Benaroya Research Institute Triathlon at SEAFAIR - TriathlonSprint


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Seattle, Washington
United States
Beneroya Research Institute and SeaFair
80F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 33m 33s
Overall Rank = 1034/1430
Age Group = Relay Mixed
Age Group Rank = 10/17
Pre-race routine:

About three weeks before the triathlon Roy walked up to me and handed me the entry form. I said, "Oh I know honey. I want to do that one, but it's on our anniversary and I didn't think it would be cool to ask you to watch me tri on our anniversary."

He said, "NO, I was thinking we'd do it together. It would be romantical!"

I looked at him suspiciously wondering who he was and what had he done with my husband...snatched the entry form from his hand and filled it out, mailed it off before he could come to his senses. He has NEVER done a tri before. So we decided I would swim and run, he would bike.

We showed up really early because parking is ridiculous around there. Found a spot and found our transition area, which was a little roped off area away from all the other competitors. I've never done a relay. This was cool. We had our OWN porta potties! There were 64 teams altogether.
Event warmup:

We set our area up. I tried to be careful not to be too bossy and tell him what we should be doing. We grabbed a spot nearest the fence. Mistake because that meant that while I was trying to take my wetsuit off, people were literally standing ON me talking over the fence. Apparently I was in "cloaked" mode or something. Hallo!

The elite group went off at 6:55 so all the racers were gathered on the beach together at 6:45. It was pretty cool to watch them go off. Some of them were speedy, but one guy was really behind the pack. I hope he was okay.

I had my new wetsuit and was feeling slightly nervous, but overall pretty confident.
Swim
  • 18m 34s
  • 880 yards
  • 02m 07s / 100 yards
Comments:

Woo hoo!!! My wave went (I ran back to kiss Roy before my wave) and I had three interesting experiences I've never had on the swim.

1. I did not have even a moment of fear or panic. I actually felt confident from the moment I stepped into the water.
2. I overtook a LOT of swimmers, and a number of people from previous waves. Generally I am the last out of the water, or close, in my wave. I even used strategy and stayed with the pack. Normally I try to get away from people for fear I'll be kicked. I almost acted like I knew what I was doing!
3. I SWAM OVER someone! I didn't mean to and I felt bad, but in the water (which was very murky and dark) you can't see the person in front of you sometimes if they're in a full black wetsuit!

I have NEVER EVER had such a great swim! Seriously I felt like I could go on forever! Obviously I've been training for longer distances, but I've still been worried about the nerves. I just felt strong and confident from the moment I went in!
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. I really felt fantastic from start to finish. I am very VERY proud of my swim.
Transition 1
  • 01m 32s
Comments:

Hey, when you don't have to do the next leg, the transition is EASY! But I do need to figure out how to get this wetsuit off faster!
What would you do differently?:

Warn Roy in advance where we should meet. It was so crowded at the relay point that I couldn't see him and had to run through the crowd calling his name.
Bike
  • 47m 26s
  • 12 miles
  • 15.18 mile/hr
Comments:

It was funny because I thought that since I had some knee problems that I would do a more leisurely bike through the course. When I saw how fast people were biking though, I pushed myself a lot more...a lot, lot more. I made it my goal to try and pass as many people as I could on the route and that made it a bit funner.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. Having a bike like 95% of the other bikers would've probably helped since my bike was just a comfort bike made for simple commuting. Everyone else had bikes built for speed. Still, I was able to pass some of those people on the route, but that could be because they were exhausted from swimming, and I wasn't.

It also would've been interesting to have had the Garmin. I used my watch to kind of figure out my time, but it would've been nice to know exactly where I was at.

I may have also picked a spot in the transition area closer to the exit. Since we were literally against the back wall I was really concerned that I would have a hard time getting started because so many others were blocking that entrance/exit with their bikes waiting for the swimmers to return. Those of us in the back had a harder time connecting to our partners because we couldn't get out and they couldn't get it. If everyone had waited with their bikes at the racks instead of standing in the middle of the aisles things would've transitioned much easier.

Overall, I felt that I was trained for this ride. After all, Tory's had me doing 40-50 mile bike rides with her, so 12 miles seemed rather small by comparison.
Transition 2
  • 01m 9s
Comments:

I waited for Roy in the relay area. There weren't a ton of people left, so that was nice (we weren't last, though). I had my camera so I could get a shot of him coming in and then handed the camera off to him and ran out on the run.
Run
  • 25m 58s
  • 3.1 miles
  • 08m 23s  min/mile
Comments:

The run felt great. Went out fast with a goal to do negative splits. I realized that wouldn't happen on mile two because the hill was 1/4 mile long, but that was okay. I went for a sub 9:00 on the hill and then a negative from 1 to 3. Worked out GREAT! Roy met me right at mile 3 and ran in (at my pace, I might add...GO ROY) the last part together holding hands. I can't wait to see that picture! It was awesome to finish together on our 23rd wedding anniversary. Definitely a memorable day.

