River Cities Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Despite the fact that I'm not a particularly good/fast swimmer, I really enjoyed this swim. I did ZERO breaststroke, one of the advantages of being in the DFL wave. No competition, and nobody to run into you. In honor of the Olympics, I spent about 20 min Sat evening re-reading Sheila Taormina's book "Call the Suit". The information and drills she taught us during the swim clinic became clear once again. I tried to channel her "high elbow during the catch" with nearly every stroke and for once, I really felt it. I may not have gone much faster, but I was happy with my progress, did not freak out, panic, or swallow water. I sighted after taking 20 strokes, because the water was like glass, no chop whatsoever, and every time I sighted, I was right on course. Slow, but steady.

Faster arm turnover?

I really thought I was last out of the swim, but apparently there were 2 or 3 others behind me. Jogged up the astro turf to transition and squirted sand off my feet from the water bottle on my bike cage, downed a strawberry-banana power gel and more water from bottle.
I always forget how far it is to the actual mount line at this race. Even if you run up from the swim (as I did), it still takes a bit of time to get up the little incline to mount line. And when you're in the DFL wave, at the beginning of the bike you have to deal with lots of fast people who are FINISHING the bike, who may be veering into your lane as they finish.

I don't know if I'd do anything differently. I don't like riding/running with sand on my feet, so I have to take time to squirt it off, then put on socks. With the uphill-ish start, I'm not expert enough to do the flying mount with shoes on bike, and I'm ok with that.

I've been racing at RiverCities since 2005 and my overarching goal has always been to get my bike split under one hour. I watched my splits as I rolled past the miles... mile 9, I was at 29:54... cuttin' it close... I tried to average 20-21 mph after that. As I approached dismount, two other gals were in front of me, one about 50 feet directly in front, the other, about 10 feet diagonally to the right. Well the one on the right stopped and promptly fell over TO THE LEFT (directly in front of me) just before I stopped. This affected my momentum/balance a little but I did not fall and thought "Sucks to be you" as I ran around her with my Buzz and hit the lap time as I crossed the mat and looked at my watch, I realized I'd finally done it. I did the air-fist-pump thing - woo hoo!! I did it!! Took 6 tries, but I finally got my River Cities bike split under an hour!!!!!

I did feel a little sluggish at times so maybe I was under-fueled. Maybe a few more calories pre-race would help. But overall, I am happy with this segment (I was first in this category for the bike!!)

As I came back into transition, the volunteer told me that although my rack position was on the row next to run out, I was REQUIRED to run with my bike all the way around the center part of transition and back up to my rack before being allowed onto the run to "make it fair to others". Really? didn't I already make up for that by running further into transition to my rack from the swim? but I didn't argue with the nice volunteer and the other gals were doing what he said, so I didn't want to get a penalty. I looked at my watch - more than a minute was spent looping around running in bike shoes to get to my rack space.

not spend any energy confirming what to do? I don't know. Maybe it would have saved 15 seconds. who cares?

Since the run was a slight "unknown" it was a little challenging to figure out pacing. The race clock was there, as usual, to give you the one mile split. But since we didn't have a real picture of where mile 2 was, it was kind of hard to pace.

since I had no cramping or digestive issues, don't stop to walk. Keep on running.

hugged fabulous volunteers in the finish chute. I know they must have thought me a real pain on packet pickup day (I somehow got the wrong size socks-AGAIN!!) but as someone who volunteers more than I race, I convinced them I wasn't a princess. I said to her, "I'd hug you but I'm all sweaty" and she positioned herself so that my body marking would not stain her clothing and gave me a big hug.Love love LOVE those volunteers!!



Totally mental. I had none of the usual physical challenges (upset stomach, sore hip flexor -- well, maybe a twinge... or breathing issues.) But during that last mile I remembered I had more than 300 miles to drive back home and I think it slowed me down a bit thinking about that, and the fact that this is my last race of the 2012 season...


This is my 6th time at this race. The goody bag, the volunteers, the venue, all great. And this year, I even got beer after I finished!! I've been waiting 6 years for that!!