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 Swim
Comments: Very happy with my swim, glad I got to test out the water, it was a little chilly, but since I knew what to expect I didn't waste a whole bunch of time gasping around getting used to it. Our wave wasn't too big so not too much fighting around and after just a few minutes I was really able to get into a groove and swim with good form, even drafted a little. Race day was truly perfect, it was overcast but not foggy like my last few ows races so it was fairly easy to sight. No waves and no chop either. Time passed quickly on the swim which was nice, I got to the last buoy before I knew it. What would you do differently?: Nothing, maybe push myself a little harder but I think I was at a good pace where it was hard but I wasn't going all out. I usually end up with a side cramp if I try to push it too hard for too long so I think I paced myself well.  Transition 1
Comments: So this transition was a little long, as I mentioned before my rack was at the far end of the transition area so that didn't help, wetsuit got a little stuck too. Also I really had to pee so I stopped to use the portapotty super quick, I remember being miserable the last couple races because I always have to pee after the swim but I never want to stop. I knew this race was going to be too long to just wait and deal so I went, and I'm glad I did, transition time be damned. What would you do differently?: I could probably work on tightening up my transition a little but I think this one was fine. Only longer than usually because of the transition logistics and the pit stop.  Bike
Comments: Good bike ride considering I've only been doing speed work for like a month now. It was basically the same course as Carpinteria but with a couple more hills and the extra mileage biking out to Carp and back. Guess doing the hills these last few weeks really helped because they didn't feel too bad on the course. Tried to make sure I kept a good pace up on the flats as well. Since we were the last wave it was a little lonely out there, but it was nice not to be passed all the time by the guys too. Was able to spend a good amount of time in aero too. Like the swim, the bike went by fast. Lots of volunteers on the course giving us directions and cheering which was nice. A little drizzly at times, but never full on raining. I really made an effort this time to be good with my fueling and hydrating. I made sure to eat half a bar about every half hour with water and the occasional sips of gatorade, I think it worked really well for me (only took how many races to figure it out? lol) What would you do differently?: Nothing except the usual: be faster (but bike strength is next year's goal, this year is just survive ironman). I managed almost the same pace I did at Carpinteria last year except with a hillier, longer course, so I'm happy. Transition 2
Comments: This transition felt faster than 3 minutes, I guess the running up and down the transition took longer than I thought. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Run
Comments: Really happy with my run too. I was thinking since my runs in triathlons usually kind of suck I would average about 10 minute miles. I guess taking in enough food on the bike really helped (plus I ate a bag of luna moons on my way out of transition), because I felt really good at the start and continued to feel good really up until the last 2 miles, when I started to get hungry again. Even with all the hills I was able to maintain a steady pace, and I only walked through the aid stations. Took water at most of the aid stations and gatorade twice. Again, perfect race day conditions, it stayed cool and overcast and a little rainy. There was a girl in my age group in green shorts who passed around mile 20 on the bike and I figured I'd never see her again but I caught up with her about 1/4 of a mile from the finish. I got all nervous because I wanted to pass her but I was afraid that as soon as she saw my age she'd attack and I didn't think I could keep up with a sprint. After a few seconds I just went for it and passed her, trying to put on a little more speed in case she decided to chase, she didn't and I think I beat her by about 20 seconds. I felt kind of bad passing someone right at the end like that but it was nice to finally catch up with someone on the run. What would you do differently?: Nothing Post race
Warm down: Um, heading to the food? Basically just walked over to the food tent, stood around to listen to awards then went home. What limited your ability to perform faster: The usual, not being that fast. Obviously if I'd spent this season doing more speed work I would have been faster but since I've been doing ironman speed hasn't really been my focus. This was more of a just for fun/hard training day race and that's exactly what it was. Event comments: I really loved this race, it's a really pretty course, challenging but not too hard. Except for not starting on time it was well organized and the volunteers were all great. I was really happy with my performance on each of the separate parts, they were either right where I wanted to be or faster and I felt really good the whole time, even during the run which never happens. The race went by faster than an olympic to me and I'm happy that I think I'm finally starting to figure out my race day nutrition a little better. Overall a very successful race day. Last updated: 2009-05-27 12:00 AM
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United States
65F / 18C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 610/754
Age Group = 20-24
Age Group Rank = 8/11
Got up about 4:30am, got dressed, made some peanut butter toast to eat at the race, I knew I was in the last wave and wouldn't start until 7:45 (I was in wave ten, basically women 24 and under and 50+) so I saved a lot of stuff to do at the race site, eating, sunscreen etc. Basically just loaded up my stuff in the car, dad made me coffee (awww), and drove over. Transition opened at 5:30 and I wanted to be there right on time to get decent parking and a good spot on the rack, both of which happened, yay! Got there, got the sweet end spot on the rack (although I did have the worst rack on the far end of transition, but it was organized by wave so what can you do?), hung out, chatted a bit to one of the women who was there early and slowly got my transition set up. A little bit later an older woman comes up and racks next to me, knocking my bike just the tiniest bit, she apologizes kindly and I'm like, don't worry about, your bike is nicer than mine, she's like, I wouldn't be so sure, very humbly. This woman was of course CHERIE freaking GRUENFELD, winner of her age group I don't know how many times in Kona, um yeah, I think your bike is nicer than mine. So I was racked right next to Cherie Gruenfeld, it was awesome and I like to think some of her awesomeness rubbed off on me :).
Anyways, turns out a friend of my parents, Liz, was racing as well and when I met her before the race with my parents I was talking about Cherie Gruenfeld and she just laughs, turns out she's a longtime friend of Cherie's from the 80's and she thinks it's hilarious that I know all about her. Ended up meeting her husband who was super nice and wearing an exceeding expectation shirt. Anyways, rest of pre-race was routine, hiked over to the other end of transition to use the portapotties with shorter lines, put on sunscreen, body glide, etc. Checked out the transition area with my friend Arlene (the woman I did my hell ride with last week) and eventually put on my wetsuit at 6:50. Turned out they weren't letting all us late wave people stay in transition, but they didn't announce this until like 6:50 so nobody was ready on time.
Walked over the start when it should have been starting, got a quick swim in just to get a feel for the water temp, then headed over to the start to wait until my wave. The race started 15 minutes late so my wave didn't go until 8am. boo.