USAT Age Group Nationals – Olympic Distance.
Mina Pizzini's last strides before becoming a national champion
There are 50 women in the 40-44 wave and only one national championship jersey. My biggest competition is another Texas resident, Peggy Yetman, the current W40-44 Ironman World Champion. I’ve raced her on 3 occasions and lost on all three. Peggy is a talented runner (she went 38 minutes in her 10K at Cap Tex !!!). I’ll need at least 3 minutes on her heading into the run to have a shot a winning our age group.
Swim: Race day dawned bright and sunny, but a week of rain created a seriously strong current in the Black Warrior River. Awaiting the in-water start, we hold on to the dock to keep from being pulled downstream. I start hard and quickly find a strong swimmer to follow. I’m on her like glue as we round the bottom of the course before turning upstream. I concentrate hard as we weave through prior waves, letting her do the sighting. I’m going to have a good swim!!! Then I blow it! I turn at the wrong buoy and by the time I correct, its too late to close the gap in the strong current. I swim the last 500m solo. Exiting the water, my husband Matt alerts me that 8 women are ahead of me. Not ideal, but not too bad considering my error.
Ride: I quickly saddle up Rocket in T1 and we begin the hunt. The 2-loop course is crowded by the time we hit it: 700 riders spread over 12. miles. Most of the first lap is a blur of passing people. I count several women in my wave, but it is tough to tell who’s who based on calf numbers. I give up and concentrate on riding: pushing the ascents, powering the flats, and crushing the descents. I even get up enough speed on a couple of descents to warrant a full tuck…Rocket screams past the other bikes like they are standing still. We cover the course in 59:59. I know it is good bike split, but I’m not sure whether anyone in my age group is still ahead. More importantly, I don’t know how far behind Peggy is.
Run: This is the great unknown. A calf strain kept me from running for the first 6 weeks of summer and I don’t know where my speed is. There are three good hills in the first 4 miles of the run course: I try to keep turnover high going up and let my legs fly going down. The course doubles back on itself at the top of each hill, giving me the opportunity to survey my competitors. I don’t see Peggy behind me and I don’t see Peggy or any other W40-44 ahead of me, but you never know who’s up there. There are no mileage markers on the course; I run by feel and pace off a woman in another age group whom I’ve been dueling all run. We hit the finish line together and I immediately look at my watch. My 10K time is 40:30! It has been more than 10 years since I’ve seen a 10K under 41, and I’ve never seen one in a tri. I stumble around in a daze trying to catch my breath and then Matt finds me and confirms that I’ve won my age group! Later, at the awards ceremony, I learn that I was 6th overall. I’d have bought the 1st place a drink, but she wasn’t legal yet…
Training: quality not quantity. I had only 10-13 hours per week to train this season, and my coach helped me get the most out them. My workouts were very focused. Runs (track work, tempos, hills, local races) were at specific paces for specific periods of time. Similarly, rides were based on wattage. I did most of my weekday interval workouts on a trainer because it enabled me to get a high quality workout in a short period of time. My training also included running races, bike races, rallies, and hard group rides for strength, speed and variety. It was the right mix of focused solo workouts and group rides/races that made my training efficient, effective, and fun. Finally, I spent some quality time with Retul to rework my TT position. I am much more aero and efficient this year than last, and my bike splits reflect this.
