Cranberry Trifest - TriathlonOlympic

As the grey caps entered water, race director Eric said good luck Kathy on the megaphone..made me smile. I do feel this is my home race..as I train here a lot. I was brave and started in the middle of my wave.

Swim was best I've ever done as far as tactical swim. I learned at 2 mile swim race last week if I'm swimming same pace as someone drafting is easier than next to them with easier effort so smarter. I drafted more than I ever have around the far end and switched women to draft better and she was slightly faster. I even lost her feet once and went hard and caught her again..sweet! I decided at last corner to swim closer to shore, cut the corner, and swim diagonally to finish knowing it was shorter and hoped to be faster. Turns out chick I was drafting off second beat me out of the water by maybe 10-15 feet so confirms drafting would have been smarter and saved energy.

Great swim for me...best swim by far.

I've swam here a lot so it's my home pond so to speak..feel comfortable and knew how to do my best.

As I stood up and started towards the stairs...I saw so many smiling friendly faces, my daughters, Marianne and Lisa...so encouraging to see friendly folks. I was careful going up the stairs as I worked swim exit 2 years ago and saw many triathletes fall. I started running after a few steps beyond the stairs.



Saw Al & John then folks from Tri NE as I ran the long way to back of transition.

Pick up pace a little...little slower than my normal.

Bike was awesome...

My vi was 1.02 and my NP was 143. Best vi for oly ever and it had some hills and rollers. I felt really good at start of race and was more around 145-148 as avg watts. I was passing lots of folks men and women and riding smart. Up hills going backwards keeping power even, then keeping power up on down hills and flats passing them all back and then some.

Passed back and forth with same women & one guy over and over and it became amusing...ups she'd pass, downs/flats I'd pass her. After race she told me that she was annoyed seeing 49 again.

Hip flexors were sore and uncomfortable about 40' in. I stayed in aero all but twice on hills. Power dropped down little the second half but overall felt risk was okay to try to go a little harder to start based on how it felt.

With about 8 miles to go this women younger than me passes me and said you have the most muscular strong legs..wow! I said thanks..not many women passed me, probably less than 5 whole ride.

Had similar bike experience in '06 where I was doing a lot of passing and easily overtaking both men and women. '07 I was blocked in a lot as folks would pass me on up hills in early rollers and not move right and it was more frustrating ride. How waves are put together and how fast my swim is makes huge difference on who I'm riding with..this year rocked and was so much fun!

In '08 on Kuota NP was 18 higher but this race speed almost the same..conclusion Ordu is faster bike..yah course and conditions slightly different but I've seen same thing on training rides..watts relative to speed is better. I will do FTP testing week following race as pretty sure FTP is up which makes IF and TSS look higher than really probably was since using low post surgery FTP number

Duration: 1:21:49
Work: 586 kJ
TSS: 105.5 (intensity factor 0.955)
Norm Power: 143
VI: 1.02
Distance: 26.191 mi
Elevation Gain: 730 ft
Elevation Loss: 729 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (1 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 319 141 watts
Cadence: 19 111 89 rpm
Speed: 2 44.8 19.2 mph
Pace 1:20 30:11 3:07 min/mi

Executed well.

Excited for the potential this course has for me. When in good bike shape my watts on this course would be 30 maybe 40 watts more which I can guess would be a 20+ mph bike pace in an Oly..it will be a goal for me...best oly pace 20.0 at St. Anthony's which is dead flat..this isn't.

Chatted with the crowd right before dismount to get them to cheer..

back to my rack first as I was racked with my AG who started 20' after I did...

Saw tri team & BTers cheering for me on run out..obviously having fun...having folks there always gives me a boost.

Run legs felt okay which sort of surprised me. I went with .33 mile run/walk with varying lengths of walking mostly 20-30". I bumped into Sue about 1/3 in and she was good doing my run/walk ratio. It was fun...then just before 2 miles we walked up a steeper longer hill and she had to stop to adjust her timing chip. She said go on which I did figuring she'd catch up..she never did..wondered if I did the right thing.

Sue started 5' after me, we had similar bike splits and she shared she had just under 27' swim so I had an guess my swim time was pretty much what I had hoped maybe ~33' which made me happy.

Mile 4 & 5 they had ice so I took a cup and put it down my sports bra...really hit the spot. Since I was living off the course, I'd take cube and suck on it between aid stations..sort of gross but was good.

I was working doing best I could...breathing heavy...pace slower through the run. Felt okay..just no juice to pick it up or negative split. Slower than most of my Oly runs which are normally '66-68.I was a bit under trained given my hole in my run training it's okay.

I notice that my ability to suck it up and get it done has improved and find that place to push to and stay there. I do think that is something I gained/learned with IM training..focus, patience, execution, not really sure how to describe it.

Not get Lymes and injure my knee

Did best I could and I'm at peace with it.

Lucky I can run and train.

Our daughters were at the finish line, so they gave me a cold rag and water bottle.



Found Sue who finished right after me, had some chocolate milk, sat in the shade to cool down then did the math to figure when Kevin would come in. Mistake to not keep moving around, but I didn't want to miss him. I heard he had an awesome swim but wasn't sure what his bike time was.

It was getting hot while we waited, and he felt it on the run. The girls and I saw him finishing his first Oly. For 5 years he came and supported me, never thinking he wanted to do this.now 2 years later, he has learned to swim, done lots of sprints and completed his first Oly.

Pictures captures it all...to see a photo of us from 7-8+ years ago you wouldn't recognize us. We may not be fast or competitive but triathlons have changed our lives & that of our kids for the good in many ways.



Chatted with lots of folks I know from new and old tri team, BT folks, and many others that I know..not enough time to catch up with everyone though.

Post race I was good...wasn't sure of results, checked them for just my spits when posted, tried not to take in how I placed and not listing it here. All part of the not compare and judge program I'm on. I can't change the way I think meaning numbers are just part of me, but the filters and judging after races I'm working on changing as it is key to having fun in the sport as I need to see my results for me not compared to others.

I had a great time racing, it was hard as pushing yourself is challenging and uncomfortable.

Earlier in the week I did quick calculation of what I thought I'd do and I was 30" faster..I didn't want to think about numbers before the race and have that be something to judge after the race. I did better than I have in the past avoiding the mental stuff I tend to put myself through and since this was my slowest Cranberry yet, growth for me.


Deer Ticks and what they spread, how it effected me & I'm still on two antibiotics a day

Racing with my husband and BT friends was lots of fun.

Should have walked/stretched after the race.


Great race...well put on, each year they make subtle improvements as they listen to racers and try to improve on what they can.

I didn't like the bike course pre riding it but it suits my strengths as a cyclist. I see potential for very fast bike split for me on this course in the future and races are really all about the bike, right?;)