Onion Man Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

This swim set the tone for the day - tough tough tough. It seemed to go on for a really long time, my arms were tired, and I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I was in clear water with no other people for most of the time, felt like I had a decent rhythym going, but just never felt easy or comfortable. I felt like I swam pretty straight with sighting every 3-4 breaths. Just kept swimming though, and knew that eventually I'd get back to shore.

I don't know - I think the lack of swimming in the week before the race was part of the problem. I need to work on form in my wetsuit - it felt like my legs were too low...just more practice I guess. I've swum (swam?) in my wetsuit twice this year before the race.

I swam until my hand touched the boat ramp and remembered to kick so I wasn't dizzy, stood up and started up the long steep hill to transition. I took the top half of my suit off on the way up, jogged a little, then walked some more. Tried something new that worked great...held my cap and goggles in my hand as I took my suit sleeve off and left them in there - they stayed and I didn't have to keep track of them. Thank you BT!

Going up that steep hill was a little tough after the swim. My suit stuck on my heels just a bit but came right off after I hooked them with my thumbs. Socks and shoes were wet from the rain but went on quick, helmet, glasses and ready to go. No gloves today. Had to go up more steep hill to the mount line, but both feet clipped in quickly. Thanks to racinmason for reminding me to check my gear - it would have been a lot harder had I not shifted down before I started!

Time was 2/4 in my group.

Bodyglide my heels to help with wetsuit removal, otherwise it went well.

Whew, felt like I was dragging an anchor. The first half of the ride was a giant pass-fest. It was uphill and false flats most of the way out, but there was NO WIND! Yay for no wind! (I'd probably still be out there if it was blowing like it did last year!) I definitely felt the lack of bike time today as this was a huge struggle for me. I was pretty unsteady and didn't feel comfortable riding to the right of the puddle in the tire groove, so I had to ride a little farther in the road than I normally like to. At least there wasn't much traffic. I sipped InfinIT from my aerobottle the whole ride which seemed to work fine.

After the turnaround, I really enjoyed the downhills! I had one pretty bad patch - lasted 4-5 miles - where my legs and hips and back were all cramping up. It was pretty awful. I eased up and stretched and pedaled and eased up and stretched and pedaled... finally it sort of went away. Wonder what that was about? By the end I felt pretty good. It took me about :55 to reach the turnaround, and :41 to come back - the ride back was a blast! Even though it rained most of the ride, it wasn't a problem, only a little cold after the turnaround when I went a little faster.

Spend a lot of time on my bike BEFORE the race - more trainer time, more outside time, just more time. Ride lots!

Had to ride down a hill, onto a skinny plywood path covered with carpet (yikes!) , then dismount close to where my rack was. Got off and discovered a sore knee - where did that come from? Remembered to unclip (yay!) and got the bike to the rack pretty quickly. I'm glad I learned to rack using the brakes, it's so much faster for me than trying to use the seat.

Bike shoes off, run shoes on soggy, drippy, numb feet, grab number and hat and off we go.

I was worried about my new club tri top - it rides up and I really didn't want to show off a stripe of white jiggly belly between my shorts and top. Discovered when I clipped my number on that not only was it a number, it was CAMOUFLAGE! It covered the white belly strip - woo-hoo! I wore it after the race until I changed clothes for the drive home. :)

Time was 2/4 in my group.

Put on hat and number while I'm moving. Not sure why I didn't, but I thought about it just the time I was clipping my number on.

Raced without my Garmin or even a HRM today - wanted to just try by effort level. I think it was ok, but I think I like having my Garmin for HR and pace. The rain had pretty much stopped for the run.

I ran fairly hard for me, probably not quite as hard as I could have, but the effort level felt about right for a race. I actually passed a couple of people on the run, which just about never happens. I only walked the four water stops - drank water and a sip of my concentrated InfinIT each stop. Oh yeah, one more walk. I had just turned back on to the dirt path and looked up to see a long hill - inside I just kind of went 'ugh' and I started walking. Figured it was stupid so I started running a few steps later (with my hat brim pulled down so I couldn't see the rest of the hill. :) ) Picked up the pace for the last mile and finished with not much left in the tank.

Keep up the run training. Again, felt like the week off before the race hurt more than it helped me here.

Drank the cup of water and walked until I had caught my breath. Cheered a couple more people in and went to pack up my stuff. As usual, that was an exercise in itself. I was really tired - I guess that's a good sign.


Lack of training. On the bike, particularly. My swim was quite a bit slower than last year which seemed odd - I suspect (hope?) that the course was set longer since I think I'm a better swimmer than I was last year. My run was actually a couple of minutes faster this year, even after the tough bike. More training in the future for me.


I really like this race - it's a great way to start the season. The fees go to cancer research, they are organized and they have a great BBQ at the end! I hope we can get a few more of our club members to go next time - it'd be fun to have a bigger group there.