Seahorse Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

I positioned myself in the front. :) There were about 6 of us huddled together, three of them I recognized by face and knew would be jockeying for the WIN. There was quite a bit of smack talking going on too (they all knew each other)!

When the buzzer went off, I was QUICKLY over-run and dropped! I had a HARD time finding open water. Merde! By the time we reached the first bouy, I had some space, but I was WAY behind the leaders. So, I picked up the pace during the long horizontal stretch and reeled in several swimmers. As we exited the water to circle the cone before re-entering for the second loop, I saw I had made up a lot of ground. :)

Midway through the second loop I downshifted to save energy and because I was just plain tired! For the last 1/3 of the swim I got drafted off of! Every 10 seconds or so the guy would touch my feet. I wasn't sure what to do... I was too tired to give a burst of speed, nor did I want to slow down. HELP!

Start along the fringe of the top wave. Kick drafters in the face.

I was POOPED as I entered the transition area. I took my time taking off the wetsuit and pulling on my biker shorts over my speedo. YES, I wore a speedo underneath the wetsuit.

Buy tri shorts!

This had to be the highlight of the day - for the first lap I biked ALONE. There were only 10 or so people ahead of me on the course and a hundred people plus way behind me (most still in the water). COOL! :)

I took it easy for the first 6 or so miles until my HR settled down. I wasn't passed until mile 7! I can't wait until I can go really fast on the bike. :)

As I began my second loop the du and sprint folks were pouring out of the park on their bikes. Additionally, the FAST oly bikers were beginning to pass me. Still, only a handful did. :) Hence the second loop was jam packed with traffic. LOTS of drafting. Around mile 15 the a group of 8 just flew by me - two a breast. They were probably the sprinter or du leaders.

Just as I was entering the park, the rain came. POURING RAIN.



Bike more!!

I err, fell off my bike coming into T2. Oops. Slick.

I tore off my biker shorts and pulled on some running shorts - I wanted to get into RUNNER mode. :)

Not fall.

I felt good coming out of T2! Albeit, I was SOAKED! The first mile was on blacktop and I went 8 mins pace, but once we entered the dirt trails I knew I couldn't hold that speed so eased up. I wanted to finish!! I believed if I dropped the hammer on the run, I would die out probably at the 4 mile mark. I ended up basically jogging the trails and going a harder pace on the blacktop. As a result, this was the point when the field CAUGHT me. I got passed a TON. Disappointing, yes, but I also knew I wasn't in run shape. And *THAT* will change. :)

The footing was a big issue going up and down the dirt trails in the wet, muddy dirt. Several times I almost landed on my duff!

Nothing. I had the legs to DO the run; however, I didn't have the legs to ATTACK the oly run.

I huddled with my friends under an overhang in the picnic area - soaked to the bone! Shortly after I finished the race was called off due to lightening.




This is funny. As I gathering my soaked gear from the transition area in the rain with a buddy I proceeded to wring out the water from my towel into the an iron garbage can. Don't ask why. My friend did though. I err, was a bit discombobulated I guess. :)


I enjoyed the race...it's fun to race again. :)

This was probably my best tri race in terms of results! WEIRD to say, given my run was what let me down! But I swam and biked for PR's. I'm proud that I was able to get my arse in shape to DO an oly after being on the shelf for so long. :)