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 Swim
Comments: OMG, what a great swim! NO PANIC! NO OWS FREAKOUT! Felt easy and relaxed the whole way. The water was green and murky so that I could hardly see my hand in the water - and NO claustrophobia! What's happened to me? Last year at this race I did two - count 'em - two strokes with my face in the water - first one eyes closed, second one eyes open which started the whole OWS freakout thing -sidestroked the rest of the way. This year, swam easy, straight and relaxed the whole way. I started as far left as I could but still got caught in the crowd. Got kicked in the side a couple of times by people breaststroking (ouch!) and saw a couple of whip kicks go by my face - so glad they didn't connect! Finally stopped, swam outside everyone in the wave and was able to get into a rhythm. Used a trick learned right here on BT to start outside the group and breathe on the side toward them - as long as you're staying about the same distance from the crowd you're heading in the right direction without so much sighting. I swam a little farther by doing this, but it was well worth it to not be running into people. Another OMG thing - I swam pretty straight - every time I sighted, the buoy was right where it was supposed to be. I was ready to turn at the orange buoy but the turn was one more buoy out at the green one. Darn. Still, no panic! Yay! After the second turn, I got sort of disoriented - I sighted, didn't see where to go, sighted again, sighted again...finally had to pick up my head out of the water to figure it out. Thanks to the kayaker who pointed me right! Swam in and kept running into one other in my wave, but started passing people from waves ahead of me...another Woo-Hoo! Swam until my hands touched bottom (still couldn't see it! Ewww) stood up and ran to my bike. Saw the tri-brother with his camera as I came out. This is the first time EVER that I've been able to run after a swim. Woo-Hoo! What would you do differently?: Maybe get outside the group earlier... otherwise this swim was a victory in itself!  Transition 1
Comments: What took so long? Wetsuit off - stuck a little on my heels. Was a little dizzy putting on my shoes - didn't use socks. Got helmet, gloves and glasses on then had to run a long way on pavement (oooh, my poor cleats!) before the mount line. Heard club members cheering my name - gotta admit that's fun! What would you do differently?: Not sure. It seemed to go pretty well except my gloves stuck a little.  Bike
Comments: The start was uphill (ugh!) and people were weaving around. I remembered to put the bike in the right gear to start, but I can't do the running start and I couldn't get my foot clipped in. In my old MTB shoes, I would start riding and clip in when I got the chance, in the tri shoes I don't have that option as they slip off the pedals. Slipped off once and jarred everything including my fillings, but clipped in the second time. Heard the club yelling again (thanks guys!) and was off. I had an awesome bike ride! Got passed by only two people who I then passed back and didn't see again. I was continuously passing people - one of the advantages of starting last, being a slow swimmer and being fairly strong on the bike. :) I moved from 64th place to 39th place overall in this portion. I have to enjoy this during the bike leg 'cause I lose all advantage on the run. :) The biggest problem for me was that people were not riding to the right. There were multiple people ignoring the wide bike lane and riding on the road, which was NOT closed to traffic. I only passed on the left, but had to go way wide in a lot of cases. They'll need to remind the riders in the pre-race meeting next year. I stayed aero most of the time (I have a roadbike with clip-ons) except for climbing, when I had to sit up a bit. Rode hard but managed to stop short of blowing up a couple of times. Best race ride to date! What would you do differently?: Figure out how to get clipped in quicker. Transition 2
Comments: Put on socks for the run. Also put on my Garmin, race belt and hat. The transition seemed to go fairly smooth - helped by the fact that there were so few bikes on my rack. :) What would you do differently?: Figure out the best order to put on everything - the Garmin slowed things down.  Run
Comments: Ok, so now I have my focus area for the next year. Dropped from 39th overall to 105 overall during the course of 3 miles. Cripes. The Garmin is great for me for the first mile or so - I tend to feel like I'm going soooo s-l-o-w so I end up running too fast. Then I run out of air, get asthmatic and have to walk. This time, I kept an eye on my Garmin and it reinforced that I was going too fast - this really helped me slow down and get my HR under control. This course is almost all uphill with a net elevation gain, so it's kind of tough. No one said anything during the run except one triclub buddy who ran by me. It was kind of surreal because there were people all around, walkers and runners, and it was really quiet. Had to walk once - there was a long curving uphill where I realized that we didn't get any downhill...stopped me (mental toughness? where?) but got started again. Ran by two 11-year-olds...wow. One poor girl had a bloody nose and was using her shirt to stem the flow as she walked along - stopped to ask if she was ok - she said yes. Also heard everyone behind me asking her. The last part of this run was along two sides of the city park - lots of spectators, lots of cheering. Was able to pick up the pace significantly here and finished strong. The tri-club was out in force near the finish cheering really loud...thanks again guys! Had to catch my breath a little at the end, but felt really good. All in all had a great time. What would you do differently?: More speedwork - mostly have been focusing on LSD in prep for my HIM in August. Post race
