login
 Swim
Comments: Waded in last, I was totally psyched out by the swim and pretty worried too. My big goal here aside from not freaking out was to stay relaxed and finish the swim feeling good. As soon as I started stroking, fell right into my (slow) rhythm and was able to maintain it for most of the swim. I'm not very good as sighting so had to stop and tread water some to see where I was. Overall the swim went really well for me, just as I'd hoped. At the finish, there were volunteers to pull us up onto our feet and unzip us as we went by. That was great! What would you do differently?: I've just started going to Master's swim twice a week and so far it's been a big help. I think the nerves will calm with more practice. I'll work on technique all winter. Swim lots!  Transition 1
Comments: A funny thing happened on the jog to T1. After being helped out of the water, felt so good I thought I could jog to my bike. I started just fine but then the dizzies kicked in and right away my upper body was too far ahead of my legs and I just couldn't get balanced. This turned into a slow motion fall over about 20 feet, ended up falling down and rolling in the grass. I heard one little girl say "Oh, Mommie, what's wrong with that man?" Wetsuit got stuck on my ankles, usually I can stand on one foot and pull the other leg out, this time, it wasn't going to happen so I just sat down and escaped the the evil rubber suit. Socks and shoes, helmet and sunglasses and gloves and I was ready to go. We had to carry our bikes out of T1, I learned about Goathead thorns, I think theyr're called, nasty thorns, instant flats. What would you do differently?: Walk to bike next time and not fall down. Maybe try some bodyglide on ankles.  Bike
Comments: The bike is my favorite! I've ridden long enough that I don't have to think about it much, just go. My goal today was to keep the effort level lower and have something left for the run. I stayed right on my race plan, shifted on the hills more and kept my cadence in the high 80's right where I wanted it. I did take a wrong turn, went straight where should have turned towards some cones that were a construction zone, turned around after 1/4 mi to see the people that I'd passed zooming right on by. Oops, better pay better attention to the arrows. My bad. I did get to see all of the club members before I got to the turnaround, they all waved to me. Funny how you never get tired of hearing "good job!" The ride back was great, down the big hills. My back was kind of sore from being on the aero bars that much. I did pick up a Goat head thorn, saw it on my front tire, reached down and brushed it off quickly. My pump was falling off the bike so put it in my jersey pocket. What would you do differently?: Train more, I like to ride but my mileage for this year is way too low. More time on the aerobars too! Ride lots!! Transition 2
Comments: This was so deluxe! At the end of the ride, there was a bike catcher standing there telling me to give my bike to him. I did and they put it away for me. Walked up a ramp and another volunteer walked me to a chair, sat me down and as I was taking shoes and helmet off, dumped my run bag out, handed me hat and running shoes, I slipped them on and was out of there. A big thank you to the volunteers!! What would you do differently?: eventually learn to ride on top of my shoes but that's for later.  Run
Comments: After the fun at T2, walked down a little ramp and started on the run. My run mileage is low for the year so I had planned to run 4mins and walk 1 min when I needed to and hope to increase the run time as I went through. What happened actually was ran 4, walked 1, and then ran 1 and walked 1 the rest of the run. It was getting hot and I drank about every mile or so at every aid station. Seemed like to took forever to get to mile 1. I was getting whacked every step on my back with my forgotten bike pump so switched to carrying it. Got a LOT of encouragement from fellow club members and it was great fun to see tri sister only 10 mins ahead of me. She volunteered to carry my pump for me, thanks c cic!! After the turnaound, a very nice young woman passed me and said "I sure hope I'm doing as well as you in 19 years!" That made me feel pretty good, good but old. Not really, made me wish I'd started tri's 19 years ago instead of waiting till now. At the run finish, the whole club was standing there cheering me on and Tri sis ran in with me. A great feeling! What would you do differently?: Train more! Run lots! Remember to put bike pump down! Post race
Warm down: Walked around and drank water. Cheered in the last member of the club, watched the awards. I think 4 or 5 out of top 10 were in my AG. Packed up and hit the road for home. What limited your ability to perform faster: Absolutely, train more. I didn't have a real training plan this year at all, just got out when I could. Event comments: The volunteers were just great!! A big thanks is in order. At almost every corner and/or intersection, there was traffic control and encouragement. There was nothing to eat at the finish but that was the ONLY down thing. It was a great event and I'll be back next year to shave some time off of this years effort. Thanks also to TeamBlaze Spokane for all of the help and encouragement. Thanks sis for driving! Last updated: 2006-09-03 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
3 Rivers Road Runners
80F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 136/143
Age Group = 50-55
Age Group Rank = 16/16
I spent the afternoon of the day before the race getting everything packed and ready to go. This is my 2nd ever tri so I am still well into the "check everything 5 times" and "make 3 trips to the bike store" routine. I hope this gets better with experience. On the plus side, I didn't forget anything!
Cereal and coffee for breakfast and a PB sandwich on the road. My usual start to the day.
We drove to the race site the morning of the race, left home at 3:50am, back to get the jacket I forgot and then to favorite tri sister's (c cic) house to load up her minivan and hit the road, oh yeah, back to her house for a map and THEN on the road. Lucky me got to just sit and enjoy the ride. We arrived at Tri Cities with only a few wrong turns and checked in. This was my 1st time with real body marking and I"m glad the numbers haven't washed off yet. Drove down river and dropped off the bikes at T1 then way back upriver and dropped run bags at the S/F line/T2. The volunteers were great help steering us around.
Pre race meeting and met up with fellow TeamBlaze club members, I think there were 10 of us. I was feeling fine and then....and then the nerves hit me big time. My 1st tri had about a 200 yd swim and this was way longer and seemed a lot more serious than that. I notice a lot of people at my level (absolute beginner, semi swimmer) stand at water's edge and take a big breath and then let it out slowly, trying to calm ourselves, it wasn't working for me. Luckily we were already checked in.......
At tri sister's urging, we got in the water and paddled around some, I've never been in the currrent before and it felt pretty weird to float and watch the shore go by. The water felt cold but calming. We got out then and waited for the start.