Saguaro Lake OLY - TriathlonOlympic

Open water swimming finally came together for me in this race. I used ear plugs to fight dizziness and an extra swim cap to fight the cold water. The water was a little choppier than I am used to, and there was a substantial amount of distance between buoys. Normally, these factors would have thrown me into a panic from the beginning. For whatever reason, I was calm and just able to focus on swimming instead of 'not drowning'. It was a marked change from my previous attempts. I was still slow, but having a calm swim let me come out of the water without having expended so much energy fighting the water and my mental anxieties. I did figure out I pull badly to my right when I swim, and sighting was difficult for me (I couldn't see the buoys a good bit of the time and was constantly having to correct myself). With my zig-zagging, there's no way to tell how far I actually ended up swimming, but I'd be willing to bet it was a lot further than the 1300 at which the course was measured. I can work at sighting and swimming in a straight line - that is just fine tuning - the really important thing was being able to swim calmly.

Maybe sight more often. Other than that, not a thing. This was my best open water swim.

There was a long way to go from the water to the transition area, and it was pretty rocky and gravelly. My feet tend to be sensitive, so it was slow going for me. I was a little disorganized when I got to the transition area. Things were not laid out as normal since there were two transition areas, and I didn't have my normal bag. My wetsuit came off easy - I had used the body glide in all of the right places, apparently. I just felt a little disorganized and since I needed to get everything into a bag to give to the voluteers, I spent a little too much time checking and double checking to make sure I didn't leave anything.

Toughen my feet up and show a little more urgency. This is a race, after all.

I was extremely happy with the bike section. Even though it was hilly, I only needed to drop to the little ring twice. At the beginning of the course, Jenna caught up to me to say hello and cheer me on. She then stopped up ahead to get a picture. It lifted my spirits before hitiing Usery Pass. After nimbly climbing Usery Pass, Kobe (my bike) decided that she was ready to open it up a bit. (She had a great day) We went very fast through the rolling and flat sections of the course. On one of the flatter sections, I saw Jen and we said hello. She had had a lot of mechanical problems on the ride, but it didn't show. It was a very fun, exhilarating bike ride. Extremely challenging, but rewarding. I have to compare it to Pumpkinman, since I consider this race to be early season training for that one. The Pumpkinman course is a little harder, with more steep sections stacked toward the end, but this one was no slouch.

Nothing - I managed to keep getting fluids down, was geared properly, and felt better on hills than ever.

The volunteers took my bike and I kind of went into a fog. I looked ahead at the beginning of the 'run' course, and all I saw was a mountain to climb. I felt a little faint and took too much time on this transition, but I wasn't ready to run yet. I think that I was starting to lack carbohydrate stores. I'll have to take in more calories in future races.

Take in more calories. My energy level hit a wall here.

Early on, Jen caught up with me and we chatted for a while, which helped my morale. We ran for a bit and then a couple of people got between us while passing me, she stayed in front of them and we parted ways. It's just as well because I only would have held her back anyway. Suffice it to say, the 'you've got to be effing kidding me' run course chewed me up and spit me out. I had to hike most of the first half which was mostly uphill. On the second half, I tried to run/shuffle on downhills when I thought the footing was safe. I was very conservative since I have a half marathon coming up next weekend and I didn't want to fall or turn an ankle and mess up two races at once.

I suppose more hill training would help, but these were more than hills - it was crazy. More experience of running on rocky terrain would probably help as well.

Finally, after passing a horse stable and climbing yet another hill, the finish line appeared (the smell from the stable and the burning in my legs on the hill were the last little surprises the race had in store for me). I immediately saw Jenna and smiled for the camera. As I crossed the finish line, there were Sally, Tom, Josh, and Jen, who were nice enough to wait for me and cheer me in (BTers atre the BEST). I had some Gatorade and then we made the 1/2 mile uphill (of course) trek back to the car.


Lack of mountain climbing gear for the run, additional carbohydrates on the course


Two imporatnt lessons came out of this race. First, I need to take in more calories for races longer than sprints. Second, SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN. My shoulders ended up getting burnt so bad that I can barely move today. You know you've made a planning error when you get through a race that lasts nearly four hours, and the worst pain you feel in the aftermath is a sunburn. Lesson learned! Anyway, this was a great race overall. It was a challenging race on a beautiful course. I had a fantastic time, got to spend a lot of time with Jenna going to and from, and got to see some great friends at the race. I got everything that I could out of my body which is all I can ask for at any race. I finally had a good open water swim (FINALLY). I have improved on the bike on hilly courses, and well, we won't talk about the 'run'. Even though Pumpkinman is harder overall, I feel like I will be ready for it this year, and it won't kill me like last year. This year, it would be nice to race it instead of only surviving it. And this one, while challenging, didn't tax me to the point where I won't do well in the Flying Pig 1/2 next weekend. I have six more days of recovery and tune up and I should be ready.