Toyota Desert International Triathlon - TriathlonOther

Swim was good. I had gotten in the water a few minutes before my wave to take the shock factor out of it. I didn't find it to be too cold. Cold on my face but the rest of me was okay. I think I could have gone faster. I stopped once or twice (like I usually do) to just take a short break and take in what I'm doing. I always get excited. There was a girl who asked me where the bouy was and later when I was getting out of the water she got out too and told me she had been following me in and thanked me for helping her. It was a nice swim. Bumped into a few people but nothing too crazy. I'm really impressed with how good I've gotten at sighting. It was spot on almost the whole way and when I did go off it took like 2 strokes to correct and I was back on track again.

Go faster (duh) and not stop and talk to strangers? :) I feel like I need to work on higher elbows out of the water especially on my left side.

It had started to sprinkle at this point. I brought my cycling jacket and put on my gloves.

Clearly my transitions need work and I need to move faster getting my act together. The distance from the water to my bike was gravel and then pavement and I can't seem to run on it so I walk. My feet were like blocks of ice and they hurt.

Two 12 mile loops in the rain and cold. The wind was stronger on the second loop and of course it was raining a little bit harder too I think. I was offered $5 for my gloves and $10 for my jacket on this ride. I can't tell you how freaking happy I was that I took that time to put them on. I really couldn't tell how cold I was but I kept looking at my legs and they were all red so I knew I was probably freezing and that if I stopped moving I'd find out just how cold I was. I spent the last 30 minutes of the bike ride wiggling my numb toes and squishing water out of my shoes. Every so often I had to ask someone who passed me - we really like this triathlon business huh? I had to laugh. I mean really...who does this crap in that kind of weather? Just nutheads like me and I don't know how many other folks! I kept thinking to myself "well, you paid the money for this, now do it" and I also kept practicing my pedaling drills when I felt myself pedaling slower. Overall, it worked out. I actually felt really good this ride. I was glad when it was over though. I kept thinking how I was going to go back to transition and put on my wet running shoes.

I think maybe if it wasn't raining I maybe could have gone faster. I was a little scared as I have never ridden in the rain before. My time for this ride was actually 3 minutes slower than 2008.

wow. so I get back and sure enough things are everywhere I had to move bikes and bags and shit to get my bike back on to the rack. I don't know why people are so freaking messy. Shoes were soaked and I debated changing socks (like an idiot) but why? seriously everything was completely wet. Put my shoes on took my shot blocks and was off. I didn't even take a water bottle with me which is unusual for me.

This was the highlight of my day. I started running and pretty much didn't stop. I walked through the aid station had some water and some FRS chews and was off again. My legs felt amazing. I had to stop for the bathroom once but I didn't walk again til the next aid station got some more water and a gu. I kept waiting for the heavy leg feeling to come - not yet! Go! I kept thinking to myself - this is my trail running paying off! I felt so strong. Past the finish line on to loop 2 and the aid station again - got more water, some sports drink and off again. Walked a little bit just before mile 4 and got more water at the station. Ran the rest of the way in with a girl who was about to finish her first tri and was a Team in Training athlete - she was so excited. I had so much fun. I knew I had a PR for the day but had no idea by how much. I just knew I'd so much better than I had ever done before at any race. I didn't even get tired running til about half a mile out and a friend of mine called out and said 4 more minutes and I though,t shoot you can run for 4 more minutes. Done! Best run I ever had - just under 12 minutes miles! For me that is freaking speeding! I loved it.

I guess I could not talk and chat with people so much on the course. I don't know if I can do that though - it's fun and I had so many friends out there racing too. Should've seen the guy's face when I told him to stop drafting off me. HA!!

As soon as I stopped moving I started shivering. I was soaking wet and it was still raining and getting colder. So there was no warm down - warm up please! Coffee anybody? Dry clothes? Help! Got a couple bananas at the food tent - that's all there was left. Being back of the pack is the suck for food at races I have to say.


The rain I think but I did better being cold than say 104 during the run at Vineman last year so maybe something in between would have been perfection.


This was a good race - well organized, on time and the volunteers were awesome and stood out there in the rain and cold the entire time I was out there which has not always been the case for me.

I found out later after I got home that I placed 3rd Athena. Of course, I didn't know when I finished and they had just completed the award ceremony just before I got there so I didn't get the neato trivet that said Desert Tri 3rd place on it. This year's time is 20 minutes faster than in 2008. I'm pretty happy with how it went yesterday in spite of the rain which as it turned out didn't seem to bother me that much.