As far as my swims go, this one wasn't too bad. Pushed the pace just a teeny bit, but needed to make up time since my sighting was not too good. On the long side of the triangle, I was good for awhile, and then I was sighting off one of the lifeguard stands, which turned out to be well inside the course and I had to swim back out to the buoys. I'm sure that cost me a minute or two.

Other than that, just a weird swim: for about 10 minutes I was COMPLETELY nauseous. Like, gonna barf get outta my way nauseous, though it passed without incident. Then, I had an awful sidestitch -- while swimming?? -- that seemed to ebb when I switched sides that I was breathing on. And - my right calf kept almost cramping up. Not ever totally cramping, just enough to make me a little wary. And none of these things really seemed to slow me down or anything, just a weird, not quite ordinary swim. I suppose it did a good job of occupying my brain for the duration!

But even with all that, this went smoothly enough. Got swum over by the men's waves behind me, but nothing bad happened that I couldn't recover from.

Swim straight? I swam pretty strong, just not in a straight line. Well, I guess it WAS kinda a straight line, just a straight line towards the wrong place. :)

Nothing too much of note here. I actually slowed it down and took it easy. Not wearing a watch kept me relaxed here, though I could probably shave about 15-30 seconds off this.

For this race? Nothing.

Very, very weird biking without a bike computer. I must have looked at that empty spot a thousand times over the course of the race. Truly. This was probably the leg that I was most frustrated by not having feedback; and conversely, this is the leg that I probably most benefited by not having it.

Nice tailwind for a good stretch of the ride, and then straight into a headwind for the rest. Broke the loop into two distinct pieces for me. I have NO idea how I pulled 19+ average on this, though -- I must have been hauling ass with the tailwind (which was my strategy -- work HARD with the wind, spin strong against the wind). Or - like others have said - the course was short, which is probably more believable.

Because of construction, the Oly course was two loops of the sprint course instead of the first 12 miles being west of the venue. The first loop was very crowded. There were times when I got caught behind someone I needed to pass, but was unable to because of all the super speedy guys passing on the left. The second loop was much less congested since all those guys were already off the bike.

Anytime I started getting stressed and all "I'm not going fast enough!" I asked myself, "Can I go faster?" and as long as the answer was "No", I ignored the evil voices in my head. In fact, I sang the evil voices OUT of my head. :) (...though not out loud. usually.)

This ride went by quickly, which was a nice change after the hell that was the Racine bike leg. I felt like I pushed it as hard as I could without completely blowing myself up

Even with all the hills I've ridden this summer, I don't feel like I climb particularly well. I lose all sorts of momentum -- I'd like to blame the bike, but I think the engine has more to do with it. :) So - I guess I just need to ride MORE hills.

This went smoothly. I was about 10 miles from the bike in/out so it took awhile to manuveur the bike over there, though.

Better rack position? Late in the game, I found that people were switching rack spots, and I could have benefited both with a better rack position and more space at my spot as well.

So... without a watch strapped to me, the only time I knew how I was doing was going in and out of transition. When I left for the run, I knew I had 1:03 to go sub-3 hours, which is what my goal has been all season. Now - mind you - I HAD NO EXPECTATIONS for this race. Um, yea. Right. :)

Knowing that I typically run too fast off the bike, I decided to take it easy the first part of the run, figuring that I'd still be a good 30" or so under a 10m/m pace. And that worked well. Kept me relaxed and feeling very in control. I will struggle mentally on the run -- fighting the "dang I'm tired I want to walk" demons -- and had negotiated with myself that I would walk all the aid stations, but nothing in between.

And that really worked for me. At around 3 miles, I finally caught up to Ellen -- she was having a great race! -- and that served me well. Also saw Jess out on the course ahead of me ... a shoe malfunction allowed me to catch up with her as well - don't think I otherwise would have, though! Chatted for a couple of seconds with both, and then surged forward. After that, it was all a matter of trying to put down the rest of the race.

So - I ran. Fast. Well, fast for me. :) Not having a watch (GRRRRR!), I have no idea what my splits were, but to guess, I think I was probably at a 9:30m/m pace for the first half of the race, and then was pulling 8:30's.

Was amazed to get to the finish line and see the time, mentally trying to do the math to figure out my actual time AND put together a good finish line kick.

My time in 2006? 3:06:20. This year? 2:53:49. Not bad to take over 12 minutes off my Oly PR. I'll take it. :)

I suppose I might have been able to push the pace a little more in the first three miles, but that may have doomed the negative split. I choose not to Monday morning quarterback this run and instead just appreciate that I came in sub-9m/m at a time when I'm not all that speedy on the run.

Wandered about the finish line area, waiting for Jess and Ellen to come in. After seeing them both finish shortly after me, we chatted a bit then walked around some more to see if we could find anyone else. But we didn't so we got our bikes and headed back to the hotel for a much-needed shower.


Still need more bike training, I think. Sure, my swim is slow, but there isn't as much time to be gained there as on the bike.


I like this race. Yes, it's expensive and you don't get much in the way of post-race stuff, but the venue is great (the bike even better when it's laid out the way it's supposed to be, but that's not their fault) and everything is pretty well organized. And I actually liked the fleece they gave out... and because my office is so cold, it'll get some immediate use. :)