Warm down: Got a cup of HEED, went over to where the club was and cheered in the rest of the people. The awards and prize drawings didn't happen for a long time, so we sat around, ate, and visited. I didn't want to leave because one of the drawings was for a bike frame, and they always have really good give-aways at this race. AND I knew one of our members had taken first in her AG and I wanted to see her pick up her award. I knew I had done well (took about 10 minutes off last year's time) but was shocked when they called me for second place in the 40+ Athenas! It was fun running down to get my ribbon. What limited your ability to perform faster: I have finally learned to relax in the water and my time wasn't stellar so I guess more speed work in the water. Also, compared to the other competitors, my run definitely needs work. Still, this was a great race for me. Event comments: This race just gets better every year. Emde Sports and Fitness Fanatics and the other sponsors do a wonderful job putting on a top-notch event. This is the only all-women race in our area, and every year new people come out to try who thought they could never do anything like this. I got my start in tri by volunteering at the first ever Valley Girl and watching people who looked just like me finish the race with smiles on their faces. I hope that I can be an inspiriation to someone out there who maybe isn't a steely-eyed, whippet-thin athlete. And speaking of volunteers, there were a ton of 'em, and Emde Sports even donated $$ for each volunteer from our school to a local school program. Q'doba came and did the post-race food (yum) and the finish was in the city park with lots of things for the kiddies to do. The givaways at the end were great (even if I didn't win anything), and the competitors and volunteers were all very encouraging. All-in-all, this was a great race. Profile Album Last updated: 2006-05-18 12:00 AM
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United States
Emde Sports, LLC.
90?F / 0C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 105/427
Age Group = 40+ Athena
Age Group Rank = 2/18
The race didn't start until 9, but the transition and bodymarking ended at 7:30. Up at 5...the dogs didn't even get up with me, as usual. For my early workouts, they usually just look at me and go back to sleep - the hedonists. Sunscreened with super 45 SPF Bullfrog and put on my shiny new Zoot tri top that Renee at Core Multisport was kind enough to jump through hoops to get to me before this race - they told us it may not be wetsuit-legal and I'd just noticed that my trisuit was somewhat...um...transparent...in the back. (It worked great, Renee!!)Read BT while choking down two packages of instant oatmeal with a banana, one spoon of PB and honey and a glass of water. I find it really hard to eat first thing in the morning but I pay for it if I don't. Everything was packed and ready to go - just filled water bottles, mixed HEED and headed out. I got to the site about 6:40 to have plenty of time to rack, get marked, visit with my tri-buddies, etc. etc. etc. Had to park quite a ways from the transition area - put on my backpack (Holy Cow, that thing is BIG!) and rode my bike in my Chaco's (note to self - Chaco's are not meant for riding on SPD pedals!) There was a line going through transition to get to the transition area...what's this? Oh yes, the homeowner's association beach isn't big enough for 500 bikes AND 500 women, so transition overflowed into the street. (BTW - a HUGE thanks to the homeowners for letting us take over for the weekend - Sat was the kids' tri and Sun was the ValleyGirl) They marked us on the way into the grass transition - this was the first time I had the big 'four-oh' marked on my calf! Woo-Hoo! My wave of 40+ Athenas started in the 5th and last wave with the 50+ AG, and my rack was right by the gate to get from the grass transition area to the bike out. Yay! Got the second spot from the end, racked my bike (the only one facing to the outside) and got my stuff all set up.
Visited the portapotty (what?! NO LINE?!), then stood around and chatted with all the people I've met over the last year including SenjaO from BT. Stood in the sun, sipped HEED, stood around some more, sat in the shade, visited the PP again (still no line!) visited some more, found the tri-brother and said a quick hello. Had one Hammergel about 25 minutes before the start. Heard the swim was wetsuit-legal! YAY! 15 minutes before start - struggle into wetsuit and get in the water. Swam a few strokes in the murky green water and had to do a self-check - what? Still breathing? No panic? This isn't normal! Swam a few more - still no panic...how can this be? So I swam around a bit and just stayed in the water while the first four waves went off as I didn't really want to stand in the hot sun wrapped in black neoprene.. Got to watch the leaders exit the water and run to their bikes. Wow. Five minutes before my wave, got out and stood on the beach.