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 Swim
Comments: It was a beautiful scene with the fog over the water and the sun shining through. Swim didn't go too bad with the exception of being mad at myself for wearing the darn wetsuit. Totally wouldn't have needed it. The 'released' the women's wave first (why? who knows, not the best idea IMO) which was OK until the men caught us. For me, this was as I was nearing the second turn buoy. A lot of bumping and jostling was going on in the final stretch of the swim but thankfully nothing too bad. Got some pond/plant debris all over my face and lips, so gross, tried to spit it off as I breathed. Weird thoughts kept going through my mind, I kept thinking of the fellow who died during the swim at the last tri I did. I kept thinking, "Was this what his last minutes were like? Happily swimming along, enjoying the race, enjoying the day when everything changed in a second? What if something were to happen to me in the same way?" and so on. Eventually these thoughts quieted as I was distracted by avoiding the thrashing men who caught up to me. What would you do differently?: Not suck so much at swimming? DEFINITELY not wear the wetsuit in these temps again.  Transition 1
Comments: At least the wetsuit I shouldn't have worn came off very easily and didn't make me further regret putting it on, although of course it did cost me some time. Made quick work of getting out of it and into bike stuff. Milk Crate Lady, as predicted, had to wrestle her bike out from the tight spot she put it in, thankfully not hitting Rico in the process. Lost a little time negotiating around a lady who stopped in the middle of the aisle to mess with her watch. Had a tiny bit of trouble getting my right foot into my pedal; eventually gave up on it and took off, fixing it as I was moving. Not the best mount I've done. What would you do differently?: Not wear the wetsuit - stoopid, stoopid, stoopid, but really not a bad time considering I had to take the blasted thing off.  Bike
Comments: Here's where my decision to race with the Garmin in multisport mode came back to bite me a bit. My Athena friend who helped me set it told me that it would automatically scroll through the screens/data that is usually displayed while in bike mode (no, I'm not blaming her for any of this, I should've checked how to do it before race day). Well, it didn't. I didn't see anything but bike time. No miles, no speed. Crap. Guess I'm going by feel today! Boy, it was a bit chilly at first when I was still soaking wet and in the shade! Thankfully it didn't take me long to get out into the sun and warmed up. Since I was riding 'blind', I tried to gauge if I was going too hard or not intensely enough. It sure felt like it wasn't intentense enough, yet I also didn't want to overdo it and really suffer on the run. Passed Milk Crate Lady early on and vowed to stay ahead of her on the bike at least. Passed a fair amount of other folks, played yo-yo with a few others including a guy with a disc wheel (maybe he was doing both races, the sprint Sat and the half Sun) and of course got passed by a few folks, too. Just kept pumping away hoping I was going at an OK speed. Coming back into the park, making the final sharp turn toward transition I was passed by MIke! "Hey Mike! Go get 'em!" I think I yelled. Underestimated how close transition was and didn't have time to mess around with taking my feet out of my shoes while moving. :( Oh well, did a quick dismount and run with bike shoes on. Turns out (how crazy is this) that my bike time was was 30 seconds faster than last year, not too bad considering I had no idea how fast I was going! Although I feel if I'd have been able to see mph I'd have been faster. Oh well, live and learn. What would you do differently?: Make sure the Garmin was set up right. Take my feet out of my shoes while moving. Transition 2
Comments: Chickened out of taking feet out of shoes in advance, but also reasoned that with all the long, wet, cut grass I didn't want to have grass-covered feet for the run by running without bike shoes. Decent except for not being able to easily rack my bike thanks to my neighbor's milk crate. I needed to lean my bike over to get it under the bar and my frame kept hitting her dang milk crate and I didn't want to move it for fear of getting a penalty for moving another competitor's stuff. Definitely lost some time trying to maneuver around that thing. Didn't have too bad of a time especially since I had to deal with the milk crate.  Here's the pic of it pre-race. Notice Rico to the left of the pic. I think 'til T2 rolled around she probably had to move her crate over toward me because I didn't have as much problems removing Rico as I did putting him back. What would you do differently?: Throw her milk crate out of transition! Kidding. Maybe she has some sort of problem for which she needs it.  Run
Comments: Started out feeling a little 'off' at first and my left shoe didn't feel right. Paused briefly to make sure it was on properly and didn't have anything in it. All was well so I took off again. Just didn't feel strong at many points of the run. Going through the cornfield was the worst - like an oven. Passed a few of my Athena pals heading the opposite way, to which I either gave high fives or shouted encouragement to. Somewhere along the line a nice man offered some kind words in passing, although I'm not sure what they were anymore. Within maybe 100 feet to go, I got passed on the left by an older lady who didn't look familiar and I couldn't see her number since they only number our left sides and her bib was on her front which I didn't see.. At first I thought, "Eh, I'll let her go, I know she's not in my group" then decided, what the heck, I'll at least stay on her heels. On her heels I was indeed. Turns out it was Milk Crate Lady who ended up beating me by .02 seconds. That's 2 hundredths, folks, not 2 seconds. HUNDREDTHS! Ugh, I was so mad at myself! But at the time I really didn't see the sense in running her down. I guess I should've, she ran me down, right?! Also this guy who passed me a bit before she did thanked me for being a target for him. Um, you're welcome?! I probably should've tried to run him down, too, LOL! I need to put on my 'mean face' when I race, I guess. What would you do differently?: Not suck so much at running? Post race
