St. Anthony's Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Wow. My first ocean OW swim. IMHO the current and chop were pretty nasty. I never got in a good rhythm. I'd get a few strokes in (sts) and then I'd be flying through the air crashing down with a wave. I quickly ran into the wave ahead of us and then the wave ahead of them too. LOTS of people breast stroking. I imagine it was in an attempt to see the buoys which were VERY hard to see over the swells. I ignored the buoys for awhile using people and the pier to sight, but finally I had to start looking for the first turn buoy to give myself a warm fuzzy and it took about 5-10 sightings to finally catch a glimpse of it. Stupid waves! I round that buoy cutting RIGHT across some chick. Yes, I'm mean, but I watched her breathe to her right about 10 times so I KNEW she had no idea the buoy was coming up on her left. I see it as helping her out.

I wasn't getting too banged up. Mostly just had trouble getting around the stragglers from the wave ahead of me. By the second leg I started catching up to the wave ahead of THEM. Pink caps as I recall...and now I had no idea how MY wave was doing because the pink caps looked a lot like the red caps (my wave wore red caps) through my shaded goggles. So here I am thinking I am totally falling behind my wave, getting pummeled by waves, and generally not having a lot of fun. I didn't like paralleling the waves much more than I had liked swimming into them. Kept getting pushed towards the buoys but at least the going was faster. Can't remember anything significant about the second leg except that it seemed really crowded to me.

Rounded the second turn buoy and again was having trouble sighting. I *thought* I saw the big balloon arch but I wasn't positive. Kept plugging away thinking my whole wave had left me behind because all I seem to see is pink caps. Now the waves were mostly at my back but I still didn't like them. Several times I just crashed down into a trough slamming my face into the water. My wetsuit was starting to chafe my arms...probably a combination of salt water and LOTS of strokes (from the waves). I finally get up to the stairs and have a little trouble standing up due to the waves. Walk VERY CAREFULLY up the stairs and start jogging to transition...

Ocean OW swim practice? Maybe take it easier? I pushed pretty hard because the swim is my money event...but I think in conditions like that I should have kicked it back a notch and saved the energy for later. Can't complain...19th in my AG? I'll take it...

Well, not a very stellar transition. First...as usual...I forgot to start stripping my wetsuit. WHY do I always forget? I was halfway to my bike before I started taking the top off. Wetsuit came off over the feet very easily though. I had a plan and once I got to my spot I didn't follow it. Started doing things in random order really. Lost time to putting socks on. Ran in my bike shoes to the exit and had to stop, step over the bike, and go.

I need to practice transitions. First...it needs to be muscle memory what comes next. Second, I need to learn to ride a bike without shoes. Third, I need to learn to do the flying mount (minds OUT of the gutter gents). Etc. etc. Bottom line...these need work!

Oh, I took the water they handed me out of the swim took a swig to wash out my mouth then dumped the rest on my head. Did this again at my transition spot with some stashed water. Worked well...didn't have any salty feel or taste all day.

Holy smokes. Hang onto your hats, folks...Jen had a stellar bike ride! This is the first time my bike AG rank was higher than my run AG rank. Happy dance! Went out with the plan to go comfortably hard for 15 miles then kick it up a notch. Went entirely by feel other than about 5 glances at my HR monitor just to give myself a frame of reference. Holy shit I was PASSING people! I think I passed more people than passed me. Another first. I was still getting killed on inclines (not hills...there are no hills). One chick was drafting constantly and pissing me off but I don't think she ever got caught. She passed me several times. I think I eventually dropped her. I got spit on once by a stupid chick who neglected to LOOK before spitting.

Lots of turns on this course. I did okay. I stayed conservative on them because I didn't want my day to end by skidding out on a curve to gain a couple of seconds. I should practice these maybe to get more confidence.

Nutrition was a 400 cal bottle of cytomax. I also had an aero bottle full of water. Towards the end I started to kinda feel like I had to pee which is what makes me think I drank just a LITTLE too much. Plan was to have some PB crackers with 3 miles to go. They were tough to chew and ride fast at the same time. Great for rec rides, not so good for racing!

Okay, so past the 15 mile marker was when I was supposed to kick it up a notch. I did try...but since I didn't get splits I don't know if I actually went faster. I don't think I did. I was sorta checking my average MPH during the race and I think it ended up the same at the end as it was at an hour into the course. Oh well...at least I didn't slow down, right? I did spin out the last mile just to get the legs loose.

