Swim
Comments: I didn't feel particularly fast, and I definitely let my form slip, but I felt strong in the back part of my stroke, and I was moving along okay. Overall, I was very happy to be below a 2:00/100yd pace without a wetsuit. This was probably one of my better, if not best, swims without a wetsuit. Regardless, I was the second to last Open swimmer out of the water. What would you do differently?: I need to push myself a little harder in practice these days. I have not been getting in nearly as many yards per practice and I have not been pushing my pace as often in practice. Transition 1
Comments: I saw Sam and Tony on the way into transition and it gave me a good boost the hear them cheering. I felt like I was pretty efficient getting into my shoes and helmet. As it turns out, I must have pasted two of the other open women in transition, so of the four, only one got out on the bike ahead of me. What would you do differently?: I still need to learn how to leave my shoes on the bike, jump on on the fly, and get my shoes on while riding. People who are good at it make it look so easy, but it doesn't feel so easy in practice! Bike
Comments: I started out looking for the 4 or 5 women whom I figured would be ahead of me. I passed one woman right off the bat, but started to get discouraged when I felt like I was really hammering and didn't catch anyone else by the half-way point. When I got to the u-turn on Industrial, the volunteers said I was the first woman. What happened to everyone else? Did I pass them in transition? As it turns out, that IS what happened, but I didn't know it at the time. Anyway, I saw another woman not too far behind me (turns out it was the one I passed), so I kept pushing to keep the lead. The rest of the ride, I was a little conservative on some turns, but it was uneventful and I was happy with it. What would you do differently?: Learn to stay aero for more of the turns. Keep working on climbing legs. Transition 2
Comments: I was happy with this transition. It was pretty efficient. Nothing exciting to report other than that the body glide on the shoes definitely made them easier to put on, especially since my feet were all wet and sweaty. What would you do differently?: Nothing. I was happy with this one. Run
Comments: I was struggling a bit in the beginning, but with a couple of short walks and a few sips from my cherry drink (with ice in it), I did settle into a hard but sustainable rhythm. I saw the same girl not too far behind me so I kept pushing. By the last time I saw her, I realized that she was not closing the gap much, so I was pretty sure I had it. With this thought, I felt GREAT during the last mile. Every time I hit a mile lap on my watch, my pace was sub-8, so I felt even better about that! What would you do differently?: Keep working on aerobic capacity. My legs were totally fine, but my HR and resp were pretty much max. effort. I'm sure the heat/humidity contributed to this, but I'd like to think I can get the most out of my legs. Post race
Warm down: The race handed out wonderful, cold, wet towels at the finish line, so I wiped off with that right away. I finished my cherry drink and then started on water. I went up to the swim start to wish Sam and Tony luck before going to transition to get a bit organized. I ate my trail mix and went back up to try to take pictures of Sam and Tony in and out of the water and through transition. What limited your ability to perform faster: I think my swim was a bigger limiter on such a short race. I need to build speed in the water. Overall, though, I was pretty happy. I felt really well prepared and well organized. I do think I came into the race on a bit of a sleep deficit from this week, but I don't think that was a huge factor. Event comments: This race is well run and definitely a lot of fun! Last updated: 2010-05-08 12:00 AM
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United States
Racine Multisports
85F / 29C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1/169
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 1/23
I got up at 4:10 and ate an orange, a hard boiled egg, and some steel cut oats. I headed to the race site at 4:45 and set up my transition area. I planned to race in just a bathing suit, so I applied body glide to myself liberally, as well as the sides of my saddle and the front and back of the opening of my shoes. This really seemed to help. I also put baby powder in all of my shoes. Then I got body marked, visited the porta-pottie and headed to warm-up. Note - I burned a lot of mental energy the past few days getting ready for this race. It was not an A race on my calendar, so I don't know why I got so wound up for it before hand. I think I really wanted to win the overall. I need to learn to chill!
I had already walked around a lot getting ready, so I started right off with an easy jog. I had plenty of energy, so I reminded myself to slow down a few times to keep my heart rate in check. I wasn't sure how the heat/humidity would play in today.