Up at 3:45 in order to make it up to Bartlett Lake bike racked by 6:30. It was cold out there. They had a little kids DU, and then it was time for the sprint start. We all made it down the steep beach to water's edge and waited for the GO! Mistake #1: My HR while just standing there thinking about what I was about to do was 125. This is clearly NOT my resting HR. We basically all doggie paddled out to the first buoy which was about 30 ft off shore, then as we rounded it, we could get a little space and swim a bit. After rounding buoy 2, we were looking right into the sun. My brand new goggles started fogging. Mistake #2: I broke the awesome dry seal of my goggles to wipe out the fog, and from that point on, they never sealed to my face again. I spent the rest of the time tredding watter every 100m to dump out my goggles. Everytime I turned for breath, the water would rush over my eyes. That totally sucked. BUT I wasn't freaked, as I had people all around me, and I just followed the pack. I know I could have done WAY better had I not been having goggle issues. I felt good, and wish I could have just swam, instead of deal with my goggles.

Different goggles. They are brand new and I am taking them back. After the race I tried to tighten the straps, and the strap broke. Not cool for a $27 pair of goggles. Even though my swim could have been way better, I am going to mark it as Good, as it was my first OWS and I DID IT! AND...I was not last. I am not sure how many people were there all together doing to DU, Sprint, Oly and just 1500m swim, but there were 20 women doing the Sprint. Out of them, I was 13th in the swim.
Time for swim included the run (walk) half way up the beach. VERY steep and the pebbles felt like glass. Mistake #3: Do not get a pedicure the day before the race. Even though the thought of having my toes done so they will look good if I die....that winter calus would have served me well on those rocks!

T1 was calculated from halfway up the beach, up stairs, to bike, to bucket trying to get the wet suit off my ankles, etc...to the bike mount. I think it ended up being around 5 min, and is added into my bike time. I think I did OK for trying to get out of my wet suit for the first time.

Gotten out of the wetsuit faster.

OMG!!!! Let's say it again...OMG! 8% grade out of transition, and it literally did not end for 4.4 miles. It was ALL uphill for 4.4 miles with no end in sight. I am NOT kidding or exsagerating (for once)! Finally the last little bit had a short down hill, but at the bottom you had to turn around and climb it. THEN it was all down hill for 4.4 miles. I didn't let myself get any faster than 35.8, becuase the road was rough, and being in tuck position for that long was actually hard and painful. My arms and shoulders were fatiging, and I just couldn't wait for it to end. I mean I liked the free ride, but it's so much better when the hills go up and down and up and down, instead of like this. I did the 4.4 uphill with a combo out of the seat, then sitting a bit plan. Seemed to work. KILLER!!!!! Was 7th out of 20 on the bike.
Oh, and I lost my aero bottle yellow scrunchy thingy while going down the first hill. The road was just so rough, it worked it's way out. BUT, I found it on the drive home, so saved it!

Drank RedBull...I could have used some wings! OH, and I should have remembered to take my GU at the turn around. Oh well.

T2 was faster than T1. Was out pretty quickly.

Right away I cought up with the woman I came down the hill with. She started to walk and I passed her. TONS of people were walking! Again, the run was straight up hill for the ENTIRE 1.1 mile to the turn around/water station, and the down hill the entire way back. I kept telling myself "there is NO walking in Triathlon!!!" And just kept powering up that hill. There were even people pushing their bikes it was so bad. I had my eye on some guys ahead of me that kept walking, and I knew if I kept at it I could catch them. Sure enough I passed one and caught one at the turn around. We both stopped a few seconds for water, and then took off down the hill together. We chatted and had some fun. At the very end I could tell I was holding him back a bit, so I said "I guess I will let you beat me." And he went ahead. He beat me by less than one minute. My heart rate on the downhill run was 173. (AT is 178) Was 8th out of 20 on the run.
After the race I was talking to a woman from California. She said that if you could do this course, you can do Wildflower. She said Wildflower was better because it as up and down instead of one huge up and one huge down. It felt pretty good to hear her say that, because I had always heard that Wildflower is a killer course, so to know I could do it, it kind of put it on my radar sooner than I would have originally thought. This was a very tough race and not for the faint of heart. There were plenty of people there, but not the 300-400 than can show up for their races in the city with a flat course and pool. Most of the super stud women did the Oly race, so that helped me place 1st in the Sprint. I did, however, beat the other woman in my AG by 15 min, so that made me feel good!! Hey...I'll take it. Never thought I would ever get first in my AG!

Had my chocolate cake donut, of course!


Fat