Vineman Showdown at Sundown - TriathlonSprint

First off, this is a long winded swim comment but since the swim is my achilles I feel it neccessary to indulge my experience on to you all and more so for my memories of this glorious achievement, so without further ado:
I felt pretty calm for this swim, which is strange to me considering some less than stellar previous race performances in the OW. The waves were interesting, all women together in one wave. So when it started I just charged into the water with gusto and surreal calmness. All I had hoped for was to stay with the pack for once in my life and that's just what I did. Since I have never been able to keep up with the swim pack before it was very new to me to try to wedge my way inbetween ladies and just be cool with kicks and jabs (those breast strokers are brutal!) I feel kinda bad cause this older woman in a very loud yellow and black wetsuit was a bit of a victim of mine and I just had to plow through her, sorry mam! I kept on focussing on blowing out hard to clear water from the choppiness out of my mouth and not swallow it, keep sighting for the bouys and don't go off course, and finally, make every stroke count- no flailing around like a drowning cow! The first bouy came and went so fast I couldn't believe it, and feeling good and strong. Then the next, and thats when I knew I had a good chance of solid MOP swim finish which is a dream come true for this week little mermaid wannabe! The next thing I know I was back at the beach, I stood up and I was sooooo excited that I wasn't all alone coming out of the water, I was with lots of other people!!!!!! This is a great start.

Nothing- the best swim performance I've had in a race.

I'm glad the cute guys at Forward Motion told me the trick of putting Body Glide on the outside of the wetsuit as the wrists and ankles to aid in slipping the darn thing off, especially since there were oodles of ladies sitting on the ground grunting and yanking to get the suits off their ankles. My hands were kinda cold so I didn't get slipped into my bike shoes as quickly as I had hoped, but still fine. Ran out of trasition and prepared myself for the big hill out.

I really really need to practice mounting the bike with the shoes already attached and slipping my feet in while riding, but in due time. I have other things to work on that are a little more importante at this time.

First off, that steep mother of a hill out of the park was a lung buster! I just worked my way up and hoped to not stall and fall, which I didn't. It took a bit to recover after that so I didn't get a good rhythem going for a while. BT's AbbieR flew past me like a bat out of hell, and so did lots of other people, as usual. This time at it I just wanted to ride less on the small ring and more ont he bigger one and it did seem to help me on the less hilly parts, but the wind was so strong that even going down hill it was like hitting a wall. At a couple points during the ride I wanted to put up my hands as a shield (not that it was hurting my face but just as a gut reaction to the major gusts). After the turn around I felt stronger. I finally found some comfortable gears for the terrain and tried to keep a high cadence. I finally was able to do some passing with this newfound ooomph, but it was a little too late to achieve a good time, but hey, I was having a blast and still basking the glory of my super swim.

This is my RR broken record.... need more time in the saddle. Plain and simple.

This dismount line was at the top of that mother hill so I hopped off the bike and ran, or more like hobbled, down the hill to T2, trying not to slip in my bike shoes. A bit tricky.

See above- bike shoes on bike, remove feet from shoes before dismount.

Out of T2 and head for the stairs, and they were a challenge. I walked them since I couldn't run any faster and it made sucking down a Gu easier anyway. Once I hit the top I went for it and felt stronger than I had anticipated. This was a gorgeous course and I couldn't help but get caught up in the amazing views. I felt good and strong as I settled into a pace I felt comfortable maintaining for a while. Near the turn around I was ready to start picking up the pace a bit and now I was in my groove. I was passing a lot of people (which is normal for me to catch up with the folks who pass me on the bike), so it was business as usual. I love the fact that I feel stronger the longer I go, and then wham! Coming into the park for the final stretch and what do they do? They hit us with long and steady hill- at the end! Crap! There goes my great pace. I was kinda suffering while chugging my way up, still managed to pass another suffering soul and then the relief of a downhill and windy path to the finish chute. As I approached the finish line I heared the announcer call my name and it felt great. I waved my hands in the air with pure joy and excitement, although I had no fans in the crowd (banished at home as to not bug me remember?).

I would charge harder during the run and get out of my comfort zone a little more. It was evident that I could have run faster when I crossed the finish line and was not winded the slightest bit while the volunteer removed my ankle chip.

Went immediately to the food line for a burger and diet pepsi, oh yeah!
Then to the transition area to change into warm dry clothes and slowly pack up my gear. Ate bites of the burger every now and then and off I went.


Not being proficient with the gears on my bike, not enough time in the saddle, and worrying about pooping out on the run and not pushing myself harder. I need to trust in my running strength more.


I love that this had a 5:00 pm start. What a lovely time of day to be racing, and when it was done I went home and vegged out and didn't feel guilty about wasting the day away like during other races where I'm toast by noon and lay around till dinner. I hope more race organizers take notice and it becomes common.