Pumpkinman Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Told myself that if I can get this done under 35 minutes, you're good. I was waiting for my wave to start, and I was looking at the speculators instead of in front of me. I planted myself nearly the front. Stupidly I missed them starting so I kind of started late. Since I am deaf, so I had to rely on other people starting. Oh well. Learned my lesson - eyes in the front! Nearly got out of breath the first 200. Told myself, TAKE IT EASY, don't push it or you'll be tired. So I did. Did some backstrokes to catch my breath a little bit. I was able to draft off some people, but I don't think I did a good job of it. Definitely need to work on sighting, I have strayed off course more than a few times. I just felt like I was gliding in the water, hardly felt like I was pushing it at all. Got out, and pleasantly surprised at my time. I'm happy. Best swim split of all my triathlons. Pretty cool eh?

Train more with sighting, and don't be lazy and not swim. LOL! Oh, loosen up the neck area of the suit. It may feel good and nice and tight when standing, but it feels horrible when I start swimming. Had to stop to loosen it a bit!

My rack was somewhat near the end so I had a long way to go. Decided to walk, I'm glad I did. It helped lower my HR and breathing easily. Grabbed my water bottles, put them on the bike. Took off my suit, jam it in the T1 bag to be moved to T2 (point to point tri...). Put my extra water bottle in wrong bag. Roy pointed it out to me, so I had to moved some of my stuff in the correct bag. Socks, shoes, CI, glasses, and helmet. Off I go!

Not to forget my water bottles, and be more aware of what bag is mine for next time. Other than that, my transition was smooth.

Going into this, I expected to be really slow. I hammered it on the ascents and short descents.Many spots were just headwinds. Yuck. About 1 hour in, I started to feel like I really have to go #2. It was just horrible feeling. I was okay, and kind of expecting that there will be portapotty available for athletes at T2. So I just held it in. Bad idea (read on). I took it easy on the last 10 miles. Quads was slightly hurting, but not too bad. However, my lower back was hurting really bad and feeling stiff. I never thought I'll get sick of climbing. But I enjoyed the scenery. Chain got dropped and had a really hard time getting into the big ring several times. Definitely need to get that looked at. I have a feeling that my chain has gotten a little bit looser and a bit of messed up dérailleur. Cheered on to the slower folks that were struggling. Got passed by long course riders (damn!) I kind of wanted to get 13mph avg, but since the first time I did this route, I stopped twice, so my legs were more rested. This time it was non-stop, so I wasn't used to it. Slightly hoping that I would get 13mph avg, but I'm alright with it. Nutrition: one gel as soon as I got on the bike. One gel half way. Hydration was spot on. With nearly a total of 4000' of climbing, I'm ready to be done!

Practice more on hills, and more non-stop routes. Get my bike fixed.

Roy asked me, "Are you alright?" I must look like I was in AGONY! I told him that my back is hurting really bad and I really gotta poop. My friend, Jason, was riding along side TA, and he asked the same thing, but I didn't say I had to poop to him. Got my shoes on, race belt on, and I was off. Walked for a little while.

Nothing. Stop chatting and just move it. LOL!

I started to run, and I couldn't. My quads were burning (no thanks to the hill climbing), back was burning, and mostly because I really really had to go #2. It gets worse every step, and practically prairie dogging it. I nearly was just going to do a dump on someone's yard. I was a little pissed off that I didn't go at the park's bathroom somewhere on mile 20. Jason (who was riding his bike alongside of me to make sure I'm alright) looked at me and said, "Are you seriously okay?". I said, "I gotta take a $hit SO bad! Seriously dude!" He nearly fell over laughing at my expense. I told him that I just want to go so bad, and if I have to go on someone's yard I'll do it (although they will recognize that my "present" doesn't look the same as a stray dog's). He rode a little ahead of me, and found a house that had the door open. I ran over there and we both yelled for anyone inside. The gentleman was nice enough to let me use his bathroom. I climbed over the fence and praised the Porcelain King. Climbed over the fence again (totally neglected to see the open gate that he left for me. D'oh!). Wasted a good 5-7 minutes there. I had a lot to give. LOL! I started running again and I said, "OH MY FU'king God! You don't know how good that felt." He gave me his shot blocks and extra gel and off I went. About 2 miles in, my quads were screaming. I wanted to keep it at 3/2 method, but every time I walked, my quads were just tightening up badly. I never had this issue, and I attribute it to the climbing that I did. Roller hills, nothing too bad. Took in Heed nearly every stop. Took one gel about mile 3 to keep my tummy full and happy. Turn around point was good. Passed by a woman that said, "Nice day for a stroll eh?" She was funny. One small steep hill (which I ran on, told myself that I can walk after that hill). Many runners cheered on me going and said I was looking good. LOL! I do wonder if it's because I have "DEAF" on my tri suit or they're just cheering me on. At around mile 3.5, the woman that quipped the stroll comment caught up with me, and we both ran together and walked together. I don't think I would have finished well if it wasn't for her. :-) We talked a little bit. She is from Phoenix and was intimated by the hills! She've done about 12 triathlons. I asked her if she was considering doing Ironman. "HELL NO!" She was a lot like me, doing triathlons for the fun of it. We chatted a bit and pushed each other. She let me go first because she wants to see me do the jump-heel-click finisher's photo. I hugged her and thank her so much for running with me. She said that she had a lot of fun! Saw my friend Jackie come in, and cheered on her.

More bricks after climbing on the bike. Nothing else. I felt awesome throughout, it was just my quads weren't too happy with me. And perhaps take a big dump before doing triathlons? *sheesh*

walked around a little bit, and just headed off to T1 with Roy to pick up my car. Drank chocolate milk and had Subway sandwich at home. About 2 hours later, my legs/body weren't sore at all. I hate that. Makes me feel like I didn't work hard enough! :-) I'm really happy with today, despite some issues.


Swim training, and running after bike climbings. Other than that, I did the best I could. I just wanted to have fun, and I totally did!


I DEFINITELY want to do this race next year. It rates equally to IronGirl. So many good things I can say about this race. Although, I do wish they would CLOSE the TA when the Long Course is ready to go out for the swim. There was so many people milling about in the TA while they were on the swim. My swim wave was an hour later than them. So, they had to avoid a lot of people. The swim course could be slightly better because it was easy to just go under water and move to the "incoming" lane. I'm sure that more than one person did that. I nearly was going to do that, but then I would have to live with the guilt that I was cheating. It should have been a triangular course.
Hopefully BBCSTRI will host it again. *cross fingers* (heard rumors that this was the last one they're hosting).

I had many firsts in this race.

First time that I swam with good size waves. First time I forgot something VERY important, hydration. First time that I ever felt like I really really really had to go potty. First time I broke some rules (getting gear from a speculator and deviating from the run course to make a HUGE dump at someone's house, and accepting some nutrition from a race buddy...he did the race, so I think it'll be okay. LOL!). First time that my quads locked up for a while = painful run for about 2 miles. First time that I ran with someone at my pace for 3 miles. I totally do not think I would have done a good job without her. First time that the bike course for any of my triathlons was 80% HILLS with 8-12% grades. Seriously...not a joke if you don't know how to climb hills in Vegas!

Best of all....
MY FIRST OLYMPIC TRIATHLON!!!


(Side note: I do question some of the results. One relay team finished the 1500 m swim in 13:19. Seriously?! Plus - there's two ways to get Boulder City. River Mountain Trail or on Rt 93. Many people I saw was using Rt 93, when it wasn't marked. It's a little bit shorter going that way. I wish I could have the legs of those who did 16-17mph on the bike! Dang!)