I actually saw a woman in flip flops. The only thing I could figure was that she'd forgotten her shoes. Easy to do if it's your first triathlon...I've gone out on a brick and forgotten my running shoes. She was doing a pretty good clip, too!
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. I felt great throughout. This was, by far, one of my best triathlons.
Post race
Warm down:

Food! By the time we finished we were both hungry so we enjoyed the traditional Seafair food; Newman Ohs (like Oreos), organic sour gummie bears, bananas, and water. PFC also had a fantastic pasta salad. We walked and stretched some and cheered in people who came in after me.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

The fact that I'm not very fast.

Event comments:

I had a GREAT time! What a neat thing to do together. Roy has always been my BIGGEST supporter and I've really hoped he'd consider doing a triathlon some day. He has always resisted, but not today! Today he stepped up to the plate and he made me proud. More importantly, we made a wonderful memory together. We could dress up and go out to a fancy dinner and drop a lot of $$ on a load of calories but you know what? I'd rather don a wetsuit and running shoes and run across a finish line with my honey ANY day! Love isn't jewelry and 6 course dinners. Love is stepping outside of your comfort zone to do something that you're a little afraid of because you know it will make your wife happy. Roy showed me a LOT of love that day, as he does every day. I am so blessed.




Last updated: 2008-07-25 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:18:34 | 880 yards | 02m 07s / 100yards
Age Group: 470/17
Overall: 1004/1430
Performance: Good
Average heart rate: 139
Suit: Blue Seventy Reaction
Course: The course was a triangle course. When I first saw it I thought "Oh there's no WAY that's only 880! Nope! They must have THOSE bouys out to tell the yachts where to stop. (A lot of yachts are parked out on Lake Washington.) Imagine my surprise when no, that was the right distance! Ha! It didn't seem as far as it looked once I got out. Due to environmental concerns the area had NOT been groomed so the water was teeming with TONS of ripped up milfoil! You couldn't see anything!
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 65F / 18C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Good Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:32
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Bad Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:47:26 | 12 miles | 15.18 mile/hr
Age Group: 663/17
Overall: 1211/1430
Performance: Good
I will let Roy fill this part out. Roy here...This was my first triathlon experience as a competitor, so it was much different than my usual cheering Tory on the sidelines and guessing when she'll come in so I can get that perfect picture or encouragement. It was interesting waiting in the relay area because it seemed that everyone was a bit nervous wondering when their team member would come out of the water. Unfortunately when people started coming in, all of the bikers crowded the exit, so it was difficult for some to actually get out of the relay area if their swimmer partners came in early. Since we had staked out a spot near the back, I had to hope that Tory would come in later otherwise I wouldn't have been able to exit the area. Once Tory spotted me, I was off and running with my bike toward the bike start area. Since the transition area for relay competitors was at the back of the bike racking area, it was a good 1/4 mile run to the beginning before I could get on my bike. You can't get on your bike until you reach the actual bike start. I was a little nervous because I had an unconventional triathlon bike and it has had a nasty habit of getting random flat tires over the past few months, but it performed well for me. I was happy that I was able to keep up (or even pass) a few people on the route as I pedaled my bike faster than I have ever pedaled a bike before in my life. Coming back in was interesting to me because I have never had to dismount my bike and run before so quickly after a ride. When I first got off my bike my legs felt like rubber. It was a very strange feeling and I thought I was going to fall for a moment, but I recovered and ran wobbly back to the transition area where I was able to tag Tory so she could go off on her run. After I racked my bike and took off my helmet, I ran off to find a spot to meet her on the route.
Wind: Little
Course: The course was pretty familiar to me, except that I have never biked over I-90 before. I was told that it would be windy, but it wasn't that bad at all. The course was mostly flat except for a killer hill that most people seemed to walk their bikes up (me included). It was an "out and back" and relatively not to bad to bike. My only complaint would be that I had no idea where the turn around was because it ended up being further down the road than the course map had shown. So just when I thought I was reaching the spot where I should be turning around...I noticed that it was moved back much, much farther.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: ?
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:09
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:25:58 | 03.1 miles | 08m 23s  min/mile
Age Group: 181/17
Overall: 608/1430
Performance: Good
Kicked ASS on the run! Mile 1: 8:30 Mile 2: 8:50 (BIG ass hill) Mile 3: 8:06
Course: It was a circular route around Seward Park with one BIG hill. Because I hadn't done the bike I told myself absolutely NO walking. My legs were still a big squidgy because I'd had a HELL of a bike ride with tons of hills the day before, but nope. No walking. Passed EVERY person who was on the hill at the same time I was within my sites, which made me feel good.
Keeping cool Below average Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Too easy
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5