Danskin Women's Triathlon - TriathlonMini Sprint

Met my goal of not allowing anyone in the next wave to pass me.

I didn't get any clear water until the last 200 yards. Got stuck behind some furious weird-kicking girl and had a breast stroker to my left and someone practically tied to my right armpit. Kept trying to break through, but it really didn't happen until I actually stopped swimming and let them by. The weird kicking girl freaked me out a little. I can't even describe that kick, it was very odd....its possbile that she may have been handicapped in some way, just felt like every kick was totally aimeed at my face and had to get away.

There was as swimmer from the previous wave who had a swim angel helping her. I know a lot of folks get frightened by the swim, and I think Danskin does an awesome job with the swim angels offering encouragement, and most races usually have a place where you can hold on and catch your breath. I totally support that. What I'm not a fan of at all, was that this girl was swimming the entire course with a pool noodle float under her belly. They pushed her off to the left, so she wasn't in anyone's way, so I can't put my finger on why I just didn't like that, but I didn't.


I wish that I took a peek behind me when I got out of the water...just to see how many of my wave were still in. That might have cost me a few seconds to do, but would have been very rewarding.

I had a terrible, terrible rack placement. I had to run all the way through transition, then all the way back to go to the bike out. And of course, the same on the way to the run out. The path to the mounting line was all sugar sand, followed by rocks that were tough on the bare feet. Never got a chance to practice with shoes on the bike, so this time I was wearing the shoes.



Remember to bring a water bottle for rinsing!

Danskin is soooo good for the ego! Its such a different feeling to be in the front half of the pack instead of dead last. It seemed like there were 3 "lanes" of bikes....the mountain bikes to the right, folks like me in the middle passing the slowskies and the really fast folks passing the passers. I made an effort to not shout "on your left" unless it was needed. Got trapped behind someone riding really slow in the half mile 'no passing' zone, but when I was moving, my speed average was 18mph!! This is something I haven't seen before! A very clear indicator that I need to hustle thrug the mount/dismount as it really cuts into my time.


On the way back, I really paid attention to the no passing zone and made sure I got ahead of everyone I could. It worked out well and I had clear space until about half way through. Unfortunately, that ended as the girls coming in the other direction were screaming for us to move right (into the unclosed portion of the road). We saw immediately why, a girl had fallen off her bike and was not moving. There were folks tending to her...I hope she is okay.

Took my feet out of my shoes while on the bike for the first time...that was easy, but I stopped too far back from the dismount and it didn't really help me. It was pretty congested, so I don't think I had much of a choice.

Passed more agressively before the first no-pass zone. Remembered to turn on the garmin at the bike start instead of a half mile into it.

My feet got soooo nasty running through that mud, and since I had forgotten to bring a rinsing bottle, I tried to wipe as best as I could.



I would have put on socks.

My feet were sooooo nasty, I didn't want to try to get socks on..and since this was only 2 miles, I thought it would be okay running without socks. The blisters I got tell me otherwise.

I pused so hard on the bike and then started running way too fast. Its tough when your run pace is HALF what the folks next to you are running. Once we made the long run past transition, I had to stop to walk up the hill. That was 2 minutes or so, but it got me together to RUN the rest. Okay, jog the rest. Not real happy with my run time, but I never am.

Wear socks, pace myself better.

Looked around for Sue, got some swag from one of the sponsors. Met a girl who wants to get started in tris...talked with her for a while and exchanged e-mails. Waited too long to leave and got trapped in ferry lines.

On the way out, met Cathleen, one of Sue's girls....she was on cloud 9! We chatted all the way to the ferry.


I need to train at race pace, and do bricks at race pace.


If nothing else, this race is great for the ego. Not sure its worth a hotel stay and a day off work though. I would do this race again to keep a friend company, but I don't think I'd schlep it all the way back out here to race alone again.