Camp Yuba Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Boy, I just don't understand (and won't complain!) but I am so much faster in the open-water than I am the pool, it's nuts. I actually even got into a good kick-and-stroke rhythm today, though it was interrupted a time or two by smacking into semi-truck swimming in front of me.

Overall, I was very happy with my swim. It wasn't my fastest-ever OWS, but it felt like it! Weird.

Swim more, swim straight.

I'm not sure what this time is exactly, but we had to run up the boat-launch ramp and then to transition. I got one heel cleared easily, but the left foot was slow to come off. I didn't get my shoes on very quickly, either.

Practice transitions

This was a surprisingly painful ride, and it required a post-race trip to the Ambulance (fun!). First, my legs just didn't feel great today. They've been a bit sore this week. Maybe it's the combo of not exercising much heading up to last week's triathlon, and then jumping back in hard with two tris in a week plus more.

The first half of the race went OK, but then I wiped out while turning around at the mid-point mark. My bike slide sideways and I had to use my "hand brake," which left a big chunk of my palm on the #%$@*! gravely road. I was bleeding pretty good, but jumped back onto my bike, passed another girl who had biffed it as well.

The ride back was pretty sluggish. Between my legs being toast and my hand bleeding all over my handlebars, it just wasn't pretty. I passed a few people but got passed by more.

The second half was also mostly uphill -- though a steady incline, it just worked me hard. Oh well, at least I stopped bleeding! And I did end up with an OK time, so I guess it wasn't all that bad.

Not wreck. Go faster. Ride more. Lose weight.

Not much to say. Dumped my bike and helmet off and took off. This might get more challenging when I have to decleat and put running shoes on. Guess that's the bonus of not having cleats yet.

This was a TOUGH run course. The director called it "relatively flat." Guess his definition of "relatively" means "absolutely not" or "part of this hilly course is" ...

Coming out of transition, we had to climb a short dirt trail to get up on the road. Not bad. The next mile was on pavement and my legs weren't their usual Jell-O selves, which was good.

But after getting a drink at the Aid Station, we were on a dirt road that eventually became a dirt hill with a fairly steep climb for about 200 yards or so.

I honestly didn't think I could keep running, but I slowed down my pace and kept on moving without walking (though walking might've been faster than my snail's pace). I finally ran bush-by-bush until I got up to the top. We then had another short climb and then ran down a hill to the turnaround point.

The hill coming back wasn't as bad as getting there, and it was nice to recuperate going downhill for a while. Ahhhhhh. The second half of the race wasn't quick, but I kept a decent pace. I played leapfrog with a 60-year-old dude, but he left me in his dust down the home stretch.

I was kinda feeling bad that my family wasn't there to cheer me on, but a guy from my work was there for his daughter and his wife yelled out my name. That was nice.

Even though this was a tough race for me and I was bloodied up, I had a big smile on when I crossed the finish line. Then again, maybe those reasons were why I smiled so much.

I enjoyed this race. It was tough, but it was a fun course. Timing issues prevented any of us from getting official times, and they had to cut the awards ceremony short. I felt bad for the race director, because he was forced to deal with a curveball out of his control.

I also thought they should have had somebody at the bike turnaround, telling yahoos like me to slow down. And maybe they could have swept the road at that point.

Other than those two things, I really, really liked this race and would love to do it again next year.