St. Paul Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Pretty good swim. The course was short, so these times are generous. I actually did the lifeguard swim (face out of water) for a bit at first due to the disgusting weediness. Once we got out a bit, I settled in for the two loops. First half of the first loop was brutal from a congestion standpoint--tons of smacking and hitting, etc. But I just held my line and kept going. I had to briefly flip over and fix my goggle leak, but otherwise just cruised along.

During the second lap there were also a lot of short course swimmers in the water, so it was very crowded. I just about swam right over some poor guy that was floating on his back. Didn't even see him in the water since he wasn't moving his arms or anything. Oops. Sorry buddy.

For the last maybe 400 yards or so, I was in the wake of another swimmer, so that was nice. I wasn't close enought to be right on his feet, but I was still getting the benefit of following him. I just cruised in to shore and ran up the beach toward T1. As I got out of the water I saw 25 minutes on my watch and just thought, "Yeah, this course is short." (The 26:31 includes the beach run to T1.) My previous best for an OW mile is about 29 minutes.

Somewhere in the course of this swim, it started to rain a little...

Just generally move faster. I was worried about blowing too much energy on the swim, so I held back a bit, especially on the first lap.

I was pretty pleased with this transition! I made sure to put my timing chip way up on my leg so that it didn't get stuck on my wetsuit this time. I had a spot very close to the bike out, so this is a darn good T1 time for me.

Handle my helmet and sunglasses better. I about dropped them both.

I've never been so glad to get off my bike as I was after this ride. By the time I got on the bike, the rain was starting to get a little more steady, and the wind seemed to pick up a bit. I was so cold for the first few miles, I was regretting not taking the (tons of) time to put a long sleeve shirt on in T1. I started to warm up a bit after a few miles, but it was still very chilly to be on a bike. And wet. And dirty from all the sand/mud being kicked up from the road.

There were two hills that relegated me to the small chain ring, and the second time around, the shifing from large to small was not smooth at all. The bike was covered in grime at that point, so I'm sure that was the problem. Oh, and my bike pump came loose too. I had to pull off the course into a driveway and fix it, so I lost some time there. grrr

The highlight of the bike was seeing Steve (hikergerb) on the bike course as a volunteer! Thanks for your encouragement Steve! :) All the volunteers on the bike course were great, I have to say. It couldn't have been much fun standing out there in the rain for so long, but they were all very encouraging.

I passed a couple people, but not many. I just kept pedalling on as the rain fell harder. I had an Accelergel early in the ride, and then sipped Accelerade throughout. By the end of this ride, all my toes were numb, and my fingers were extremely uncooperative because they were so cold too. To put this in perspective for anyone who knows me, I was actually *anxious* to get to the run, because that meant I'd be done with the bike.

I don't even know. Somehow dictate the weather?

Another good transition for me, nearly getting under a minute!

During the second loop of the bike, I was contemplating changing into dry socks in T2, but since I failed to cover my running shoes, I figured that my dry socks would just be soaked again withinthe first half mile, so I didn't bother.

Nothing. This was a pretty good one.

And then...the run. The dreaded 10k. Before this race, I could count my previous 10k runs on one finger. I was so glad to get off the bike, though, that I was pretty happy for the first loop around the lake. I was shooting for a 10:30 average, so I was pleased as punch when my first mile was 9:57. The second and third miles were ok too, and I even realized there was a fairly good chance I could finish in under 3 hours, which was an added bonus goal.

It was tough at the end of the first lap when the finishers went off to the left, but those of us with another lap to go had to go to the right. There were tons and tons of people in the finish chute when I went by to start my second lap, and I soooo much wanted to take the left and head that way, but of course I didn't.

Lap two was a pretty lonely affair... There weren't a whole lot of us left on the course at this point, and it was very, very quiet for much of this lap--just the sound of my footsteps and heavy breathing for the most part. It certainly makes it harder for me to push myself when there is no one else around. But I just kept on, slow but sure.

Mile 5 was the hardest, and I was struggling by the time I came to the hill on the far side of the loop. Blech. And the IT band decided to start complaining too. I'd been feeling it twinge a bit all week and was afraid a 10k would be too much for it, and sure enough it reared it's ugly head for the first time in quite some time. But, I just kept looking at the watch and thinking that I would for sure come in under 3 hours if I just kept moving. The last mile or so was better since it was the home stretch. By the time I actually got the finish, there were very few people left any more, but a few hung around to cheer in us slower folk. :) The poor announcer girl tried valiantly to say my name right. :)

Um, not sure. I need to keep working a lot on my running in general, but for this particular race, I think it went as well as could be expected. I wanted to average 10:30 or less, so I was happy with 10:22. I just need more experience at this distance.

(114/117 overall on the run...impressive. LOL)

Walked over the to the water table and quickly drank a bottle. They only had trail mix left at that point, so I picked through that a little, and just finished off my Accelerade. A little stretching before going to get my stuff.


Inexperience at this distance. Weight.


Overall this race was a success since the goal was to finish, and I did. I also finished in under 3 hours, which was nice. I was worried I'd be DFL, but I wasn't, although I was close in my AG. :) It's funny that last week I was thrilled to be 4th in my AG (out of 15), and this week 5th (out of 7) is kind of disappointing. But hey, I finished, and I'm glad for that!

I really wish it had been a more pleasant day from a weather standpoint, but what can you do? At least it really kept me from overheating, right?

There were 700+ people in this race, but only 117 did the long course. So most of the racers and spectators were long gone by the time some of us slower long course people finished, and that was a new experience for me. Not that anyone can blame people for leaving, especially given the weather, but I'm just not used to it being so deserted at the end of a race. Maybe I was just really noticing it because none of my family was there. :( Anyway, it was a pretty good race overall. It was a little more disorganized than your typical race, but this is a Randy Fulton event, so that's pretty much to be expected (and I mean that in a nice way). :)