Lake Havasu Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I went hard out of the gate. But a fast group just pulled away from me. I figured, "Oh well, here we go again, yet another tri where I end up swimming by myself the whole time." I kept going hard though. After I made the first left I saw a chick come up on my right and she was passing me rather slowly. I decided to take a chance and try to hang on her feet. I'm usually REALLY bad at drafting but for some reason I was able to hang out right behind her. I kept worrying that my lowsy sense of pace would make me think we were going fast when we were going slow. So I figured I'd draft for a bit then pass her and go it alone. Well, after three or four more buoys, I was hitting her feet so I tried to pass--but couldn't. I was doubling my effort and not getting past her. So I decided to draft again. This happened two more times before I figured I could totally chill out behind her and not work at all, or I could go it alone and work my ass off. I chose to chill behind her. She finally pulled away between the last buoy and the shore. But at that point, I'd enjoyed a free ride for 3/4 of the swim. First successful swim drafting experience for me EVER. I was really surprised to stand up at the shore and see Kathleen next to me. I'm not sure if she was my free ride or not, but Juliapurr was ADAMENT about wanting to beat Kathleen out of the water. And Julia is a fish. So I thought Kathleen would be well on the bike before I got out of the water. For a second it made me think I had a spectacular swim. Then I looked at my watch and reality set in. :)

Good swim. Good time for the effort. Now, I just need to keep up with the super fast chicks long enough to get in a draft behind them. I didn't swim any faster than I would have on my own. I just expended WAY less effort. The one thing I screwed up was I forgot to put vaseline on my inner arms. I'm chafed. First race of the season mistake. :( So that's what I would do differently--remember to lube my arms.

I actually managed to jog up from the beach! I think because I expended less energy on the swim, I felt pretty good coming out of the water. So I jogged the whole way. Got the cap/goggles off and wetsuit around my waist by the time I got to the transition area. Some jerk had come into transition late and racked his bike right over the top of all my stuff. So I had to shove his/her bike out of the way to get to my stuff. I need to work on transitions. I'm not particularly fast, and I STILL doubt myself that I have everything.

Not take so long.

174 watts NP
0.968 IF
148 watts average power
154 AHR
88 avg RPM
Max stuff: 461 watts (go me), 182 MHR, 141 RPM, 42.1 mph
Good bike for me. I was instructed to go 7 out of 10. I think I ranged between a 6 and an 8. Sometimes it felt like I wasn't pushing enough and I had to remind myself I was racing. And sometimes I felt like I pushed too hard. So I think I hit the 7/10. It was a tough course. For comparison, Gordo Byrn was there and had the fastest bike split of the day--1:02.
Out of transition you had to run up a sand hill. It was carpeted, but sprint racers were coming back DOWN the carpet so it got a little crowded. I had my shoes on my bike so when I got to the top I got on and tried to get my feet on top of my shoes. Nearly ate it once or twice before succeeding. MUST practice.
Finally got underway though and just pushed my 7/10 effort. It was NOT incredibly hot and there was a little wind but not drastic. I didn't mind the few steep hills (they were so short). But it was NEVER just flat. Always hilly or always turning. I drank a 300 cal bottle of cytomax having some every 10ish minutes. Otherwise, for calories I had one gel about halfway. I had an aero bottle full of water, and I grabbed a bottle from the aid station and put about half of it in my aero bottle later. So, maybe 60oz fluid total on the bike. Finished the last of my water 10 or so minutes from the bike finish. I didn't think I was drinking too much because my face felt flush, but towards the last 10 minutes I felt like I had to pee. See my run comments. I had to pee on the run. So...I dunno.
I thought the roads were pretty rough. Lots of cracks and rough spots. Pretty annoying. I got passed on the right THREE times and none of them necessary (plenty of room on my left).
Those bike thoughts are pretty disjointed, but honestly it was a pretty unremarkable bike. I pushed hard but nothing really stands out.

1. Don't try to kill myself getting on my bike with the shoes on the bike.
2. Not drink as much? Hard to say...I still don't know if the amount I drank is why I ended up needing to pee on the run or if it was something else. But overall, I was happy with the bike.

A little slow, but I don't have Yankz on my shoes yet so I had to tie them. AND I had to put my socks on (I biked barefoot). So all things considered, not bad.

Put the yankz on my shoes a few weeks ahead of time to get the tightness right. I didn't put them on the night before the race because it usually takes me a few runs to get them comfortable.

Mile Split AHR
9:11 174
9:11 178
9:40 186
10:09 188
8:59 189
9:48 183
1:40 183

Okay, run instructions were 5/10 for the first half then whatever I had left for the last 5k and walk around the aid stations. Took it pretty easy the first mile. Tried to keep good cadence without going nuts on speed. There was this HUGE set of stairs you had to climb up to a bridge early on. Those HURT. I was going kinda slow for about a quarter mile after them. I started walking just prior to each aid station and at each I drank a cup of water and dumped one over my head. It was about 85 degrees--not overly hot, but why get really really hot?
Around mile 2 or so the needing to pee started to become a REALLY need to pee. And the lower GI wasn't exactly happy EITHER. There was a porta potty at the Mile 3 aid station (right before the turn around) but as I went outbound there was a dude in line. This is also where I ate my only gel. I decided that if the porta potty open after I turned around I would stop because I was supposed to kick it to the end at this point and there was NO way I could run faster having to pee that badly. Sure enough, it was empty, I peed, I felt better. Whew.
But...I had walked quite a bit at that aid station AND stopped to pee so mile 4 was long even though I really tried to run faster. This corresponds to the splits. HR was lower miles 1-2, higher when I pushed it up on Mile 4. Mile 5 was my fastest because I was still pushing hard--and again, higher HR. But the water I drank at the 5 mile aid station AND the lower GI acting up right after that slowed me down for Mile 6--as you can see, HR and pace went down. I am not sure if I kicked it too early or if the stomach just reigned me in a bit. I passed several people on the inbound leg--more than passed me! :) And by the finish chute...I had to pee again...BAD! Had a good sprint to the finish though. Did my cartwheel. Yay!

Nothing. I hate that I had to pee, but I still don't understand why I had to. I honestly do not think I was drinking too much for the conditions. Good run for me.

Made an immediate bolt for the porta potty. Stood around chatting with people (the USAFA team was there so I talked to the cadets a lot). I went and stood in the 60 degree water for awhile (peed TWICE while in the water) for an ice bath. Collected my transition stuff and watched the awards. Peed a third and fourth time during the awards.


1. Lack of winter training. I made some bad choices this winter and so I hadn't trained enough. I also took a bike break to see if it fixed my knee so I didn't have as many bike miles as I would have liked.
2. I got in so late...I HAD to be tired from that and a really whirlwind few weeks at work (not much sleep).
3. The knee. Goes along with lack of winter training.


I had a good race. I wanted to be faster, but the bike course is just SLOW. I think breaking 3 hours here for how much training I have done and how hard the bike course was...I think that's good for me. I drafted on the swim which made me VERY happy. I pushed good watts on the bike. I ran the 10k under an hour. GOOD race for me.
I was pretty upset at the lack of USAT officials. I saw no less than 15 people riding around before or after the race on their bikes with no helmets and not a USAT official in site. Did not see a single USAT official on the bike course and plenty of passing violations.
Other than the USAT rule breaking, well organized/run race.