login
 Swim
Comments: This was one of the most competitive swims I have done. Quite a few in my wave set out fast and I had to keep up. I was starting to pull away after the first 2 turns then bam into the sun! I had to stop twice and pull up my goggles to see the far buoy…Luckily I think I stayed on track and the course was set up very nicely with several red buoys between each turn which helped immensely with sighting. I pulled up through some of the wave before me and the wave before them. Swam right up to the ramp and got out. What would you do differently?: Need to work on sighting when going into the sun. I think this is more of a goggle issue.  Transition 1
Comments: Long azz transition. Basically we had to run in the sand and then the mud the length of transition before we even got in transition. I was racked at the far end by the bike out which was awesome because then we had to run the whole length in the mud to our bikes. Much better than having to do it bike in hand. I did get passed in transition by one girl in my AG and never saw her again. She was the only one in my AG that I even saw. What would you do differently?: I should have run off to the left and along the grass..not the mud. I also need to stop using socks on the shorter distances  Bike
Comments: had driven the course the day before but with the rain it was hard to tell much. I did at least have a sense where the hills were what I didn’t get a sense of was the technicality of the course. There were a lot of turns many of which were sharp and/or at the bottom of a hill so you were coming in fast. There were also quite a few long gradual climbs however I felt that I excelled on those. The turns were what I think slowed me down especially after I near crashed. There were 2 turn around pointes in the bike. The first was in a high school lot where we had to go around the traffic circle. I think a gust of wind got me or I knocked my aero pad getting out of aero…regardless I veered to the left, scraped my pedal on the curb and somehow recovered! I wasn’t as shaken as I thought I would be but I did proceed with a little more caution after that! I was passed by 2 men and 3 women =but passed about half a dozen or more men and women. I was experimenting with not going all out on the bike and burning my legs out so I could save some for the run. I kept a higher cadence and lighter gear on the hills. Not sure if this strategy worked since I have never ridden the course before but my legs felt fresh off the bike. The one thing I loved about this course was that it was a closed course. That was no easy feat since we went on many different roads. It was great to have the whole two lanes each way to ourselves. What would you do differently?: There is a fine line between not hard enough and too hard at this distance and I think I went a little easier than I could have but not a lot...Experience is the main thing I need to get Transition 2
Comments: This went well. Shoes on…grabbed some shot blocks then ran out with visor and race belt in hand. It was a long run out but I felt like I came out strong.  Run
Comments: My #1 goal going into this race was to have a good run and I did. My last race I bombed the run after having a very aggressive bike. This time I held back a little on the bike and felt like the first 3 miles of the run went flying by. I did start to slow around mile 4.5 I thought about taking in a shot block but decided against it. My stomach had been calm the entire race and I didn’t want to mess with that balance now. About mile 5.5 I slowed a little more but pushed through without stopping. I knew that no one behind me was close and I also had no one ahead of me in my AG so I just settled in and made myself keep going. The last .2 miles to the finish was the hardest race finish I had ever seen. It was all uphill! Not a gradual uphill but a steep one. I almost lost it and slowed dramatically but there was no way I was stopping to walk now. I crossed the line and stood on the brink of puking…I had made it! What would you do differently?: I should have pushed the hill harder Post race
Warm down: I got some water and staggered around some then felt better and went out to see Bjorn and the girls. Bjorn thought I finished pretty far up and I did…but of course 4th in AG. Ugh..any other age group I would have placed in! However, I was 4 minutes back from 3rd and about 3 min ahead of the girl behind me. Part of me wishes I had placed but the other part of me knows that I had a strong race. My run was the best of the year (not as good as last year but right now I am making a comeback so I considered it a good speed workout ïŠ. The swim was the best I could have done. The bike is where I question myself. My legs were never at that hurting point for long. Had I pushed them harder would I have still been able to have the same run…not sure. Still learning about this distance and basically still learning about the sport. All in all I will say that I am happy with this race! Finished 12th Female OA and 4th AG What limited your ability to perform faster: Experience Event comments: Loved this race! Organizers did an incredible job Last updated: 2011-07-01 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
5150 Triathlon Series
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 4/
Bike drop off was Saturday and it was pouring but it was mandatory. I hadn’t gotten a chance to check out the gears since we had gotten to Des Moines and I wasn’t wanting to ride in the rain. Great solution – ride around the parking garage! Luckily it was very uncrowded and everything checked out fine.
Sunday (race-day) I woke up at 4:30 and had half a protein bar then took a shower and stretched. Quietly grabbed my stuff and drove over to the athlete parking. The race officials did a great job with parking...the police were there and everyone had to show a wrist band or else you were not going to park there! On the flip side they were having us park in a muddy field. Not as muddy as transition (I will get to that later) but close. Got my stuff out and set off on a long walk to transition.
I was racked with the others competing in the Age Group Championship and had a couple of Wisconsinites which was nice. Set up my gear and heard the announcement I did not want to hear! “The near impossible happened…†The water which was 83 degrees and not wet suit legal had dropped with the overnight rains to 75…wetsuit legal. Bummer I was really looking forward to the advantage I would have as a non wet-suit swimmer among many who were used to the comfort of a wetsuit. I toyed with grabbing mine out of the car but decided that I would gain maybe 5 second per 100 and lose possibly a minute in T1…not worth it.
I had to take my pump back to the car so I half ran there and ran back which got me pretty warm even though the temperature was in the 50’s. Went to the bathroom a few times out of nerves and jumped around to keep warm. I was in wave 7 or 8 …a lot better than the non 5150 racers who were still swimming when I got back from the bike