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 Swim
Comments: Waded into this beautiful, calm ocean with the words "if you can't do it today ..." ringing in my head. My Head. Let's talk about my STOOPID head. It's a freakin' beautiful day for a triathalon. Sunny, warm, light breeze, flat water, small field. I have pool trained, OWS trained, swum through damn jellyfish and completed an Olympic distance. And I can't put my stoopid face in the water. I was ready to pitch this sport at the second buoy. Before launching me at St. A's, KPT said "Make me proud." And I did. Today he said, "Have fun." And I didn't. The good news is, even with my turtle stroke, I still passed people. And today, the guards weren't watching me. Rounded the third buoy and struk out towards the beach. Current is pushing me back to the start and out to sea, so I had to SWIM. Felt like the beach was getting farther away. Finally hit the sand and waddled up the beach. Two women spectators who I'd seen walking around earlier were at the edge of the beach. They gave me a look like, 'C'mon ... ' so I started to jog and they laughed. No too hard to find Sunny as he was pretty much the last bike in T. Sigh. Sat down like a five year old and put on my shoes. What would you do differently?: Talked with KPT about this after the race. When I told him my time, his comment was 'WHAT????' Given his profession, he's pretty good at picking up on stress triggers. He's watched me start three races in six weeks and from his perspective, I showed no signs of being anxious or upset. He thought I was going to rip it up. The decision was made that I'm going to get some music and take some time to center myself before the next race. Will also do a short swim warm up.  Transition 1
Comments: I'm too fussy. My feet need to be dry. My helmet always needs to be adjusted. I'm always fussing. Took forever to clip in. I need to learn the shoe trick. What would you do differently?: Suck it up a little and get more aggressive.  Bike
Comments: Very twisty to get off the beach but once on AIA, I started to eat people. Even so, I could have and should have gone harder. AND I NEED TO LEARN TO RIDE IN THE AERO POSITION! The good part is I passed about 5 people on the hill/bridge and the low grade hill just befor the turnaround. I like hills. Saw KPT at the 3/7 mile mark as he was getting ready to finish. Hollared at each other. Just before the turnaround, a 33yr guy came up on my outside. Seemed like his first tri, so I let him go ahead to make the turn. Just as we finished the turn, I passed him. We played tag team for the 5 miles back. I'm sure being passed by a 44yr woman was getting under his skin. Just as I got to the Intracoastal Bridge, I could hear the alarm sounding. *NO* *WAY*!!! Cranked my way up and onto it as the warning lights started to flash. Shades of the 7 Mile Brige Run. The hell with beating the bus, now I have to beat the boat! Which I did. Guardrails came down just as I cleared them and the bridge opened. What would you do differently?: Learn to ride in aero. Get more aggressive. Probably need to pack Sustained Engergy or something as I was hungry four hours after breakfast. Transition 2
Comments: Heh, I'm typing in my T2 time and had to stop to think if the first number was 'Hours.' Sat down like a five year old to switch my shoes out. Had to put on my socks. Sigh. What would you do differently?: Learn to run without socks. Put the stupid clamps on my shoes so I don't have to take the time to make the rabbit go into the hole a second time for my double knot.  Run
Comments: I don't think the run distance is correct. My time on the Garmin was 8:55m/m which I believe. Not bad, but for the total distance I could have run more smoothly. Saw KPT on my first and his fourth leg. He was done. High fived. What would you do differently?: Need to get an aero bottle and stay better hydrated. Post race
Warm down: KPT did catching duty at the finish and had cold water. Walked around to quell the nausia. Overheard some really buff guys complaining about being caught in the bridge debacle. WHAT? That means you young'uns were racing around ME. They could have been in the first timers or relay divisions ... otherwise, they should have gone off before KPT's wave. What limited your ability to perform faster: I overthought every swim pull, pedal stroke and foot fall. I lost sight of the 'fun' component and it messed my head up. Event comments: The RD came to talk to the USAT Official about the bridge incident. Bridges over the Intracoastal are scheduled to open every 30 minutes (a change from 2 years ago when they opened on demand). The Tender was under orders not open the bridge for the duration of the race. There are some heavy hitters that live on the IC, so I wonder if someone made a call to someone who made a call ... . In any case, the RD was pretty distraught and wanted to give the two minutes to the affected racers. I think he did. This was a fun race that I will do again next year, if only to have my head in a better place. TONS of food afterwards. It's a Publix (supermarket) event and they get a lot of race sponsorship. Zephyhills was giving out TONS of flavored water, Hillshire Farm deli meat for sandwiches, lots of fruit. We had a whole picnic (hmmm, maybe not make picnic for 10 the day before?) with savory scones and oriental chiken wraps that we dragged over to the Combat Challenge team tent. Hung out there for the rest of the day (yes, I brought clothes to change into). Profile Album Last updated: 2007-05-12 12:00 AM
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United States
Family Fitness Weekend
80'sF / 0C
Sunny
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 11/13
Friday night went down to Packet Pickup. It's a small race so it went real quick. The TRI is done in conjunction with the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge, a two day event that brings teams in from as far away as Alaska. The course is right across from pick up, so we walked over just in time to see the Opening Ceremonies. Immediately afterwards, the Women's Individual Competition started and two of Delray's team were up first. I put a description of the Challenge events in my blog. SAY THANK YOU TO A FIREFIGHTER TODAY! Headed back home for the traditional Roast Salmon, sweet potato, steamed spinach supper and to pack transition bags.
Alarm went off at 4:15am so I could do cat chores. Phone rang at 4:32am. KPT. He got up at 4am instead of 4:30am. COMMUNICATION! He got to my house at 4:33. The benfits (?) of living 250 feet from each other. I ate PB and banana on whole wheat english muffin and had coffee and water while he loaded up the truck. We've already determined that he can't eat before a race. He had Sustained Energy b4 FAU, but it's been making him gassy. I got a little worried that I was eating too early (race start at 7:45am). Drove down AIA under a beautiful starry sky. Roy? Ray? Lewis, the football player, lives across from Station 6 and was just getting home, judging my the length of the limo parked outside his gate. Station 6 was just getting in from a call, so we slowed down to hollar at them for a second. Got to the race site and got an excellent parking spot (I should hope since we were like THE FIRST ones there.)
We race the same age group and our numbers were only 4 off so we were able to rack together. Second time we've done this and it works well. Conservation of common crap. Talked to the USAT Ref for a bit and walked down to the water to watch the sunrise. I'm feeling really nervous. BEAUTIFUL DAY! Wind has been in from the East for the past two days and the water is FLAT! Bad rain/thunder storms had rained out the Combat Challenge the night before, but it's going to be a clear day with just a bit of cloud cover. Got in the water to feel the temp: beautiful. I'm feeling really nervous. Ran into some friends and chatted. Went back to the beach for the wave starts. Stood with KPT and J, gave them hugs and then waded out to cheer their start. KPT is a gorgeous swimmer and he sited well to the first buoy. Back up onto the beach for my start.