Swim
Comments: Well who knows how long this course was. It didn't appear they placed the buoys with any regard to distance. They just kind of drove the truck down the beach and put the buoys in. The race start was actually delayed as the buoys were not in the water in time. It was a blustery south FL day but there were only maybe 2 foot waves. No biggie. Current didn't feel too bad. I passed a lot of women. They only put out 5 buoys and it was kind of hard to sight. After the turn I started passing people from other waves. I didn't draft that much. I never really felt like I got a good rhythm going honestly. I was disappointed when I looked at my watch and saw 31:05 (31:11 is the official race time) and I still am, but all you can do is compare youself to the field and I did really well compared to the field esp when it seems the distance is not terribly accurate. I have never come in first in my age group on the swim and 12/87 for females is not too shabby either. I'll take it. What would you do differently?: Not sure. I've been working real hard on the swim. I'm not happy with 31:11 for an oly distance swim but relative to the field I did quite well. Maybe more OWS? no idea. Transition 1
Comments: LLLLOOOOOONNNGGGG sandy run to T2. I jogged a little but I was not into red lining this day. Got to my transition spot...took a little whiz in the grass as I got my wetsuit off (I am becoming the queen of peeing in transition) Helemt and glasses on, grab the bike and off I go. What would you do differently?: Be a better runner. Bike
Comments: I signed up so late for this race I hardly even glanced at the race map. In general my attitude is that there are always plenty of people in front of me to follow, but I usually have a better idea of what is going on. I started out and I was going at a pretty good clip. Got a little wind on the out and back onto Virginia key. Over the first little bridge no biggie. I'm still going at a great speed and thinking "I'm kicking BUTT on the bike" Up over the big bridge...slow but sure just enjoying the Miami skyline. Had no desire to kill myself and I didn't. WWWWEEEEEEE down the bridge...then you had to slow WAY down pull a U-ie and go back over the bridge.....still slow but sure no biggies....then teh downhill was down right SCARY.....Somehow going down the other side the wind was VERY cross windy and was trying to take Quinn right out from under me....brake or wreck...hhmmmm BRAKE.....Was thankful to get out of the wind. Now HEADWIND.....Clearly I was pulling 23 on teh way out because of the tailwind because now I was reduced to 15-16 MPH...at one point I was going 13MPH and PASSING EVERYONE.....kind of nutty. I really didn't have any emotion about any of it. Didnt' care I was going slow and my time would suck just out for a sunday morning bike ride. Came by transition for the second loop. Wierd thing was there was an oly tri and oly du and a sprint tri all going on at the same time so you really didn't know who was who. The oly people had yellow bike and run # and the sprint people blue # but it took me a while to figure that out. I had a girl on a mountain bike block me but I just said "You need to get right so I can pass you" and she moved over. Second loop same stuff. Same scary wind coming back. Headwind back onto the key didn't seem as bad the second loop. Saw Janice on the motorcycle a few times......looked like she was holding on for dear life. No WAY would I ever do that job. Took my feet out of my shoes at just the right time What would you do differently?: UUUmmmmmm give a rats ass about competeing??? Not have done an oly the week before???? I was in it for fun that day. No regrets. Transition 2
Comments: Racked bike, wiped dirt off feet, put socks and shoes on. There was a guy on my rack and he asked if I had an extra gel. I had only one but I knew I wasn't going to eat it so I tossed it to him. Poor guy reallly suffered on the run. Anyway got my hat, race belt and my bottle of electrolyte fluuid. What would you do differently?: nada.....you all know how I am about my SOCKS :) Run
Comments: Started out pretty well didn't feel too horrible. You ran a little out and back then along the beach. It was pretty hot along the beach. After the first mile I realized how UN-recovered I was from St. Anthony's. Once again...not trying to redline just enjoying the day. By mile 2 I had finished my electrolyte fluid and threw the bottle off. Mile three I did well as it had a lot more shade. Second loop more of the same. I basically went to a 4:1 run walk. I was trying my best but my legs just WOULD NOT MOVE and seemed to have no strength. I figured I'd come in round 3:15 and I did. Funny thing of the race. So they had the oly tri the oly du and the sprint. They asked at body marking what category I was in ...Um I fdon't know I'm doing the Olympic?? Anyway there was a varitable alphabet soup on peoples legs....AG = age group, A = Athena O = olympic S= sprint....SO I see this guy with a TNT tri suit go by with CLD on his leg....My immediate thought was Chronic Lymphocytic ???? Disease? (CLL in medical speak stands for Chronic Lymphocutic Leukemia).....TNT has LOST it if they are writing diseases on peoples legs.......then another TNT CLD went by...this guy was a little bigger and it dawned on me it meant clydesdale.....DUH Only me. What would you do differently?: Not do and oly the week before. I think I need some legs transplants Post race
Warm down: Walked around and downed a bottle of water. Took a shower and got on clean clothes. Downed a diet coke. I checked the results only because I didn't think there were my people in my age group as I only saw one person in my AG pass me on the bike. No female results.......Packed up the car...check again WOOHOO says I am FOURTH....holy smokes. I asked if they were giving awards 3 deep or 5 deep....5 DEEP I GET HARDWARE. I swear I checked the sheet like 10 times I NEVER get hardware.....I ended up getting bumped to 5th by some chick who lost her timing chip but WHATEVER I don't care. In the grander scheme of olys 3:15 is pretty slow but I still beat 5 people in my age groups and I beat everyone who never got out of bed :) What limited your ability to perform faster: tired legs, wind, bad genetics Event comments: Course was pretty nice. Post race the food was not so good and they ran out of fluids so I was glad I brought lots of my own stuff. The trophy was pretty cute. The stars have to be aligned just right for me to place so I am grateful. I think I had an angel on each shoulder. I like St. Anthony's better even tho I will never place there. Last updated: 2009-04-30 12:00 AM
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United States
Sunny
Overall Rank = 41/87
Age Group = F40-44
Age Group Rank = 5/10
We got up uber early...3:35am. UGH. Packed the car the night before pretty much so I just got dressed and grabbed my nutrition, packed the cooler and off we went. Braided my hair in the car. Enjoyed a nice corn muffin and diet coke OF COURSE.
Janice was working as USAT official so got PRIMO parking. Picked up my packet and set up y transition area. Got body marked and got my timing ship. They had teh waves listed really oddly on the web site and I thought my wave was at 7:35 but that was the SPRINT wave. They announce the ladies wave for the oly was at 6:40 YAY less waiting and runnign earlier rather than later...WORKS FOR ME. Wetsuit legal..WHOOP WHOOP. ent back to check my bike and thank goodness because for the first time ever I had racked in the wrong place...mostly cause it was pitch black and I couldn't see. Took me like 30 seconds to re-rack as I keep it pretty simple plus I put my transition bag in the car cause we had such great parking.
Put my wetsuit on and wandered down to the beach......Ok there are no buoys in the water. OOOOO K. I got in and swam a little....still no buoys. Race is starting in 10 minutes......no buoys. OOOO K......so the truck just strats driving down the beach and putting buoys in...swim down along the shore turn at the last buoy swim back along shore. Who knows how long it really was. I think they just drove 1/2 mile down the beach and randomly put the buoys out. I did bump into Meliisa and gave her a hug and wished her luck.
My coach said I could do this race if I could go have fun with it so it was a little odd as I didn't have any expectations, no goals other than wanting to do something good on the swim. I had no intentions of pushing hard at all.
**********I put my rank out of females.....I'll include overall in the text****************
Overall rank for the entire race 180/254
Swam a little.