I’ll finally write a race report for Beach 2 Battleship Triathlon.

Set-up Events gets two big thumbs-up.  It was an excellent event and a great way to wrap-up a breakthrough season.

The swim was with a current so although the water was pretty rough and choppy due to the wind swim times were VERY fast!  I was the first female out of the water in 40:05!  I’ll never break that PR.

The bike was flat, but the wind was pretty fierce the first 70ish miles.  The last 90-minutes of the ride, however, was like riding downhill.  I ran out of gears.  I couldn’t keep my wattage and my heart rate high enough.  I was too conservative on the bike.  I wanted to hold back and crush the run.  My goal was to run sub-3:30.  I was 5:25 on the bike and still leading the race.

I had the lead bike coming out of T-2.  I struggled to settle into a pace.  Actually telling my biker dude, I’ll settle in eventually.  At mile 2, I really believed I would, but it never felt smooth.  There were several bathroom pit stops in there.  From this day forward I will use Imodium while I race.  I cursed the weather.  I do not enjoy racing in chilly temperatures.  But everything aside, I got passed at mile 16 of the run.  She held onto the lead although I refused to let myself quit fighting.  I finished 2nd in 10:06.

It was a lack-luster performance, but as a season and a year, I should be proud of the personal and professional accomplishments of 2011.

Personally:

See the blog on Rev3 Full – Cedar Point.  I earned almost $5,000 as a professional triathlete racing this season!!  That is a 400% increase in salary from 2010!!  I had a huge PR this season.  All is well in the Burkey household with Ken, Meg, and myself.

Professionally:

The week following B2B, I had 4 athletes cross the finish line at Ironman Florida.  For 3 of these athletes, it was their first 140.6 finish.  This same weekend, I had another athlete cross the finish line of the New York City Marathon in 3:28, his first 26.2!!  I had an athlete finish his first 140.6 at Ironman Arizona.  Throughout the 2011 race season, there were several PR’s, first-times, and I am so proud of all of my athletes.  I do have a couple places remaining on my roster for 2012 with The Sport Factory, if you are interested in coaching.

The Atlanta Triathlon Club Swim Program went along swimming, and although I will have a reduced role in the program in 2012, I will still be involved with the Open Water Swim Program, and I will still be around the Atlanta Triathlon scene.

The CNN ‘6-pack’ all crossed the NYC Triathlon finish line, and all of my producers (that were able to start), also crossed the finish line!

Good things are on the horizon for 2012 and ‘The best is yet to come…’

Tomorrow, I’ll blog about a good friend that also happens to be a Birthday Girl!!  Until tomorrow, Day 2…