Webster Lake Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I felt like I was in good company with the women in wave 3, and the race started pretty much as planned. I swam a solid, middle-of-the-pack pace for 16:45 in the half-mile.

Learn how to draft better and watch the beach/buoys more closely for a tighter course.

Peeling out of my wetsuit in T1 was tricky. My ankle got stuck. I didn't fall over in to the mudpit thank goodness, but it was close. My cycling shoes were soaked and I had to run through mud puddles to get out of the transition area and onto the road. Ugh!

Practice and time this transition in training!

It was steadily raining and although the roads seemed fine, I got a flaaaaat back tire at about mile 5 of 12. Anyway, I had everything I needed so I set about fixing it. 10 mins later I'm rolling again for about 30 seconds and then pfffft -- flat again! I had only one spare tube, and it wasn't holding air anymore, so my luck had run out. I was bummed because I had never had a flat in a race, or had to drop out of a race. Today was just not my day. *sigh*

A local police officer scooped me and my wet bike into his cruiser and took me back along the miles I'd ridden to the race location. He radioed in to the organizers that he had cyclist #339 from the course, and all was well except for the bike. Then he dropped me off and I carried my bike to the transition area, wheel-in-hand as I couldn't easily remount my wheel with the flat. Some cyclists were still coming in though and the race organizers asked what had happened to my bike. I explained the flats and said that I'd still like to run, if that would be OK, so they had me walk over the timing chip mat, which in hindsight was a mistake.

[Note to self: just turn in the timing chip when/if this ever happens again.]

T2 didn't really happen as I DNF'd on the bike course.

I laced up the shoes and ran a good but rater forgettable 3-mile finishing leg in about 26 minutes. As I neared the finish line, I was puzzled to hear the announcer read, "Here's #339, Sunny Schettler from Cambridge, Mass.". What, they thought I was still racing?! I guess they pick people out randomly, and though it's nice when you're actually still racing, to me it was disconcerting. Didn't they know I'd DNF'd with the flat? I told the number-keeping race official at the line that, no, I had not finished the race. And lo, I checked the race page on my computer and was credited with a very fast bike time (wrong!) and a 3rd place finish in the Athena division. Ooops! I already e-mailed the race organizers with the correct. I still feel bad about the mixup because I actually do remember passing the 4th place (really, 3rd!) Athena at mile 2.5 on the run. I told her as I ran by that I wasn't officially in the race anymore, but she probably didn't quite get it/hear me as we were both huffing along at a pretty quick pace by then. Hopefully she stayed around for the awards anyway and took home her 3rd place hardware...



[Note to self: remove the timing chip if DNF'ing]

I met with the other WWMS athletes, exchanged stories, and munched on cinnamon rolls. I also got to see KathyG and Joanne and one of the guy BT'ers, so that was fun! By then the rain had stopped but it was still cloudy. Just not the best day for racing, or for bicycling IMHO. Given the chance to do it all again, I would but I hopefully won't have such mechanical issues on the next race I tri.


Lack of real, T1 practice, the 2 bike flats that DNF'd me, etc.


I did not like the long run up the asphalt to T1/T2. Why didn't the race orgs use the lower, beachside parking lot? Makes no sense to me.

I have e-mailed the race org folks about my DNF and hope that they will update the Results Page soon...I feel bad about beating Miss 3rd place Athena because if I had been racing, she'd have been my rabbit. I noticed her on the beach and thought "I'd really like to keep up with her". She was tall and looked FAST! We'd have been neck-and-neck on the bike if I'd been able to stay in the game.
http://www.firm-racing.com/result_report.asp?RID=524&type=4&cat=Ath...