Danskin Women's Triathlon Series - Austin
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Danskin Women's Triathlon Series - Austin - TriathlonSprint
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Swim
Comments: Once again, I have not been swimming or doing any type of training for the swim. I just got in the lake and started going. I did try to start on the left hand side since I am a right side breather and I was told this would help with navigation. There were an AMAZING amount of slow swimmers and trying to wind your way through them was tough. I was in wave #9 and was shocked at the amount of women struggling on the swim. While I was swimming I kept thinking about how far I had come in this sport (not in the swimming, but in everything else) and I was reflecting back on my first time doing a triathlon. I signed up for this race with a group of friends and we did this race last year. When I was packing to leave for Austin, I couldn't find my garmin HR strap and so I didn't wear my Garmin at all during the race. I also sometimes find it hard to really get into "race" mode when I am with a big group of people and there are so many other details involved in getting to an event. So, with that said I didn't really feel the urge to push it on the swim. At one point in the race there was a woman with a silver swim cap on (I didn't ever even see a wave with silver swim caps so I wasn't sure if she was a swim angel or what). She was crying hysterically and hanging onto a noodle. I stopped and asked if she was OK and if she needed help. She kept telling me she was fine and after the third time of asking her, I motioned to a kayaker and told her that she could hang on the kayak and get help. There were several other people REALLY struggling on the course and I stopped to give them a word of encouragement. It really made me realize how challenging this sport is and what an accomplishment it is just to finish an event like this. What would you do differently?: Once again, if I trained on the swimming it would help. I wouldn't change the fact that I stopped to check on people along the way as the danskin is such a supportive race for women and I wanted to be supportive to others who were struggling. Transition 1
Comments: One of my goals for this event was to improve my transition times. There is a pretty good run from the lake to the transition area which I felt good for since I hadn't really pushed it on the swim. Saw a friend who cheered for me as I ran by and started thinking about my transition plan. As soon as I sat down I realized that I was going to need to pour some water on my feet to get all the dirt off. Grabbed my water bottle, squirted my feet and got to work getting socks and bike shoes on. I had already decided to skip my camelback this time (this was my first triathlon without it!)and I didn't have my Garmin to put on and I didn't wear bike gloves. I think all of these things really helped me cut off a couple of minutes from last year's T1. What would you do differently?: Be better prepared to rinse feet off Bike
Comments: This is definitely my favorite event of the three and the one I do the best in. The bad news is that I didn't air up my tires before leaving Ft. Worth and I was planning to do it when I got to Austin, well I never did. I just get overwhelmed by all the things that have to be done and they seemed like they weren't too low. Well, as soon as I got on the bike, I regretted that decision as I could tell they were not aired up as much as I like. Other than that I felt good on the bike. I had a fun ride and passed lots of people. I only got passed about 3 or 4 times and enjoyed the ride except for the fact that when you have over 2500 people doing a race the course is very crowded and I ended up going outside the orange cones to pass as there were many people not riding on the right side. I know that there are lots of newbie bikers on the course so it is just hard to get around people. The winds were strong at times and one turn into a headwind caused a major slow down. I was very excited about my overall rank on the bike as I felt like I had a strong bike, but 17.8 mph doesn't sound very fast. I guess the winds affected everyone. What would you do differently?: Air up my tires Transition 2
Comments: I did run from the dismount to my area, but I never do a moving dismount. For one thing, there were way too many people in this event to try to do something like that. I need to practice it. I forgot to put on my race number for the run and I think that saved me a bit of time. I was pleased that my time was faster than last year, but I could definitely still use some work on transitions. What would you do differently?: Practice a moving dismount. Maybe try yankz? Run
Comments: I felt like I was really dragging on the run, but only walked up the biggest hill at the end. The sun was out in full force by that point and I was HOT! I kept trying to speed up my cadence, my just counldn't motivate in the heat and the hills were tough. What would you do differently?: Keep practicing with more hills Post race
Warm down: After I finished I spent about 30 minutes walking up and down and trying to find other folks from my group. I never saw any of them finish and finally found Paige. Then we waited for other friends to finish and cheered people on. What limited your ability to perform faster: I think I could have done a little better with being more organized and prepared for the race. However, this was really just a training race for me and the danskin is all about supporting other women and not necessarily about "racing". Event comments: The Danskin is the biggest tri that I ever compete in and it is definitely hard to "race" with that many people. I find the event to be very inspiring and fun and plan to continue to sign up in the future. Plus our women trips to Austin and our regular stops at the outlet mall make it an added bonus. The triathlon on this trip is almost secondary! Last updated: 2008-04-03 12:00 AM
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2008-06-09 11:32 AM |
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2008-06-09 4:11 PM in reply to: #1454165 |
2008-06-09 4:57 PM in reply to: #1454165 |
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2008-06-12 4:44 PM in reply to: #1454165 |
2008-06-12 10:59 PM in reply to: #1454165 |
2008-06-12 11:44 PM in reply to: #1454165 |
2008-06-13 1:10 PM in reply to: #1454165 |
2008-06-13 1:18 PM in reply to: #1454165 |
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General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
Danskin
90F / 32C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 234/2592
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 34/341
Woke up around 4:40 when I heard the girls next door getting ready to leave. There were 8 of us in two rooms and all of us but one were signed up to do the danskin. Unfortunately one of our friends that was signed up decided not to do it at the last minute. She has done the event several times before and does great, but the swim just sends her into a panic. Got dressed, filled up water bottles and headed to the car. Ate a banana with peanut butter and a bagel in the car. Really wished I would have had some caffeine, but forgot to get a diet coke or coffeee until it was too late.
Put my gear in transition and went for a quick run around the park. I was really surprised not to see but one other person warming up at an event with over 2500 people!