One Last Tri - TriathlonSprint

Becuase I was in the water between the docks at the boat launch when my wave got in, I was already in front so I started front row, inside.

I started off super hard because i wanted to get out in front of the pack -this worked well, but I though my heart was going to explode! (I'm so bad at pacing sprints!) Pretty good sighting on the first leg - caught up with the 2 waves in front of us and had to do some adjusting to go around people swimming and people floating.

Had a good, close turn at the first bouy, but for whatever reason (the bright sun?), veared a little wide so not much congestion on the 2rd leg. slowed down the pace just a bit. On this leg, I was breathing to the right and had to look right into the sun, so tried to switch it to the left (i bi-breath in practice, uni-breath in races) and the left felt super uncomfy...? never had that happen before, couldn't get a good breath or rhythm so switched back to the right and was much happier.

Got back on track and had another good bouy rounding and stayed inside on the way back to the beach. Caught up to alot of guys and had to go around, good sighting into the finish. held a steady hard effort - no exploding heart though. Near the shore it was super shallow - lots of people stood up way out and walked - I kept swimming till my hand brushed the bottom then stood up and I think i passed a number of people during that time.

No drafting at all, just passing. I really do feel like i was at max or very close to max effort during the whole swim. So this is good, but i bet i could save some energy if i could learn to find and lock onto someone!

Stood up and walked a couple steps while i grapped my zipper and started getting the suit off my shoulders. Then jogged up the sand and grass and pulled suit to waist. goggles and cap off before i entered transition area. Mom had told the announcer I did IMWI last week and he mentioned it while i was running to T1 - it was funny and SO like mom to do something like that! :)

Not swing wide on the 2nd leg. start jogging as soon as i stood up instead of walking about 30 feet or so. Kick harder. Learn how to pace a sprint. I only have been training for long courses so sprints are kinda new for me... but over all, not too bad. HARD, but pretty good performance.

The women around me brought alot of stuff to transition so it was kinda cramped. Because of this, I took my suit off in the main area before entering my row. Threw my suit on the ground, got socks and shoes on. sunglasses on, helmet on and out the door. ran out the bike out, got on my bike and zoomed off. I didn't poke around, but it could have been a bit faster by using running mount, shoes on bike.

learn how to running mount and put shoes on bike, etc. I'm a slow mounter!!

the first 1/2 miles or so are uphill. I looked at my HR near the top and it was 170 and i was workin my butt off!! My legs are def not fresh. Got on the main road about 20 yards behind 'pink' girl (she was in a pink kit). She was the one person in my AG who was in front of me (that i could see) heading out the the bike. I kept the effort up (every time I looked at HR if was 160-165 and legs and lungs were WORKIN) the whole time. I had to kinda spin up the hills though, cuz my legs felt a bit weak. I was able to power down the hills though. At about mile 4 I passed 'pink' girl. Kept up the hard work (ie - high HR) and passed a handful of guys too. Then 'pink' girl passed me back about mile 8ish but I passed her again at about 12.5. I was kinda thirsty, so i had small drinks of water 3 times while out there, and only once did i take a SIP of gatorade. Came flyin down the hill back in Marine park and into transition. did my usual non-flying dismount (but it was smooth) and ran my bike to my spot. I was not passed by any women while on the bike.

if i was fresh i would have worked up the hills more. But all things considering (IMWI last weekend!), I'm happy with a 19.6 mph average on rolling terrain with a moderate amount of wind (forcast said 10-15 mph). It was a fun course AND i caught 'pink' girl ;)

I'm slow at T2 and it's all because of my laces! I quickly racked my bike and tossed my cleats off. Then into my running shoes. I didn't set them up all nice before the race (they were just as i had left them after my jog on Wednesday - dumb!) and the laces were all out of order and mixed up and I had to fiddle with them a bit. Then, because i have to do the through-the-loop tie with the laces to keep my heal from slipping, it takes me a bit. After the shoe lace slowness, I grabbed my race belt and visor and ran putting on the race belt and visor as I ran out - that was good. 'pink' girl beat me out of transition by about 5-10 seconds. (She was a speedy runner though and would have passed me right away on the run, but still...)

get the speedy laces - i don't think it would matter too much if my heal slipped a bit for 3 miles during the few sprints i do each year. I think I could save AT LEAST a minute. Also, learn to flying dismount. The rest of it (which really isn't that much) was good.

