Subaru US Women's Triathlon Series - Naperville - TriathlonSprint

Really thought that with all the swimming I've been doing this year that I'd ROCK (respectively speaking) this swim. Uh, not so much. I seeded myself mid-group and that was a mistake. I had a very difficult time getting around people who were either breast-stroking or swimming a few strokes and then completely stopping. And once I started breathing a little hard, my swim form went to hell. I wanted to take 45 seconds off last year's time, but ended up taking 20 seconds LONGER than last year.

Either seed myself towards the front and let the fast people go by me (and that way only good swimmers are ahead of me) or start way in the back like I usually do which will give the bad swimmers time to kind of thin out before I get to them. I spent way too much time treading water trying to get around people. I also need to figure out how to get around buoys more efficiently.

I totally kicked butt on this transition. Took over a minute off last year's time. There is about a probably 200-300m run from swim to transition area, part of which is a sandy uphill climb right out of the water. Got to my bike quickly, used my small folding seat (BEST THING EVER) and slid my socks on without any issues and on with the shoes. Ran with the bike, not too much of a problem even with the new cleats.

Nada. Very pleased with this. Overall, my T1 time was 57/1885 and AG I was 12/419.

Wanted 20mph on the bike, and fell just a hair short of it. Mounting the bike fell into this bike time, and that's where I lost my 20mph -- probably spent 15-20 seconds mounting. First time racing with my new cleats and didn't practice enough fast starts. Couldn't get my first foot on the pedal and ended up having to stop completely to get on the bike.

The ride itself went pretty well. I just kept pushing, pushing, pushing. Wanted to leave nothing out there. Cornered pretty hard, and managed to avoid the newbie racers who were crowding the left side of the road. Took in 3 fig newtons and about half a bottle of water -- not too much, but it was cool and overcast, so I figured I'd be okay.

Was passed by 3 people on the bike -- all of them had better bikes than me :) -- and did a whole lot of passing of other people. Stayed in aero a good chunk of the time.

Dismount was another circus act. Got my feet out of my shoes, but then got kind of caught up, didn't get my feet back on TOP of the shoes, and my legs were just dangling, not quite touching the ground. Finally had to slow down and lean and hope to catch myself. I'm lucky I didn't fall on my ass. This probably cost me another 10 seconds or so.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Gotta either get used to these new cleats and figure out how to be FAST on them, or race in my old pedals/shoes. Other than that, more bike time will help me get faster, but I'm pleased with my progress. Took about 4.5 minutes off my time from last year.

Another really good transition for me. Got in, pulled on my racing belt, put on my shoes and hat, and took the second or two to blow all the snot out of my nose and was off and running.

Change the order of things... put shoes on, grab hat and race belt and put those two things on while on the move. Would save about 10 seconds? Still, pretty good ... 97/1885 overall, 30/419 AG

Came off the bike feeling pretty good, and was actually disappointed when I got to the first mile marker and saw that I was only at an 8:13 pace. Really thought I was going faster. So, tried to get my cadence up and keep working it. Felt strong the entire time, and, like the bike, didn't really leave anything out there. No on passed me on the run, which totally made my day.

Nada.

Stood around waiting and cheering for everyone else to come in! Jess and Laura were right on my butt, then Jen, Amy and Beth and my friend Ellen. It's fun being older and in an earlier wave than most so I can see them cross the finish line. :)


Bad swim time. Bike mount/dismount. I think that between these two things, I could gain about 3-4 minutes on this race.


I really like this race - it's usually my first of the season and the course is easy/short enough that you can go all out and really test your fitness. I set a "kick ass" goal of 1:27:02 and came in about 30 seconds better than that, so I'm completely pleased with my performance. I think this is also the first tri I've done where I've been well within the top 10% of finishes in both my AG and Overall.