Good swim. Super calm. Lake was very 'thick,' couldn't see my hand catch & pull, let alone figure out where someone was in front for drafting. Forgot to start my watch until a few minutes in, d'OH!

Smaller bouys were set up in the 'rectangle' part because they row crew on the lake, kept finding myself inside them so I KNOW I did a lot of drifting. I think it cost me some time. Would be v. v. amusing to have a GPS path of me on the swim :) Caught up with some of the previous wave, got SWUM over at the end by 2 waves behind - that was a little disturbing, I think it was the Clyde guys.

Get better at swimming in a straight line. Pull a little harder - being my first Oly, I took it a little easier than I could have just to save some oomph for the rest of the course. Would have liked to see 36 min, but I'm good for now.

It's a little bit of a run up the cement dock, over asphalt, then up a sandy, rocky hill, and back onto asphalt in the transition area. For once, I didn't feel like I was forgetting anything!

Stop being such a tenderfoot - every step was Ow, oof, yeouch, ow.

Like the swim, I think I could have taken this a little harder. Saw Jennifer a few times (she was always on the out while I was on the in part of an out-and-back, d'oh!) but she was the only one I recognized. Did a little passing, but not much. Saw a gal down for the count right after the loop inside the college - looked like she ran into a parked car. Someone was already with her, and I was tempted to stop but some spectators were also calling for help. I still feel bad I didn't stop, but what was I going to do?

I wanted to get a bar into me, because I always need solid food after a swim, but I just couldn't choke it down. I think I ate half and gave up. At about 10 miles in, I took a GU, and all along I was drinking my MaXade (DIY gatorade). I was happy it went down well.

Unfortunately, the side and back of my r. knee started to feel punky at about 16 miles or so. I was hoping it wouldn't happen, but I had a feeling it would. Damn. My calves have been acting up lately, very crampy, and the tendon on the outside of my knee is cranky when I ride (I may need a wedge). Also did something to my calves last Sunday - between weeding the garden and a power yoga session, my legs were seriously unhappy with me and I don't think I fully recovered. With the punk creeping in, I took it easy after that, trying to save a little for the run. Glad I did, because the run was tough enough.

Beat my calves into submission :)

Saw Kathy in the transition, she had a bad swim and a good bike so we met up here :) It was funny because I got done before she did and I hesitated a bit, feeling bad for leaving without her. And then I thought - Dummy, it's a RACE! :)

Care about transition time? :)

Oy. My downfall. I'm a pokey-slow runner to begin with, and with the calves screaming, I was even slower. Kathy caught up to me and passed pretty quickly (but it was nice to give and get some love every time we passed on a loop!). My left ear was clicky with lake water (still!), and I had a good case of the exercise-snots going on - my kingdom for a tissue!! The whole run, my mantra was "I believe in my ability to RUN THIS RACE!" I have no idea where it came from, but I held on to it, repeating it in my head over and over. At the first loop turnaround, the volunteer gal was GREAT, just yelling positive stuff to everyone, she really got the spirits up. Coming back from the 2nd loop, seeing transition and hearing Hot Legs (Rod Stewart) on the sound system, that was just what I needed. Nothing like a little R&R to keep the feet moving!

The water stop had apple-cinnamon Hammer gel and I wanted a gel but not THAT one. I hate when I get all picky, but I knew the apple-pie taste wasn't going to go over well. I had a gel of my own in my racebelt pouch, but strawberry-banana sounded even worse. Thankfully, there was another station to start the 2nd half of the run, and they had the raspberry Hammer - grabbed that (after kissing hubby and high-fiving the kidlet, who were right there) and grabbed a Heed. That was new too, thankfully the Heed was happy in the belly and the raspberry gel hit the spot!

It didn't do a lot for my run, however, because things got hot and sunny and LONG after that. I had a TON of energy but couldn't use it because my calves were like rocks and the tendon behind my right knee was *screaming.* I thought I was never going to hit the turnaround. I just repeated my mantra a lot, and focused on trying to relax my legs while still keeping them moving. I was so relieved to finally hit that turnaround... I don't remember much about the way back, it seemed a lot faster than the way out, I was just so glad to be in the homestretch.

My watch was telling me I would be in right between my stretch goal time and my reality time, so that helped too :)

Skip the gardening and the power yoga last weekend!!

Kathy and Jen were both there for a photo-finish. Hubby Dave (K.'s husband) and Muffin (my hubby) were there, as well as our fearless bike leader, Chuck. I only had it in me to say hi, get a picture, and then I just desparately needed to get out of the sun.

I had seen the clock saying 4:11, and I was REALLY disappointed because my watch was saying I did okay. WTF?? Starting 3 waves back, that still meant I finished in just under 4 hours... uh, I know I forgot to set my watch until a little ways into the swim, but half an hour??

Well, I'm a dolt, the clock was the WHOLE race time, including the sprinters who started a half hour before us. So I was mopey for NOTHING, and didn't GET IT until I saw times posted online later. Again - d'OH! :)

Stood in line to get my calves massaged (good, but not 100%), drank a ton of water and some sweet tea and felt a lot better.


I'll say it one more time - CALVES. Can I get new legs on eBay??


This race is awesome. Well organized, well staffed, great location, no traffic issues - top notch!

There were lots of BT'ers that I missed seeing/meeting. I thought we'd have a little setup of our own with the Tri Club thing, but I guess that fell through. Oh well - next year, we'll plan it a bit better, because I know I'm coming back for more! I've got a half hour to erase from that race time of mine! :)