Webster Lake Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

So, some of you were following my wardrobe issues. Basically, new saddle = pain in the butt. At the last minute (what's that about Nothing New on Race Day?) the afternoon before I pick up some PI shorts that have slightly more padding than my Zoot trisuit. No tops in my size except for this white, see thru job that is not worth my $$ if you can trace the outline of my belly button; head to the next store. Then another. No top. Decide to either do the sports bra only or a wicking running tank. Was feeling like I could share my blubber with the world for a couple minutes to transition, but then when I realized how far the run was from the beach (seriously 1/4 mi PLUS), I chickened out and went for the shirt.

Thought I positioned myself at the front, but the Ready/Set/Go came so quick, I barely got my goggles on, immediately got pushed aside by some overly aggressive woman and found myself just waiting for all these feet, most of these SLOW feet that keep stopping and wading and stopping and changing direction, to get out of the way. Took a couple strokes, hit legs, stopped. Took a few more strokes parallel to the beach, hit more legs, stopped. Thought I was all the way to the outside and I got hit, head on by some woman who swam directly into me on the right.

I'd barely been more than wading out for more than a couple minutes, it seemed, just trying to find some OW to swim in! There were still a bunch of other women trying to wait until the chaos died down, and one woman was freaking out behind me saying, "I can't do this!" I told her it would be ok, just to wait until there was some place to swim and just swim it like she was in the pool. And that was my cue to get to it.

Tried again on my way-outside approach and started to realize that my non-tri-tee was not remotely the best thing to wear. Significant drag as it took on a lot of water, but it stayed in place so wasn't quite as bad as wearing a plain old tee. Still, I giggled to myself as I started to think it was like swimming after being thrown overboard and I was racing to a life boat. I was determined to get to that damn boat before the woman who nearly knocked me off my feet at the start!

Caught up to the majority of the crowd at the first turn (which people seemed to miss and cut corners! I was shocked!) and passed a decent amount of folks before the second one. Right before the second buoy, I caught up to Jonah who was breaststroking away. Stopped to yell "I love you!" when his head was bobbing up. For a second I thought he didn't hear me as his head was down before I got out the whole thing and I had just yelled I Love You to the woman swimming behind him (DOH!) but luckily he heard me and responded. :) He was doing really well, and that made me happy.

Did I mention the water was beautiful?

After the last turn, again I decided to go waaaay outside and in the calmer waters I saw some big fish! They looked about 2' long from where I was, but being that they were calmly munching on some plants, I'm not sure if they were farther away than I thought.

Time sucked, but I dilly dallied, gave some confident encouragement to another woman when I wasn't feeling particularly confident, checked in with my wetsuited man, and dragged around part of the lake with me. Toward the beginning it felt awful - I wanted everyone else done so I could have a turn! - but after the first few minutes, I didn't want to get out, and at the end I didn't want to leave the fishies.

More aggressive start (that does NOT include pushing someone aside!), start the swim right away, and of course, TRI TOP!

Stashed a pair of flip-floppy things on the basketball court upon Seth's suggestion, which was super helpful. Still feeling sluggish, and felt every pebble running to transition, but leagues above trying in bare feet.

My suck idea for a top had to come off for the bike because of its sponge-like qualis. Still wet and got my jersey all bunched up when I tried to put it on. But, it would have taken me another 3 minutes to take off my too-tight-wetsuit, so all was good.

TRI TOP that doesn't have to come off.

Bike felt great! I'm not a very good biker, so this was a good ride for me.

That monster hill at mile 5 was manageable, although I totally forgot how many parts it was - thought I was done with it when there was still another uphill stage. But it's worth it for that roller coaster down!!

Played cat and mouse with a woman in pink for the last half. She was either 21 or 27 years old and even though she wasn't in my AG, it gave me something to focus on. She'd kill me on the hills, but I'd always catch up.

I Thought she'd beat me in the last few miles, but all of a sudden, she got tired and backed off. Wonder if she had the same problem as me - my a$$ still killed (!) by mile 9 or 10 and I was dying to get off the bike!

More (ugh) hill training, NEW SADDLE, PLEASE!

Totally ran the wrong way to the running start. Ugh! So by the time I ran all the way around the transition area again, that girl I had just passed on the bike was right ahead of me which made me feel like a big dope.

Make sure I knew where the hell I was going!

Saw Jonah coming in on the bike shortly after I started the run. We waved to one another. Then I ditched the chick in pink. Lots of "Good job!"s going back and forth amongst the crowd since the run doubled up on itself and you were facing the people on the other half of the course. I concentrated on running form and counted the number of teens that were ahead of me on course to pass the time.

Took the first water, and that was it. Decided not to have a picnic since I didn't need one.


After the halfway point, I caught up to FlyTheBlueSky. I was feeling a little spacey, but good after seeing a familiar face, and picked it up a little at the end of the hill. We passed the other side of the lake there and I was thinking it would be great if there was the option to swim it in instead of running back.

On the way back, I saw Jonah a third time. Instead of yelling or waving, this time I moved directly into his path and we stopped, kissed and kept running. Some woman jogging next to him started saying, "That was the cutest..." and I turned around and yelled to her, "I've never seen that guy before in my life!!!" and a bunch of folks laughed.

I picked up the pace again, and felt pretty good. Passed a couple people - which was a total surprise! - and it was starting to drizzle as I came in to the finish. Again, for some reason, I thought the mat was somewhere else... this time because it seemed like the run was too easy or something, so I didn't really sprint it in. Ended feeling like I had a bunch leftover in my legs.

Pick up the pace substantially toward the end. Know where the hell I'm going!

Got some Powerade, walked up to the corner to talk to Jonah as he finished. Talked to FlyTheBlueSky and IcekreamMan at the end, although I was feeling rather unfocused... I think my lack of sleep was starting to kick in. I was also wired and was thinking of grabbing late lunch and a beer. Then I realized it wasn't 4 in the afternoon like my body thought, but 10:30am. Skipped trying to get times and any semblance of stretching and headed home.


Lack of sleep. Wearing non-tri clothes.


Pretty happy with the performance overall. I'm sort of surprised that I did better in my weaker areas than my stronger, but it's nice to know that I really had been working on them.