(61F-Calm-Dew61F-Hum100%-Fog)

The women’s sprint distance started after the men. I thought that I was towards the back of the crowd, but I guess that I wasn’t by the crowd that I seemed to be stuck in once the start siren went off. I ran in with everyone (that was the first thing that I did that wasn’t according to plan) and tried to stick with the pack (that was the second thing that I did that wasn’t according to plan). Of course, I panicked. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t calm myself down. I had to go on a back a bit to get my breath back. It took forever. When I was ready to swim I couldn’t get into any rhythm. That would make me panic some more.

I also had decided to wear my shirt under my wetsuit. That was something that I hadn’t tried before. I figured that since it wicked and was polyester, it’d be okay. Wrong. The friggin thing soaked up water under my suit so that I was weighed down (at least that’s what it felt like). I was so tempted to rip of my suit and keep on swimming without it.

With my fits and starts over the first two-thirds of the course, I was pretty much left in the dust by my wave. I did manage to hit a pace a bit towards the end, but I was just so frustrated that my groove didn’t last long before I had to stop again and regroup.

In hindsight, I don't think that being all congested helped my ability to breathe out through my nose underwater - adding to my frustration.

1) Race my own race.
2) Start slow, let the field go on ahead of me, and ease into my own pace.
3) DON’T TRY ANYTHING NEW ON RACE DAY – the shirt bogged me down.

Climbed up a rather steep hill from the beach into transition. Got my bike stuff on without event and was on my merry way.

Nothing. The petroleum jelly in my socks was a wonderful thing – they went on so easy!

(61F-NE1-Dew61F-Hum100%-Clear)

After my stupid swim, I thought about trying to make up the time to meet my goal. Because I was still winded about 10 minutes into the ride, it would be impossible to make up a whole 10 minutes. So, I figured that I would stick to my plan (yeah, I had a plan), and try to meet my bike and run goals.

The bike ride was decent. There were some slight climbs that I didn’t gear down for properly, but managed okay. I set my sights on passing as many people as I could. In my frustration about the swim, I was determined to at least move up a few places in the ranks.

I drank well and popped a gel at the last mile. My right calf (it had been tight since earlier in the week), was cramping so I tried to stretch it out over the last few minutes.

1) Gear better, rather than trying to muscle up the hills (I just wanted to show up the mtn bikers).
2) Start a bit slower, stay spinning longer to get HR down.

Not bad. The transition area was super long, so from dismounting the bike, I had to run with my cleats for what seemed like forever to my rack. Everything went on fine and I was out on my way in a jiffy.

(66F-NE1-Dew66F-Hum100%-Clear)

I pushed hard on the bike so I anticipated that my legs might be more fried than ideal. I was right. I forged on the run. Five minutes into it, I had a hard time breathing and was relegated to inhaling & exhaling through my mouth making it harder to keep my HR down. I probably have some nice race day photos with me wiping snot from my face too,

It was an out and back on a two-lane road with no shade as the sun warmed things up. There was a steady stream of runners in both directions (although it seemed like more were ahead of me, which was the truth). I took a few walk breaks as that knot in my calf and my stomach decided to act up. I kept counting down the time until I would finish and kept going. It went something like “okay, only 10 more minutes of this $%#@!pain until I finish”. The finish line chute was a nice sight and I pushed on. Not a great run, but at least I finished.

1) The swim freaked me out because I was overconfident and didn't swim MY RACE.
2) The shirt under my wetsuit bogged me down -DON’T TRY ANYTHING NEW ON RACE DAY!
3) My nutrition the day before wasn't on track – I ate lots of carbs but didn’t stick to regular meals. (DON’T CHANGE ANYTHING BEFORE RACE DAY!!)
4) Head cold. I'm going to through some decongestants in my bag right now for next time, just in case.


USAT Points: 56.8529