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 Swim
Comments: The elites were wave one, then waves two (DH) and three with the men and then me! I was pretty calm but found myself feeling emotional whenever the RD talked about swim rescues. I knew I wouldn't need a rescue, but somewhere my emotions were welling up. I waded in somewhere in the middle of the pack. The horn blew and we were off. I dove in adn swam a few strokes and just had to stop and reset my brain. Adreneline was not cooperating with breathing and muscles. I stood (5.5 feet water). Breathed. reset. took off!! Ah, rhythm, strength, drafting. sweet. The first buoy was a mad house, everyone ahead cut too close and was treading water to round it; of course I wasn't sighting much just going with the flow and swam into the wall of torsos. ugh. But once around the buoy, the field opened up and the rest of the swim, including 2nd buoy was clear. Unfortunately I found myself stuck behind a scissor kicking swerving swimmer. My pace as a smidge faster than hers but I couldn't get wide enough to get around her weaving so would slwo to let her get ahead but she never did. ACK. I did finally get around her on final 50 yds. As I exited the water and heard the horn for two waves following mine! Means a 10 minute swim!! that was my best case wish! just think I would have improved that a little without Ms. Swervy! What would you do differently?: sighted and avoided the 1st buoy traffic jam and sprinted around Ms. Swervy. but even with those I ROCKED MY goal!!! Yeah me!  Transition 1
Comments: Dunno time! I hit stop instead of lap! ARGH! But regardless it went smoothly, Ts are great for me, focussed, simple, easy, away.  Bike
Comments: I FLEW on the bike. I passed women while I was getting my feet in my cages WHILE going uphill. SMOKING! I felt GREAT! probably partially energized by my GREAT swim time. Flying on Stanley I passed and passed and passed. Finally on Isabel one gal passed me on Zipps, she and I traded rest of ride. On Vineyard A couple 40+ women in full aero passed me but otherwise I just kept eating up the field. It was great. Hill? what hill? I shifted and cruised it. What would you do differently?: I marked my race pace as "hard" only because my legs were rubber on the run -- but I felt comfortable on the bike; I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard. Transition 2
Comments: My watch stopped timing. I have no idea why. I couldn't make it go. I somehow pressed the super secret combination of buttons to MAKE IT STOP. At least I had my swim and bike times, doing simple math for run time is all that's left!  Run
Comments: I had no legs! Argh! NONE of my bricks felt like this. NONE. But NOW I know what other BTr's mean by rubber legs! Oh my. But my goal was to run the whole course independent of pace. I allowed myself to walk the hills, my run was so slow I could walk up the hills faster and with less legs screams. but I ran as soon as I hit the tops and allowed myself no other walking. I kept hoping my legs would return - downhills i felt like MAYBE my muscles would open up and I could run again but no. plod plod plod. Despite that I raced onwards. Happily (?) I had no gas left for a finishing sprint so I really was giving my all (sad though that is!!). My 3yo daughter joined me for the last 50 yards. That was nice! What would you do differently?: I don't know! I did a number of bricks in preparation and they all felt good. never did I feel this fatigue and rubber. My only guess is that my last few weeks of lighter training in hopes of kicking my congestion (which worked) negatively impacted my bike/run transition. I didn't feel overheated or dehydrated. Just slow. Probably the heat and short sleep night didn't help but dunno if it was full impact. Post race
Warm down: It was all I could do to stay vertical and keep track of my daughter in teh post race area. I grabbed a (awful tasting) energy drink (Blue Sky?? what nonsense is that?) and found a square of lawn. DH who had finished 10 minutes earlier (his wave started 10 minutes ahead of me) came over to help track my daughter. Ran into the racer who we met at Emeryville tri and chatted with him for a brief bit. He's planning an Oly in Sept. Found mom nd sat with er a bit. took a beach shower to cool my core. What limited your ability to perform faster: more training could have helped but I'm PLEASED with my couch-to-sprint 13 week performance! Next time fewer spring colds for me and the kids! Event comments: Oh, the secret goal was to beat my DH. Don't know official times but he says we were "within seconds" of each other. GREAT; maybe not a clear beating but still ego boosting for me! He swam strong, biked medium, and also had a poor run! Last updated: 2008-04-24 12:00 AM
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Pre race routine started Friday with a trip to buy a bike pump. After it finally cooled off (after 9PM!) DH adn I went outside to prep the car and bikes for race morning. Well, could someone have warned us about new pumps? First we couldn't get it on my rear valve but finally did get air in. Then it glided on the front valve, I pumped... but then the pump would NOT RELEASE! I'm imagining cutting the pump hose and racing with the clamp still attached to my wheel! Well, we finally wrestled it off...and punctured the tube with the effort. So here it is, about 9:40PM and Ihave no air in my tire, no tube, no kit (hole was unfixable anyways). BIL to the rescue! I called my sister, asked her directly to hang up on call waiting and let me talk to her hubby. a 25 minute drive later to his house, he ever so graciously put a new tube and tire on my wheel (his tube being too big for my tire). LOVE some inlaws! So 11PM we're finally back home ready to sleep. Of course it's still bloody hot so sleep is elusive but at least race day worries are gone - I'm not a trouble-in-threes kinds a gal, just a one-per trip/event everything else goes smoothly. I know, gotta get kitted for flats.
dress, bagel, water, door. short drive, easy setup--minus the early arrivers griping that their realestate is being encroached by all the MOPs, uhm? 4x1.5 foot duffle bags? Let me introduce you to the tea towel.
We got marked (I got my birthdate as a number!!) and headed to swim start for the pep talk. Since this race has a LOT of beginners there was good times listening to the QA. Race started late, but once underway, off we went!