Festival of Flowers Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Started out on the steps again this year, so I could push off and not have to tread water. I feel good about this decision, as I the wave was so small I really didn't have to swim around anyway (although maybe this is because I was SOOOOO slow). It was impossible to see the buoys on the way out (there weren't enough buoys in this race, in my opinion) and about halfway out there was a lot of yelling, so I lost some time trying to figure out what was happening. Apparently someone was hanging on to a buoy and wanted to be pulled out so some other girls were trying to help flag down a boat.

The swim didn't feel particularly good. The buoys were all over the place and after the first turn, most poeople just started sighting off the yellow buoys, since the others were so off course. The chop was pretty strong for a lake, I swallowed way more lake water than normal. My form felt good, my pull felt decent, but I really did feel like I was swimming slower than normal.

I'm not sure, maybe have Lisa recheck my form? I have swam more since St As than I have swim previously, but I feel like I'm getting slower again. Maybe I've screwed something up?

Decent transition - I even ran the whole way from the swim (which is great for me). It took me a few extra seconds than usual, but nothing bad.

Not sure

The course was a little tougher than I remembered (and a little tougher than it looked when we drove the course on Saturday), but I am very happy with my performance. It's funny that this year and last year my pace was the same at this race and St As, even though the terrain is so totally different.

I actually didn't feel too good on the course, I felt like I was going slower than I needed to, but I kept pushing and was surprised at the time when I got to transition. There were some strong winds out there, but nothing unusual. I drank through all my HEED and Water on the bike, and finished 5 clif blocks - right on plan.

When I came back in near transition, Kirk looked shocked that I was back and had to run from the park building to transition to see me at the start of the run. That was kind of cool - I can tell I'm much stronger on the bike than I used to be! :)

Nothing - I think this was a great ride for me

I took a little extra time here today, wanted to make sure I had everything before the run. I bodyglided my arms, just in case, and grabbed by fuelbelt out of the cooler (yes, I brought a mini-cooler to keep my fuelbelt cold for the run - this turned out to be an EXCELLENT idea for such a hot race, I'll definately do it again).

I know - this should be under 1:00, but I don't really care right now. :)

Ate last clif block as I was exiting transition. First mile was about getting my breathing under control and I purposely didn't watch the time. The second mile felt great, I took 1/2 my gel at mile 1.5 doused myself with water at one point (cool fuelbelt water - excellent). Gave myself a little walk breat at the mile 2 water station, as my split was 9:00 - oops, I didn't mean to go that fast. Instead of realizing I should slow down, I thought - wow, I'm going to get a great run time (stupid, in hindsight. This was too fast, since I haven't made it through a run leg at the end of an Oly yet...).

About 2.5, I started to fade and took another quick walk break. After the 3 mile mark, I really started to go downhill again. I walked a LOT and kept watching the time slip away. I had another 1/2 gel here, but it didn't feel good to eat it, so this was then end of food for me. There was a really encouraging fellow racer who was helping me during this rough patch - VERY appreciated! I ran most of mile 4 - maybe I'll still be able to finish in time. At 5 miles, I knew I wasn't going to make 3:00 and I got really frustrated with myself. I struggled to keep running and walked A LOT for about .5 miles. I finally convinced myself to just freakin run, no matter how slow and ran the rest (I think). As I rounded the last turn I looked at my watch and realized I could still PR if I kept going - that was good. That stupid hill at the end about killed me, but I finished running up the hill.

I think I should have started out slower. I was really going off how I felt, but I probably pushed it too hard during the first 2 miles. Once I can make it through a race at a decent pace (running most of the way), then I can let myself run faster.

I think next time I'll also bring half water, half HEED in my fuelbelt next time?

As soon as I crossed the finish line I HAD to sit down and the nice little volunteer kid took my chip from me as I was sitting. He tried really hard to find me a gatorade, but they were out. I stood under the soaker hoses for a while and cooled down - that is such a great idea at the end of a hot race. I stretched and iced my leg just as a precaution.


Swim - I'm not sure what happened here.
Bike - Nothing
Run - Starting out too fast?


Good race - it's very well run EXCEPT they need more buoys. I've noticed this at several of their races now, they need about 1 more in each direction.