Gator Bait Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

My strongest event of the day, by far! Funny thing is I came out of the water a bit annoyed at what I thought was a sub-par swim for me. Why? Well, while standing in line waiting for the time trial start (LOVE that) I realized I had to pee again. Because it was a dive start, I spent the first half trying to get myself to pee while swimming. I've never been good at that. Definitely lost some time there. Managed to squeeze out a little and gave up on getting it all out (sorry for the tmi lol), and then turned it up for the second half. Always a bit sad for the swim to end because I enjoy it so much, and this race was no different. 500M is just too short!

Grateful for the volunteers assisting us out of the water, as the edge of the boat ramp was VERY slippery. On the run up to transition I fumbled with my watch, which I had apparently bumped at some point into another mode. Eventually got it back to chrono and was dismayed to see my time was 10:40 or so coming out of the water. What?! Couldn't imagine why it was so slow, even with the slower first half. However, looking at the results, I'm pretty sure the course was a little long. I had the 2nd fastest swim in my AG, 11th fastest among all women, and 43rd fastest overall - clearly, not as subpar as I first thought!

Forget about trying to pee and just swim hard the whole time? Otherwise, nothing - swam hard, sighted well, rounded the buoys tight. Never found a set of feet worth drafting, but that's been the case for most of my races so I don't even worry about it.

7th fastest in my AG, fastest was :50.

Moved fairly quickly with everything; only ways to make it faster would probably be to forgo socks or leave my shoes clipped into the pedals, neither of which I'm willing to do.

Spent the first part of the bike enjoying the downhill on the IH35 access road and reminding myself that it was certainly possible that the swim was long, and therefore not worth worrying about. Wouldn't make or break the day. Started to hit some long, gradual and short, moderately steep hills after the turn onto Ranger Creek Rd. Made sure to drink some water every couple miles and work the flatter or downhill sections and not burn out my legs on the uphills. Also enjoyed the scenery; reminded me of both the HITS Marble Falls course and Boulder. Just after 5 miles, I came upon a steeper section and wondered if that was "Heartbreak Hill." Knew that wasn't supposed to be til right before the 6.5 mile turnaround, though, so after I rounded the bend and looked ahead, I thought "Aha. THERE it is." From the distance all I saw were small ants making their way up what looked like a vertical climb through a rock cut. Enjoyed a brief downhill, during which I tried to gain as much speed as I could to take into the Hill. Started cranking my way up the hill. Saw a couple people get off and walk their bikes uphill, but I was reminded of my thoughts during the 2008 Boulder Peak tri - "I didn't come here to WALK, I came here to BIKE." And, frankly, I knew if I had been able to make it up the MUCH longer and steeper Old Stage Rd, there was absolutely no reason I couldn't make it up this hill, particularly with better bike fitness and a lighter bike. Stood up to pedal halfway up and kept cranking. Hit the top, caught my breath, and turned around to enjoy the screaming downhill. Did ride the brakes a little going down, so I only hit a top speed of 37.3 mph. haha

Enjoyed the second half of the bike - mostly downhill, and even the gradual uphill back up the IH35 access road didn't seem bad at all. Ate a promotional-size package of Gu Chomps (90 kcals) and drank more water.

Not much - for this course, and considering almost all my riding lately has been on super flat RAFB, I am quite pleased with a 17.4 mph average.

2nd fastest in my AG, 19th fastest overall!

Racked the bike quickly, switched shoes, grabbed my race # belt and visor, and ran.

Nothing.

Before the race, the RD announced the run would be a little short (by how much, he didn't know) because a gate that was supposed to be open was closed. After the race, he announced that the night before, some jackwagons had moved the turnaround sign on the dam, shortening the course even more. However, despite the fact that the run is one of my strengths, today that was probably a good thing. My legs had felt a bit tired during the swim (I'm sure from the speed workout and zillion squats during class PT on Thursday, but there's nothing I could do about that), and after a hard bike, they were even more tired come the run. Add to that the fact that it was already in the high 70s, the course had very little shade, and was predominantly on very rocky trail, and this turned out to be a rather difficult run. Ran hard but definitely never felt particularly good. Wished I had worn trail shoes instead of racing flats.

Nothing, really. Gave it all I had left.

Walked around for several minutes to get my HR down, immediately downed a bunch of water, then ate 2 small slices of watermelon - like heaven on a hot day!


Warm weather, the usual never-enough bike training.


Started late, apparently due to the police being slow to arrive on the bike course and some other last-minute issues. Bummer about the shortened run, but I don't think that ruined the experience for anyone. Good selection of post-race food (I didn't think smoked sausage would be at all appealing at 9:30am after a hard, hot race, but it tasted great!), relaxed atmosphere, good organization. Perhaps not the race for a hardcore purist or those who like a lot of frills, but I definitely enjoyed it.