Cranberry Trifest - TriathlonOlympic

Big wave with what seemed like a lot of inexperienced swimmers made for a difficult start. Washing machined to say the least! I kept getting hit in the back of the head by the same woman... unreal she didn't try to make some distance between us after hitting my head twice, but there it goes again, and again. I just had to stop and swim perpendicular to where we were supposed to be going to get away from Wack-A-Mole over there since there were feet in front of me and wetsuit on the other side.

Ok, new spot, try again. Next to a breaststroker for a while and got the occasional roundhouse to the left thigh, not nearly as bad as getting close to seeing stars. In a few strokes we caught up to another wall of swimmers and she panicked with some drowning-doggie-paddle strokes. I breathed toward her, sort of to make sure she was ok, heard her cough and then something weird happened: She hooked my top. Yep. I have NO IDEA how that happened!

She pulled, velcro loosened, she was free, and so was *ahem* part of me. The velcro had caught again, so it wasn't completely off, but made for all drag and probably wouldn't have been so PG getting out of the water. If I weren't so frantically trying to figure out WTF just happened and HTF do I fix it, I would have asked her to buy me dinner first.

All that before the third buoy.

Start further to the front. Make a little more distance between me and other swimmers. Try not to be so damn sexy that some pretty young thing can't help but try to get my top off. :p

Cap and goggles off before out of the water. Slippery steps out of the swim. Heard someone yell "Good job, Mina!" and as I turned to look, I simultaneously realized it was Rob AND got mud splashed directly into my eye from someone stepping in a puddle next to me. Made a funny face instead of responding. Had to hold on to the rail getting up the stairs as I rubbed the dirt from my eye, saw Jonah once I could see again which made me happy, and found barefoot running into T1 difficult.

Got cheered on by Marianne which kept me from not walking through T1 even though I wanted to. Took two endurolytes with some water. Slow into shoes and socks. Skipped the gloves, got the helmet on, and inadvertently forgot my sunglasses. Didn't need them for the sun, and luckily there wasn't much dirt to kick up off the road, so I was ok without em.


Maybe a little running immediately after swims would help - I didn't hammer the legs on the swim, but it still felt like Bambi's first steps for most of that jog in.

This was a really good bike for me. Not just because the course was a fast one, but I feel like I was really pushing while keeping a smart pace that would leave me with some legs for the run.

Took a chocolate Gu early on the course and told myself that I should make sure to take one more since taking in calories on the run doesn't work so well for me.

Got passed by Marianne, as predicted, immediately after mile 5. She had a grin that was big enough to reach the transition area from there and blew past me within seconds. About a mile later we got stopped at a traffic light for an ambulance to pass, and then came upon the downed rider shortly thereafter. The volunteer waving people past the accident was letting us know that the racer (who was being strapped to a backboard at that moment) was OK, which was nice to hear, but still a scary sight. I wanted to yell something to the rider on the ground, but couldn't think of what might be words I'd want to hear then... then I remembered that I forgot to yell I LOVE YOU to Marianne as she passed me, which made me giggle. Hmmm... or does it only work when you're passing them? :)

Played some leapfrog for the first 12 miles with a couple ladies, losing ground on even the baby inclines, but hammering the downhills to catch up again. I may have the disadvantage carrying a bit more weight uphill, but it seems to help cranking down em.

Realized I should take more water and another Gu around the halfway point. Pulled out another Chocolate Outrage and tried to rip it with my teeth. Just sort of stretched. Tried again. Third time's a... ch... MESS. I gripped too hard with my left hand and hit a little bump at the same time, squeezing sticky chocolate gel all over my left hand, thigh and handlebars. UGH. Sucked down the little left of the Gu and kitty-like continued to lick the back of my hand. Squeezed some water onto my thigh and handle bar with the right hand and kept doing these weird maneuvers trying to get my sticky hand off the sticky bars and soak that part... Finished my water bottle with the hose down method and got to the bottle swap in need of water to wash down the chocolate taste. But, UGH - Got some berry Heed that was a nasty nasty combo with the chocolate. Sucked it down since I was feeling too uncoordinated to swap with my reserve bottle.

Lost the ladies I was playing leapfrog with just after the bottle swap. Not because of the Gu, but because they were faster, more consistent bikers whose legs didn't give up on inclines. I felt like I got more power sitting upright on the inclines around then which makes me think I might need to look at a better fitting sometime soon. Heard a little whimpering from my right hamstring, but it didn't sound like it would turn into a scream before I got off the bike, so did a little seat squirming to see if I could make it better (no such luck), found some new ladies to chase and kept on.

Got very close to the end and was happy in the thought that I didn't have to do those extra 5 miles Kathy and I accidentally did a couple weeks earlier! :) I was glad for the extra bike prep, really, and think I'll continue to work in a little extra distance on courses to know I can push past the end.

