Loveland Lake to Lake - TriathlonOlympic

Time included the run from waters edge up to the transition area...easily 2:30 to 3:00 minutes. I was in the first wave, with the elite men in the second wave. This meant that for the first time in any of my races, I was caught by a good number of people from a later wave...I don't like that. My navigation was pretty good, but some lady who was kicking like crazy through most of the swim kept zigzagging in front of me--arg!

When you got near the swim exit, at one point the water got shallow enough that my hands were hitting bottom, so I stood up and started pulling off my goggles and cap and started to wade in. Then the water got deeper again, so I had to do the above water crawl to get to the shallow water again. Oye.

Overall, a pretty darn good swim.

Swim in a bit further before standing up.

A pretty good transition. Decided to skip the gloves, which I didn't miss at all. I wasted a little time thinking about what I might be forgetting...which was nothing. Ocky was in the transition area cheering me on, which rocked!

Go over my transition area a couple more times before race start so I can get through transition without thinking.

I got on my bike, start going, and realize my computer isn't working. I try fiddling with the wires...nothing. Then I notice my front wheel is on backwards (hubby was being so helpful this morning!). I thought about stopping and fixing the wheel, but decided that since it wasn't affecting the bike functioning, I would just keep going. At least I could get my cadence.

This is quite the challenging bike course! It would be a much faster course in reverse, as it seems this was about 3/4 uphill! The two major hill climbs required use of the granny gear...first time in a race! Had a couple of awesome downhills.

The southbound return leg had a pretty good headwind, which was just one more challenge at the end of a tough bike.

The road was pretty rough in spots, and through many portions of the course it wasn't possible to ride on the shoulder due to the condition of the road.

Check my bike to ensure full proper function before the race starts.

A rather smooth transition. Again, Ocky was in transition cheering!

Nothing.

Felt pretty good for me. The mile markers were way off. Due to the markers, at the turn around I thought I was in great shape, with an under 30 minute 5K (fast for me). But the markers on the return didn't match up at all. The finish line was hidden around a curve. At one point, a volunteer told me the finish was "just up there." Seeing a crowd of people up ahead, I started my sprint to the finish. I was about to catch the woman in front of me when, near where I thought the finish was, someone said "just another 50 yards." Crap. I sprinted too early. My finish was not as strong as I would have hoped.

Know the run course.

Chatted with Julia, walked to transition to hunt down the guy with the fruit cicles (yum!), and found Ocky. After talking for awhile, went to get food, and sat down with Julia, Stacie and Lilia. The food was good, but I couldn't bring myself to eat the burrito--it was just too heavy at that point. Checked results, then packed up and headed back to the hotel for check-out.


No computer feedback on the bike. Lack of knowledge of the course. Lack of speed training on the run.


This is a good smaller race. Pretty well organized. The organizer mentioned that they had been sweeping the roads for 3 days leading up to the event, but there was still a good bit of debris, and even some gravel at a turn on a downhill, which could have caused problems. Otherwise, no complaints, and I would consider doing this race again.