Salem Spring Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Got off to a BAD start... I got in the water shortly beforehand and tried to acclimate to the water, but as soon as the whistle blew... I couldn't get my face in the cold water and couldn't catch my breath, my heart rate skyrocketed, and I was in the midst of a huge anxiety attack.... WTH!!!
Finally after the second buoy I was able to start getting some decent strokes in and falling into my funky breathing pattern (that's actually normal for me). If I could have started out like that from the beginning I'm sure that would have been a good three minutes off, at least. By the end I was finally actually starting to sprint and feel the good strokes. Low and behold, it was the end...
Did I mention that you could actually see the little strands of algae floating just beneath the surface? Yeah, a little green...

Get in the water a few waves earlier to swim a little beforehand.

I wasn't moving too fast as I got out of the water... ran more after I got through the park... running on the wet grass was kind of nice until the mud :( Not bad though (that's what happens when you're one of the last 5 of over 600 peeple getting out of the water. I don't think I could have gone too much faster. My T1 is comparable to many that had MUCH better overall times than I did.

NOt much, just speed up overall.

Several small hills and MANY turns made this course FUN!!! As long as you watched out for the little cracks and crevices in the concrete, cyclists riding too far left to pass (had to call my passes a lot), and oh yeah, the white pick-up coming at you head on in your lane!!!! IDIOT!!! Here's the deal... there's a short stretch (maybe 1/2 mile) of road where the runners are coming in on the left side and cyclists heading out on the right. This is a little farm town with out a lot, correction, any shoulders on the side of the road. I hit this stretch on my bike when there's a good size pack of runners coming in. Already there's a black pick-up mixed up in/by the pack of runners... then this white pick-up decides to wing wide left (to my right) to pass the runners (and I think his intention may have been to pass the black truck as well) all to be done in MY lane!!! I'm coming down the road in aero, lift my hands off the shift bars as in the ask WTH?... he's not stopping and not swinging back the least little bit (of course he can't because now he's on the side of a bunch of runners running like 4 to 6 across!!! I'm one bike sticking as far right as I can and still have a truck coming at me head-on!!! Finally I hit the brakes, lock the rear wheel (Oh S&!% I start to see me rear wheel pass me), recover, go off the road (there's about one foot of loose dirt before wild overgrown bushes)... somehow I survive it all without ever laying my bike down (guess all those years of dance really paid off on the balance, that or the skiing ;) ) Though once I did get pass the pick-up it was kind of funny the faces on all of the runners... they were all wide eyed wondering how in the heck I DIDN'T lay my bike down... I do have to say for the rest of my ride my back tire did not feel stable anytime I'd get over 20mph... though it appears to be fine (had it checked at bike clinic last night)
Overall... the bike is obviously my stronghold... while a lot of people were walking up this one hill, I climbed it both times :) No stopping for this little speed demon...

Put G2 in my aero bottle, not just water... I think this may have led to problems in my run...
Need to also work on cornering at higher speeds... 10mph seems to be my breaking point of fear on corners.

I need to practice racking my bike (and pushing the other guys over) He racked his bike only leaving me a literal 3 inches to rack mine (is that legit?)
I'm sure I looked pretty clumsy trying to get my bike on the rack...trying to figure out the best way to get it back on...
Then I could have sworn I had left another bag of beans out... did someone take them??? I know everything looked a little scattered (as if someone had used my sunscreen and just thrown the can down) OH well, the left the LUNA MOONS.

Practice racking my bike?
Just be faster....

Obviously, my run needs some help... as much as I love the bike, I think b/c it's my love I give it too much and then burn out my legs on the run. I've got to get used to pushing harder and letting the lactic burn be normal ;)
Likely, the fact that I've only ran 11 miles this entire month and haven't pushed it since the 1/2Mary in April caused some distress as well. :(

I got started at a slow pace (that I couldn't even maintain) Could hear hubby shouting my name from the park (at least I now know he and the boys finally made it). I drank at the water stations (though I know I really needed more than water) I kept eating luna moons the whole time, but I can't stand how they stick to my teeth.
As I was walking up a short low hill early on, I could feel the slight pain of my left periformis inflaming...and I would feel this the entire way... UGH!!!

Run more... Run more... bike... and then immediately run some more :)

Made three trips back to back for watermelon... drank a bottle of water... got my hat that I didn't get at packet pick-up... found hubby and kids, played with kids on the playground, bribed them off the playground to go get french fries and chocolate milk, packed up and left :) Stopped at McD's on way home (after missing exit to try someplace different.
Rushed home, washed face and then went to a 3 hr clinic where I learned how to adjust rear derailler, true wheels, and overhaul hubs... now I get to experiment with mtn bike :) WHAT A DAY!!!


Water Anxiety and lack of proper training. Maybe some electrolytes too...


I really enjoyed this race, it's a good course, the venue is wonderful, and the race team seem to be really good people. The weather was MUCH better than last year, thanks to Mother Nature for getting the order correct!!!
It does seem like perhaps the theme for this race was "behind time"... a little late for packet pick-up and the bags weren't even stuffed yet, buoys didn't go out until maybe 30 minutes before the start, then the starts were a few minutes late...
I do believe that this will become an annual race for me :)