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 Swim
Comments: After swimming a total of 5 hours all YEAR, I came in and - apparently - ROCKED this swim. PR on the course by 8 seconds. I have absolutely no idea how this happened. Seeded myself almost at the front, figuring that the good swimmers would soon be around me and I wouldn't be stuck around the beginners who tend to start-stop-start-stop-breaststroke-stop. At various points, had some contact in the water, but nothing that made me want to clock anyone. I did, however, for the first time ever, get my goggles kicked mostly off my head. Ouch. Climbed out of the water around 13:30, and then jogged up the sand hill to the timing mats. What would you do differently?: Perhaps not even bother with the 5 hours of swim training I did this year? :)  Transition 1
Comments: Long run from the swim to transition...about 15" off my best time, but that's probably the wetsuit, since this is the first time I've worn it for this race. Other than that, moved pretty quickly, though I felt out of practice. For the first time, put my sunglasses in my bento box, which worked out well. What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Bike
Comments: I was worried about what my bike split would look like. I've been out on my bike perhaps 3-4 times this year, all at an easy pace (aside from my 15 minute race warmup yesterday) and wasn't sure that I had "race pace" in my legs. So - very surprised. Missed my course PR by 5 seconds, only. Helped by a pack of 3-4 ladies who were all about my speed, and we kept jockeying for position. Kept me engaged and eager to push. Turns out, one of them was a girl that I played high school softball with and haven't even thought about in over 20 years! Weird. Anyway - this bike course is always crowded and with all the beginners, it's a whole lot of "On your left"-ing going on. There were a few times when I got stuck behind slower riders and because of corners lost some time because I couldn't get around them. What would you do differently?: I didn't do a flying dismount - the dismount area was just too congested. But - seriously - that's only going to save 5-10", maybe, right? Mostly, I'm just pleased as punch with this bike split. Transition 2
Comments: Probably lost 10-15 seconds in this transition. Dropped my visor trying to get it on, and then in my haste, ran the wrong way to the run exit (they changed transition around and it was in the opposite direction as past years). What would you do differently?: Nothing too much, really.  Run
Comments: Course was very short (perhaps as much as .3 of a mile?). I liked the new layout (the construction-adjusted layout) of it, but they need to lengthen it. First mile was tougher on the legs (9:02), but it was uphill. Second mile (8:39), I was starting to find a groove, feeling good and picking people off. Third mile (5:51) was over much too soon. What would you do differently?: Nothing, really. Post race
Warm down: Because I'm the oldest of our group, my wave goes off first so I get the fun of being at the finish line for everyone else! So - that's what I did. What limited your ability to perform faster: Training. Don't I always say this? Event comments: I've always like this race -- a real "you go, girl!" vibe to it and it's fun seeing all the beginners. The course is easy and it's fun to just GO and not worry about pacing all that much. They made a bunch of changes for this year's race and I think they were all for the better: transition area was laid out MUCH better. Only downside? If you were young, your wave's racks were pretty far from bike in/out. Also - my one beef with this race was always the HUGE line waiting to get back into transition. I have no idea what they did, but that was non-existent this year. Really - very well done for such a big race. Last updated: 2010-06-01 12:00 AM
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United States
US Women's Triathlon Series
70F / 21C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 160/1591
Age Group = F40-44
Age Group Rank = 21/283
Forecast was nothing but rain, rain, rain... and it turned out to be PERFECT racing weather. High 60's to start the race. Overcast. Not windy. Not humid. Crept into the low 70's, but otherwise remained cool. Never rained on us, never got humid or hot. Couldn't ask for more!
Got up a little after 4am, showered and toasted up a bagel. Even had enough time to check email and the weather before Ellen showed up around 5am. We headed out, parking out at our favorite library parking spot and got into transition by 5:30am or so, early enough to snag primo spots in transition.
Got into the wetsuit and swam out to the first buoy and back in again. Enough for me to move through the "I'm tiiirrrreeed and this is haaaaard" to the "okay... I think I can do this" stage. Had a package of sports beans about 45 minutes before going off.
My mantra for this race: "Whatever you do, don't give up." When things get hard, or I get mentally down, I tend to just give up and stop trying. I figured because of my lack of training this year, that I'd be fighting against feeling down because I wasn't as fast, and all I really wanted from myself was to keep pushing, no matter what.