Warm down: Grabbed some water and wandered around a bit. Eventually got some food and looked at the results which is when I realized Milk Crate Lady was the one who passed me. I think I made some comment out loud, like "You're kidding me", thankfully no one really seemed to hear me or care. Kept my eye out for Mike with no luck. Found some of the other Athenas and hung out with them and swapped tales from the race. Hung out to get the award for 2nd place Athena, woo! What limited your ability to perform faster: I guess possibly not having my Garmin set up correctly. Otherwise, the usual - carrying excess weight. Profile Album Last updated: 2012-12-27 12:00 AM
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United States
Pirahna Sports
Sunny
Overall Rank = 120/154
Age Group = Athena
Age Group Rank = 2/6
On Friday I drove from PA to my brother's house because a 5 minute drive (for real!) from his house race morning seemed waaay more appealing than a 2 hour drive from my house. Had a great meal at an Italian place in NJ Friday evening, complete with ice cream and had a very enjoyable time with my bro and his family. On the way home he drove the route I needed to take to get to the race in the morning, and it was good he did because I forgot since last year about needing to make one of the turns. We don't hang out as much as my sister and I do, so it was nice to do a little bonding. Went to bed but slept very fitfully (read: not restful at all), got up before the alarm because I already was up, LOL!
Got dressed, made a quick breakfast of waffles with PB and tea which I was going to eat in the car on the way. OK, one small glitch - how do I get out of his house but still leave it secure? The front door doesn't automatically lock (deadbolt) and the garage doors don't have the little button near the door track. Hmmm. I know, I'll hit the button, run and leap over the beam! Brilliant! Thankfully it worked. Drove to the race venue where it was still dark and rather chilly. Realized I didn't fill my bike bottle and walked around looking for somewhere to fill it. One of the folks associated with the race directed me to the post-swim water stop jug and let me fill it there. Whew, that was a first, forgetting to fill my bottle!
Registration line was short at this hour, so I quickly picked up my goodie bag, shirt and timing chip and went back to the car to stay warm. Eventually got Rico out of the back, put on his tire, filled both tires with air and went to transition. As I neared my spot, a lady saw me looking for my number on the rack and asked me what my number was. When I told her, she said, "Oh, let me move my things" and proceeded to move a crapton of stuff out of my assigned spot. OK...odd...but whatever. I went around to the correct side to be racked from and did my thing setting up. After a bit, I sense someone standing to my right. I look over and this woman said (not nicely), "You're in my spot." I patiently asked what her number was, knowing I was in the correct spot and then kindly told her it is on the other side of the rack. (odds on one side, evens on the other). She stormed around the rack and proceeded to put everything but the kitchen sink in her transition spot. Worst of all, she had a milk crate which at first I wasn't too concerned about from my own point of view but began to wonder how she was going to get her bike out. She had her bike sandwiched between the legs of the rack, her large transition bag and her milk crate so that the pedals would be caught in all those objects. Eh, whatever.
Walked down to the lake to get some pics since there was a low fog over it due to the water being warmer than the air, so mystical looking and serene, especially when the sun started peeking through.
Transition closed during the kids' race and I stupidly forgot to get my car keys out of my bag so I was left to hang out in the damp and cold instead of my warm car.
The kids' race ended and transition reopened briefly, so I went in to grab my swim things. Oh, to wetsuit or not to wetsuit? I looked around and in my immediate area saw the majority of folks had one on. Hmmm. I probably don't need one. If I wear one, it will just take extra time to take off. But lots of other people seem to have one on. Yes, no. Yes, no. Finally at the last minute I grabbed it and put it on up to my waist.
Headed to the water with the other racers. Made small talk/friends with the other Athenas, we stood in the water mid-calf. Saw one who had a Garmin 910XT so I asked her how to use multisport mode and she hooked me up, cool, thanks! Meanwhile, they are all sans wetsuit. The debate in my mind continues. At the very last minute I think, maybe I'll ditch my wetsuit because one of the Athenas said a guy nearby from her tri club could take it for me. "Yeah, great idea!" I think, but they announced 45 seconds until the start. Crap, I probably won't get out of it fast enough. So with 30 seconds to go I ask a girl nearby to zip my up, my fate sealed by my own stoopid indecision and stoopid decision-making. Saw Mike (jmhpsu93) about 50 feet away but decided this wasn't the time for introductions!