login
 Swim
Comments: I positioned myself a bit more aggressively than I have in the past, in the middle of the pack instead of back and to the side.This was the largest mass start I've been in and there was lots of contact, but I stayed calm and confident. I just focused on finding a comfortable pace and stuck with it. Couldn't find any feet to draft off of, especially with the cloudy water. You really couldn't see anyone until you were on them. By the second loop the pack had thinned and I just kept swimming and sighted about every 5th stroke. Swam up to the boat ramp exit until my hands touched the bottom, then stood up and ran up the hill to transition while removing the top of my wetsuit, cap and goggles. What would you do differently?: Pushed harder on the swim. After looking at my time, I realized my pace was too comfortable. I definitely could have pushed harder.  Transition 1
Comments: Transition went pretty smoothly. I had forgotten to turn my garmin on before the race start, so as soon as I got to transition I turned it on, and it was tracking by the time I mounted the bike. I struggled a bit getting my new tri shoes on. I haven't practiced putting them on in a hurry yet. I can't run in my tri shoes, so I walked as quick as I could to the mount line and off I went What would you do differently?: Remember to turn my garmin on before the start. Learn to get into my shoes on the bike.  Bike
Comments: The first section of the bike course is on a downhill, winding, narrow rough road with 6 speed bumps. I took this pretty slow, since my bike handling skills aren't that great, and I'm not sure how fast I can safely take a speed bump. Once through that I got up to speed and found a comfortably hard pace. The out section on Mill Creek Road is about an 8 mile long false flat with a few hills. I knew from pre-riding the course that this part was going to be hard, so I shifted to the small chain ring to keep from mashing. A few people passed me, and towards the top before the turn around I passed a few. After the turn around, I shifted to my hardest gear and tried to make up some lost time. This part was fun and fast, but I was slowed down a bit by a strong headwind. Coming back up the hill into transition, I once again had to ride over the 6 speed bumps, but I was going so slow since it was uphill this time that I didn't need to slow down for them. What would you do differently?: Train more on the bike. Push harder. Transition 2
Comments: The dismount area was on the opposite side of the transition area from my rack, so I had a pretty good walk back to my rack. There wasn't a spot for my bike on the rack, so I just leaned it against the fence. Everything else went pretty smoothly, except I was messing with my garmin to get it switched over to Run. What would you do differently?: Learn to get out of my shoes on the bike. Maybe, not bring the garmin. It seemed to be more of a distraction than helpful.  Run
Comments: This was the worst run I've ever had in a race, or even in training for that matter. I felt pretty good setting out on the run, but the dirt trail quickly trashed my achilles. I have ongoing problems with tight achilles, and they get strained pretty easily. Both achilles felt like tight knots and both my feet went numb. I simply couldn't run through it, and found myself walking just before the 1 mile marker. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it, but I decided if I had to I would walk the whole thing. I would be dead last, but I would finish. Even though walking hurt too, just not as much. Thankfully, I did not have to walk the entire distance. I ran until I couldn't bear it any longer, and then I would walk awhile. I also poured water over my head at every aid station to try to stay cool. I continued that way until the last mile and then ran the rest of the way to the finish line. I have never been so happy to be done with a race! What would you do differently?: Be more vigilant about stretching and rolling my calves. Run more in the heat to acclimate to the temperature. Train more on dirt trails Post race
Warm down: Walked back to transition, and packed everything back in the car. Ate great barbeque chicken at the post race meal. What limited your ability to perform faster: Achilles, no taper, still have a lot of training to do. Event comments: Challenging, but fun course. Very well organized, and great post race meal. Last updated: 2009-02-24 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
Walla Wall Multisports
80F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 185/206
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 11/13
Woke up at 5am, ate waffles with almond butter and syrup. Packed up the car and drove the hour to Walla Walla. We got to Bennington Lake around 7am, early enough to get a good parking spot and have plenty of time to set up transition. The transition area had assigned spots on the racks, and my spot was at the end of the rack, sweet! Ate a Kind bar about 1.5 hours before the start of the race.
Wandered around, and visited with people. Put my wetsuit on, and listened to the pre race meeting. Then headed down to the lake and swam a little to get used to the water. Water temperature was pretty comfortable, but very poor visibility. I got hit in the head pretty hard by a guy swimming out as I was coming back in, and thought "good practice for what's to come".