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 Swim
Comments: Well this was fun, not! I guess the mother nature decided since she was taking away the heat this year she had to offer us some other challenges to overcome. The start was fine, since my wave was very small. Drafted for about 10 mins and felt good. But then once we got out past the sheltered section, the fun began. this was a slight left side wave that I could actually ride and make good distance. But this is also were the jellyfish started. Swimming into the sun made sighting a little challenging, but I new the current was pushing us right to left so planned for that and made it to the 5th, or what I thought was the 5th buoy, supposed to be the only orange triangle and I take the turn. Well once again the instructions were wrong and there were 2 orange triangles so I swam about 100yard out of the way and had to be told by a support person to change course. So adjusted and went on to correct turn and made the left hand turn right into the wave. Now this is one of the hardest swims I have done. My breathing was great, but the waves were throwing me arround like a rag doll and I had to slow my stroke down so that I could work through the waves with out over exerting myself. (I kept thinking, I hope Nate is not puking somewhere right now from seasickness, since he dones so well with that). So after 4 jellyfish stings and 40 frustrating minutes later I emerged from the water. (About 30secs slower then last year.) What would you do differently?: swim the day before. Practice in more varied conditions.  Transition 1
Comments: ran out of water and to bike. wetsuit off and helmet on, shoes on and ran with bike while putting gloves on. Amy and Laura at exit when I crossed timing mat. Let amy know she made the right decision not to do the race, since she hates to swim;) What would you do differently?: nothing  Bike
Comments: Right away I jumped on the bike and started to spin. But right leg had a little bit of cramping so took it easy spinning for first 4 miles. Then picked it up a little and tried to find a comfortable pace. My computer decided not to ready cadance, which is the only info I wanted. I hate to watch speed, time or distance because I tend to push too hard. So I tried to ignore the big display infront of my face that was reading 20mph. The head winds didn't start until about mile 5 and then lasted until about mile 20. Then a nice tail wind kicked in for about 10 miles. Then headwinds again that built until mile 52 when we were back in town and they let up for the spin back into town. Once again mother nature decided to add some excitement to the ride. Overall no major issues, but was a little disappointed with overall speed/time. During the head winds averaged around 17-18mph but during the tail wind was in the 21-13 range. Actually had a max speed of 26.7mph :) and a low during mile 50 of 13.5mph :( Pass the freak, Nate, at around mile 48. nice pick me up. took 5 gus, 4 endurolytes, 5 bottles gu2o (140oz) What would you do differently?: maybe start gu at 15mins after bike start instead of 30. take more endurolytes (even though I didn't fell bad, I was covered in salt and obviously sweating more then I realized). not look at bike computer Transition 2
Comments: dismounted and asked official about guy finishing, why I don't know, maybe frustration. But I thought he was a pro, yah right they had finished long ago. ran to rack, rack bike, sat and tried to pee while taking helmet and shoes off /shoes on. but no luck, this is not something I am comfortable with. so stood up and headed out of transition. What would you do differently?: not sit down since I knew in my head I would never be able to pee like this.  Run
Comments: well this is were I finally felt good. I started off with the goal of running the entire thing. And that is exactly what I did. First mile I really had to pee so was really looking for port-o-potty. First mile marker came and went 8.17mins, then first waterstop, but long line. So with goal in mind, grabbed a water and gatorade and ran on (no walking), mile 2: 8.12, ok can make it to next stop. See brad - looking great and going to Felt great the entire run. Slight hamstring tightness last 4 miles but nothing too bad. Took water and gatorade at every water stop. ate 2 gus (should have done 3) and 4 endurolytes. Ran the entire way and had a blast. Ran into the chute with Amy yelling and cheering me on. What would you do differently?: nothing other then eat one more gu. learn the man's name who ran with me for the last couple miles:) Thank you again! Post race
Warm down: walked around. got some pasta, cheered in Nate and Kristin. Signed up for massage but too long a wait. stretched and packed up What limited your ability to perform faster: training time. swimming in same conditions. riding in the wind. Push a little harded, I wanted this to be a hard training day to prepare me for Placid. So if I was going for the glory then I would have maybe pushed the bike to the limits. But there is always another race day for that:) Event comments: overall this is a fast course. The organization is a little mixed up at times. the race started late due to bad traffic. The number of volunteers and fan support is limited. But the race is great for the fact that us average people get to race with world champions.:) Profile Album Last updated: 2006-03-08 12:00 AM
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United States
Columbia Triathlon Association
Sunny
Overall Rank = 686/
Age Group = 30-34F
Age Group Rank = 31/77
Arrived in Cambridge midday saturday. Went right to check-in and bike inspection since I did not have a number listed before the race. Temp and weather were beautiful, 72 and sunny:) Check-in went well and inspection was fine. Then rode bike over to start area instead of reracking on car. First time riding tri bike on cobblestones, really don't know how they do Paris-Roubaix. then dressed and took the bike for a spin around the run course. Roads a little rough for about 2 miles then they smoothed out nicely. Set the bike in gear and racked it for the night. Did one last check over and reset bike computer.
Group of 7 of us (Brad, Kristin, Tim, Craig, Amy, Nate and myself) split and 4 of us went to the pro meeting, q&a session. Really nice to sit and listern to all of the answers and information Chris Legh, Natascha Badmann, and Leanda Cave had to give us. When they were done we had the opportunity to go talk with them and have pictures taken with them. Really is awesome to meet these amazing people in person. number one highlight of the weekend: talking with Natascha. Natascha was so nice and asked if I was going to Kona this year. I said, "I could only wish to be and hope that some day I will make," her response was "that is great, keep working and you will." She was so nice.
The rest of the group had checked in the hotel and was ready to go to dinner so we were off to the hotel and dinner. No one really wanted to listen to Vigo tell us about a course or rules that they would change the day of. (Issue last year when he told us we had to swim around the sail boat but when we got there we did not yet some us swam the extra distance to find out we didn't have to). So off to dinner we went and I missed out on the BT pixs, sorry all that made it.
Back to hotel to pack transition bag, shower, shoot the sh!!, watched Old School and to sleep by 9:30pm. Up at 5am. Ate 2 bananas, 1 espresso gu (to get my caffine fix), 2 bottles gu2o and 1/2 a bagel. Packed car and drove to start. traffic a little heavier then last year, I think since everyone racked there bike the night before. To transition by 6:40 (a little close for the neurotic lady). Unpacked gear, pumped tires, filled aero bottle, checked bike, body marked and out of transition to wait in the nice long port-o-potty lines.
Body glide is my friend and race mornings I become infatuated with it. I put it on any were that might even remotely chafe and then reapply it about 20 more times. Get to watch pros exit the swim (1st place 25.09 John Kenny/1st woman 26.46 Leanda Cave/9th Chris Legh 28.18/8th woman Natascha Badmann 32.23). Then it was time to kiss husband goodbye and hug friends. The men started about 30 mins before me and Kristin and Kristin started after me. My sister Amy sat out this race this year as she is finishing her last year of residency and has had no time to train. So she got to jock strap for all of the rest of us. But she lucky did not have to do it alone. Tim's new
friendgirlfriend, Laura, (by the way guys that is awesome) surprised Tim and showed up just before the start. Was a little nervous watching the wind and chop build.none, other then the 8 mins prior to start to swim around the start area.