It is hard to gauge your performance as you race in a time trial start compared to others, unless everyone is passing you. I had to really rely on myself to gauge this. I did get passed by 3 people and I passed a few too, but that doesn't matter because you have no idea what is going on 20 minutes behind you. I started out at a medium pace for the first mile just to get my bike legs going. At the first downhill portion, I started to kick it up. Any uphill portions I hit, I cruised and any flats or downhills, I kept a pretty solid place. about 8 miles into it, my chain popped off the front. I didn't panic. I shifted back up and slowly turned the crank and it went back on and so did I. Half way through, I had another Gu and the rain stopped. My bike and I were covered with mud, gross schmegg and dead worms from the road. I opted for no socks since they would have just been water logged and probably bunched up. That was a good decision. Mile 15, my foot was a little tingly so I took my foot off the pedal shook it out and slipped it back on.....well it was wet and my clip didn't catch. Instead, I slipped the pedal and my ankle took a ride across the chain ring slicing my ankle open. I immediately blocked it out and clipped back in and kept going. Once and a while I would look down too see how bad it was bleeding and then foused back on the road. The last few miles, I upped my cadence and cruised a bit to get ready for the run.

Eat some food. You'll see why in the next part.

One bike was barely hagging on the rack and as I racked mine, it tipped over. The girls down the row said, "it's not your fault". Not much to do in this transitions. Shoes off and running shoes on, Squirted some water on my ankle, helmet off and away I went.

nothing

The weather was breaking and everythig felt good. I kept an ez pace for the first third then then the plan was to increase for the second third and then on the hills back in, I would kick it into high gear. I took a few sips of water and a little on my head to stay cool along the way. Then it happened. At the turn around (mile3) I could feel hunger coming on and there was no food to eat on the course and I had nothing. This happened to me once before in training and I knew it wouldn't go away. I also knew that if I pushed it, I would bonk real hard. So I just kept my ez pace and focused on the finish trying to ignore my empty stomach. It sucked because people were passing me and I couldn't turn it up and I knew under better circumstance I could. I just had to maintain and get through it. My ankle was getting sore and I was developing a monster blister on my big toe. I guess my new shoes are just a hair to small. As I turned the final corner, I had no gas in the tank and just cruised in under the finish line.

Take food with me. Different shoes are a must.

I went straight to the food and ate a ton. 2 bagels, mountain dew, water, fig neutons, harvest bar and pretzels.


lack of food


The actual race started on time and ran smoothly. Events leading up to the rcae were a little nutty do to the swim being cancelled and the crew setting up a little late. At the end of the day though, I learned a lot about strategy, preparedness and my mental ability. Considering the obsticles I had, I still feel like I handled it all well and made the best decisions I could. I feel like I am just that much more ready for the next one.