Danskin Women's Triathlon - Seattle - TriathlonSprint

I started on the outside and towards the back, since I didn't know how my shoulder was going to feel once I started swimming (I have had a sudden recurrence of rotator cuff pain from an old injury). I had to pass a lot of swimmers, which was hard as so many of them were breast stroking which takes up soooo much space in the water. It was hard to pass, plus there were a lot of swim angels helping people swim, which was really cool, but took up a lot of space. I didn't end up getting into a groove for the entire swim, as it was so crowded and didn't thin out at all, even at the end. I passed people from some other waves, which was interesting, and probably got passed a lot. I had guessed I would do the swim in about 15 min and it took 16, so not bad!

Swim a lot more before the event--training helps. Maybe start a little further up in the pack, but still stay to the side. Keep my shoulder healthy!

It was a pretty long run from the swim finish to my bike rack, so the time in transition reflects that! It was also a long time from the rack to the bike start....and I think the time it took to put on shoes, helmet, jersey and sunglasses was not too bad. I could only find one bike glove so I didn't wear them, which I really wanted to since it was so wet out. Afterward, I found one stuck under my backpack.

Nothing....pray for dry weather?

The course was fun, but soooo crowded that I was constantly saying 'on your left' and couldn't ever really get up to speed. People cut in front of me a lot without warning so I was a little frustrated at that. We had to dismount to walk the bikes down the road off the bridge to the Blvd, and people were passing there when they were supposed to be going single file. It was fun hearing all the cheers in the tunnel and also getting a little break from the rain while we were in there. The wind picked up at the same time that the major deluge hit, while I was in the midspan on the bridge. Insane! Funny story-this gal and I kept passing each other and then dismounted together to walk down the hill, as directed, and we realized that we had rowed on the University of Washington crew team together 20 years ago--small world!

Have rain gear! I was soaked to the bone and was pretty cold by the time I got off the bike. Also get clear glasses for riding on bad weather days. I had on dark sunglasses which made it hard to see sometimes.

It was a pretty good run from the bike finish to the rack, but I went pretty quick. My sister was there waiting for me, since she skipped the swim and bike and was just going to run with me. I changed my socks which was unplanned, but my bike socks were so wet and cold that I couldn't see running in them. Grabbed a hat and my sister clipped on my race belt for me and away we went.

Pray for good weather, have extra running socks--the ones I had were not very thick and by about halfway through the run my arch was getting rubbed, heading to blister city. (ok now)

I did pretty good since I was with my sister and she had fresh legs. I was pretty cold by the time I was running and my feet got soaked pretty fast. I only got passed by a few runners, and passed a lot of people. All in all it was ok, but I mostly wanted to be done and get into a warm car, get a latte, and take a shower!!!

Pray for nice weather. Raincoat?? I don't what else I could have done in this weather.

What warm down? I went and grabbed my bike and gear and got outta there as fast as I could. I was soaked and freezing!! We went to Starbucks and changed our clothes and got a latte, then met my dad for breakfast...ahhhh, yum!


The weather and the crowds. There were so many people that it was constant navigation and often it was impossible to pass and I had to slow down instead. It was way too wet!!!!!


I am glad I did the race, since signing up for it was what started me on the course to doing triathlons. However, I don't think I will do it again, as the logistics were very annoying and spending most of two days to do the race was too much. Perhaps if the weather had been better, I would have felt differently, but there still would have been 4000+ competitors and it would have still been crowded!!! So far, I like the smaller races....although I appreciate the mark that the Danskin has left on the tri world.