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 Swim
Comments: My first experience of the washing machine. It was defintely a little disorienting for the water to be so choppy. I had started behind people and was immediately forced to stop, evaluate, and swim around. The way out was totally fine, then I cut too close to the buoy and had to breast stroke the turn. Immediately got a face full of seaweed and inhaled a mouthfull... a bit of panicked breathing before I remembered to roll on my back (so glad I had the wetsuit!) and calm down. The rest of the swim in was fine except sighting was tough because of all the women still swimming towards us... Couldn't tell who was coming or going. I was one of the 4th or 5th women out of the water, so that was really exciting! What would you do differently?: Start in front! Just be more confident of myself and where I was going.  Transition 1
Comments: We had to on concrete up a hill sidewalk to the transition area. I was concentrating so hard on running (but not too fast!) and what I was doing that I forgot to start taking off my suit 'till I was almost there. I basically stripped in front of my bike. Sat down to put on socks & shoes and took time to double check everything. unwrapped a granola bar and stuck it in my jersey pocket and never saw it again. :( Jogged out with my bike and heard rkreuser yelling for me. :) What would you do differently?: Start peeling off the wetsuit a lot sooner. Have somewhere more secure for the granola bar. Practice, practice, practice.  Bike
Comments: This was my weak link and I knew it... I prepared to spend the whole ride being passed... and I was, but not by the hordes I had expected which was reassuring. Of course, the people who did pass passed like they were on the highway and I was at a local park (zoom!). I felt fine for most of the bike, had a gu at the turn arond and lots of gatorade. Got passed by the lead Oly guy and then continued to get passed by other (hot) Oly guys... ;) Came to a tough-ish hill and asked the girl I was passing (stupid me!) if this was The Hill? She laughed and said no, the next one was 10x worse. My stomach sunk. Sure enough, there it loomed.... I still can't remember having come down it, but it was a total and complete bitch. Half way up I bailed and started walking which was fine with me.... I was practically hyperventilating and knew I needed to get my HR undercontrol before the run. Gave me a chance to relax my legs too... so whatever. I still wasn't last in my AG!! And the ride was really pretty (can't forget that part). What would you do differently?: Ride more. Get a new bike some day. Ride more. Transition 2
Comments: I heard rick (rkreuser) cheering again, cool! I could have done this a lot faster, but paused to chug more gatorade and water just to catch my breath and make sure I was still doing everything right. What would you do differently?: Practice so I knew exactly what I was doing.  Run
Comments: I felt awesome about the run. The first .25 mile I spent getting my breathing under control and mentally trying to relax. It was getting hot out and I knew if I went out crazy I'd surely crash. There was a 14 year old girl in front of me who was setting a nice pace, but then she started breathing really heavy and I took off past her (later on the way back I saw her still heading out but walking). The State Park ladies were cheering for us as we exited so I thanked them... they had an early morning and a hot, long day!! No women passed me during the run until the very end when I got passed by the fast ladies from the age groups that started the swim after me... the rest of the run I was passing people. I passed a handful of chicks in my AG who had blown by me on the bike. YAY! I didn't have anything left for a sprint in... but I finished with a smile. What would you do differently?: Nothing except go faster when that's possible some day! Post race
Warm down: We got handed a cold, wet towel that must have come straight to me from God, it was that heavenly. They should do this at ALL races in the summer... it was so fabulous to wipe all the sweat off and cool down my burning face!! Tom took pictures and I got food. I realize now I never stretched. Oops. What limited your ability to perform faster: Experience. Bike skills. Event comments: I had a blast & cannot wait 'til the next one!!! I'm truly shocked and amazed at how my swim stacked up comparatively- I didn't even think it was a good swim, but 2nd AG and 48th OA?! Damn! I'm also amazed I was 5th in my age group... I was 5 minutes away from being 3rd. Too bad next year I"ll be in the next AG which is much more competitive. Sucks to turn 30! Last updated: 2007-04-24 12:00 AM
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United States
3 Disciplines
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 140/249
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 5/19
Woke up at the seriously early hour of 4:30 am (which hurt since we'd only gotten to bed around midnight after the Barnaked Ladies Concert). Rode up to Ortonville Recreation Area/Big Fish Lake with Glen and my husband. We were among the first to arrive so we had the transition area almost to ourselves. Tried to figure out how to "hang" my bike from the rack- its so small the front wheel wouldn't even touch the ground when it was racked... just kind of hung. Set up my stuff and just stared at it trying to figure out how it ought to look... got body marked, then just walked away.
Hung out with Tom and Glen down at the picnic shelter staring at the lake. The PA guy was announcing that water was so warm we'd be hot in our suits but they were still legal so I was really tempted to skip it and save the time. Ran into Lizard13 and kellc09 (who look like they could be sisters!) and all the associated family members. I followed liz down to the lake and we stuck our feet in... it was bathwater!! I decided not to use my wetsuit. Put sunscreen on which totally smeared my numbers... I spent the rest of the pre-race time wiping the black all over the place (including Glen's chin when he gave me a hug)... what did I miss? Is there special permanent marker friendly sunscreen out there??
After more hanging out, we ran into Rkreuser who was registered for the Oly but has a nasty cold/cough thing and decided to just jockstrap. He talked me back into wearing my wetsuit so I just decided to do it and stop thinking about it (better get my money's worth, right?).
Finally, they started waves of Olympic athletes and Glen and I started getting prepared/terrified simultaneously.
Did some light stretching, got in the water and started shivering sitting there waiting to go. Was completely freaked. :)