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 Swim
Comments: This was going to be my weakest leg, I thought, but for me this ended up near perfect. I anticipated being last by 100 yards or more, and I wasn't last, and in fact, finished at the back of the pack -- the key term being "pack." I wasn't alone. I felt great. I was side-stroking, so I was very careful to stay out of everyone's way, and I was successful, I didn't kick anyone. I even passed a guy who started in the men's wave three minutes before me. He looked so sad when he saw me pass him, I almost apologized. What would you do differently?: Well, learn to swim. Seriously. Tomorrow I begin again with the crawl, 25 yards at a time. I'm glad I was able to make this work -- I worked really hard at getting a smooth, drag-free side stroke, and I think I was successful for the most part. But I'm ready to let it go and do it right next time. I'm sure I could take 5-6 minutes off this time with a strong freestyle. I'm still ranking this leg "good" because I exceeded my own expectations (which were obviously very low.)  Transition 1
Comments: I felt like I was moving in slow motion. I remember telling myself "Come on, move faster." Shoes/socks took forever, and maybe I need to think about running without socks. I grabbed a couple bites of my Clif bar because swimming always makes me starving. What would you do differently?: Just move. My transition was organized well enough, I just couldn't move fast enough.  Bike
Comments: This was most disappointing. I knew I wasn't going as fast as I wanted. I had decided to spend everything on the bike and do the best I could on the run, and that ended up being a joke. The winds were bad -- tailwind, headwind, crosswind -- and the course was very hilly -- and the road had these ridge things in them every ten yards or so -- not really pot holes because they extended all across the road. I don't know if they are water/ice damage or if they were put there on purpose, but they were distracting and annoying. Enough whining. Actually I loved the course and I thought it was a blast to ride. I never get to ride hills, so I loved soaring down as fast as I could, but the hills take a toll climbing. There just is really no good reason why my performance was so dismal. What would you do differently?: Obviously I need to really train on the bike. I have been riding and doing some interval work, but it didn't pay off when it mattered. My LBS guy tried to talk me into wearing my clipped shoes, and I didn't listen to him. I should have. I didn't want to take the time to change my shoes in transition, but I should have. Maybe that would have helped my time. Transition 2
Comments: I was a little unfocused because of the bad ride. But I remembered my race number and got the bike racked okay. Stopped to go back and take another drink, which I didn't need to do. What would you do differently?: Just get the bike up on the rack and run. Don't stop for drink or food.  Run
Comments: Well, I did better on the run -- almost just where I wanted. This time beat my first 5k time on April 2, so I'm pretty happy about that, but it is still 1:30 slower than my last stand alone 5k. I could have gone faster. My husband and 4 year old were on the route, so I stopped to give my little boy a hug and a kiss. He wanted to run with him (which we do together sometimes), and I had to tell him to stay with daddy. I walked through the water stations, and at the last one, even stopped to talk to the volunteer for a few seconds. There was one hill, not very hard, but I just didn't want to run it, so I walked for about 20 seconds. Other than that, I ran it just like I wanted to. I ran the first mile I little slow (okay -- I know the whole thing was slow, but it's a relative term in my case). By the beginning of the second mile, I felt like I had my legs back and picked it up a bit. The volunteer at the 2 mile point let me know that's where I was, so I kicked it into as a high a gear as I had at the time. I had enough energy at the end to kick through the finish. I actually felt too good after the run -- so I could have either spent more on the bike (grrr) or picked up the pace of the run quicker and faster than I did. What would you do differently?: Faster pace, a notch or two, throughout. But I think my overall plan was good. Post race
Warm down: Walked. Stretched a little. Found my oldest son, who had stayed with the race the whole time. (His facebook updates about the race are a hoot to read.) Took a cold shower at the beach, and then collected my stuff from transition (which included a banana I'd forgotten about). Packed up the RV and headed for home. What limited your ability to perform faster: Bike Bike Bike. I can't believe it was so horrible. I think I'm going to have nightmares about it. Seriously. I have trained way faster than this. I can't believe I let the wind and the hills get to me like that. Event comments: Maybe I missed the food, etc. But I had my own banana, so I was fine. That's all I like after racing anyway. I will definitely do this race again. I think it was a great first race. And with all my complaining about my bike performance, I loved the bike course. It was a lot of fun. Last updated: 2011-06-26 12:00 AM
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United States
Oz Endurance LLC.
85F / 29C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 93/101
Age Group = 50-54
Age Group Rank = 7/7
Friday night I ran 4-5 miles, off and on the race course (I wasn't sure what the course was). It was an enchanting run -- at about 10:00 p.m. with hubby riding his bike, providing light (and some security). The fireflies twinkled like fairies and the stars were bright. It was a great way to kick off the weekend. Saturday morning, I swam the course and felt strong. About 15 minutes later, I rode the bike course. The course was hilly, and I made a note of that. I began really relaxing and doing nothing but family/camping stuff from 11:30 a.m. on. The only glitch was that I found a tick on me just before I was going to bed. That set me off. I don't like creepy, crawly things, especially of the blood sucking kind. But I recovered and went to bed at about 11:00. I didn't eat any special foods, but I did focus on hydrating throughout the day.
Alarm went off at 5:00, and I snoozed it until 5:30, and then I felt like I was moving in slow motion. I didn't leave the RV until 6:00 a.m. Still made it to the race start in plenty of time to set up transition, body marking, etc. I just walked around and stood around until all of the Olympic swimmers were out of the lake, and then I swam in the water for 10 minutes or so. Excited, but not really nervous. Number 1 son surprised me by getting to the start before I began swimming. So I was able to get a pre-race hug and "good luck" from someone other than a stranger.