Xterra Portland - Triathlon

In the pre race breifing the director said that since the water was 69 degrees wetsuits were mandatory - pshaw yah right - he insisted on his point for about 2 minutes before he got schooled. There were some very sad people for about 2 minutes.

Walked down to the shore. Nasty gravely beach and SUPER slippery slime after walking into the water. I overheard a couple of ladys talking about last years Xterra race in HI.

OMG I almost drowned. I have never been so freaked out in the water. I grew up on a lake and have never been affraid of the water.

2 minutes into the wave start of the swim I get kicked and I panic! I mean full scale gasping panic. I didn't wave my arms or start screaming but I was close. Then I looked around and realized there were no boats. No kayaks, dudes on surfboards, spotters - nothing. I just sucked it up and breast stroked for a minute or two until I could calm my breathing. I was not the only one freaking out - I looked behind me and there were at least 10-15 people struggling. The water was really choppy and dark and it was very hard to get a breath.

I will NEVER dis on people swimming breaststroke again!!!!

I am still really surprised and disappointed in my swim because for the last 2 months all I have been doing is open water swims in a choppy lake. I think I was just so mentally psyched out for the bike I didn't focus on the swim. I remember thinking while I was standing in the water "wait a minute I haven't thought this through at all".



Visualize the swim the day of the race. All I could think about was how brutal the bike course was and how I was the only one in transition with a 11 year old hybrid "mountain" bike.

But I came out of the water with a big smile on my face - NO WHINING!!!

Had to run up the ROCKY - ouch - ouch - ouch beach - up a little ledge and up a little hill to the parking lot where the transition area was. As soon as I hit T1 my suit was half off.

I was worried about getting my left ankle out of my suit because that is the one that had the timing chip on it, but my right ankle got good and stuck.....and I had to sit down to get it off :( booooo - FAIL

Decided to wear socks - 15 miles of mountain biking produces a lot of dirt/mud/rocks/weeds/thorns etc. The Yanx worked great. They took some getting use to - they felt a little tight - but they worked very well.



Not have a panic attack in the water :)
And more Body Glide on my ankles.

I had a Gu as soon as I got on the bike. My plan was to hydrate really good on the ride so that I could just hammer the run course. That worked out really well. I didn't go fast on the run by other people's standards but I felt great. I didn't have to worry about being passed - I got out of the water so late that everyone who was gonna pass me was well on their way!

I did pass a few people. I had a guy stop right in front of me in a section of the course that had a deep rut right in the middle of it - I saw him slowing down and I said "you can do it" then he stopped and I had to fly off my bike to keep from goin in the hole! I also had a girl stop right in front of me and I had to jump off my bike in a mud hole - fun!

There were 3 seperate occasions where my gears got messed up and I had to flip my bike over and make an adjustment.

Practice a race pace in the woods. Riding in the woods is a lot different than racing in the woods.

Not nearly as fast as I would have liked - but I had a nice big gulp of Gatorade..mmm....

Take off my bike gloves :) I started running out of T2 w/ them on luckily I just threw them behind me and my little sis collected them for me.

I am an awfull runner - just slow, slow, slow. But I do enjoy it and I have been making a little progress. My plan was to run (jog) everything escept the big hills. Thats what I did, I took it easy up the hills because my right knee was talking back a little. Nothing eventfull happened - except a 15 year old passed me - punk!!! :)

Run more.

Run away from killer beeees! There were hornets attacking everyone. I grabbed my stuff and ran to the car.


Being wimpy :) I have a ton of respect for people who go all out on the bike portion of these Xterras. Good grief that takes a lot of skill and a small dose of......well....lets just say skill.

I probably should eaten something more substantial in the morning.

Other than more training I think my mind was playing tricks on me and I let myself get too worked up. Honestly though this was really fun and I would do it again.


I didn't come in last!!!