Lake Las Vegas Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

66 degrees cold air with 78 degree water. BRR... Don't be shocked with the very "slow" swim times. It includes the 1/4 run to T1. That's idiotic, really. Put the damn timing mat on the beach or before the long trip to T1. My watch says I did 21 min swim. It really feels longish to me. I don't know WHO to believe. My watch says I did something around 900m. Website says .5 mi., map says .46 mi. Whatever!

Mass swim start - first time. Not so bad actually...

Got out and swam. I'm proud because I swam pretty much the entire distance. Unlike IronGirl. Rounded the buoys very closely. Got slightly off course a little bit. Goggles fogged up a few times, I just quickly dipped it in water. Tried to spit in it, apparently my "defogging spit" doesn't work. My ankles got grabbed and I nearly got pulled under. She did it again, and I just kicked hard. Didn't feel her after that. Nearly swam over a guy from the wave ahead of me, I wasn't paying attention. His legs were pretty much downward, then he decided to kick, and I got kicked in the chest hard. Yowch. I just kept on swimming and stayed to the side and no one was in front of me for the rest of the swim. Swallowed some lake water as I was swimming. I didn't turn my head all the way, and waves was coming in and swallowed the water, not once, but several times. Yuck.

Find your damn defogger and use it. Spit does crap! :-) Nothing I could have changed. Felt like I did a really good job just swimming the entire time. Despite the lack of OWS experience, I say this is pretty good. Don't drink the water?!

I'm actually surprised how fast I did. I did better than the majority of overall people. I wished I knew where I'm placed there. :-) Ran up, and first order of business was to get a swig of emergency water and spit it out. I sat down for this though because I knew that after the swim and running I wouldn't get my bearings, so I just sat down instead. Ran out with my bike, got clipped in and off I go.

Nothing!

I knew there was some pretty good climbs, and MUCH more hillier than IronGirl! I took it easy the first 5 miles, but pushed it just a bit slightly knowing that there's a few nice descents ahead. Pushed it HARD on the descents. Then I was faced with a nice climb. Did better than I expected and didn't feel like I was wearing out like I normally do on hills. Got to the top and pushed it hard on a HUGE descent (and knowing that I have to climb that damn hill back (6% grade). Hit my max speed of 39.7 - fastest ever. At some points, I actually got a little scared for going that fast! Made a left turn into a road for the turnabout. I think I could have pushed it a little bit more here. Hit the turnabout - VERY sharp U turn (only 20 feet or so clearance!). I clipped out, and got my bearings and started again. I lost very little time here (10 seconds here at most). I hate doing very hard/sharp turns. Went on, and then faced with the massive climb. Took it easy. I was pretty much by myself for a while. A few speedy people passed by (none were in my AG), passed two women on my AG (and one of them surpassed me on the run. Dang!). As soon as we reached the peak, I again, pushed it as hard as I could on the descents. Took it a little easy the last mile to prepare for the run.

Had stomach issues from the get-go, most likely to the lake water. I just felt so queasy for the rest of time. Sipped on electrolytes, but nearly not enough. Forced myself to eat a gel about 3 miles in. Then ate my second gel (half of a packet or so) about 1 mile before the run. I felt okay, but the ickiness just stuck by me for hours, even after the tri.

Do better on the ascents. Those hills intervals seemed to have worked. I'm happy! Hydrate a little better.

Unbuckled my helmet while running my bike to T2. Unvelcroed (is that even a word?!) both of my shoes at the same time...I practiced with this, so that actually helped! Took a drink of water of my emergency water. Grabbed my race belt and ran the wrong way for just 3 seconds, then ran the other way.

Go the right way? Other than that - I beat my previous time of 2:14. YEAH baby!

28/196 - I'll say that's pretty damn good. :-) (many had chips that did not "register" so I didn't count those).

Took it easy the first 5 minutes. Saw Roy snapping some pictures. I looked miserable! I shouted to him that I swallowed a little lake water so I feel icky. I walked for about 3 minutes, then ran a little, walked, ran. It was the same rocky terrain as IronGirl. Reached the turnabout, got some HEED, drank both cups. Ran when I could. Saw the girl from my AG that I passed on the bike, and she passed me. It was just right before getting the HEED, so I felt a little depleted to chase her. I still beat her on the bike...so who cares. :-P When I got to asphalt, I was able to run a little better. Saw a young 16 year old guy going out TOO fast. He stopped a few times because his calves just cramped up. A guy ran with me for a while, and that helped a lot. Saw him afterwards (I had to walk, so he was just slightly ahead), and I thanked him for pulling me for a while. About 1 mile before the finish, a guy was walking, and I did "pay it forward" thing to this guy, and encouraged him to run with me. He and I ran together for the last mile. He slowed down a bit and I kept going a bit, then saw a woman in my AG pass me, then I just sprinted ahead of her (about 1/8th mile before finish), and I beat her. I felt bad, but after a not-so-great run, I wanted to at least pass someone in my AG for overall time. Headed to the finish line, screwed up on the "heel click" photo. I think I was just feeling so icky that it probably gonna come out looking like crap! LOL! Got my medal, banana and cookies.

Do more trail runs. Weather now has cooled down some, so I can do more hilly runs in the mornings.

Push it a little bit harder, I may held back a little.

Didn't do so good sticking to my plan, but did better than I expected as lately I've been feeling really "off" when I do a brick run. I didn't feel "off" today. While I had the goal of 35 min, I did better than IronGirl Run (Same rocky terrain!) by 2:20.

Stretched very little. Got my bike, and got home. Totally forgot to take some recovery drink. Didn't seem to affect me at all without it. Ate a meal, but I was feeling icky. Took a bath, drank some pepto bismol, felt loads better. Sunday - only little soreness in my quads. Nothing as bad as it was for IronGirl (calves cramped up for 3 days).


Need more hill intervals for both the bike and the run. Pumpkinman is hilly. No flats, so need to ramp up hilly stuff. I got 7 weeks to work on this.


Disappointed that there was no anthem sung...after all it was 9/11! A little mess up with the wave start. NO ONE WAS MANNING THE TRANSITION AREA! WTH?! Seriously, ANYONE could just walk in there and snatch some good gear..not bikes, but more of Garmins, shoes, etc. The Olympics were STILL on the course for both the bike and the run...Serious disappointment. While I don't have any high end stuff (except for my CI, it's more expensive than a high priced bike!), I would still have wanted someone at Transition gate to check that the bib number matches the bike number like it did for IronGirl. Sunset racing does racing in a few states, and you would think that they would do better than this. Oh yeah - About 150 people got medals with ribbons. The others only got the medal part, no ribbon. That includes everyone on the Olympic. That sucked.