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 Swim
Comments: The swim is so frustrating for me. I just don't know why I am so slow in it. I guess I still need to work on my form a lot. Maybe need more private lessons. I definitely got caught up in some currents and was struggling with how to compensate for that in the sighting. I thought I was headed one direction and looked up and was way on the other side. I was disappointed more people weren't out there to keep me on track. I'm sure I wasted a lot of time. The problem is, slower, less experienced slowers like me are the ones who have a harder time staying on course and therefore end up swimming longer when we already have the hardest time swimming. It would have been nice to have some assistance, especially with the super-glare on the sun. Also felt like water shoes were about to come off about 3/4 of the way through the race until the end. What would you do differently?: Maybe not "warm up" quite so much. I was definitely getting tired. Also, I need to practice swimming longer in OW. The longest continuous swims we did with SJT were about 30 minutes. This was almost 10 minutes more than that. I was running out of steam at the end. But, hey, on the bright side, I finished it. I have never done any formal swimming and this was my first Olympic distance ever. So there's gotta be something said for just finishing the swim. I don't know enough about how I would do on a swim like this to give it an "overall swim" ranking because I don't have anything to compare it to.  Transition 1
Comments: Splits not set. Really long run to the transition area from the swim. Took off my wetsuit by the water. Next time might wait until I reach transition. Was just worried that it would be too dry and hard to get off if I waited that long. Came off easily right after swim. Took time to take off and put on my water shoes though. Oh well. Saved my feet a bit. Once back in transition area, Farra was still there (which made me feel good). I think I was about as fast as possible. Decided to take an extra gulp of gu at transition - think it was a good thing I did. Learned a fun trick to roll socks down like a condom to put them on. It actually seeemed to help. What would you do differently?: Prepare an extra Gu at transition. Did not need bandana. Take off wetsuit at the transition area and not before. Water shoes only if absolutley necessary.  Bike
Comments: Frustrating to spend mental energy worrying about directions and cars. Isn't that why we pay to sign up for these races, so we don't have to think about these things? The bike course was fun. A bit of wind to face. Sometimes I forgot I was racing and felt more like I was on a nice leisurely bike ride. I had to remind myself that I was in a race but I was worried about pushing myself too hard. I should have pushed more. I guess I will learn. I just love the feeling on my bike. Even though I would like to get a road bike for the next race, I love riding my mountain bike and don't want to give it up! What would you do differently?: Drink more water in the beginning - I mostly forgot to drink until about halfway through. Then I was trying to ration it because I didn't want to gulp so much water that I was going to get a cramp. Make sure I review course map before the race so I have a visual picture of what I am doing. Push myself more. Go faster, I can do it! Use cytomax to encourage more drinking. Try a road bike - how much difference would that make??? Transition 2
Comments: Bike fell over at transition (mountain bike with slicks too fat to fit in bike racks, so I was just leaning against the end). Oh well, I just left it down. What would you do differently?: Try a mild-flavored gu before run.  Run
Comments: Run was hardest part. When I saw the Sprint "Turn around" sign after 2 miles on the out-and-back course, I thought to myself, "Don't mind if I do!" But I didn't. I kept going. Kept trekking along. Got really hot and the road was super bumpy. Plus, we got to pass that fun skunk two more times! I thought there was a good amount of water stations - two, so you passed each twice and had a total of four stations. Stations had water and cytomax. I did water first, then cytomax because I was having electrolyte cravings knowing I was running in very hot potentially dehydrating weather. Good thing I did. Felt like a long run and I was wanting someone to run beside to cheer me on at about mile 4.5. The last mile or so was just one cone at a time - me telling myself. "Just make it to the next cone/tree/pothole/etc." At that point, I just wanted to run the whole time. What would you do differently?: Drink more water during bike ride. Try using cytomax. Don't stop and gulp a full cup of cytomax from a water station (I got a cramp). Try a mesh hat instead of my hat. Just sip water from stations and toss the rest. Maybe carry my own water bottle? Practice running in varied conditions. Cut myself some slack - don't be too hard on myself and expect a 10K run after a swim and bike to feel the same as a 10K run on its own in the morning. Post race
Warm down: Gulped water. Too tired to take off my own chip. Race lady had to bend down and take it off. Stood around talking for a bit, then realized I was starting to feel a bit dizzy. Figured I must be dehydrated and I got some water, found some shade, and laid down and put my feet up for a few minutes. That helped a lot and I felt better. Then I got to go cheer on my other friends who were finishing... What limited your ability to perform faster: -disorganization -heat -slight current in water -lack of experience at this distance to know how to pace myself -mental exhaustion during run. Event comments: No post-race food/snacks or activities. Quite disappointing. Good flat course for beginners, but so badly marked it made it bad for beginners. I'm glad it wasn't my first-ever triathlon because I would have been frustrated. Just not the ideal first experience for my first olympic. Oh well, best part was doing it with others that I know - and having Carolyn and Leonard there to cheer me on. Even though the report sounds so negative, I did have a lot of fun and I am glad I completed my first Olympic (even if it was slowly finished). Last updated: 2007-03-22 12:00 AM
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United States
UpDog Sports LLC
80F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 143/163
Age Group = 20-29
Age Group Rank = 14/21
Ate a huge breakfast the day before, drank lots of water, and ate at Olive Garden (a bit of salad - no onions, 1.5 breadsticks, and 1/3 of my pasta giordino). Condensed my packing into one bag, pumped tires, and set out clothes. Bed around 10:00 or a bit after. Woke up a few times to pee. Stayed in a hotel and picked up race packet the day before. How nice. Checked out the course the day before at packet pick-up. Way different than the clinic a few weeks ago. Water was perfectly glassy and so warm it was bath water. Super hot though.
Rode bike to race from hotel. Good warm-up and went through all my gears - left bike in a medium gear so easier to ride. Got to race at 6:15 am - we were the first there. We got to pick wherever we wanted to set up our bikes. It was nice to have everything mostly prepared already (the bib number already on my shirt, my gears greased and bike gear set). We were chatting and wandering around - walked from water back to transition. Big question was whether or not to wear shoes after the swim. There was a really long run over rocky gravel from the swim finish (a loading dock) and the transition area. They put down tar paper but it still hurt in bare feet. I decided to wear my water shoes.
Farra, Angela, and I also went for a short run on the adventure-race like course. Then all of a sudden Carolyn and Leonard were there to cheer me on, we were struggling to squeeze into our wetsuits and get to the water in time. I was getting stressed out about having time in the water, but as usual, the race started late (do these things ever start on time?). We had plenty of time to warm up in the water. I got in and swam quite a bit - maybe too much. Was trying to get into a counting rhythm and figure out how often I needed to site. Water was a bit choppy but not awful. Really warm. It was quite a change from the numb hands and frozen face in the Bay!