Pink Power Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Wow what a piggy pile! I should have started earlier like planned, but stayed back with a friend who was unprepared and unsure of the swim portion. Got passed in the second to last lane by someone who probably was drafting and not really any faster because I wanted to run her over the last two laps. I did pass a girl at the end, just one lap to go. She looked winded and I tried to encourage her that she only had 25 yards to go.

Get in the pool when I'm supposed to.

I'm not so steady running in my bike shoes but I felt pretty good about transition. It was quicker than my first tri; I'll take it.

Well this is where it becomes obvious I have no idea what I'm doing! The rollers took me a while to figure out. I don't live or ride much on hills so my knowledge of gears and when I should gear down and then back up is limited. My friend caught me about 3 miles into the race and gave me some good advice. I pushed through the hills, passed a few folks, it was clear I wasn't the only one going, crap another hill!?! By the last few rollers I had figured things out and I'm actually looking forward to practicing on more hills to get better. Honestly, I think the bike went better than expected.

Ride more, get more experience on hills, play with my gears become more comfortable and confident on my bike.

I couldn't get the darn bike shoes off! Since it was a short ride, my feet were still wet and I went barefoot to save time. About fell over trying to pull my shoes off! Was a little jealous of those biking in their running shoes. Grabbed a quick drink, tugged on socks and shoes, snagged my hat and then couldn't figure out how to get out of transition, had to ask for directions to the start of the run.

Paid attention to where the start of the run course was at, dried off my feet more before sticking them in my bike shoes.

And here's the crash and burn of it... for a runner I'm terribly embarrassed with my run time. My only reason is that I was just plain whupped at this point. I've run a bunch of races of all sorts of distances, so 3.1 miles is typically a walk in the park. I only had my nike watch to help pace me and when I hit the lake, probably 1 mile plus a little, I was under a 9 minute mile pace. Yep, I went crikey that's way too fast for me, I'm normally a 10 minute mile girl and I know at the end of a marathon that stretches to a 11:30 minute mile. So I started to gear back, but the hills were bothering my right hamstring and I could feel my left knee trembling. The trembles made me think I needed electrolytes, and during the marathon I know it's the precursor of a nasty muscle cramp/charlie horse. So then I scaled back even more, walking more than running the last mile. The hills were not what I wanted at this point. Fortunately it was overcast and not particularly hot, which helped, but it didn't motivate me to finish. I finally found some gumption about half way up the last big hill and was able to run in the last bit with a smile on my face.

Take in more sports drink, carry my emergency tums/rolaids for the trembles, not be so whupped! I blame a lot of this on not being able to exercise at all for the two weeks leading up to the race and the jaw surgery I had. I think the surgery sapped more of my typical push through the tough stuff and finish it up power. Even after swimming and biking I expected at least an 11 minute mile pace and I was WAY off the mark this time.

Crossed the line, grabbed a finisher towel and a wet cloth to wipe the crud from my face. Found my friend who finished a good 15 minutes before me (I'm darn proud of her - it was her first tri). Found some powerade and water. Felt woozy, but walked it off. Packed up my gear and headed out.


Definitely the jaw/gum surgery two weeks prior wasn't a great way to lead up to this race, it's also why I never made it to the Luray sprint the week before. I just need to focus on getting better on the bike and not being so wore out leading up to the race.


I loved the girls only aspect of the race, great atmosphere. The snake swim is chaos and the race folks tried to keep it as organized as they could considering they're herding nearly 500 women. Overall the volunteers were great, and the finish festival was darn good considering it's a fairly small event. I hope they figure out how to organize a better packet pick-up. There's no need to wait in line for 20-30 minutes in the hot sun to pick up your packet for a race with only 500 participants.