2010 Danskin Orlando Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This swim was much better than last (and first) tri, but I should have done the swim at least 2 minutes faster. Started out on the right so as to keep buoys on left since I breathe to that side and also to try and have a clear lane. Worked pretty well although it made me swim farther. Tried to work my way closer to buoys, but it was so crowded; especially when I caught the stragglers from the first wave. People would cut in front of me and then STOP which made me stop, adjust and start again. This happened time and time again. I need to learn to be more assertive to keep my space, but really the ones who did this seemed to be clueless and the water was not very clear, so you could not see anyone until they were right on you. I kept losing my lane and this really slowed me down.
AS an aside, the start of the swim was not well organized. No one knew when the waves were set to go off as that info was not included in anything either handed out or on the website; then they didn't start making announcements until right before the start and the sound system was so bad you couldn't make out what the announcer was saying; also the area was open to the public, so the area was crowded with friends and family members which just added to the confusion.

I was concerned with starting too far in the front b/c I felt I would go out to quickly and/or get run over by the faster swimmers. In retrospect, I should have positioned myself closer to the front and kept my lane. It was good to start on the right, so I could keep the buoys to my left, but I could have accomplished that and been toward the front. Then I would have to make sure not to get too caught up in the rush and stay at my pace.

I was pretty happy with this transition; kept my cool and did everything methodically, but fairly quickly. There was a long run from T1 to where you were allowed to mount the bike and I'm not sure if that time counted as part of T1 or the bike. It really was a ridiculously long way.

Not too much, thought it went well.

Was pretty happy with the bike, but realize if I put more time in the saddle I could really improve (duh). Also, not too many people passed me, but those that did were all on really nice bikes - not one was on a 20 yr old Trek like me! Started to make me think that if I had a nice new bike maybe.......

Spend more time biking, keep daydreaming about a new bike!

Thought this was a smooth transition. Took a little extra time to drink the results and recovery drink I had in my water bottle (which I froze the night before and it was still cold during the race! Brillant idea!)

Can't think of anything other than maybe getting the last drink on the bike rather than in transition, but the course was narrow and winding toward end, so didn't feel comfortable with that.

Run went really well, although i think i eased up a bit in the middle; but overall it was a good run as evidenced by the overall rank.

stayed focus all the way through the run and keep the pace up.

drank some water and walked to transition to put stuff together and put on sandals. Then found a bathroom (not a port-a-potty) and made my way back to finish to wait for janice and Carolyn. They came in about 1/2 hour after me.


Me.


I thought this was a disorganized race. First jusat about the only emails about the race were ones trying to get you to buy Sally Edwards' stuff. Less than 1 week in they did send an email about packet pickup and mandatory day before bike racking, but I'm used to marathons and those race directors send out regular updates and aren't you excited emails. In this race director's defense, the webiste was good. Then at packet pickup, I stayed around for the race day overview talk b/c Janice and Carolyn wanted some insight-it was pretty useless as far as tips go; I gave J & C better tips and I had only 1 tri to my name. The race packets did not include any written material, so unless you were around when the announced when your wave was set to go off you would be clueless. All instructions regarding parking, timing chips etc were on the website, but no hard copies (or if there were hard copies they hid them at pick up). As mentioned above, the swim start was disorganized and started late - at least 15 minutes. The finish was also disorganized as once again they let non-athletes into the finish area, so it was so crowded (not so much when I finished, but as more ladies did, the area was packed and confusing). The post race food consisted of bananas, muffins and water. That's it, unless you wanted to buy stuff from the Disney booth!!!! Really poor eats.
Still, with all that said, I enjoyed myself and both J & C were thrilled with their results and I think encouraged to do more tris.