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 Swim
Comments: They changed the swim course this year (due to MY suggestion!) so that we swam out much farther before hitting the first turn. It used to be like 100yds so no one would move an inch and it was terrible. But this year it was MUCH better. I started at the very front - maybe one or two people in front of me - but I was very much in the front to start my wave. I felt really strong from the get-go. I think I saw Andrea just to my right for the first portion so I tried really hard to give her some room. Came up to the first turn bouey feeling great. I also saw my buddy Rich on the next straight-away, he's been coming out to the lake with the tri group every week to work on his swim. I guess he has a fear of open water and has come a long ways... I passed him on this part but was proud to see him going strong. At the final turn I passed a few guys from the wave before me. Really picked it up on this final straight away. I actually drafted off of a girl in front of me for most of the time until this point - I've never done that in a race successfully before! But now it was time to pass her :). I put it in high gear and did pass her - yay! There were a few girls from the wave after us who just shot past everyone - booo making us look bad! LOL. Nearing the beach there were a few guys standing up and walking! It wasn't like we were near the EXIT, we were probably still hundreds of yards away... I thought about the thread in Tri Talk last week about walking on the swim, heh. Anyway, rounded the final bouey and swam till my fingers drug the ground... watch said 13:XX so I was happy. Took almost a minute to run up to the timing mat. 2008 - 15:25 2009 - 14:20 What would you do differently?: Swim harder in the middle part. I felt like I started strong to get my position, and ended very strong when I passed the feet I was drafting off of. But the middle portion I probably sat back more than I should have. But hey, I took over a minute off my swim time from last year! WOW!  Transition 1
Comments: I was stuck behind a guy jogging pretty slow coming up to transition. There really wasn't room to run "around" him so I just jogged behind him. Things went smooth in T1, all though I feel I could have gone faster. 3/10 in AG for T1. 2008 - 1:14 2009 - 1:13 What would you do differently?: Run faster and move faster - as always!  Bike
Comments: Left my bike computer at home on purpose so I'd just go hard the whole time. Stayed in aero for the entire first half and drank out of my aero bottle. At the very beginning I started to pass a girl and when my front wheel got past hers, she cranked it up and accellerated really fast. I wanted to tell her she was required to back off once she had been overtaken, but I let it go - she was stronger than I was. I really hammered it on the first part of the ride and my legs were burning. But this is a sprint, right? My legs are supposed to burn?! After the turnaround I realized there was now a slight headwind. More like a headBREEZE, but still noticeable. I popped out of aero a few times coming back cause my neck/shoulders kinda hurt, but concentrated on hammering as hard as I could. A mile or so from finishing the bike, I glanced at my watch. Doing a few calculations in my head and knowing my finish time from last year, I had a "WTF" moment. I realized that even if I started the 5K NOW, I wouldn't beat my time from last year. WTF? WTF happened? I got really mad and discouraged. I'd worked hard in the past year. I should be faster. Or at least around the same time/paces. Damn. Finished the bike with a big sigh of disappointment. I really wanted to beat my time from last year but it wasn't looking like it would happen. It wasn't until AFTER the race when Tom told me and I remembered that the bike course was 3 miles longer this year than it was last year!. Dumbass me didn't remember that, and that mis-information caused me to get so down on myself I was mentally defeated before I even started the run. 2008 - 18.38mph 2009 - 18.30mph What would you do differently?: Either remember the course was 3 miles longer this year, or FORGET ABOUT TIMES and just go as hard as I can no matter what. Not have a mental fail. Transition 2
Comments: 1st in my AG for T2. This was my only victory of the day. :) What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Run
Comments: Flew out of T2 knowing that was really fast for me - woohoo! Started the run and just... had... nothing. Nothing in my legs. I was trying to push it but there was nothing there. I think part of this was my mental fail from the bike; most of it was lack of speed training - ever. I saw Eric and Tom coming in - they are in the same AG and personally "race" each other every chance they get. They are almost identical in paces for all three sports (FASTIES!) so it's always fun to see who wins. Tom was behind Eric by about 10 seconds... I yelled at him "You know Eric is RIGHT in front of you!!" He said yeah and put his head down to hammer it home. I just coasted the first two miles kind of defeated... knowing/thinking I was so far behind my time from last year it didn't really matter anymore. In the last mile I saw Andrea and Jen - they were looking great! I finally started to feel like I could move faster so I did. Why does it take me SO DAMN LONG to warm up for a run?? It's like this in all my training runs, too. It takes me 2-3 miles to warm up - I guess since I'm used to long(er) distance running. It's annoying though. My race was finishing, just as I was feeling like I could run. Tom and Eric were cheering me on about 2/10 away from the finish line - Tom kept yelling at me to push harder and SPRINT! Eric yelled "If you're smiling you're not pushing hard enough!" Heh. I really sprinted in to the finish line, but it was too little too late. The announcer called my name like 3 times as I was coming in - that's the cool part about your own tri club putting on the race! 2008 - 28:38 2009 - 29:38 What would you do differently?: I was a whole minute slower on the run than I was last year. That pizzes me off! Obviously I should have HTFU mentally and pushed past everything. I'm pretty mad at myself about this run. Post race
Warm down: Talked to my parents, Tom/Eric, tri club people, Andrea and Jen, Gloria. Got some water, looked at the results (bah!). Watched Tom and Eric take 2nd and 3rd in their age group at the awards ceremony - cool! Sat around and chatted with tri club folks while everything was torn down. Spent the rest of the day chilling at a friend's pool drinking beers and margaritas :) What limited your ability to perform faster: Me. Event comments: Great race put on by great people! Last updated: 2009-07-09 12:00 AM
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United States
Kansas River Valley Triathlon Club
75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = F30-34
Age Group Rank = 5/10
Nice meal at Playa Azul the night before (Mexi-noms of course). Packed and had everything at Tom's by around 10 p.m. Read a little to try and get myself tired, and probably went to sleep around midnight. Up at 4:30 a.m., made coffee and bagel, on the road by 5 a.m.
REALLY gorgeous weather for race day - no clouds but cool for July. Arrived at the lake at the same time as Eric - we originally set up in a corner of transition then wisely moved everything to a MUCH better spot - this is what saved my transition times!
Talked with a ton of people after I set up... my friends Andrea and Jen were racing for the first time! I was so excited for them. Finally it was time for the pre race meeting, national anthem and to walk down to the lake. Right when I started down there my parents showed up! I didn't think they would be there but they were!! That really boosted my spirits.
I did take the bike out around the park for a few minutes to make sure I was in the right gear to start, but other than that, just a bunch of talking!