5430 Long Course Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This was an average swim for me. Nothing great, nothing terrible. Shannon started right next to me, and right after the start, we all got boxed in for a while. The person to my left and I kept on hitting each other and I was hoping I wasn't beating the crap out of Shannon. Not sure if it was her, but we talked about it after the race, and we figured if we were battling each other, it ended up a draw :) We started directly into the sun and I couldn't see anything past the first buoy, so I just followed feet. Believe it or not, I actually drafted quite a bit in this swim. I found myself around a group of women who were all swimming the same speed as I was, so I just started drafting off of them at different times. This was the first race when I had a successful drafting experience. I don't think that I went any FASTER, but I used less energy, and in a race distance like this, that's a HUGE bonus. So, I'm happy that I took advantage of the situation. The first leg of the swim went a LOT faster than I thought it would, but the last leg seemed to drag on forever. But I felt good when I came out of the water.

Not much.

Average T1. Nothing special. No major mistakes. T1 was pretty empty at this point, so I wasn't dodging people and it was really easy to find my bike! I did almost tag a girl in my age group with my bike as I pulled it out of the rack and started to run with it. She was coming in from the swim and I didn't see her, so that cost me a couple of seconds when I had to stop short to try not to cause her bodily harm.

Not much. This was just average, but I wasn't aiming to break any records.

This was a great ride for me. I rode at a comfortable pace and I loved every minute of it. I just plain HAD FUN on the bike today. I really focused on drinking plenty of water, taking my endurolytes, and drinking my Perpetuem. I drank at least 5 bottles of water, and polished off my 3-hour bottle of Perpetuem. I saw so many dropped gel flasks and packets during the first 6 miles of the course and I just cringed at the thought of those people who lost their fuel supplies. I would meet someone later on the course who did just that. It wasn't hot on the bike because we had some miraculous clouds for a while, but I could tell I was still sweating because I could see the salt on my skin. I knew better than being fooled by the fact that I felt cool enough, so I drank like crazy. I figured that with all that drinking, I would surely need to pee, but I didn't. Which tells me I could have taken in more fluids.

I thought that the bike course would feel really empty after being in the last wave, but there were PLENTY of people for me to pass, which definitely helped me focus on the pace mentally. I kept my computer on Avg. Speed, so I just watched that most of the time. I really tried to get my average to 20mph, but I couldn't without getting my HR too high.

I saw Cathy at the turnaround starting the second lap. She was looking good. Right after that, I had a woman ask if I had an extra gel because she had dropped hers and she was out of fuel. I always pack more gels than I really need, so I gave her one. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so profusely thankful. I was happy to help. During the last 4 miles, I started to focus my thoughts on the run to come. I was feeling pretty darn good, so I knew I hadn't pushed it too hard, but I was ready to get off the bike, mostly just tired of being in aero for so long.

I averaged 18.6mph on this course last year, so this was a definite and measurable improvement. Woo hoo!! Very happy with this bike.

Not much. This was an almost perfect bike for me.

This would have been much faster, but I stopped in a portapotty before heading out on the run. I thought I needed to pee, but it turns out that I really didn't. But I figured I should try because I'd rather go now than need to out on the course.

Not much.

While it would be easy for me to be utterly embarassed by this run time, due to various injuries this season, the last time I ran this far was April 1st. I've done so little run training that I KNEW this would be a long and painful slog. It was so unbelievably HOTTT out there on the course, and I knew that hydration was going to be key. I even wore my fuel belt for hydrating in between aid stations, and I'm so glad I did.

I started out very easy, and followed my coach's advice of just running one mile at a time. I really didn't think of how many miles I had left. I know I can run a mile, so that's what I did. 13 times! I drank water and gatorade at each of the aid stations. The one thing that saved me from heatstroke was putting ice down my bra. This was one of the few times in my life when I thought that being a woman was an advantage because guys don't wear bras!!! I was running next to this woman and we were joking about the ice in our bras, and I said "whenever I start thinking that I'm really hot, I just focus on my boobs because they're cold." And my bra acted as a nice ice chest because I'd just reach down in there and eat some of the ice too. Hey, you do what you gotta do when it's that hot.

Honestly, I thought I'd feel a lot worse than I did on this run. I had a smile on my face until mile 7, so that's a victory in itself. I definitely walked some, especially the hills. But I really think the hydration and calories I took in on the bike got me through this run. And all day I was popping endurolytes like candy.

When I started the second lap of the run, I started thinking about how long it would take me to finish. With 3 miles to go, based on my watch, I had the chance to beat last year's time. Somehow and from somewhere deep inside, I found the guts to pick up the pace the last 3 miles and didn't walk at all. Just the thought of being able to beat my time from last year was so motivating. According to my watch, I did it, but alas, my watch was wrong. Somewhere along the way, my watch must have stopped because I obviously lost some minutes somewhere. Oh well. I can't be too upset because I learned a lot about myself and what I can manage at the end of a race like that. I'm slowly learning that my body is capable of a lot more than my brain thinks it is.

Not much. This run, albeit painfully slow, was pretty much a miracle for me based on how little run training I've been able to do. I knew it would be slow, but I felt better at the finish than I did last year despite being better trained last year. I'll just chalk that up to increased overall fitness, race experience, and nutrition/hydration.

Because I thought I had beat last year's time, I was so estatic that I started crying (plus, I was in a lot of pain :) ). After looking at the official results a little later, those tears were for nothing, but whatever. A little bit of a letdown, but not as much as you'd think. Just FINISHING was a victory! Ocky was there at the finish and poured water over me and took me over to his chair and let me sit. I took off my shoes and went to get some food and waited for Shannon to finish. Talked to some other BT'ers, then packed up and headed home.


Plain and simple. I've been injured and haven't been able to run this season.


5430 Sports had a potential disaster on their hands with today's heat. They did an EXCELLENT job on the run aid stations. Without the ice, sponges, cold water, etc. there would have been a lot more DNFs and people in the med tent. I did think it was funny that they gave out beer glasses at the finish line. Hmmm. Mix glass with exhausted, sweaty, wet athletes and you end up with a lot of dropped, broken glasses. Not smart. But overall, a good race.