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 Swim
Comments: I've never done a seeded swim start because I thought I'd end up starting last and therefore hate the whole race. Well I wasn't last and I enjoyed the swim. It was a nice 50 meter outdoor pool! Unfortunately I forgot to turn on my watch until just as I was getting in the pool (idiot) so I didn't get to measure the whole race on my new expensive watch. As the line moved up I got to cheer for C as she got out of the pool and head toward T1. I spotted Coach in one of the lanes and yelled for him as he turned at the end of the lane. Then it was getting close to my turn. I got in as the person ahead of me took off and then it was a go! I might have been able to push this a bit harder. I raced slower than we measured me a few days ago. I was trying to pull hard and not get in to a freaked out windmill stroke. I got passed by one guy and was able to ride his feet for the better part of 50 yards. I'd told coach that I would see how it went as far as pushing off and going under the lane rope. That only works when it's not crowded and I was able to do that most of the turns. In the last lane it seemed a bit more "crowded" there were three of us finishing at about the same time but I didn't wait but a couple seconds for the stairs. What would you do differently?: Maybe push harder. I need to decide before patriot whether to re-seed myself because that one is two directions per lane so correct seeding is much more critical.  Transition 1
Comments: Not sure what took so long :0 Out of the pool then on rugs and smooth pavement to my spot. No trouble spotting my spot, B had mentioned we were near the dumpster and paved driveway across the street. Good call. As I ran I got the watch to the bike portion of the multisport. I decided to only wear the bib for the run this time. Never done that before so I would just have to make sure I got the bib at run time. What would you do differently?: Speed up, I guess. The top two in my AG (one of who was Coach Andie) were nearly 50 seconds faster than I was!  Bike
Comments: Started and finished the bike with DH cheering for me, that makes it all good! I really enjoyed this bike course! I would have enjoyed it more if I'd had full use of my gears! It was undulating and I didn't want to go in to my big gear until I knew I could handle the remainder of the hills in the big gear. So I stayed in the small gear and tried to spin as fast as I could on the downhills, with a bit of cross chaining going on (Fi does not like cross chaining). As I rode out the first spur of the Y I saw B and Coach headed back and cheered for them, then as I headed back I saw R and cheered for him. Same same on the second spur of the Y. When I got to the furthest spot of the second spur I went in to the big ring and sailed down the hills. I'm wondering if I should have just done the whole thing in the big ring. Oh well, coulda shoulda woulda. What would you do differently?: Not have mechanical issues? Fight through mechanical issues in the big ring instead of the small? More bike training Transition 2
Comments: This one I'm only a few seconds slower than the others. I did remember to grab my bib, I also took a couple seconds to grab a swig of water from my bottle. What would you do differently?: hurry up?  Run
Comments: Started out with some cheers from DH and some training group friends cheering for me. This is a really flat course so I was getting ready to enjoy a great run. About a half mile in I felt a side cramp. I tried breathing it away and massaging it away but I was only able to get it to a managable level, so I eased up a bit and kept on truckin. I saw C and Coach headed to the finish pretty early on in my run and got to cheer them. About a mile in there was a water/gatorade stand and the kids had a super soaker so I let them blast me. Ahhhhhh. Kept on trucking, up the ever so slight hill on to the ditch road. Nice packed dirt. The ITBS really prefers dirt so this was a nice portion of the run, although I told one guy I passed that I was tempted to dive in the ditch and swim this part. Once back on the road there was a slight hill up the road to the next water and back down. During this spot I saw Coach Andie and V. Got a high five from Coach Andie then went up, did my turn around and started cruising to the finish. Just ahead of me there was a younger girl who made the turn shy of the cone. She basically ran up to the first water holder then turned around. Not by a huge amount, but it got me thinking about the poor people manning those and how much you let someone cut before you have to say something. Occupied the brain for a little while. Then made the turn at the first water station and knew I was almost there. As I approached they called my name to the cheers of DH and coaching group. What would you do differently?: I'm pretty happy with this considering the fact that my running has been lacking because of the ITBS. I was hoping to feel better and really push this run and deal with the consequences later but my body had a different plan. Post race
Warm down: Walked around a bit, pix with Coach, and of course DH had my chocolate milk (love that man). Watched for R and S to finish then went to the awards where C got 2nd in her AG! Which is really awesome except that she'll be in my AG next year :o After awards I headed back to the hotel and grabbed a shower before we all headed to the micro brew for beers and lunch and converstaion and laughs and sharing pix before disbanding and heading back to ABQ. What limited your ability to perform faster: Training, mechanical issues, ITBS, adult onset simmer Event comments: Of the small local races I've done I would rate this as one of the best. The RD is awesome, the course was perfect, there were PLENTY of volunteers, and 4 drink stations on the run and one on the bike for a sprint?!?!?!?!?! Amazing! Loved it! Profile Album Last updated: 2014-07-03 12:00 AM
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United States
Socorro Striders and Riders
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 29/58
Age Group = F4549
Age Group Rank = 6/8
Socorro is only about 1.5 hours away but DH and I decided to drive down Friday night to make race morning more simple.
