Wildflower Triathlon - Long Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I just got this long sleeved wetsuit. We went for a swim on Sat w the team and I am so happy I bought it - I love it! YAY! No more cold arms!

I started in the middle-ish on the right side. No real issues or anything at the start. navigated my way through slower swimmers. Felt good overall w the swim, didn't have any issues breathing or siting. Stopped to clear out my goggles a few times and to doublecheck that I wasn't too far off course as I have been known to go in the past... It was nice to swim in fresh lake water, it's been so long... Got myself into a nice groove and just cruised as best i could, gliding along. I drafted off of someone for a little bit near the beginning. A little further on, there was someone I was swimming the same pace w to my left. her arm turnover was faster than mine and it seemed like she was trying to pass me, but I was just doing my thang. Then someone on my right was getting in too close to me and no one was moving, they were just sort of crowding me in - unintentionally i suppose. So i just said fk it, stopped and moved around them both. Kept trying to remember what Paul and Rad were saying about "aim for the gas pumps and cut a few hundred meters off your course." I tried...

Maybe swim a little harder - I didn't push myself very hard. Could prob cut another minute or two off my time. Oh, and maybe decide to run up that damn hill after the swim. HA!

There was a long ass hill - beach hill - to get out of the water and into transition. I took my time and walked up. I was not about to kill myself going up this pebble-y way. Made sure to spray myself w sunblock - didn't want to end up w sun poisoning like i did from the last HIM i did.

Move a little faster overall. :)

Wow. Yes, I was prepared. I'm just slow. I never got off my bike and never felt like I wanted to. Which is good. The mile markers for the course are painted on the road, so those first 10 miles were treacherous. I don't look at the miles or the time on my bike computer for the most part and it was impossible to ignore these giant yellow numbers. Sucked. Miles 10-20 were better and went by a little faster. Somewhere around miles 20-30 two women - one from the SF Tri Club - were riding next to each other chatting. I REALLY hope they got a 4 min penalty. It pissed me off. There was a girl from TNT that I was leap frogging w for most of the ride, and we joked about it. I flew down the downhills wherever possible - hitting 45mph at one point! I LOVE that! Those downhills really help my overall avg pace. :) The course was rarely ever flat and nasty grade sucked for sure. But I just kept telling myself this isn't as long as latigo, you can do it, just stay steady. I passed a couple of people on the way up actually, which is nice for me considering i was going 4.5mph or so w a 40-50 rpm cadence. My lower back was hurting for a good portion of the ride. I rode aero in some spots, not in others. Whenever possible, i would stretch out my legs and hamstrings on the bike to alleviate some of the strain and tightness i was experiencing. I love the finish of this ride, just cruising down lynch hill at top speed. sooo fun. I saw Rad I think it was right before the downhill into transition and he says "just around that bend and all you've gotta do is run" or something like that and i thought "riiiight."

Throughout the course wherever there was an aid station, I took a water bottle and just doused myself and drank some. I ate 3/4 of my PB&J and 4 Fig Newman's (YUM!) and drank a lot.

on this course, um, stop looking at the numbers. try to go faster. for training purposes, just get stronger on the hills. maybe stop using my beloved granny gear?

when i say that i was 'average' on the hills and overall, i mean for my own performance of course and not for the average triathlete. cos then i would be "bad."

chamois butter...

Of course, as I was the first one in my immediate transition area out of the water to get my bike, i was the last one back to rack my bike. :( i had to move someone's bike over so i could rack mine.

No issues here, other than the relay peeps were in the same row and they were a little too spread out all over the place w people hanging out for my liking. They didn't get in my way, but i would have preferred that they skipped a row and then racked them. whatever. had to redo my ponytail, put on the visor, race belt/skirt and kicks and then another sunblock allover spray. As i was leaving i heard the announcer say that one of my teammates just finished the race. "GREAT!" I thought - "now he's gonna have to wait almost 3 hours til i get my ass back from this run." And "damn he's fast." And, "well, he started 1:20 before me!" And ultimately, "Nice job carlos c!" saw jen r just outside of transition too.

nothing

another hilly run. lots of trail running which i love. i was having issues and it was hurting me to run, so i walked. a lot. the first couple miles mentally were hard because all i could think was "FUCK! 11 more miles to go!" and "SHIT! 10 more miles to go!" and then at one point "OMG I'm ONLY HALF WAY THERE!"

I saw a bunch of wildlife on the run, too. Within the first mile I saw a bird on top of a sign - white chest and blue head/back. 2 deer. 1 black/white striped snake on the trail. a chipmunk. and a dead bird on the side of the trail.

I met Louis somewhere around mile 3 or 4. We walked and chatted a bit. We ran together a little, then got to another hill and walked up. I started running again. Then around mile 6 I think, we were approaching the campsite and i saw Kathryn and started talking to her about my issues. Then Louis caught up to us, she said goodbye and he kept saying "I don't want to do the walk of shame." So we started running. Personally, I didn't care if I walked or ran thru the campsite, but probably best that we ran thru most of it. THANKS LOUIS! I started to feel only slightly better at some point. I vaguely remember miles 7-8-9. I remember seeing the mile marker for 10 knocked down heading into the pit. I think I was walking uphill then. Then I ran downhill and saw Mark and Chris heading up the hill on their way to the finish and a little further behind them I saw Matt. Cheered everyone on. Tried running back up the hill after the turnaround, then walked some more. Saw Louis and Aubrey on the return, at which point I think I was running again cos it flattened out a bit. Saw rad again who provided some additional encouragement. I caught up to the TNT girl that I was leap frogging w on the bike (we were doing the same thing on the run) and as we passed the mile marker for 12 I asked her if she wanted to run the last mile together. We tried. Didn't work out so much. She was in too much pain and had to stop. I took one walk break w her then started running again. Got to some point and some dude said "just a mile left" and I thought Ummmm...I already passed the 12 mile mark...anyway, I didn't pay him much mind and ran down lynch hill. got a compliment from a 62 yr old dude on my race belt skirt and ran the rest of the way in to the finish line. i had to keep talking myself into calmness so i wouldn't wheez from nearing the finish line. as i crossed the finish line, trying to smile, trying to breathe, i was looking down as they handed me a cold wet towel, tried to grab my race chip and give me a medal, all of a sudden i look up and there's my entire IronTEAM screaming! They were all at the finish line, cheering each of us in. It was pretty fucking awesome and i had no idea! had i looked up or even looked ahead at the finish i would have known they were there. It was a nice surprise and a terrific way to end the very long day.

um...i was prepared for the run, but just couldn't run. oh well. next time. and the funny thing is, i ran faster than my 2005 race!

not much. wet towel, water, 1/2 banana. didn't eat for a while actually. i wasn't hungry like i usually am. waited for the rest of the team to finish. took some team pix. cleaned up my transition area and went back to camp.

And I finished 378/453 overall women.


chafing


Really a very well run race. Incredible amount of volunteers. The aid stations were terrific. LOTS of water. I didn't take anything other than water, a hose over my body and a few orange wedges. The Cal Poly students were having a great time. Some stations they were singing, every single one of them was encouraging the entire day.

The course itself is a killer. Really challenging to say the least. I was prepared and while i say the course was "too hard" based on my ability, i would do it again. It wasn't that it was "too" hard, it is just freaking HARD. Period. Lots of people have a hard time on the run. It's a challenge, plain and simple and that is why we do triathlons. I always knew this was a hard course and never thought I'd attempt it. Now that i have, I know that i can handle any course. It is an accomplishment in and of itself to finish this race and i did it!