Blue Water Triathlon - Long Course - TriathlonLong Course

The water was COLD, not the posted 74 degree for sure. My toes didn't thaw until mid-ride, my fingers were so cold I had a hard time shifting during the first part of the bike ride. I'll definitely need a better wetsuit for this race next year.

Navigate better. I breathe to the right but buoys were on the left. Since I decided to stay away from the field I was almost in the reeds on the other side of the river and swam a couple of hundred yards more than the straight line would have been. Every time I sensed someone close by I veered right even more. I'm just so freaked out about getting kicked or anything since I swim with contacts. I need LASIK!

And get a better wetsuit.

They only had an overall clock set up with a timing chip on our running shoes for the finish.

So transition times are included in the splits--but I don't know how. (There were people in different places taking splits manually.) I'll just list whatever is listed on the website and nothing separate for the transitions.

T1 went well, definitely faster than at Mountain Man.

Nothing.

The ride was great: beautiful course, little traffic--except for the frozen fingers and overall shivering on the first 5 miles or so. For the first time (and really noticeably) I felt the effect of living and training at a high altitude here since my brain said at some point to slow down towards the end but my legs just kept pushing harder.

I had two bottles of the Infinit Ironman Mix with me, one bike bottle and one aero bottle, and refilled the aero bottle while riding on an even stretch half-way through. That way I had plenty of stuff right in front of my nose for the hillier second part of the race. That worked great. I kept telling myself to drink more over and over, remembering how I bonked at Mtn Man right after the ride.

I kept my cadence really high and passed a lot of people on the hills during the last 5 miles. And then my legs didn't even feel as bad on the run as they usually do on training bricks!

Nothing. Maybe wear toe warmers next time or get some shoes with less ventilation.

Also faster than at Mtn Man. When I had set up in the morning it was crowded, now my stuff was all alone and easy to find since the sprint people had cleared out after their race was done. Nice!

Right out of transition we had to run uphill on a rocky dirt road for the first mile. The worst scenario for me! (Bad ankles, bad running, and wobbly legs) But the goal of this whole race was to make the whole run running and not walk half of it again like at Mtn Man. So I just kept running, watching the ground so I wouldn't trip.

I also paid attention to my cadence and breathing, keeping the pace low enough for 3/3 steps per breath. By the time we got to the top of the hill I felt the dang stitches come back on and breathed out as hard as I could from then on. It worked.

On mile 4 and 5, I was actually able to pick up the pace a bit! Wow, that felt great. I just increased my cadence and then even "sprinted" over the finish line... and then collapsed on the lawn after 50 yards of walking. I mean, really collapsed, my legs just gave out from under me. On the last mile or so I had felt this eerie kind of shiver go through my whole body. Goose bumps without feeling cold. I guess I squeezed every gram of glycogen out of my muscles.

Train even more! But this is a very good pace for me, considering that I hardly ever run faster then 10:00 in training and had to run uphill and on dirt for the first mile.

Walk 50 yards, collapse, breathe, then SLOWLY walk to the transition area where my recovery drink was stashed.


More training for the run.




Beautiful race in a nice resort. Not much going on there this time of year although they had some crappy live band outside the night before. The same boring beat for 3 hours! Otherwise everything was perfect. I had a wonderful time and really saw all my training pay off. The BT 16-week run-focused plan works!

My age group was the fastest and biggest! I would have placed in the top three in any other AG, except the 25-29. (There were more than 3 contestants in the other age groups...)

I placed 14/60 for all women. So I'm pretty happy considering this was only my second tri and my first longer distance race and, especially, what shape I was in a year ago :)

And, finally, by 9 minutes I beat the woman that beat me by 30 seconds at Mountain Man!!! Yes, those things matter to A-types :)