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 Swim
Comments: Holy crap: they sent alllllll the women out in one wave. 111 women. I have no fear of the swim and know that while I’m not a speed demon, I’m not slow, so I stood right up front in the center. Ran down the beach, got myself going, and then I experienced what is known as the “washing machine”. Holy crap! Elbows, feet, f*ck! I’m a very giving, sharing, kind, inclusive kind of person, but I had to adopt a new attitude for this crap! I had to do a little pushing and shoving myself, just to hold my line! It took til rounding the first buoy to get my rhythm going, what with all the jostling. But then I did it. I worked hard—prob could have gone a little harder, but I was able to keep my form and keep my stroke going well, so maybe that made up for the going harder. Felt like I spotted really well. Run up the dog-gone beach killed me. F! What would you do differently?: Not much. I wanna invest in a sleeveless suit soon or get this one altered. I hate the long sleeves. Hate em!  Transition 1
Comments: That run up the beach was stupid AND they didn't start the transition time til AFTER the long-a$$ run up the beach. I swear, it must have taken me 5 mins to get up the beach BEFORE the 3 min transition! I was so whipped that I actually sat down (first time I’ve done that) after dipping my feet in my little bowl of water, then put on socks and bike shoes while sitting. Everything else was fine. Tossed a few Cliff gel bricks in my mouth and got the heck outta there with my bike. What would you do differently?: Will definitely practice outta the water beach runs more often. I have a few oppty’s a week to do open water swims, so will not skimp on the beach running when training.  Bike
Comments: Tried to drink as much Nuun/water as possible to wash down the gel bricks. Fabulous tail-wind out (was rolling at 22 mph for much of it), but horrific header on the way back (16 mph). Rggh. But exceeded my goal of high-16’s average. While rolling, I averaged 17.4, but with the running in and out of transition, average was down to about 16.7. I had a great ride—again, knowing that biking is the best of my 3, I gave it my all. I had snot and foam running down my face, but I just didn’t care, I was out there giving it my all! I started to get that side-stitch thing again, but combated with some deep breathing. Did not want to have another run with a side-stitch, like in Redondo race a few weeks ago. What would you do differently?: Given the wind and how flat this course was, I think I need to start thinking about riding aero. Back in my riding hay-day (1990s), I used to ride aero, but I’m so not into it. Maybe between now and next season, that will become my thing. Transition 2
Comments: I love T2, it’s always a breeze.  Run
Comments: At the start of the run, I remembered that I stuffed a GU in my bra, so s_cked that down as I got started with warming up the legs. Unfortunately, I was successful in hydrating on the bike ride, because I had to pee like a race horse for the ENTIRE run. Oye. Just so uncomfortable. I really wanted to get out there and run like my life depended on it—knowing I’m a slow runner, I just wanted to see if I could leave it all out on the run course. But having to pee the whole time, uh, no…didn’t go as hard as I wanted. But the good news is that the 3.11 mile run didn’t feel too bad. Y’all know I’m not a runner, and that I don’t like it. So the fact that it didn’t s_ck as bad as usual, this is an improvement. Can I tell you: there were A LOT of hot guys on the run course. Oh MY! Incentive to run faster to chase em down! What would you do differently?: You know, just keep at it. Post race
Warm down: Walked alot. Then beer and a hamburger! Yummy! What limited your ability to perform faster: The usual: being 200 lbs. Event comments: I had a really good time. There were times during the race when I thought “this s_cks”, but at the end, I had that feeling like, WOW, look what I did! And I feel so good! Saw some BTers, GailG and Van_Paulus, plus a guy I work with and a few folks who I have met on various training rides with LATri. Nice to start knowing new peeps and seeing familiar faces out there. After the race, went back to the hotel and spent about an hour in the hot tub (with alternating dips in the cooler pool). That was FANTASTIC! Met 2 other racers in the tiny tub too, another newbie named Nina, and her boyfriend (I assume!), named Dana! The hour drive home was hard…had a hard time keeping my eyes open. Last updated: 2008-03-10 12:00 AM
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United States
Breath of Life
65F / 18C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 231/301
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 16/26
Race location was an hour from my home, so I treated myself to a hotel stay. (Peeps: always try Priceline.com name your own price for hotels, because they accept ridiculously low prices. The room I stayed in was $229 per nite, but I got it for $75! Woo hoo!)
Drove up late afternoon on Saturday, picked up some fast-foot Chinese and arrived at the hotel around 8pm. Much too late to eat, but what the heck. Chowed down, organized my stuff, set the TV to snooze, and prob fell asleep around 10pm.
Alarm got me up at 4:30, I had the coffee set, so just hit the button and snoozed til the coffee was ready. Woofed down a Zone bar with the coffee (had bought 2 Zone bars, but with my recent tummy issues, was nervous about eating em both—yeah, greasy Chinese food was risky too, I know!).
Suited up, in the car and on the road by 5:00 or so. 11 min drive to the race site.
Got there plenty early, and got one of the ONLY TWO ends of the bike rack for the 400s-500s! They were LONG rows of racks, so I was pleased with the one I got.
Set my stuff up—man it only took a minute! After only 3 races in my life, this is seeming much less stressful than the first 2! Did a potty trip. And then another (thanks to the antibiotics!). Walked down to the beach to have a look-see. Water not too cold at all. Certainly could have done without the wetsuit, but I depend on the buoyancy, so… Was a little disheartened by the distance of the run up the sand from the beach to T1—yowza, pretty far! It was still early and I saw a little pod of dolphins not 20 yds out from the shore. I like that.
Walked back up the beach, found a grassy area and did some good stretching. Not sure if stretching 90 mins before a bike ride or run helps, but it felt good nonetheless.
OK, approaching 7am, and transition was going to close, so got back in there, stuffed a GU in my bra and put on my swim stuff, then headed back down to the beach. At 7:15, I did a –dunno—10 min swim warm up, plus just floated around out there, played in the waves—I just love the ocean. Saw a guy from last Sunday’s Redondo swim and had a nice hello-hug.