Danskin Tri - TriathlonSprint

Okay. This course has got to be seriously short. There's no way I could ever swim that fast, though I know I was definitely cooking! My navigation was spot on; I only sighted maybe 12-15 times over the whole course. I busted out to the front and only got passed by a few women, I think. It wasn't long before I started overtaking the women in the wave in front of me. Had to squirm around some breast strokers, but otherwise, this swim was awesome. I had a 3-breath pattern going the whole time and just pushed the tempo. I started feeling it after rounding the last bouy and wondered a little bit if I had overreached--especially when I saw my split

Absolutely nothing! It was grand.

It's a hell of a long run not only from the water to the start of the transition area but also through the transition area. My lord. The actual transition, once I found my spot, went pretty smoothly. Sprayed down my feet and slipped them into my shoes, struggled a little with my race belt, but then went trotting along to the exit.

I felt like I was actually able to jog along pretty well after the swim, which has not been the case in the past.

Nothing much besides limit registration for a smaller transition area

Okay, anyone who took a peek at the Who's Racing Danskin MA thread has read about this hill already, so I'll keep it brief. I am not an excitable girl, but this was a decent sized hill. I was breathing too hard to look at my computer to see how slow I was at the peaks, but to give you an idea, I started the hill at 16.2 average 4 miles into the ride, and I crested the final peak at a 13.8 average feeling like hacking up a lung. Took the rest of the ride to bring my average back up to 16. I tried to keep it fairly comfortable for the mile after the crest and then spin it up again when I was mostly recovered

Um ... lose a few pounds to have less weight to haul around?

Pretty clean transition except the fact that I overshot my bike rack by 3 racks. Threw the bike up, pulled on some socks, slipped on my shoes, which was blissful after so much running on asphalt and gravelly sand in my bare feet, grabbed my hat and little water bottle, and was off!

Not miss my rack!

I don't know if I'm ever going to enjoy the run in a tri. But for the first time I felt like I was actually moving along instead of plodding. I brought a little of my own water so I didn't have to stop at the water stations, and I think that helped me keep whatever flow I had. I kind of labored my way through this, not wanting to slow down. Just keep moving, only back off when my breathing felt really rough. I hit the turnaround in around 15 minutes or so, so it looks like I had an even split. Turned it on as much as possible for the last quarter mile or so and finished flat out and grunting.

This year ... not much. Hopefully with a better run base next year, I'll be able to drop into the single-digit miles

Grab some water and find Anna in the throngs. Get a big hug and smile, which did much for my recovery. Wandered around drinking for a while then stretched. Went and sat on a picnic bench by the lake until I could get my bike out of transition and go home. Anna bought me fries at Burger King, which were about the best thing EVER at that point!


Nothing, I think. I really went all out, and this is absolutely as fast as I could have done it this year. Maybe next year, after this base-building year, I'll be able to cut some time off, but right now, I'm thrilled.

Now to go measure that swim ...


There were parts of the organization I really didn't like. Not nearly enough porta-potties, lax security in the transition area (no one ever checked if I belonged to my bike when I left), and a bike/run course that overlapped without any clear demarkation between the run and bike lanes. Also, the run pattern was odd because I had to cross the oncoming stream of runners twice during the course to take the right turns.

Otherwise, it was a fine race. Not sure I'll do it again, but a good event to have done at least once.