A lot of folks thought it was really windy. Maybe it's a matter of perspective...but compared to what I used to ride in in TX and even a bit here in SD...it wasn't very windy. Felt like 10-15 mph to me.

Course was VERY crowded. It was hard to avoid drafting. Several times I so fed up with packs that I sprinted to get by them so I wouldn't have to deal with it. I heard Bob O'Malley was caught drafting...

Nothing really. I had a GREAT bike day. That is an absolutely great bike split for me. I might have even been able to push harder but then again...maybe not!

Better than T1, but still slow. Again...I had a plan then didn't use it! Need muscle memory practice. I ran in the bike shoes again because I needed the socks clean for the run. I'm pretty quick in bike shoes!

Practice, practice, practice.

Well, all things considered...I had a good run. I only started back up running about a month ago due to my knees and I had just done that 1.5 mile TT run on Friday. I felt tired from the get-go. In fact, I thought maybe I'd pushed a bit too hard on the bike. Turns out it was probably just cumulative fatigue that started with the rough swim.

The plan was easy for the first half then run the second half like an open 5k with whatever is left in the tank. Water at every aid station. I think I did that. Here are the splits:
Mile 1: 8:43 AHR = 163
Mile 2: 9:03 AHR = 169
Mile 3: 9:23 AHR = 169
Mile 4: 8:49 AHR = 171
Mile 5: 8:53 AHR = 175
Mile 6: 8:53 AHR = 175
The 0.2: 1:56 AHR = 175

Mile 3 is where I was eating my PB crackers...again...very hard to eat in a race. I only choked down two. My stomach felt a LITTLE funky so I didn't want to risk more. Anyway, that hurt that split and I was starting to feel a bit low and tired. But the plan was to speed up halfway so I knew I had to try it. Sure enough, I tried to speed up and didn't get very far but at least got back to sub 9. Couldn't quite get HR up to LT though.

Around Mile 4 I got some ITB pain that lasted about a mile. Bothered me for the rest of the day. Gotta work on that! I was getting passed a lot. But I did some passing of my own towards the end.

I did my signature cartwheel and gunned for the finish line.

Nothing really. I think I went as hard as I could in the situation. I think I was hydrated enough. I think I had enough fuel. I just think I didn't have enough energy due to the last couple of months of poor sleep, moving, and stress. Maybe I could have made myself hurt a little more (to borrow a phrase from coredump).

Got my icy-cold towel and a gatorade to sip then tried to find the BT crowd. Walked around for 10 minutes before running into RON! Ron and I walked around until we found southernaquagoddess who led us to the BT banner. I wanted to get to the Sox game so I didn't stay long but got into the line to retrieve my stuff and walked back to the hotel. I then proceeded to WALK (speed walk) to Tropicana field for the game. I walked for at least 2 hours today!!!! I think I'm more sore from that than anything else!


1. Choppy water. First ocean swim. Lack of experience here and lack of ability to get in the GROOOOOOOOOVE!
2. It's April. Am I supposed to be fast yet? Nope. Just getting started. I had not been running because of my knees so I was not expecting too much out of this run. Additionally, see comment about taking the AF PT test on Friday...I ran a 10:56 for a 1.5 mile...I was SORE!
3. Moving. It's been a rough few months. Less sleep, more stress, and harder workouts than I've been used to. I'll bounce back!


All in all, I had a good day. Some tough conditions out there and my lack of experience at this distance and with ocean swimming limited my ability to perform, but I ended up top third in my AG so I cannot complain. I think this is only the beginning...I can only get better, right? Second Oly ever and a PR by about 5 minutes.

This race was really about expanding my horizons. Lots of firsts...first time flying with my bike...first ocean open water swim...etc. etc. Good chance to try out some pacing on the bike and see what kind of shape my legs were in. Very good warmup for the season!

The RD put on a good show. I was a little upset at the start waves because the latter waves really suffered as the surf kicked up. I think they need a better starting plan so that it's more fair for everyone. And the wave ahead of my wave was full of a LOT of slow swimmers...whose idea was THAT? Let's put the two most competitive swim waves for women right after the slow chicks...brilliant. But otherwise, very organized. I skipped the post-race spread because the line was an eternity long...that could be better organized too.

But I had a LOT of fun hanging with the BT crowd! You guys ROCK! Great to meet so many new faces and see again so many people I've met before! I always have fun when I race with BT!