Benaroya Research Institute Triathlon at SEAFAIR - TriathlonSprint

I tried to start on to the outside of the group. Last year I really got beat up so I wanted to aviod having that happen again. I knew that there were a lot of good swimmers in my age group. When the horn sounded I was again surrounded by women kicking and flailing their arms. I could not get into a good space for the first 10 seconds or so of the race. Finally I found some fast feet to follow and I stayed close behind until we rounded the first buoy. I started to run into people from the earlier waves. It was sometimes hard to get around them because they were swimming sideways or doing breaststroke. The water was also a little bit choppy and I swallowed water a couple of times. I was still pretty close to the front of the pack of purple caps but I got blocked in by two slower swimmers and pretty much had to tread water until I could get around them. By then I totally lost any groove I had left. I swam straight in for the finish but about 50 meters from the end I ran into the thickest milfoil mess that I have ever experienced. It was like a giant nasty hair ball grabbing me everywhere. I could barely pull my arms through it, it was that thick. I thought it was bad last year but this was worse. It was really disgusting and although I was trying my hardest to swim my way out of it as quickly as possible, I kept getting pulled back. Finally I found my way out of the lake forest and to the finish.

I need to be more aggressive at the start. I am too slow starting off and I think that is why I am always surrounded by slower swimmers. The milfoil was a problem but there is nothing I can really do about that. I was pleased that they changed the course from clockwise to counterclockwise this year because last year the sun was in my eyes during the entire swim. Overall, I am dissappointed in this swim. I never found a good rhythm and did not feel as strong as I did during my OW swim practices earlier in the week.

After a discouraging swim, I took my time getting ready.

I should work on getting my transition times down. Perhaps more swim/bike bricks would help.

I love this bike course because we ride across the I-90 express lanes. The sky was completely clear and the view of Mt. Rainier was amazing. I could even see Mt. Baker off in the distance to the North. I was passed a lot. I passed a couple of people which surprised me a bit. I saw a lot of drafting going on. Blocking. And agressive behavior. Since this was a USAT sanctioned event I thought there would be officials out on the course but I did not see any. Just one cop on the bridge who was reading a sports magazine. I don't know what it is about this race but it elicits a lot of competitiveness from its participants. I have never raced one as "hard core" as this one.

I thought I would do well on the bike this year becuase I have been training on my bike a lot more and I have done this course many times now. I actually ended up going about 2 min. slower this year. Very discouraging. I am getting really frustrated about this in fact. I felt good and it seemed like I was going fairly fast. I guess I need to work on this more.

I guess I am not training enough. I thought I would have done better.

I still don't have clipless pedals so no shoe change needed. I actually have pedals and shoes but I got them a week before this race so I decided not to use them.

Nothing

I never realized how much noise some people (meaning men) make when they are working out/racing. I don't go to a gym or anything so maybe I am sheltered but there was a lot of loud grunting, snorting, burping and even farting going on. Basically my strategy was to find someone going about my pace and follow them. I was following a girl who apparently was having cramps in her legs. Her and I tag teamed a couple of times but then I made it my goal to not let her pass me again. It kept me going strong for the rest of the race.

I was satisfied with my run. I still need a lot of work but I ran for a lot longer than I thought I would. I have really been slacking on my run training.

Train more but for my lack of training, I think I did alright. I ran a little over 3 min. faster than last year.

I walked around the expo a bit. Had a bagel, orange slice, half banana, and a Jamba Juice sample. They had a lot of food freebies at the expo so I spent some time sampling.


Milfoil and not enough training.


The swim course at this race is not good. They really need to do something about the milfoil. Otherwise it is a good race and the bike and run courses have beautiful views of Mt. Rainier. The goody bag was decent and the t-shirt was good. The post race food was not that great but it was pretty standard for races of this size. Overall I think I will do this race again next year if only to prove to myself that I do not suck as much as I think I do on the bike and run. I was about 3 min faster overall than last year.