my legs felt like LEAD and i was WORKIN! I didn't know how long i was going to be able to hold a fast pace, but my plan was to at least start out that way. I was passed by one girl within the first 200 meters or so - she was flying! but she wasn't in my AG. The first 3/4 miles or so are slightly up hill - worked hard and was following a guy but somehow ended up passing him (right after a 12 year old ZOOMED by me! I got kidded as I was chicking that guy! hehe) At the turn around i grabbed a water and took a quick sip. It was nice to run down what we just ran up and it boosted my confidence as i was able to run pretty fast for me at that point (duh, it was downhill!) Then, after about a 1/4ish mile on flat pavement, we passed a water stop (super quick, super small sip) and entered a nature trail area again with lots of twists and turns and hills - at one point i couldn't see anyone in front of me and hoped i was on the right trail - but soon saw someone. Man I was spent/leaded in there and on those hills! I passed a couple guys and got passed by a couple guys, but saw no other girls out there (actually, other than the beginning, no other girls at all). As we came out of that section, a volunteer said we had about 400 meters to go - that was good for me to hear - i felt so weak but knew i could push it for 400 more so i tried to do just that. powered up a little hill then down the other side and into the shoot. Again, the announcer mentioned I did IMWI last weekend and some other funny stuff and lots of people clapped. I was smiling and kinda waving - it was fun! Made me feel good - thanks announcer guy! :)

nothing. I'm pretty happy with that run considering how weak and powerless my legs felt. I pushed as hard as I could have on that day.

when I stopped I felt a bit nauseous. The girl took of my timing bracelet and handed me a water and I zoomed out of there. Once a took a few steps though the nausea went away. Mom and Dad came up to me with their mouths hanging open and told me i had just rocked the race! They said they though I was for sure one of the first 5-6 women to cross the line. And guess what I said?! "shut the FFFfffff...no way!?" I'm NOT a swearer usually - why does that come shooting out of my mouth at races?! Thankfully, i caught myself before I told my dad to shit the F**k up!! ha! Anyway, they were stoked for me and i was feeling pretty good about it too - that was a fun little pow-wow :) Then we stood around for a bit talking to some people mom and Dad knew and cheering. We decided we better stay around for awards so we went back to get my stuff from transition and went back to the finish and hung out. Ate a banana. Cheered - lots of first timers coming in at the end - SO COOL!!! A young girl sat at the finish and waited for her friend for 5min so they could finish together - SO COOL!! Familyies finished together - SO COOL!! It was so fun sitting about the finish!! (plus i was jazzed about my performance and in a good mood).

They ended up having trouble with the timing and never did awards (except male and female winner - she was in my AG) and at the time of writing, still don't know my times/place.

my watch said 1:07 for the bike, T2 and run (started it when i got on my bike, withing the first 100 yards and stopped it after my timing bracelet was taken off). and my computer on my bike gave me 44.5min for the bike leg - so that means roughly a 23ish min run and a 1-2 min T2 at the most.

Then walked the 1/2 mile back to the truck, home, showered, then raced back to Chippewa Falls for my 2pm shift at work.


IMWI one week before. I'm glad I did this though! It was super fun to be in the local tri scene and see the excited first timers AND I'm happy with my performance. I was mentally prepared for a total meltdown physically, but even though I felt tired, i felt like i was able to push it. I def would have been faster if fresh, but coming off IMWI and having this (slower but still good) performance is probably a bigger accomplishment to me than being 5 min faster on fresh legs. So in that respect, it was a WIN today!! Also, I was able to focus mentally the entire time - it's a short race, but I felt mentally in it the whole time. And, I LOVE MY FAMILY!!! Having Mom and Dad there was so fun - especially because we just hung around before and after for a long time. i would have been lonely without them - plus, they're great cheerers (for EVERYONE, not just me!) and it's super fun seing them out there - they RULE!! plus, they know EVERYBODY and it was fun to chit chat with people after the race.


The timing thing was kinda a bummer - I hope I get a time - it was my AG i think they were having troubles with as they had all the other AGs posted...

The announcer, IMO, was awesome - he commented on everyone at the finish and was funny! Great work, buddy.

Other than the water being FREEZING, it's a great late season race and if it weren't for the timing I'd totally do it again... but next year, I'm going to be leary of it - racing is fun, but i do want to know my times/placing... I rated it a 3 because of the timing issues and because they seemed a little disorganized.