Friday evening we arrived at our hotel and walked to the hotel next door for packet pick up. Met the RD, super nice guy, and got the lay of the land. DH took a picture of the course map so we could drive it.
We then went to drive the run course and bike course. I'm so glad we did because when I had a derailleur issue race morning I knew how to react because I knew the elevation profile of the race.
Then we went to a local BBQ/Steakhouse for dinner where I was sensible with my dinner choice of a loaded baked potato and water... and then dessert happened. It was a HUGE ice-cream-sundae-thingy-with-hotfudge-oreos-whippedcram-toastedcoconut and could have fed a small family!!! I ate till I thought I'd better stop before hating myself then DH made a comment about quitter talk and proceeded to polish it off. :)
Then back to the hotel to relax and get ready for the race. We tried to watch How to Train a Dragon but it was one of those stoopid showings where they break in way too much to talk about the movie and characters so we turned it off and went to sleep.
Alarm went off at 5:30 and I got up applied sunscreen and got dressed. I had bug spray there because one of my team-mates had warned us that this race was buggy. But I'm stoopid and decided that I hadn't noticed bugs when we were out the prior evening so I left it there, unused.
I grabbed my gear and my bagel and almond butter and headed down to the breakfast area to toast my bagel. It was pretty cool. The walls of the breakfast area were lined with bikes and transition bags! So I toasted my bagel, schmeared the almond butter, grabbed a cup of hotel coffee and stuck that in my bottle cage and started walking toward transition, eating my bagel. As I walked C rode up next to me then decided to walk with me. As we walked, Coach and R pulled up next to us in the car (they drove down that morning) and said hi.
Got to transition and got a good end spot, C grabbed a spot a couple rows over on the end, R grabbed the spot next to me, I have no idea where Coach parked :)
I got body marked then went back to set up. I realized my bike was in the big gear so pushed down the lever and spun the pedal to adjust that but... Fi didn't want to shift... Uh Oh. So I tried again a couple times. Nope. I found the RD and asked him if there would be a mechanic on site. He said they had one lined up but he'd called that he wouldn't make it :( So I text DH and he said he'd shower and be there asap. I felt bad for making him come early when he had a chance to finally not be there so early. I fiddled with the derailleur a bit more and got it to go to the small gear. While I waited for DH I did a bit of warm-up with Coach and the others then DH and I looked at my bike. DH got it where it would shift small to big but not back to small. So I knew I had one shift out there and better play it at the right time.
Somewhere amidst dealing with the mechanical and warming up I realized I was being eaten by mosquitos. I text DH to warn him to use the bug spray and I found a volunteer that had a spray bottle. :-*
Pix with the group then it was time for the pre-race meeting, national anthem and then Coach gave the invocation (so cool). After that everyone headed over to start getting seeded.
Some easy running, strides and stretching.