Escape to Miami - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic

Took 1 Gu 10' before the start. I felt great. Drafted a bit in the beginning, then lost a lot of people at the turn buoy. First time in a long time my goggles didn't fog up and I could actually see where I was! Betsy said I was in top 10 females out of the water when I was running to transition. Goal was to hold the women off and not let any pass me on the bike!

smooth and good transition. I usually rehearse the order of events in my head on the last part of the swim...this was only my second race of the year, but it is like riding a bike if you have done it enough :) Comes back to you quick! Took a GU here.

my legs felt some fatigue but I tried to keep it going, spinning up the hills and into the wind, taking advantage of the downhills and tailwinds. I held a pretty steady pace and feel like had I been tapered, I could have really laid it down. Happy with this bike though...I have some good endurance as I was just getting warmed up when it was time to get off. My shoes were filled with sweat...we had spectacular cloud cover and I was thinking what a beautiful morning it was to race....almost "cool" by sofla standards! However, I could tell I was sweating at my normal crazy rate so paid attention to sucking down my infinit and water. Took in about 300 calories of nutrition in 20 oz water and 1 aero bottle of water. Took a GU at 1:05 into the bike. 5 miles from the end of the bike, 3 girls passed me, sort of in a pack! I looked at one and laughed and said "CRAP"!

this went well, too...did a smooth flying dismount, run to the rack was good. Grabbed my bottle of infinit and shoved some GUs in my tri suit. Threw on my race number and visor and took off.

just as you are settling in to a rhythm and breathing pattern you have a bridge! I just tried to motor up and get over it as quick as possible. The air was super thick but the clouds were still out or this could have been a death march!!! all felt good except my lungs....hard to get air in the bowl of soup. I ran a good race, but knew it was not going to be a PR by any stretch. Just did what I could. I have not been training for top end speed so I didn't feel fast, but I felt strong and passed a lot of people on the run. The dudes started 15' before us.

I passed 2 of the girls on the run that passed me on the bike early on in the run...then just before the return bridge, I passed the last one....I heard her breathing down my neck for a bit, so I just kept pushing...gave it a final hard push the last .5 mile, afraid she was going to creep up on me :o she didn't. She came in just after me and we had a chuckle and thanked each other for the push.

Stats...1/22 AG, 7/188 O'all female, 111/829 o'all

This is a well organized, super fun race! Good food at the end, even though I wasn't hungry AT ALL...my daughter and her friend were pooped so we stuck around long enough to see a friend finish the sprint, then got my stuff and we bolted. Otherwise, I'm sure it would have been fun to hang out after. I would def add this race to my list again next year. Great course!