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Comments: My last pool swim before the race I noticed my goggles were reaching that stage where they're only useful for the pool - and just barely at that... I told myself I can get one more race out of them - they're not that bad. DUMB. I was even in the tri shop the day before and could have picked up new goggles. BAH! The start was way better than last time. No one ran me over, there was a lot of contact, but I got off to a pretty strong start. My face took nearly the entire swim to warm up so the first 200 was quite painful cold wise. The big problem was I couldn't see a damn thing! Normally i'm very good at sighting and swimming a straight line. If the course is counter I sight off my left shoulder and vice versa. When I breath as my opposite arm begins the catch I push down ever so slightly to lift my head forward at the end of the breath to sight off the top of my goggle. I couldn't see the buoys at all cause there was that end-of-life goggle smuck. Very frustrating cause it meant I had to lift my head completely which messes with my stroke, or breast stroke to see where I was going. Fortunately I was swimming with a bunch of folks drafting nearly the entire race - that was - when they swam straight. Towards the end I couldn't see the exit shoot at all and I was swimming next to someone who kept running into me, I finally slowed down to draft off their back which lost me some time but I had a better line to the exit. Uggh! I'm fairly certain that I lost 1-2 additional minutes from bad sighting and not swimming straight in packs. At least I got some serious drafting in unlike last year when I was swimming all my myself in my billowing sail of a wetsuit! What would you do differently?: Buy several new pairs of goggles and have a pair dedicated to racing only so I can SEE - this happened in one of my tris last year too so you would think I would have learned this lesson already! Learn how to pace the swim better, I just set in at cruise and went with some bursts here and there - and slowed down at the end to let that one swimmer pass so I could get a line instead of charging to the end. I had lots of steam left so gotta learn some pacing here...  Post race
Warm down: Got out of the wetsuit, toweled off as best as I could and got back into my woolie clothes. Stoopid me forgot to pack fresh underwear and bra to change into from my tri suit so I rode home in wet clothes. Grabbed food from the bbq and sat down to eat under my rain jacket, it had started pouring, and watched the 4000m race. Watched and ate for 10 minutes and then packed up to leave as I was cold and the rain had let up slightly. Rode the rest of the Hagg Loop which is slightly longer than the ride in and back to the train. Had to soak in the tub for over an hour with the space heater on full blast to warm up. COLD COLD COLD day out there. What limited your ability to perform faster: Not being able to see a dang thing. Not knowing how to properly pace the swim. COLD. I haven't raced in conditions that cold. It was more difficult to get going than I anticipated and I didn't feel warm until the last 500 yards or so... Event comments: PR by 2:17! I look forward to improving my time again next year - I enjoy this race and the ride to/from. Maybe next year i'll try the 4000m. Official results in: W40-49 8 109 K Hargie 2000m W40-44 0:37:20.00 85 AG: 8/23 O: 85/169 Next year I'm taking top 3! ;) Last updated: 2010-01-14 12:00 AM
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United States
Gecko Tri Club
50F / 10C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 85/169
Age Group = F40+
Age Group Rank = 8/23
Woke up at 5 to 44 degree temps, got dressed - then put on an extra layer, everything was packed and ready to go so grabbed the packet of pop-tarts and rode down to the max station.
The max ride was about an hour out and I really wanted to nap some on the train, but there were some sketchy looking folks on there and I had to watch my bike on the hanger.
Headed out from Hatfield around 7:20 towards the lake and was feeling really fatigued so stopped at 7-11 for a giant cup of coffee. Looked at my watch with 12 miles still to go and only took a couple sips and carried on. It's 17.5 miles from the end of the train to the lake and I took an alternate route (hillier! bah!) this time which was more scenic, but I couldn't be buggered to pay attention as I was running close to the cut off time for registration.
Thankfully it only sprinkled briefly on the ride in but boy howdy it was COLD. By the time I finally reached the race site around 9a my toes were completely numb.
The whole way up to the lake is a false flat climb, there was a bit of a cross/head wind and then the road around the lake is quite hilly so it was a slow ride in. Was glad I chose to ride my touring bike with the pannier instead of the tri bike with the backpack as I did last year - really saved the back and shoulders!
17.5 miles of cycling - is that enough?
I checked in. My socks came off first and I actually had to warm my toes up so I could feel them in the air (crazy). Quickly got in my suit thanks to the person who helped me zip-up! and hopped in the lake a little after 9:20. Up to the waist was okay, but then I put my head in and I thought my face was going to fall off - of course this immediately made me have to pee - which raised the temp inside the suit a fraction of a degree - thank gourd! I swam back and forth about 75 yards and then was treading hoping they would announce the start - but then the guy got on the horn and said 10 minutes - GAH! I ended up staying in the water and doing a lot of kicking to stay warm. Getting out and going back in was not going to work for me. Finally they called the start and I positioned myself towards the outside back.