Pleasant Prairie Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Oh my God...one of my worst swims to date. On the way to first buoy, I was ALL over the place. Kept drifting to the left, which was putting me inside of the buoys, so I felt like I had to work that much harder to stay "in line." Just a little before the first orange turn buoy, my goggles TOTALLY fogged up to the point where I couldn't see a foot in front of me, which sent my body into panic mode (think forgetting to lick goggles before start and high humidity contributed to this...stupid, stupid me!)...my breathing was totally wacked...and no matter how much I told myself it was going to be ok, it seemed like that other turn buoy was 60 miles away. So, I flipped on my back and tried to lick them while not going under and swallowing a gallon of lake water (which, when not breathing right, is a VERY tall task)...so I tried that and they still didn't look right, and felt like they were filling up with water, so I ended up side stroking a majority of that part to get to next buoy (which was really tiring out my legs). I finally got close to the 2nd turn buoy and tried to dump the water out, and then put them back on and just said "screw it" and tried my best to just relax and swim that last leg of the swim like I KNOW I can.

Finally touched the sand to get out and was so, so happy to be back on land again. Took my goggles off and chucked them...didn't want to see those stupid things anymore! Some guy laughed...I tried to laugh with him, but I was just too annoyed.

Stupid goggles. Guess I should say me too....don't know why I COMPLETELY forgot to bonked on getting ready for the race I was about to do??

There is extra time on here, because originally I was going to go sans sunglasses since it seemed dark, and when I was running to my rack, I saw the sun peering out from the clouds, so I had to reach in my TYR bag (which was in a big garbage bag to protect it from rain) and grab those.

Also, I was right by the bike out/run out making this a bit of a run.

Otherwise, this was fine...wetsuit came right off.

Nothing.

I think my legs were absolutely gassed after that horrid swim. I would have loved a higher MPH but I'll take this. Had almost the whole bottle of the powerbar drink and another gu. Probably should have had both of the gu's as later in the race, I felt "hungry."

Not blow my legs out in the swim.

Got off bike and ran to rack (I was right by the bike/run out, which means I had a bit of a run from the swim in/bike in.

Nothing.

Stomach started to cramp (not as bad as before, but it did cramp...guessing from my form getting a tad distorted from dodging the massive rain storm we were running in) around mile 4. There were two times I stopped to lift my right arm up over my head and stretch that area out.

(The whole run I kept thinking, as I do on almost all my runs now, about all the stuff me and the new doc have talked about and all the good and valuable advice DJ Davey has given me about form, foot placement and all that...those two peeps might very well have solved this terrible stomach muscle issue I've been dealing with for way too long, but I have to give props to DJ Davey, as he was BEFORE I saw the new doc...so THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! I owe you a rocky's!! :))

Saw AmyJo and Angie on the run...that was very nice...helps get you through it. And towards the finish, KimK was there cheering us on which brought the biggest smile to my face when she yelled out, "YA MIAMI WITH NUMBERS!!" So THANK YOU KIM!!!

My finish pics should be intersting...as I was picking up speed towards the end, my skirt was so wet, and heavy, that it kind of started to fall off...HA!

In hindsight, I kind of wished that I would have incorporated some "bursts" into this run like I do on some of my practice runs to gain some speed and kind of test the stomach.

But being that I ran almost entirely pain free, I am making progress, so as I've said in my RR's from this year...that's the #1 goal, and then I work on speed. I just have to be PATIENT!!

It's more like a warm up instead...I was getting a tad chilly being that I was absolutely SOAKING wet!! My skirt felt like it weighed 20 pounds. So, I pretty much just jogged back to transition and wrapped all my stuff in bags and headed to the car.


Panic in the water.


When I went and saw Macca a couple months ago, he mentioned that his best race, isn't even Hawaii when he won, but it was last year, when he was 4th, because he struggled so much, and yet he finished 4th. While this race is no IM Championships, and I didn't finish anywhere close to 4th, I KEPT thinking about this throughout the day...during the panic in the swim...while trying to hammer the bike...and trying to have a solid finish on the run. The fact that I was able to get through that swim, mentally, and not give up, was a huge success for me.

And as it turns out, this was almost 5 minutes faster than my overall time in 2008. SO that is a good achievement too.

The last couple days I've been really beating myself up about my performance out there, and I just need to let it go...and I know it's not good to compare myself to others, so I just have to move on, be happy that I improved, learn from the areas that I didn't do well on, and be prepared for what lies ahead.

Am I still BOP in OLY's? Yep! Does it suck? Yep! Do I want to get better? Yep! Am I willing to work hard to get better? I am!

So with that....another OLY in the books...and it's time to let it go, and move on. LOVED seeing all my BT peeps at this race...and am SOO glad everyone had a good race out there under those less than ideal conditions.

Next oly...I am shooting for under 3 hours!!! BUT, first, I have some "BIG RACE" I have to get through! :)