Reservoir Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

We waded into the lake since it was a deep water start. There were three waves and all the women were in the last wave along with the relays. Rudy Garcia-Tolson was racing a relay in our wave which was really cool. I lined up in the second row towards the right, the wave was pretty spread out so there was very little contact at the start.

Felt really good and strong in the water, this is a Oly swim PR of about 3 minutes. The chop picked up after we made the turn around the second buoy into the unprotected part of the reservoir. For some reason one of the speed boats assigned to watch the racers was zipping back and forth just outside the course and ended up waking everyone pretty badly. I got some water in my mouth a few times from the chop, but felt good otherwise.

Nothing much, felt strong and happy with my time. Would love to get this time down to the low 30s by next year.

Considering this was a tiny transition area this was not the best. I have not practiced transitions since last July and it took me forever to get my socks on. Need to practice more!

Be smoother and actually have practiced a bit before the race.

Onto the bike. I felt really good at the start but then turned right into a headwind, ugggh. First 5 miles I felt like a slow poke and tried to settle in and get warmed up. I had decided to leave my arm warmers in transition and it was a bit chilly. Took nutrition at the half hour mark.

After some rolling hills around mile 8 I came by a volunteer at an intersection and he warned me that the next little bit was a steep descent with hairpin turns. I got into the drops and got ready to descend, planning to take it easy since I hadn't ridden the course before.

I was on the breaks through the turns, they were pretty tight, similar to the descent from Big Rock back to Lucas Valley in Marin. A guy with a SFSU jersey passes me on one of the turns and disappears up the road, and a few seconds later I hear a screech and a smack. I start thinking "oh crap I bet he went down." Sure enough I turn the corner and he is on the other side of the road against the bank with his bike on top of him looking dazed and confused. I stopped and hopped off my bike, yelling "biker down" since we were on a blind curve and I didn't want to get hit by someone descending behind me.I went to cross the street and help give him first aid but a car pulled up and yelled to me that they would help. The guy was conscious and told me that he was ok and I should keep racing. I felt so bad leaving but I figured the car could help him better than I could.

I was shaking and pretty upset after that happened. I got to the bottom of the descent at a turn where there was a volunteer and a CHP officer and I told them to radio for help since there was a biker down on the descent. I heard later that they were able to get an ambulance for him.

After that the course is mainly flat with some rolling hills. I started to warm up and felt better, really tried to crank as hard as I could on the flats and take it easy on the climbs. Have to work to my strengths. Climbed back up to the reservoir and came in around 1hr 40 min, an almost 20 minute Oly bike PR.

Nothing really, my cycling is still not strong but I'm pleased with how this ride went.

Quick transition. Put on my shoes, grabbed my Garmin, race belt, inhaler and nutrition and ran out as quickly as I could. Dealt with putting all my stuff on once I was running.

Install my elastic laces for short races like this.

LOVED this run! I haven't been running quite the volume I was last year but the running I have been doing has been focused and it paid off today. I felt great coming off the bike. Took a chocolate Gu (nom nom) at the one mile aid station and decided to run easy until the turnaround. Saw my friends coming back to the finish and cheered for them, then tackled the few hills out near the turnaround. Once I got to the turnaround I focused on negative splitting and running people down.

I was feeling fabulous and was able to really pick up the pace the last 2 miles, I think I was running ~9:30s. I ended up passing a few people who were fading, and the aid station people kept commenting on how strong I looked. That's what happens when you do an Oly when you are trained for a half! Came down to the finish line and all my friends who had finished before me were cheering, which was awesome. Finished with a big smile and got my medal.

Nothing, this was awesome.

Got some pizza and a banana and went out to cheer in the last runners. Got our stuff and headed back to the car.


Nothing really. This is a PR of 28 minutes over Wildflower last year. An easier course, yes, but I am so happy with my performance especially on the swim and the run. The bike is what it is.


Fantastic local race! Loved seeing all the local tri clubs, and the organization was top notch. The bike course was incredibly well marked with volunteers and CHP and the run course had plenty of aid stations. I would have loved to have a porta-potty on the run course, but other than that is was great. And TONS of food, even for us late finishers. If I can I will do this race again!