Festival of Flowers Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

The water felt WONDERFUL - this is the best water temp I've ever gotten to swim in. For the strat, you walked down some stone steps and treaded water a little ways in front. That didn't seem like a good idea to me, so I stayed on the bottom step (behind everyone) and used the step to push off. I figured it takes you a few seconds to get going when you have nothing to push off, so it would even out. I think this was a good idea, because Kirk said I moved into the pack and started passing people pretty quickly.

The swim FELT great! I was breathing perfectly, either every 3, 4, or 5 strokes (depending on the sun and sighting). My form felt great - which is rare for me in a lake. My sighting was NOT good today, though. I think I must have swam a lot farther than necessary, because of this. Not sure what my deal was, but I was ending up wide right several times and would start sighting every other stroke. It would seem I got back on track and I would go back to every 3-4 strokes and then I would get way off again. It was pretty hard to see the buoys with the sun to begin with and they seemed kind of spread out to me. Even after we turned from the sun, I was having a problem picking out the next buoy sometimes. There was no buoy or landmark at the shore, which made it really hard to sight on the way back in. At the finish, you walk up the boat ramp and I smacked my toe into the bottom of the ramp. After I did (and yelled), the guy decides to tell me to be careful, because there are rocks. Thanks... The time includes short run to transition area.

Sight more often, so I didn't get so off course and waste a good swim.

Much better transition than the last Oly - but I didn't have to take off a wetsuit either. Happy with this time.

Nothing

The road was pretty bad for most of the course - I guess it just hadn't been paved in a while, but boy was it rough. I tried to get in my aerobars as much as I could, but I was really uncomfortable with how rough it felt.

Started off very strong, good pace. On the flats, slight uphills I was comfortably holding 17-20, which is excellent for me. But then there were the steeper hills, which I'm just not good at. I did the best I could, but I was more in the 12 area for those things. I felt pretty good about this leg overall, since my pace was the same as flat St Anthony's. I still need to go a lot faster here, I didn't pass anyone!

On the way back in, you pass the runners on the road and see how hilly and hot (NO shade) it's going to be. Ugh!

Train on more hills.

Decent transition, but I could feel that the run wasn't going to be good already.

Turn socks inside out before race - I wasted a little time doing this, because I was worried about the heat and sweating to much.

The run sucked...again...

I started off, felt tight, stopped for a second to stretch my quads (which I forgot to do in transition). Started to run again and realized this was going to be no different than St Anthony's, except that it was about 90 degrees, so it was miserably HOT! I had an hour at the start of the run to meet my goal - which is doable for me, but not at the end of an Oly apparently. I really wanted to turn around and be finished (I was frustrated with myself), but I just kept going. I decided to walk up the hills and run down them and on the flats. I didn't run on all the flats, my breathing just felt out of control and I would start to feel like I was going to puke. I'd stop and walk until I felt better again. I tried to encourage everyone who passed me on the way back in, I figured that would be useful, anyway. At every water stop, I would grab a bottle of COLD water (that was nice!) and drink a little and pour the rest of it on my head and body. This would help temporarily and I would be able to run again. In just a few minutes I would heat back up though and return to my run/walk issues. At the finish my parents and Kirk were very supportive and started cheering me on, which helped me finish running in. There's an annoying hill at the end up to the finish line - now that's just mean! :)

Run...

Walked underneath this sprinkler tent they had set up - wonderful. I sat under there for a while and cooled down. Ate a chocolate chip cookie - I'm not hungry after a race, so that's all I had. Grabbed a couple of bottles of water and filled up my bottle with the recoverite powder in it. I love this stuff, I felt much better after cooling down and drinking the bottle. Disappointed, but physically okay.


I don't even know at this point. I did a 1 1/2 hour bike with 30 minute run brick a few weeks ago and felt great. I'm not sure what the deal is anymore.


This was a pretty good race overall. Directions to the site could have been better - they were just maps (pictures) and no street directions or addresses. The post-race food looked really good - it was Outback steakhouse - I never really appreciate that stuff like I should, since I'm never hungry.