Tiger Tri - TriathlonOlympic

I was near the group until after the first turn buoy, then suddenly I was all alone in the water. The next turn buoy was always in view when I sighted, and generally where it was supposed to be, so I'm not exactly sure what happened. The second turn buoy is in shallow water and there were a lot of weeds leading up to it - I really don't enjoy weeds. I can kind of turn my thoughts away from them during a race, but I'm getting the shivers sitting here typing about them. The swim felt good. I was even with another woman on the third leg for a while, but tried the "10 hard" strokes from my coach and got away from her. It was distracting to see her every time I reached for a breath. Also, there must have been a bit of wind during the last leg as I got a lot of little wave splashes in my face. That lake water burned when it went up my nose! Good swim, though.

I learned a nifty new trick for rounding a buoy from another club member (after the race, of course) that came from Heather Gollnick. I might try it next time to avoid the paddle-around-in-a-circle feeling. Otherwise, probably nothing. Continue to work on swimming in a straight line.

There was a long carpeted uphill from the lake to T1. I jogged most of it, but walked after the carpet ran out since I was on pavement - I didn't want to jog my foot down on a rock. Took my cap, goggles and the top half of my wetsuit off on the way up the hill, and the bottom half slipped off my heels when I stepped on it - what a nice surprise! I wore socks for the bike segment which I normally don't do, but last year at this race I got a big blister that troubled me in my A race in two weeks. No blisters this time, but a slower T1. Also, we had to stuff everything into a big plastic bag to be transported back to the finish, which took more time. T1 felt pretty good, even though the time looks like maybe I sat down and had a massage or something.

Nothing except to hurry a bit more. The socks were a good idea this time.

Well, twice I've gone into this race thinking its an easy course. Even though there is a net downhill, there are a few good climbs, and downhill is only easier if you actually GO easier. There was a headwind that kept me pedaling down a lot of the smaller inclines, but the big downhills were a blast. Saw CaptainQuiche and two other club members before I hit the turnaround - they all looked great - then racinmason and our other member after I turned around. Knew it was only a matter of time before I'd be seeing racinmason again! Sure enough, I was grinding along and heard the cheerful 'ding' of the bikebell, a nice greeting, and zzzooooommmmm!! I hate to get passed that easily, but secretly it's fun to see my big brother speeding along looking all strong and smooth like that. Twice women passed me on shallow uphill grades and I needed to either slow down or pass them back. I **NEVER** pass anyone going uphill, so that was really a novel experience. My stomach never felt entirely right on this ride, and I got that darn cramp at the bottom of my butt cheek again - the one that once it starts goes down my leg and makes my whole leg feel weak...weird. But my Perpetuem/HEED mixture went down well and I never really felt un-fueled. The last downhill was the best - long with swooping curves, then after turning into the highschool, it seemed like a long time before I got to the dismount line.

Nothing except ride lots more than I did in training. My bike volume feels low this year.

I like this T2, a volunteer took my bike and another one handed me my run bag and directed me to the chairs. She followed me and helped, and said she'd pack everything back up for me. I left my helmet and gloves with my bike, so I changed socks and shoes, grabbed my hat and number belt and ran off. I felt like I was forgetting something and even looked in my bag for what it could be, but I ran off without my gel flask. I felt very frazzled during this T2, but my legs felt pretty good when I ran out.

Grab my gel!

You know how toddlers run? Lots of motion, but they don't really get anywhere? That's how I felt on this run. I felt like I was working way too hard for some very slow forward motion. The grass was bumpy and we had to run up and down the sides of little hills - I feel like this is just asking for a turned ankle. I made it through the first loop ok, but realized I'd forgotten my gel mix partway through that first loop. Realizing this kind of threw me even though I thought I was mentally prepared to deal with problems. After getting through the first grass loop injury-free, I was running along the next field when I stepped in a hole, turned my ankle and fell down on my hands. I felt stupid, uncoordinated and angry all at once, but luckily I didn't feel injured. Lucky, but as soon as I started running again I had what I guess is an asthma attack. I've never experienced it this badly before, and had to walk for a long time before I felt like I could breathe again. I was embarrassed by the wheezing as people ran by me. Not fun at all. It eventually went away as it always has before, and I could start running again. I started running out of fuel before the end of the first loop, so I figured I better try their gatorade. Gatorade is usally too sugary for me, but for five minutes after my first slug I felt like SuperWoman. It wore off quickly, but didn't upset my stomach so I went with it.

This was a really weird run for me, I just wasn't in a hurry after my little breathing issue. I did stupid stuff like stopping at the end of the aid station to finish my drink or to carefully dump it out or set it down instead of dropping my cups. I walked all the aid stations and all the hills except the last brutal one up the grass that killed me off last year, and fought some mental demons (I should just quit, why am I out here?). The second loop went much better as I'd settled into my pace a bit, and I even caught some people, but while I really felt like I'd raced my last two races, this one I just endured. I was glad to see the finish!

Remember my gel. Not get behind in nutrition (I get the mental demons every single time I get behind - that's the first symptom for me). Not fall down. Start at an easier pace - I've been racing without my Garmin, but after a good fast bike ride I just feel like I'm running so s-l-o-w and I think I try to go faster than I should at the beginning.

Walked a bit, stretched a bit, drank some gatorade and water, watched and cheered some more finishers. Rode up to the start to pick up my car in the backseat of an extracab pickup. Stiffened up on the way, it was hard to get out. BUT I'm very grateful to the guy who took us up there, as we were pulling back into the finish just as the shuttle bus was leaving. Drove the 2 hours home.

How in the world did my stuff manage to multiply so much in less than one day? I couldn't believe all the stuff in the car - I swear when I left it was only a couple of bags and a cooler! By the time I got back, it looked like a family of five had been living in there for a week!


Not sure - getting up at 3:30 didn't help, but it's not THAT early. Raced hard the weekend before this one, extra weight going uphill (it's an advantage on the downhills!) and bad decision making during the run. All the walking during the run portion didn't help matters much, but it was about all I could do at the time.


The overall experince at the time wasn't one of my best, but this is a fun race to do. It starts in a beautiful little lake nestled in the hills, there are a lot of fun downhills on the bike portion, and you never have to deal with any traffic on the run. The volunteers were great and I expect to be back for another fun race next year.