Tri, Girl, Tri (Formerly See Jane Tri) - TriathlonSprint

The course was short because they depended on the boat speed limit buoys, but the water level is very low this year. I estimate it was only 650-700 yards. Maybe 750, tops.

Before the start, we were standing around on the ramp in the cold in our suits (didn't wear a wetsuit, just wour tri suits) for about 20-25 minutes, so I was pretty cold when we finally got in the water. Started in the first wave, which was very aggressive, but I still came out in the top 10-20 overall.

Warm up in the water, but it was just too cold. Next year, I'm thinking I'll get a wetsuit if I want to do these cold water/cool weather events.

I could not get my feet in my shoes, and I ended up pulling one of my straps out of the loop, so I had to stop on the bike course to put my shoes on! What a disaster with a climb right near the beginning! I didn't even try leaving my shoes on my pedals for the dismount - I was racked about 20 feet from the bike dismount area, so it didn't seem worth the risk.

We set up right by the bike exit, so I don't know why I felt I needed to try to start with my shoes on my pedals, but I've been practicing, so ... well, it did not work so well this time! Next time, I'll just put my shoes on first. But it did make for a fast-appearing transition. Unfortunately, my bike time is about a minute slow as a result.

I was shivering for the first 5-10 minutes of the ride because I was so cold. It's really hard to drink on this course because of the climbs and potholes, so I didn't get as much hydration as I'd have liked, but it felt pretty good. As usual, a lot of people passed me, but I hope that's because I'm such a fast swimmer, not because I'm so lousy on the bike! Also, my sister's chain dropped, so I stopped to help her get it back on because she was obviously frustrated and didn't really know how to take care of this problem - I think I'll find her a bicycle maintenance class for Christmas!

Do more hill rides and practice drinking!

I don't think this time is right, especially because there was a run-back loop I had to do because of the racking layout. I'm sure it took me at least 40 seconds just to do that run-back. Whatever, it was better than last time.

I'm not too fussed about transitions right now, so I'm not going to change anything just now.

I felt good on the run - I walked through the water stops, but nothing else, which felt good. It was still pretty cool, so cooling wasn't a big problem. I passed my sister in the first half-mile on the hill. I also passed several people, but one of them passed me back at the very end of the race!

I need to train hills more, but I feel pretty good about this pace. I will work on finishes, though, because I didn't much like being passed by the woman in the pink top that I'd passed at the turnaround!

Walked around and stretched some.


Lack of experience on hill terrain was my biggest obstacle, I think. I need to find more rides and runs in hills rather than sticking to my close-to-home-flats!


This is a beautiful place to train and race, but the road is rough and the folks who run it do it on a shoestring (or spend the entry money on other things). The post-race food was snacks and water/gatorade in cups, not bottles. The swim course was too short because they hadn't measured it and the lake level had dropped from previous years. And parking seemed to be a nightmare if you arrived after 7:30 or so.