This year, given my wave, I felt comfortable taking a more aggressive starting position over by the buoy. The start went well & I got into a rhythm pretty easily. I hesitated a little passing a couple of women who started out breast-stroking(?), as I didn't want to time it wrong & get a serious kick in the head. Aside from that, there wasn't much traffic. Another woman & I were really equally matched & swimming side by side for a few hundred yards got the competitive juices flowing pretty early. Unfortunately, we kept swimming into each other which was kind of annoying. I felt I was on a really good line & didn't want to get edged off course, so I finally paused for a sec & then cut behind her. Overall, I was really pleased with my sighting - I kept a great line the whole course and actually managed to sight w/o interrupting my stroke. This was a nice improvement over IG where I went way off into the weeds a number of times.. Did the corkscrew around the buoys & kept my speed up okay.

Not too much, really. I need to get in some more OWS practice so that sighting becomes second nature & I can think more about my stroke than just about sighting.

I knew I wasn't swimming as fast as I had could, and I'll try to push harder sooner next time, but I had a nice sprint to the finish, swimming until I hit bottom.

I opted for no socks this time & that was a good move. I had pre-baby-powdered my bike shoes to absorb moisture (a suggestion from a friend).

I wasted a little time trying to just wipe off my feet & go but that didn't get the pond grass off. A quick squirt from my extra water bottle did the job, though.

I didn't take a gel or anything during transition. I had Shaklee sports drink in one of my bike bottles & started sipping on that as soon as I was out of transition & off.

Maybe I could just squirt off my feet & put them in my shoes wet.

I guess I could stand to practice my transitions after all, as I had been hoping for ~ 2-2:30 min on this one.

I felt really good on the bike. It was different having so many people around, as most of my training is early am with no one around. I didn't have any trouble passing people, but I often came up on them at a time when I wouldn't normally be accelerating, so that was a little different. I didn't have any problems with the hills, but for some reason I didn't attack them as much as I had planned to. I definitely wasn't riding as hard as I do on training rides - usually I'm doing some serious breathing at the top of the hills- at the race, not so much.

My family was waiting right at the rail on the curve coming into the park - very fun to see them there.

I need to figure out how to attack the hills in a race like I do in training. I'm not the fastest on the hills, so I wonder if I just "fall in line" behind who ever happens to be in front of me, assuming that I couldn't pass them in the allowed 20 sec. (In training, with no one in front of me, I can just go for it.) The upside is that there is definitely room for a lot of improvement here.

I took way too much time slowing down to see where I needed to dismount & then hadn't even un-clipped when I got there. A quick run downhill, rack the bike, & start my Garmin.

I had decided to put on socks for the run & I felt like I was all thumbs as I tried to do so. I grabbed a gel, finished it as I left transition, & tried to wash it down with some water from the aid station. It was then that I discovered the downside of my new chocolate flavor gel - it was still stuck all over my mouth. (and this after actually stopping to finish the whole cup) I spent the first mile of the run thinking about how good some more water would taste at the next aid station.

stick with a fruit gel.

consider going sock-less on the run - or actually practice my bike-run transition...

This was my first race wearing my Garmin & it was cool to be able to see what kind of pace I was on. Honestly, though, I realized I had a pretty good idea even w/o it based on my RPE.

My first mile was a little off pace, but I wasn't worried, figuring I'd find my legs & pick it up. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Sure I was a little tired, but nothing serious - mentally, though, I was done. All day, I had really been looking forward to the run segment. Running is not my strong point by any means, but I'd been doing a lot more running with plenty of good hill workouts over the past few months, so I felt really ready for the course. I had rested up, too, so my legs were fresh. For whatever reason, I just couldn't make myself push as hard as I do in training. weird. Once Gatorade Hill was behind me, I was able to pick it back up a little, and I ran the last 1/2 mile pretty well. It probably helped that my kids were waiting just before that last hill...

go & actually do a hill workout on Gatorade Hill vs just run the course. Then, maybe, I'd be mentally prepared to attack the hill, knowing I could recover on the downhill.

the iced towels sure felt good!


Overall, this was a really good race for me. Just continuing to train (& lose weight) will make the biggest difference in getting faster - gravity is definitely not my friend on the up-hills.

Some people may dismiss the Athena/Clydesdale divisions as unnecessary, but I certainly loved the chance to be able to compete against a true peer group. Knowing that a podium finish was even remotely possible added some extra motivation.


What a great race to have right in my backyard. Way to go, Tri-Columbia!