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 Swim
Comments: I had really positive energy before this swim. I was not panicking in the least before the gun went off (was it a gun? I forget) Anyway, I wanted to stay close to Carol, because I figured if I could keep her in my sights, I'd come in around 12 or 13 minutes which would be fast for me. I managed to do this for the first few minutes or so and then someone swam into me or over me or something and it threw my rhythm off. I know I swallowed some lake water (will come up later, literally) and I know I got mentally flustered by this. I really tried to re-group and go back to freestyle, but my breathing was way out of control. I continued to swim this whole time mostly breaststroke and alternated freestyle when I could. Lifeguards kept asking me if I was okay, I must have looked panicked or something, but I was really trying to keep it together. I was so happy to be done. What would you do differently?: I'm disappointed in this time. I must get into open water before a race if it kills me (well, not really) but its super important and I just don't do it and that's just stupid or poor planning on my part. I know I did better than I did on the OWS at Danskin last September, but I really expected to be able to swim the whole distance freestyle and that did not happen.  Transition 1
Comments: This was really long - but my excuse is that I was throwing up lake water for a good two minutes of T1. Sorry to be gross, but there it is. I tried to hold it in and I know I'm part of a few triathletes' race stories because I was gagging and holding it in on the run into transition and when I finally let loose, several people groaned upon seeing me hurl. If I hadn't I would have never finished the race, so once again, sorry. Later Jorge told me he saw me puking too and thought about shooting some pictures but thought I'd be mad. I told him next time to take the damn picture, maybe it will teach me to prepare better for this leg of the race so I don't have to throw up. Once I was done I didn't really care how fast I was going, but looking back, I could have skipped the gloves and run faster out of T1 What would you do differently?: not vomit  Bike
Comments: I had driven the course the day before, so I knew where I was going (roughly speaking) the idea here was to go all out and keep it above 15 mph at all times. I don't think I could have done any more on the bike. I was feeling woozy from my swim and the gatorade I had to drink on the bike was helping me feel better. I had a gel taped to the bike but decided not to take it and just focused on drinking as much as I could. I was "in the drops" alot, because of the headwind and kept the bike in the hardest gear pretty much the whole way to keep my speed up. I didn't pass too many people, but several people passed me. I kept yo-yo-ing with one or two guys, not too many girls. I did see Carol on her way back on the bike and I hope she heard me shout her name. I should have made sure it was her though, because I yelled out at a couple of other people thinking I knew who they were and noone told me later "I heard you yell at me" so I encouraged strangers as if I knew them... oh well, good race karma goes a long way. Overall I enjoyed the bike and was looking forward to the run. What would you do differently?: go even harder, if possible. Transition 2
Comments: I feel like I flew through this transition - I know it could be faster though - the new yankz on my sneakers helped speed it up as did having a tri suit, no need to change clothes What would you do differently?: next time I'll carry my race belt and hat to put them on as i'm running on the course instead of putting them on while standing in transition  Run
Comments: Jelly legs came to visit me for the first mile and a bit... I admit to walking for teeny stretches to work out the kinks. Took water at every station, that helped too, especially dumping it over my head. I saw Carol just before mile 2 I think. She high fived me and told me to pass her. Um, yeah, maybe next time sis. On my way back I saw my cousin, Christina who looked really strong on the run and I tried to give her some encouragement, but I was starting to pick up my pace and was feeling it a little bit. After I hit the turnaround and ran into those familiar faces, I felt really great and was able to sprint it into the finish. Got into a bit of a footrace with a guy who was not about to let me beat him to the tape, so I guess I helped him improve his time... Have to admit also that I was surprised when I saw my official times that I was running sub 11 min/miles because I felt really slow the whole run. What would you do differently?: more brick workouts - duh! since I only did a pretend one three days before the race... again, lesson learned. Post race
Warm down: Again, it was so wonderful to have so many people there to support me, most of all my amazing sister who waited for me at the finish line! She's the reason I got into this sport in the first place and I felt like we were together for a good portion of this race. My mom, husband and brother in law were at the finish line, then when we moved over to the sidelines to see Christina finish, I met up with my other sister Nora (mosc57) my other brother in law, some friends who are doing Danskin this year, my aunt, my grandmother and other cousin. If I forgot to mention someone its because I'm still stunad and dazed from this race. highlight of the post race greetings was when Brianna ran up to me and tackled me in a bear hug. That made my day! chiros at the site gave me some ART and that felt awesomely painful but in a good way What limited your ability to perform faster: the aforementioned vomiting, lack of intense training (i put in the time, but need to amp up the volume, I think) HOWEVER I think I gave this race my all - I swam till I puked, I mashed on the bike (is that the right slang) and I ran as hard as I could... what more could I do? Event comments: The post race food was awesome! All I wanted to do was eat and eat and eat, so I did. Profile Album Last updated: 2006-10-03 12:00 AM
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United States
CGI Racing
64F / 18C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 602/724
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 0/
I wouldn't call it a "routine" per se but there are some things I did that I always do. Like wake up every two hours the night before a race and at least 5 minutes before the alarm goes off. That sucks, I could have really used a better night's sleep. I had stayed over at the rental unit's domicile because they live so close to the race site. They need to get a new guest bed - the one they have is C-R-E-A-K-Y and makes a bloody racket with every toss and turn, which I do alot of the night before a race - you can't wake up every two hours without doing so, I've found.
So I got up at 4:30 because Carol was coming to get me at 5. I fixed my bagel with peanut butter and filled my gatorade bottles and the bottle of water to rinse our feet off with (we knew we'd be neighbors in transition so we agreed to share a basin) Brought a banana with me but never ate it so it just went along for the ride. I don't know how to improve my nutrition intake on race mornings, but I can see that this is an area that could use some tweaking.
We got to the race site so early there were hardly any people there, but soon after we parked, a line of cars began filling up the lot. Triathletes are so chatty in the AM - and Carol and I were joking it up and talking to everyone we saw that morning. Some poor guy near us got on his bike to work out a kink or two and his chain snapped in half! I felt awful for him and shuddered to think that might happen to me - so when Jorge called me later to ask if I'd taken the bike for a spin, I told him no, because I'd seen how that worked out for someone else. Carol and I got a decent transition location, halfway from either exit and set up near some really cool women who were also going to do the Long Branch Tri on Sunday 7/29 and the Danskin in Sept.
My cousin Christina was doing the race as well (her first triathlon experience) so when she arrived we helped her lug her stuff to the first timers area of transition. Chatted up a few people in that area and then I went in search of a bathroom. Bummer that the real toilets were off limits, so I had to brave the porta-potties. They weren't that terrible so I guess it was good I went early. We did take advantage of the swim warm up, the lake was warm and I managed to do some quick freestyle back and forth in front of the swim finish area - I felt good and was feeling confident about the swim at this point. Jorge took some pre-race pictures of me and Carol and we said a quick hello to Christine (maxpixie) who was rushing around getting her transition area ready for the OLY.
Before we knew it it was time to head to the swim start, my sister Nora (mosc57) and my mom met us as we were getting line up for our swim waves and it dawned on me how lucky I am to have such a strong support group. I have quite the cheering section and I know that's not something everyone can claim.