This HAD to be long. When Mike told me my time in T1 (45 minutes), my only response was "there is no way that is correct. There is NO way i didn't beat your swim time on this course." I came out of the water in the top 1/2, had caught the mens wave before me (I love doing that) (only two waves: guys, then girls), and was swimming strong. Felt a little nautious in the water (swallowed a bit in the beginning), but felt fine by the end. Definetly felt like I was swimming longer than I should have been for a 1.2 mile course. My friend Tony came in 6th OA (4th last year) and said his swim time was a full 10 minutes slower this year; 1st OA winner echoed his statement, as did most people who did last year vs this year. But whatever: everyone had to do the same course, so in the end I guess it doesn't matter, but an extra ten minutes of swimming is a really really long time to be swimming!

Tinted goggles. Sun was right in my eyes on the home stretch.

Awesome. Felt great. I was taking a gel every 35-40 minutes, drinking as much water as was humanly possible -- finished the race with no nutrition or water left on my bike, which was exactly how I wanted it (started with a camel back, a water bottle in my 1 cage, and an aero bottle full -- refilled aero bottle at the water stops (which was a nice surprise -- the year I spectated this there were NO water bottle handoffs, so i wasn't expecting any this year).

Wasn't looking at speed, just wanted to keep my cadence up and my HR down. Let people pass me -- long day and didn't want to start my race at mile 15 of the bike. Just kept my momentum up and kept moving. Had to stop a few time -- gel paclk that wou;dn't open, chain that wouldn't shift, and my complete and utter inability to pee on myself (seems that a lifetime of NOT peeing worked against me here).

Total
bike time and my bike computer time were only about 5 minutes off, which made me happy -- i thought it would be more.

Oh my god, the run. Ouch. It was clocking 97 degrees when I started and I was feeling it. The run starts up a huge hill and I seriously did not appreciate it. Took about a mile to get my legs under me -- and that was a painful first mile. I think my legs were tired in ways I've never felt before. But, by mile 2-3, they were feeling fine and I felt like I was running strong. And then. the heat. Oh my god. It was SO hot. I was taking four waters at every stop -- two to drink and two to wear, doing anything and everything to keep my body cool. I was sweating out a TON of salt, so I was taking a gel about every 30 minutes, but around mile 4 I hit a point where I was getting black spots and headachy -- precursors to passing out for me. Good times. I immediately starting walking, kept drinking and eating, and running when in the shade. My legs and muscles felt fine when I was running -- I had been worried about IT bands, knee pain, whatever, but none of that was a problem -- I just couldn't keep my HR and body temp down. It was really brutal, and totally frustrating. I ended up running with some dude (first triathlon. His quote from mile 6 "man, I don't ever think I'll do a full one" me: "I don't think NOW is the time to make that decision") and I was actually out WALKING him -- I was walking strong, but just couldn't manage the heat. We found a trail that ran alongside of the road that was dirt packed and shaded -- that went for about 4 miles parallel... I'm sure we would have been penalized for going 'off course' but I swear I did not care at that point. I wanted shade and no pavement, and that's what it was. Anyway, so it went. My last mile took us 8 minutes and 15 seconds. Ha. A nice change after walking so much, but I won't say it didn't hurt. Anyway, finished strong, and was totally happy to be done!



Pick a cooler time of year to race!

Walked immediately into the lake and spent a good 5 minutes floating, enjoying being weightless, not moving, and cooling off. Swam about 100 meters out and back to stretch myself out a bit.



The carnage report:
Shins. Never had shin pain before, this is new :). A litte ice and advil and we seem ok today. Resting HR is still pretty high, and I'm still tired, but other wise I feel great!

I'm signed up for Eagleman in '08 -- shouldn't be as hot, and I've got plenty of time to get my running up to (ha) speed!