Peacthree City InternationalTriathlon - TriathlonOlympic

The swim was okay - we started 2 by 2 within our age group. I wasn't really able to tell where the other girls were during the swim, but I was pretty sure that one of them was right next to me, so I just tried to keep up with her. I breathed every 2 strokes, which is strange because I can usually do every 4. I haven't really figured out how I'm supposed to be doing on the swim. My pace didn't feel too hard, but I didn't want to push too much. I was the first one in my age group out of the water, which I did not know until I got to the bikes and realized none of the other girls were there yet. I forgot to start my watch at the start, so I didn't know how much time had passed, but it didn't bother me too much. I did feel a little disoriented coming out of the water, but it subsided pretty quickly.

Swim harder? I'm still trying to figure that out.

T1 was okay. As I came to my bike another girl from my age group was right behind me. She transitioned in 1:30 and beat me out of the transition area. I think it was just the extra time with the socks. I need to practice transitioning more and maybe invest in some tri shoes that just have 1 strap and learn to ditch the socks. I did ditch my riding gloves this time, which I know saved me time. I'm getting there...

Be faster!!!

I was very glad that I went and checked out the bike course 2 weeks ago. There were some serious hills out there and it was good to know when they were coming. I also remembered where the downhills were so I was less tentative about flying down them as fast as I could. I'm also really happy that I got the aerobars - I stayed in them for a good portion of the ride and I think my time reflects that. I was hoping to average 16MPH and I was very happy to see I was going faster than that. As the ride went into the more country area, a dog started chasing some of us as we were going into a downhill. I totally freaked out because it was a BIG dog, but we all made it past without injury. I had to pee the whole time on the bike, but I was doing my best to drink out of my aerodrink. It started sloshing around some as it was half-way empty and the noise made me want to pee even worse! I finally decided around mile 18 that I was just going to pee on the bike, which I have never done, but everytime I went to do it I would turn around to make sure I wasn't going to shower someone behind me and there would be someone coming. And then finally there was no one and I'm trying to get my body to cooperate and then there would be a hill and I would need to shift gears. It was just TOO hard to multi-task with trying to pee and shift and climb. I finally just resolved that I would stop on the run, as I remembered that the email said there would be porta-potties out on the course. I was able to take in the bottle of Heed on the ride (3 scoops) and I had a gel at mile 22 with some water to wash it down. The weather was perfect - not hot at all and really no wind. While the uphills were sometimes very challenging, the downhills were great.

Nothing really on the bike - I was happy to see my average HR around 166, which is right below my LT. I think my pace was good. I just need to practice getting on more hills, although I can see that the hill repeats I've been doing for the last couple weeks on the trainer have helped.

I felt good about my T2 time. I did change socks (I know, I know!), but only because I am still breaking in these running shoes and the sides of my feet get irritated by them sometimes. My toes were numb after the bike and the bike socks were pretty damp, so I made a quick change. I did add the Yankz to my shoes and that made things go a whole lot faster. I threw on my shoes, grabbed my race belt, hat, and gel, and ran out of the transition.

Learn to do the bike without socks and then if I still need them for the run I won't have to take some off and put others on.

Eh - here's where things start to slow down. 1/7 in my age group on the swim, 3/7 on the bike, and 6/7 on the run. My plan was to start out easy and then run each mile faster. I was worried about using my new Garmin for the first time on the race, but I practiced with it the day before and it seemed pretty straight forward. As I was going out for the run, the guy who won the race was coming back in. He was very gracious and told me "Good job!" Ugh - he didn't even look winded!! I was jealous.

I started the run and was happy with the mile 1 split. My breathing felt heavy and I was surprised that my HR wasn't higher. I was so happy to see the porta-potty at mile 2, and I was just hoping that no one was in it. I ran in, quickly did the deed, and ran out. As I start running again I feel something flapping behind me. I reach back and realize that there is toilet paper hanging out of the back of my shorts. Oh my! There were 2 guys behind me that were laughing and they told me that they were trying to figure out a polite way of telling me about the toilet paper. I laughed it off, and kept going. How embarrassing :) My legs felt fine through mile 5, but I could see I was getting slower. Not the plan, but I wasn't sure what to do about it. I was just tired! I think the bike took a lot more out of me than I thought. It was pretty lonely out on the run - I was passed by maybe 10 guys the whole time. I knew it wasn't going as planned, but I kept trucking and kept telling myself that thank goodness my next race was a sprint!! I tried to pick it up for the last mile, but I think I was just beat. At mile 6, 3 women passed me and sure enough - one of them was in my age group. I tried so hard to keep up with her and pass her, but I was done. I looked at the graph from the Garmin of my HR at the end of the race and in the last .2 miles I spiked all the way up to 187. I was really hoping to get her, because I knew I was in 3rd place before she passed me, but no dice. I missed her by 11 seconds. If only I had just peed on the damn bike!!!

I need to just do more running - period. My right knee started hurting at mile 5 and I knew it was my IT band. I was half relieved that it was the right knee instead of the left because the left one is the one that gave me so much trouble. But I know I need to be doing my strength training exercises to keep the IT bands happy. Running is my weakness and I just need to keep at it and maybe after some time of building my base and working on my speed I will get faster.

Lurched over the finish line and felt like I was going to puke. Sam was there with my bottle of Recoverite waiting for me. What a good guy!


Running!


Awesome race - great volunteers and very well run. I would do it again. My goal was 3:02 and I came in at 2:55:42, so although I missed out on 3rd place in my AG by seconds, I still had a really good race. For my first Olympic distance and my 3rd triathlon, I was very happy with it. Now give me a sprint!