Started near the front to prevent my mistake from last year and having to crawl over people. Everything went very well. My sighting was perfect, never lost my place, went right from buoy to buoy. I began passing some men, so I knew I was doing ok. I kept a good steady pace the entire time. As I got out of the water, I looked at my watch and saw 22 something. I almost starting freaking out. How was that possible? I figured something must have been wrong, and I'd worry about it when I finished. I knew I wasn't that slow. The time difference threw me off a bit though since I knew what time I should be completing everything. Either way, I remembered the big run up to transition and knew it was going to add on some time to the swim, so I tried to hurry it up without exhausting myself.

Nothing really.

Good transition. This one I was the 9th fastest of 75. Not too bad for having to run all the way across transition in my bike shoes, only to get through the exit, and still not see the mount line. It was like another 50 yards it seemed.

Nothing

I felt really good from the time I got on the bike. I remembered the elevation profile (actually, I studied it) so I knew what I was up against the whole way. Unfortunately, there were no mile markers, so I had to guess by my time where I was. I was only passed by a few women, and I didn't see any in my AG. I tried riding in aero (which I haven't done very much of) and it worked beautifully. I stayed aero about 90% of the time. I only wish I had the aero bars with the shifters now. Even the climbs weren't nearly as difficult as I remember. Still a challenging course though, so I was no rocket out there. The end seemed to come pretty quick, so I thought I was doing well and I think that gave me a good confidence boost for the run. Took a gel about 10 min. til the end. I managed to get out of my shoes while riding up the incline to the dismount line. I didn't have my garmin for the bike, so I'm not sure if the course was exactly 15. Went through about 2/3 bottle of infinit and 1/2 bottle of water.

Maybe be a little bit more aggressive. I did manage to pass a few people myself and I think the pure confidence I get from doing that goes a really long way. [Edit to add] Should have taken an advil before the race, I always forget that. being wet from the swim, and the wind from the bike against my joints, makes my arthritis act up.

My hands were wet for some reason, so in trying to unclip my helmet strap, I kept slipping. But I couldn't have lost more than 5 seconds with that. Everything else was perfect. 7 of 75 for T2 time...not to shabby.

I remembered this course perfectly from last year. I remembered how it made me cry. I did the best I could to stick to my plan of action, which was to try to hold a 9 min. pace on the way out (knowing the incline) and run full force on the way back, hopefully sustaining an 8 min. pace. I brought my garmin for the run, but I put the straps on backwards the day before, so I had to hold it. I was all over the place the entire time. One second I was a 10:30, the next was 7:22. When I got to the turnaround, all I could think was, it's all downhill from here...literally. I ran as fast as my legs could take me and wound up passing 3 women in my age group. I felt like I was hunting my prey. I'd see them from far away and think they could possibly be in my AG. Then get closer and see they're 20 soemthing. The last one I saw, relaized she was in my AG and decided I was going to run right behind her for a few minutes. I didn't want to pass her, and have her see my age, then try to race me. As we got closer to the end, I took off, and left her in the dust. It was awesome. It wasn't until that night that I looked at my times, and sorted them in a spreadsheet, did I realize that my run was 3rd in my AG. I actually had a better run than swim. That's a first. As I ran through the finish, I looked at my watch and saw 1:49. Almost immediatley it occured to me that something was up with the swim and really did make my goals, even if I was a minute over. Smiles the rest of the day.

Nothing really. I took water at the stop on the way out and back because I remembered that I have a tendency to skip it thinking I don't want to lose time. I think my whole strategy worked very well.

Walked around with my cow bell, got some food and a beer. I realized it's always a good idea for me to eat right after a race. Last year I thought I'd wait til we got on the road, and I wound up almost having a breakdown.


Not having a tri bike? :)


I really love this race. I like the location, the lake, the organization. I was slightly disappointed when I learned that the swim was long. I don't think it was due to their measuring, I think it was something about a buoy that we weren't supposed to go around, but everyone did. I have an email in to them asking if they at least could tell me the distance so I have a better idea of my performance. I think I paced everything just right. Even though it's only a sprint, there's still some need for pacing. It's a fine line between pacing yourself just enough, and pushing too hard that the other two suffer. I sometimes think, could I have swam faster, or biked faster. Probably, but this time, I don't think doing either faster would have been better. I think I would have hurt my bike or my run times which turmed out to be great for me. Had the swim actually had been 820 yards, my overall time would have been about 3 minutes under my goal time. So while I was not really close to an award, I'm extremely proud of myself for executing my plan perfectly, staying focused the entire time, staying positive, and have a great time. I had a smile on my face the whole way. I can't wait until my next race. I was starting to wonder whether I really enjoyed this, or if it was just the thrill of my first season before. No, I REALLY enjoy this. And bring a new confidence to each race, and being able to answer others' beginner questions, makes the experience that much more enjoyable. I don't know if my performance constitues a new tri bike, but I am very happy with it nonetheless. Bring on the next race.