Train more. Train more hills. Yell for water at the bottle exchange. Remind myself that Gu is NOT a skin care product.

My crankypants neighbor put her bike where my bike would go. I don't know if she was compensating for the rack being mislabeled or what. Actually that didn't make sense cause it was mislabled with the spot on the other side of mine. Nope, just plain rude. Once again, I think of leaving a passive agressive sticky note for my neighbor, but instead of asking around for a sticky note and a sharpie, drank some water, didn't waste too much time with anything, like oh, say a race belt and number or any frivol like that.

Was it Marianne... Lisa (?) who yelled to me, "You LOVE to run!" And at that moment thought, Is she cheering me on, or mistaking me for someone else? No, no... she was talking to me.

Um, race belt would be nice. Seriously, I need a checklist taped up next to my bike or something. Then I could rip off the bottom for that note to my neighbor.

So, I was expecting a sufferfest, or really a SUFFERFEST. Instead it turned out to be a challenging, but surprisingly doable run.

I was seriously about half a mile out talking to another runner about the course before I realized I didn't have my race number. She told me to just tell folks that it fell off during the run if they gave me any trouble. Just then, on cue, we passed a downed race number on the side of the road. It was plausible.

Passed OntheRun and Scott in the first couple of miles which means they blew past me on the bike. These two miles were painful. Breathing was labored, legs were wobbly, had trouble coming up with a coherent sentence when talking to Scott, that hamstring thing was creeping back up on me. I was thinking how glad I was that I didn't have my HRM on cause it would probably say "E" on it like when your pocket calculator abbreviates x 10 to the nth power cause the display isn't big enough for the number. (And then I started thinking, Do people still OWN pocket calculators?) Maybe it would just say WTF as in WTF are you thinking?! What ever it would say would make me contemplate slowing down, not plugging on, and that's just what I wanted to do.

The water stops were hokey but cute: 60's, Punk, 50's... um... what else? (I don't really like the stuff, but did get a chuckle out of the "Heed, Not War!" sign) and they really helped break up the run and kept my mind on the next mile.

Chatted with a Trifury girl who does a marathon or an IM every year and a woman who coaches marathon training for Team Challenge. I was very surprised I was running along side them for any amount of time, let alone a couple miles! We talked about chocolate and pizza and beer and man did that get my legs going! I was totally surprised, but after those first two miles, my legs and knees were feeling pretty good, I had a pretty steady pace, the false flats and inclines weren't any harder than the flats and I didn't need to walk until the water at mile 4 when I had to part ways with the two of them and give my legs the slower steps I promised them after the 4-mile marker.

Kept the walk to a minimum and promised myself another at mile 5. Legs were getting heavy, but I just wanted to keep the slow and steady pace to the end. Slow and steady wins the race, I thought to myself. And again, just to throw a little irony my way, I pass a little :( smooshed turtle, about the size of a mason jar lid, in the road next to me... and that's when the rabbit ran by. Yep. Past slow and steady me and the flattened turtle ran a Somerville Road Runner relay runner at about a 7-8minute mile pace to my 10+ wearing a pair of fuzzy pink bunny ears. So much for that tortoise and the hare fable, huh?

Peaceful and a little painful, the last 1.2 happened and I was in total disbelief at how I managed that pace, that consistency without feeling like my knees were going to shatter or rolling my ankle or ending with a zombie shuffle. I've run twice in the past month in my new orthotics, two times in the month prior without em, and this felt better than all of those.





Um, train. Ever.

Cold ice water towel and bottle of water were heavenly. Hot dog, chicken and some watermelon, and yes, finally a beer. Stretched for about 10 seconds then decided that just sitting and not having to hold up my own weight felt better. Chatted with BT folks for a while then let Jonah drive on the way back.


Not exactly following any training plan, not choosing the best tri clothes made for a little, um, snag, but I think I did most things right but could have done more long-term prep and less cramming for the exam.


This one was all about the bike. Just under 17mph is a really good pace for me. I know it's a fast course, but I really felt like I was pushing myself out there and had improved quite a bit since the beginning of the year being happy with 14mph rides. I've still got a long way to go with bike fitness, though, and hope to make friends with my "Angry Badger" this winter. Run was a surprise, but next time it shouldn't be a guessing game about how I'll do because I'll get more time in orthotics which have already given me some hope about improving my running (and decreasing my consistent pain and injury). I'm always less concerned about the swim, but that's certainly why I didn't do as well as I had hoped.

Overall, I ended just right - barely made it to the finish, but not crying or spasming or collapsing, but took everything I had to make it there.

Great course, and I'm really happy to have had this one as my first Oly. I feel like doing this longer course has given me a much greater understanding of my strengths and limitations and what I have to do to take on other challenges in the future. Seeing all the BT faces on course and having some encouraging words in the crowd really make pushing forward a ton easier. Thanks for those who came out to cheer and photo and, of course, race!

I'll see you at Cranberry 2010.