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 Swim
Comments: Last year for this race, I hovered at the far right for about 30 seconds after the start to let the bulk of the crowds go ahead. I decided to get into the fray this time and do the whole washing machine that is a tri swim. It was NUTS! I was punched in the back of the head, kicked about 10 times, smacked, swam over...wow! Didn't do much siting - just followed the melee. The buoys were very close together (clockwise to first buoy, 10 yards to second buoy and back to shore) so lots of action at the turns. Just kept plugging away and kept thinking - once you are done with this, it's the good stuff. Looking at my pace - it is MUCH slower than my pace has been during my training OWS...blergh. What would you do differently?: Figure out how to keep my heart rate down at the beginning of the swim. When swimming by myself in a pond, I go out strong, not too fast and feel like I could swim for hours. In a race, my adrenaline and heart rate are so high that it is really hard to settle into a groove. I've got to figure this out or I'm really going to struggle on the longer swims.  Transition 1
Comments: It was a very muddy grassy run from the pond to transition. I pulled off the wetsuit (stepping on the legs worked well) and rinsed my feet off with water from my water bottles...so much muck I couldn't have gotten my socks on. Struggled getting on dry socks onto wet feet, popped feet into shoes, velcro'ed up shoes, helmet on, sunglasses on (not that I needed the protection from the sun, but I figured they would help with the mist/rain/schumtz off the road. Run with bike to mounting area on on. During the time, I was moving as quickly as I could, but looking back on it - I feel like I almost sat down and had a cup of coffee! What would you do differently?: Practice practice practice  Bike
Comments: This is the part of the race that had me spooked because this is the part of the race last year where I DNF'ed. I was VERY sensitive to every gear change feeling for any resistance that may indicate my chain was going to hop off. Fantastically - it didn't. Once I made it past the place that "the event" happened last year, I really started to push it. I got to ride right past our street and my family and friends were standing in the rain cheering me on...gave me extra mojo for the big hill coming up. Passed by a couple of people at the start of the bike - but otherwise kept a nice steady pace. I knew I needed to keep my heart rate down for the start of the "big hill" (1.3 miles up about 2/3 of the way through the race)...I felt really strong throughout and when I got to the top, I let out a yell...one of my friends behind me heard and yelled with me. It was awesome! I tried to drink as much as I could, but the roads were slick enough that I would only take a couple of sips before putting the water bottle back into it's cage. By the end of the ride, my feet were in soup, I was soaked from head to toe and wiping the rain from my sunglasses so I could see. As I headed down the final hill to transition, the overall winner came across the finish line (finishing time of 1:09...the fastest woman finished at 1:18). Holy cow! What would you do differently?: Not much - rode the route faster than I have during training - even with the dicey road conditions and the rain. Maybe I need to train harder. Didn't have my heart rate monitor on - just went by RPE and feel like that worked out well for me on this course. Transition 2
Comments: I felt REALLY fast...my time doesn't shoe it. Just got the shoes out, dumped the bike and helmet, ripped the shoes off, slipped the runners on and was out the door. What would you do differently?: dunno  Run
Comments: Started out feeling a bit stiff, but just kept plugging. Consumed a Gel right at the beginning. Must rethink the Mocha...didn't feel good going down and spent the rest of the run burping. I have run this route so many times in the last year that I know where I'm going to hurt, where I can speed up and when to watch the road. Just went as fast as I could handle. Once I got the the top of the last hill, just started going as quickly as I could down the hill...chug, chug, chug. Could see the finish line from about 1/4 mile out (that's just cruel)...really put on the gas. Ran right past the family and friends (woot!) and across the finish line. The pace is a little slower than I have run this route (when doing it stand alone) - but considering it was after a swim and bike - I'm pretty happy. What would you do differently?: No Mocha Gel. Post race
Warm down: Sucked in some wind. Daughters ran up to me and jumped around. Finally remembered to stop my watch. Watched some friends cross the finish line (woot!), walked with the girls to transition, packed up my area and walked to the car (parked almost 1/2 mile away! Must school Matt on proper close parking. What limited your ability to perform faster: Swim. Heart rate too high at beginning of swim. Slow transitions. Event comments: This is tough because it is a small local race...there weren't enough people out on the course advising people about turns - as a result, several participants missed key turns (or took turns they shouldn't have). Matt found one rider REALLY off course and pointed her back in the right direction. Lucky for me, I know the course, but if I hadn't, I would have been annoyed...but then again - it was only $35. Last updated: 2009-12-26 12:00 AM
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United States
65F / 18C
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Overall Rank = /95
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No age groups - very small local race. The race starts in the next town over, right up the road. ROUGH night of sleep the night before (eldest daughter showed up around 1:45a, I ended up in her bed for the rest of the night). Woke up to rain. Rain? I didn't plan on rain. Forecast didn't say anything about rain...it was supposed to be sunny. And wait - wasn't it raining last year when I DNF'ed? Crap.
Got out of bed at 5:50, went downstairs and made a cup of coffee and a bagel with peanut butter and chilled out on the couch with the dog. I had packed the car the night before, so woke up Matt and had him drive me to the start (6 miles from the house).
It is really cool to do a race very near to your home town...I knew about 70% of the people participating and the most of the rest look familiar to me. Everyone was relaxed, chatting and getting ready.
The transition area is a field next to the pond with no bike racks, so I set up my waterproof tablecloth (don't ask) and my transition stuff on top of that - making sure to put my shoes and helmet upside down and covered with my raincoat as the rain was coming down!
Wavered about 25 times about whether or not to wear the wetsuit. The water was plenty warm to do it without, but I was getting nervous about the extra buoyancy it could provide. In the end, I decided to wear it, so spent my warmup struggling into the wetsuit.
The race director (one of the owners of a local restaurant that also sponsors our weekly Friday afternoon run...very cool) gave us the skinny on the route - the start of the route would be down Route 105 which was undergoing construction (they are planning on paving it in about a month - so they are spending this month getting it ready by digging up large sections of the pavement to replace culverts...nice).
Got to the edge, bounced around a bit and tried to lower my heart rate.