Naylor's Beach Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

The was probably the most difficult swim I've done. It felt like it was going on forever. I started out okay as far as breathing and sighting. At that point I was still with the pack. I was having a little trouble with all of the waves. I caught several in the face and drank a ton of the river water. Yuck. When I finally got to the first turn, I got a bit caught on the buoy itself. Then, we turned into the waves and chop in the river. Technically, we were with the current, but I don't think that helped with all of the wind on the river. I kept swimming, but noticed that my chest was starting to hurt. I was concerned that I was starting to have an asthma attack, so I did breast stroke for awhile. I don't think I made any progress then (I might have actually gone backwards then), but I did get my breathing more under control. I wasn't really sure that I was going to be able to finish the whole triathlon. I decided then that if I didn't finish the tri, at least I was going to finish the swim. I put my head down more and went a lot harder, which finally helped me make progress. As I rounded the last turn buoy, I got caught again. There weren't many swimmers left around me. As I got closer to shore, I noticed that there was a man standing in the water not too far in front of me. So, I tried touching and realized that I could. I started walking and saw Sue next to me. We started talking and walking in back to shore. It was actually faster to walk than to swim. I tried swimming a little bit more, but realized that Sue was going faster than me, so I kept walking. Sue helped me keep going and I felt like I might actually be able to finish this. We finally made it to shore and I jogged slowly up the hill.

I'm not really sure what I could have done better. The conditions just weren't very good for the swim. I should do more OWS practices, but I'm not sure how much that would have helped in this situation. I know that my asthma hasn't been really in control lately, so I probably should have taken my albuterol inhaler before the race.

I tried jogging a bit in T1 as it was a ways back to the transition area. They had a fire hose set up to run through, which felt really good. I got back to transition and I was feeling really disorganized like I didn't know where to start with everything. I finally settled on sitting on the ground to put my socks and shoes on (which didn't really go very well). Then, put on my watch (for the bike computer functions), gloves, and helmet and then finally headed out of transition. It felt like it took forever. Seeing my time makes me realize it did.

I just don't think my head was in the right place. I don't usually have a problem with it, so I think it was due to the challenge in the swim. I was a little disoriented and dizzy from clogged ears due to a sinus infection.

As I was heading out of transition, I saw my husband in a volunteer shirt directing traffic. I was a bit confused because he wasn't planning on volunteering at first. I figured he got recruited sometime while I was swimming because they were a little short. I headed out on the bike course and realized how much I had been kicking during the swim to fight the current. I tried to keep my cadence up hoping that it would help my legs feel a little better. I had 4 or 5 Clif Shot Blocks spaced throughout the ride. I realized fairly early on that my bike computer wasn't getting a signal. That was frustrating because I was counting on that to tell me the distances. I guess that will teach me to depend on my gadgets. We'd been warned during the pre-race briefing that there were two tough hills in the first half of the course and to be in a low gear early because there had been many wipeouts in the previous year. I made it up the first hill in the lowest gear and my legs were so painful. I've never had them hurt that much and I was almost in tears. They seemed to recover a bit after that and I made it to the next hill. The next hill was a climb, a plateau, and then another climb. I made it up the first climb and saw Sue and another rider walking up the second one. I decided at that point, it was probably best to walk because I wasn't sure that I could ride up it. I finally made it up the hill and started riding again. Halfway through the course, they were handing out cold bottles of Gatorade Endurance. I was a little nervous because I've never done a hand-off while riding, but it went just fine. I kept riding and it honestly felt like it was going on forever. I was pretty tired and starting to doubt that I could make it through the run. I walked up the third tough hill, too, because I knew I couldn't do it. It was a tough course.

Check out the course ahead of time. It would have helped to know where the hills were and what the course was like.

Don't know my T2 time (it's combined with the bike time) because the equipment at the race malfunctioned.

At this point, I realized I put my socks on upside down during T1, so I tried to fix that as much as I could.

After that swim and bike, I didn't have much hope for the run. I decided my plan was to run at least ten minutes and then walk two. I did that for the first two miles. Saw my husband at the second (and fourth) water stop. It was nice to see him. After the third mile, I walked for awhile. My achilles tendon was starting to hurt and there wasn't really a place to stop and stretch it in the way that I'm used to. I finally made it back to the water stop and had my husband throw water on me. It felt so good. I was starting to overheat and I was a bit worried about having heatstroke. I ran as much as I could, but I was walking quite a bit. I finally could hear the announcer for the end of the course, but there was about a mile turn-off loop that had to be done before I was finished. I kept going as much as I could. It was tough but all of the athletes and volunteers were encouraging. I finally made it near the finish line and ran as much as I could. The announcer actually said "She's coming in and she's actually smiling." I was trying. I was so happy to finish!!


More bricks. Not overheat.

I saw Sue waiting for me at the finish line. It was nice to see someone there (I knew my husband would still be volunteering). I finally got to go to the bathroom. I had to go so bad while I was running. Talked to Sue and her husband while waiting for mine. When my husband got there, we ate lunch and then I changed and headed home. Stopped for ice cream on the way home and it was so good.


I'm not sure it was lack of training, although I slacked on that a bit in August. I just wasn't prepared for how challenging this course would be. It was a challenge and I wasn't really prepared mentally or physically for that. Hopefully it will be easier next year. :)


The volunteers for this were great. They were really encouraging and helpful. Race was organized well. Started a bit late, but that was because the buoys were drifitng from the wind. They did a good job of marking the bike and run courses as well as having volunteers and police officers at the intersections. There were several paramedics on the courses, too.