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 Swim
Comments: This was almost perfect, for me, where I am now with my swim. I hadn't warmed up, but I ran right in, on the left, not in the front, but not walking tentatively with those in back. I stayed with some people, was passed by other people, and passed others myself. I swam the whole way -- no side stroking or breast stroking (except for the little half breast stroke/scull I do to sight). I felt stronger as the swim went on and did not get discouraged when two people in the wave after me passed me. I ran into a few people and a few people ran into me, but the water is very murky. You can barely see your hands in front of you, let alone the feet of anyone who might be in front of you. I was often startled by coming upon the feet of someone, and I know others must have been, with me, as well. I felt great coming out of the water and was able to jog all of the way up the small hill to transition 1. What would you do differently?: Nothing, really. I was exactly where I should have been at the start for my pace, and I did an amazing job of sighting. I ended up sighting only once ever 10/12 strokes because I was right on line every time I looked up. I just need to keep working on my swim fitness. I still have a lot of speed/technique improvements to make.  Transition 1
Comments: That's what I'm talking about. 26/112 for T1. What would you do differently?: I didn't even dry my feet off before putting on the biking shoes. Short of attaching the shoes to the bike and running out of transition in bare feet, I'm not sure what more I can do here.  Bike
Comments: It's a hard ride. There's not much more to say about it. But I did the best I could with the conditions (heat, wind), road (crappy), and my fitness level (still mediocre). What would you do differently?: I was passed on the hills. I really need to work more on hills. Transition 2
Comments: Lightning. I was running the whole time. I had to make a sharp turn out of my row to the Run Out, and almost slid right through the end of the transition area. I was moving as fast as I could. I had a revelation on the bike in the last couple miles and realized I had been so stupid. Usually, I stand in transition and put on my race belt and a shirt. I realized that I need to just rack my bike (which I did expertly), change shoes (Hooray for Zoots), grab my belt and shirt and run, putting stuff on while I am running. I don't know why I didn't think of this before. So I was blazing. With my jump off the bike (rather than coming to a complete stop and dismounting), I passed two people at the entrance to transition. While in transition, I passed a couple more. Hooray! What would you do differently?: Not one thing. For me, this was perfect. I was 37/112, so some people were faster, but I don't know how.  Run
Comments: Look at that. Almost exactly middle in the run, and that's in a field of 112 people, of which only 28 were women. I started out strong, got stronger in the middle, and ran in as fast as I could. What would you do differently?: Keep running faster. Post race
Warm down: Hugged Jayson and Hubby at the finish, grabbed a bottle of water, and walked down to the lake with Jayson and waded for 5-10 minutes. Then walked around. Sat a little. Ate half a banana, some potato skin chips, and a small cinnamon raisin bagel. Checked my results, and was shocked. I knew I had come in at 1:33:xx, but I didn't realize I was first in my (very small, very old) age group. What limited your ability to perform faster: I just need to keep training, maybe add some speed work in every few weeks. Age is a factor, obviously. I beat the other women in my age group by 11 (2nd place) and 50 minutes (3rd place). Last year, I was 93/101, so I improved there. I was DFL in my age group last year, and got first this year. With only three competitors, nothing to brag about. BUT there were seven in my age group last year, and the winner won in 1:33:25. 1:30:00 was my secret target time because I knew what the leader had done last year. So I am thrilled with 1:33:06. I was 9 out of 28 women and only 5 minutes behind the second place woman and 4:30 minutes behind the third place woman, so a bunch of us finished within a few minutes of each other. (The winning woman won in 1:18:33.) I'm satisfied. I know I can be faster, but I think I'm in a good place after only one year in the sport. I was 100 percent on the whole race, and I didn't have much in the tank after I finished. Event comments: The roads suck, but it's Kansas. We have only one block of nice road in our town. I love riding on that road. I think, "This must be what other people get to ride on all of the time." :-) Last updated: 2012-03-12 12:00 AM
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United States
Oz Endurance LLC.
85F / 29C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 64/112
Age Group = 50-54
Age Group Rank = 1/3
We left for the lake with the camper Friday after noon and got in at around 3:00. Set up camp and went down to the lake for a swim. I couldn't see anything, so I decided I needed to wear my contacts. I took time Saturday to ride part of the course (was reminded how truly horrible the road conditions are) and to swim with my contacts. Ahhh. I could see. Saturday was hot, but uneventful. Did a little shopping with the family, and basically just puttered around the camper. We all went to bed early, by 9:00.
I didn't hear my alarm go off at 5:30, but I woke up then. The alarm went off at 5:33, but it was scheduled for 5:30, so it must have been what awakened me.
Ate some oatmeal and had a cup of coffee. Gathered all of the race stuff together, topped off my tires, and rode over to transition -- which was about 500 feet away, at about 6:15.
Set up my spot, got body marked, and walked through the transition steps over and over and over. I did a lot of mental preparation, visualizing each step and what I needed to do. Swung my arms around a little and visited the potty three times, including two minutes before my wave took off.
Since the Oly people left at 7:00, we didn't really get much of a chance to warm up in the water (besides, I was visiting the potty numerous times -- coffee and nerves, I guess), and I was a little worried about that.
Hubby and Jayson came to see me off, which was nice, because I thought they were just going to stand on the shore by our RV and wave. Jayson brought a book for me to read to him, so I did that, standing on the beach in my tri suit. Oh, well. It got me out of my head, so was a good thing.