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Reebok Women's Triathlon
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Reebok Women's Triathlon - TriathlonSprint
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 Swim
Comments: The swim start was fun. The first 3 waves (I was in Wave 3) were "loaded" into a holding area. They had some funky music playing to get everyone jazzed up and the Elites (Wave 1) gave quite a warm-up dance performance! Then each wave was lead down the dock where we jumped in the water and treaded water for about 30 seconds until the horn went off. At first, I had a little trouble catching my breath. This happened in my practice open-water swims too so I knew to relax and work through it. The water was very calm and so once I was able to get some space around me it wasn't much different than swimming in a pool. The course was well-marked and I had no problems navigating. The last 1/3 of the course I was able to draft successfully off a swimmer in front of me. I swam right to to shore until my hands were hitting the bottom and got up fine even though I was a bit dizzy. What would you do differently?: Nothing. I was very happy with my swim.  Transition 1
Comments: Here is how I would describe T1: Ouch! It was a .1 mile run to the transition area, in bare feet and I am a terrible tenderfoot. A number of people passed me running to the transition area. What a relief to get to my bike. I had no problems getting the wetsuit off and shoes, helmet, etc. on. I ran with my bike out of the transition area to the mount up area. I couple of people in front of me did running starts on their bike; I'm not there yet. I stopped, mounted and then was off. Drake was right there cheering me on! What would you do differently?: Grow some calluses on the bottoms of my feet!  Bike
Comments: As expected, the bike segment was tough for me. I knew I was light on training and what training I had done was exclusively on flat terrain (due to knee problems I ran into earlier in my training). I could have really used some "granny gears" on the ride up hills and, because the left shifter does not work on my current bike, I didn't have the higher gears for the downhill portions. I had an absolute parade of cyclists ride by me. But, it was kind of interesting seeing what bikes everyone was riding! A couple of kind souls could see that I was toughing it out and gave encouragement as they whizzed pass. The bike ended with a steep uphill portion. A couple of gals were walking their bikes up but I stayed on mine and rode up it. I considered this a major victory. What would you do differently?: I have lots of work to do on the bike before next season, plain and simple. I'm going to be buying a new bike this fall, which I think will help me train on hills without getting into the knee problems I had this summer. Transition 2
Comments: The good news is that I dismounted my bike somewhat gracefully (there were a pretty good number of spectators in the dismount area). But I was drained from the bike and particularly the last hill and so when I ran into the transition area with my bike I got confused and ran past my rack and had to backtrack. I was a bit disoriented I think. Drake was watching me and was surprised to see me do this. It didn't cost me too much time, but I was just disappointed in making the mistake. Once I got to the rack, I did fine as far as getting going on the run. I was biking in my running shoes so I didn't have to change shoes. What would you do differently?: Not lose my concentration and focus in T2.  Run
Comments: I hadn't saved much for the run. Right out the transition area we had to go up something called the ZZ trail, which is a very step couple of switchbacks. By the time I had run up that and got on the road my legs were rubber and I was breathing very hard. I just tried to focus on a relaxed, easy pace. At mile one I tried to drink some water but I was still breathing too hard to really drink much of it. But after that water station I started to feel a bit better. My legs were less rubbery and I settled into a steady, though slow, pace. This was a 4.1 mile run (two laps around a 2-mile course) and I did not want to flame out. Basically, I just kept chugging along at that pace: up the hills and down the hills. I had no idea how I was doing because I purposely did not wear a watch. When I came into the park and entered the finish chute I just about cried when I saw the clock at 2:11 (minus 4 minutes for my wave start my actual time was 2:07). I seriously though my time was going to be around 2:30! I finished strong and felt like a million bucks! What would you do differently?: Not much. Even though it was a tough go I was happy with my performance here. Post race
Warm down: I probably should have done more here. Drake and I walked around for a while and that was about it. The ground was still wet from the previous day's rain so it wasn't very inviting for stretching. What limited your ability to perform faster: Well, there are lots of things I need to work on, particularly cycling. But overall, for a first race I was very happy with my performance. Event comments: Since this is my first race I"m probably not qualified to give it a rating, but I thought everything was well-organized and a big effort was made for a fun and safe race for everyone, especially beginners. I did see some illegal stuff (particularly headphones on the run) and some drafting on the bike portion, but I suspect that happens with any race of this size. I thought is was great when they stopped the awards ceremony so we could cheer the final participant across the finish line. I am looking forward to doing the race next year! Last updated: 2005-08-05 12:00 AM
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 2005-09-12 2:31 PM |
Veteran  291   Seattle, WA |  Subject: Reebok Women's TriathlonI want to thank everyone at BT for all the great advice and support. I had a wonderful first race and I'm really looking forward to next season! Edited by hpadkisson 2005-09-12 2:33 PM |
| 2005-09-13 8:59 PM in reply to: #245104 |
Expert 623 Issaquah, WA, | Subject: RE: Reebok Women's Triathlon Great job on your first tri! My feet hurt so bad from walking on the parking lot pavement! My T1 was like 7 min. This was a great race. I liked it better than Danskin. |
| General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
Reebok
58F / 14C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 294/379
Age Group = 44-49
Age Group Rank = 25/34
The day before was largely devoted to preparation details. I went to the race expo, got my race packet and attended the course talk. Then I scoped out the course. When I got home, practiced my transitions inside the house. I didn't quite have the nerve to get outside in my rubber suit and goggles and give the neighbors something to gossip over! Anyway, it worked fine to do this inside and the practice transitions were very helpful at working out some details - a great tip I got here at BT. I also really focused on hydration: both water and some Cytomax.
Race day we got up at 4:00am. I slept well and felt great. Had some coffee and toast with almond butter and jam. Got the car loaded and arrived at the race about 5:30. I was glad to arrive this early. I got a great place to rack my bike and we were able to park near the transition area. A couple of people commented on my psychedelic lycra bike seat cover! (Part of my bike-location strategy.)
I didn't do much here. It was somewhat chilly (58 degrees) so I just walked briskly around the swim start and finish areas and around the transition area getting everything set in my mind. 20 minutes before race start I went down to the swim start and got in my wet suit. They had a woman from Curves leading some warmups by the swim start, but I hung back with Drake and did some people watching. It was great to see gals of all shapes, sizes, and ages!