Orange County International Triathlon

Orange County, CA
Sunday September 27, 2009
by: Charisa Wernick

The OC International Triathlon was a race I used as my tune-up race for the Kona Ironman in October. Being that I’ve been training to “go LONG” I wasn’t exactly sure I would have the speed for a faster shorter race.

The swim was nice - I found clear water pretty quickly, lost the feet of the group in front of me, but did not lose sight of them.

Jumping on the bike my plan was to go HARD the entire time. This worked until the end of the bike when I just could not keep my heart rate up as high as I had planned. I did not feel awful, but I did not feel amazing either.

Into transition it had started to heat up and a hilly 10k remained. I threw on the running shoes and took off. Thankfully the first two miles were flat and I clicked off a few fast miles. Then it was up a steep trail, and up up up again.

I concentrated on keeping the feet turning over fast, trying not to think about the steep hills.

I ended up first female overall with a time of 2:15. The race was over faster than most of my long runs have been lately. I am ready for Kona!

-Charisa Wernick