really biked pretty far into the lead, so I managed to hold onto my sluggish 7:23 pace and take my first win of the season! My final time was 2:20:33 which is my new PR, but I am still looking to get under 2:20 this season! Keep watching me, I have another race on June 18th!
Now on to what you really want to hear about: my first race back since Collegiate Nationals! I traveled to Ada, MI with my fiance and my family for the inaugural Grand Rapids Triathlon. There were 3 distances available, but I opted for the Olympic because that is the distance I am really looking to be competitive in. I started with a great swim in a rough river! My goal with the swim was to really push myself so that I would stay close to the top girls. In the past I have been frustrated about being so far behind to top girls coming out of the water so I really worked on my swim this year and it paid off because I came out of the water very close to the leaders. Then I cranked the bike. Okay, I cranked the bike a little too much! Ended up with a bike average of 22.3 mph which is a little too hot for my legs! And I definitely felt it on the run. But at the turn around I did see that I had biked my way into the lead! Unfortunately my legs completely seized up only 1 mile into the run, which was a big downer. I held onto my pace, which was too slow for what I was aiming for. At the run turnaround I saw that I had really biked pretty far into the lead, so I managed to hold onto my sluggish 7:23 pace and take my first win of the season! My final time was 2:20:33 which is my new PR, but I am still looking to get under 2:20 this season! Keep watching me, I have another race on June 18th!
