I was in the 2nd wave and it was ALL of the females in the race. I lined up to the left and towards the front (2-3 people in front of me). From the get-go it was obvious who were the strongest swimmers. They just took off! I just tried to relax and find my groove. I wasn't too worried about keeping up with the front crowd. On my way to the 1st buoy I had some trouble sighting. I kept going a little left (of course) of the buoy. I realized at once that that was going to be an issue so I concentrated on compensating for that. I made it my goal to come to the buoy pretty much right on and I did. Every buoy I swam right over the ropes tying it down. I began passing the guys from the first wave at the first corner. That got my adrenaline up a bit. I continued to pass them throughout the rest of the swim. I felt bad for some of them - doing breastroke, side stroke, etc. Once I turned the 2nd corner the sun became an issue. It was right in my face. I tried following ridgelake's advice about using it as a guide, but I'm not sure it was that useful. (sorry!) All I knew was that it was in my eyes! Even with that problem, I'm still a better swimmer when I breathe to my right, so I kept up my groove and didn't let the sun bother me too much. It didn't interfere too much with me sighting the buoys. The problem I had coming to shore was seeing exactly where on shore I needed to swim towards. I need those really big goggles!! I put my feet down 2-3 times on the stretch to the shore just to get my bearings a little bit, then dolphined back in. I couldn't figure out how close I wanted to get before I got up to run. When I could put my arm down straight to touch the sand I got up.

Overall the swim went well. I need to work on my upper body strength so I can pull the water and not fatigue as much as I think I was near the end. I think I would like bigger goggles.

This was ok. When I get my NEW bike (whenever that is) then I can have 2+ hydration bottles on it. That will solve my problem of feeling like I need to drink as much gatorade as I can before I take off. I got socks and shoes on easily. Wasted a couple seconds getting ponytails into helmet. I need to give up on that idea. It keeps hair out of my eyes, but sticks up funny in my helmet. Anyway, I think I was pretty quick here and pushed through the breathlessness well.

Not worrying about taking drinks in T1 would be nice and getting hair in helmet easier would be good. Not much else I can think of that I think I could improve on here.

Oh, where to begin. The 1st 8 miles were difficult, the 2nd 8 miles went by quickly and I felt strong, the 3rd 8 miles were difficult. Maybe 5-6 miles in, age grouper #1 passed me. That meant I was at most 2nd in ag. Then age grouper #2 passed me. Ok, now I'm 3rd... Then age grouper #3 passed me. ::grumble grumble:: I knew I was going to need to have a decent run performance now. Somewhere in there Debbie Iovoli passed me. She probably has NO IDEA that I gauge my performance on where she is in a race! But she and I are always passing e/o in races. She's not even in my a.g, but we are always neck in neck and she's so darn cute and petite, I just want to be faster than her!! :)
At about mile 10 I started passing by the Amish in their horse and buggies probably on their way to church. I imagined they were looking at me thinking what a heathen I was - a female in tight shorts racing on a bike on the Sabbath of all days! One of them looked at me with shock in their eyes. I waved at them. Another family had big smiles on their faces. I smiled back.
I took a gel in at mile 15. I was also running out of water. At some point I came up on the 1st age grouper that passed me! AHA!!! I got you!! I made sure I passed her in a really strong fashion so it might make her less compelled to want to pass me again. She never did pass me again. Then I came up on Debbie! Woo Hoo! Here I am Debbie!! I was coming up on her in a quick way so I decided to go ahead and make my move and do it as fast as I possibly could. As I was passing by all I could think of was "Damn, look at the bike I'm on, and I'm passing you!" I fully expected her to turn on the gas and pass me again, but she never did. She probably doesn't care even a fraction of the way I do! Oh well. It gets me going!

The entire race my bike was making a different creaking sound. IT makes all sorts of noises, but this was different. It was just crrrreeeeeaaaaaaking like crazy. With 2 miles left I actually started to get emotional about my bike and how well it has served me even with all of the moans and groans and creaks and criks. For the first time I generated warm feelings towards my bike! It was wonderful. I decided to dub her "Grandma!" She's old and frail, but she holds herself together even with all of her issues just so I can compete in these darn races! What a wonderful bike!
(I still swore to myself that this is the last race I'll do on her. Grandma needs to retire.)

I don't know. I did the best I could do. Considering everything I pulled off a 17.8 pace. I could always have more time in the saddle, but I want a new bike and someday I really want to see 20-21 mph pace next to my name! I think I could do that!

I got out of here very fast (14th out of 260). Almost too fast really. I downed too much gatorade too quickly which I think gave me the cramping I had to deal with for most of the run. I don't have to change shoes either, which is always very nice! Just take off helmet, down the drinks, and off I go. I didn't have too much problems getting my legs going.

Not down so much drink.

Got stomach cramps right away. They were never terrible. Just enough to bother me and make it so I had a hard time relaxing my upper body. The entire run was a struggle. I just grabbed a pace and kept it. I forgot to start my watch so I had no idea what I was running. I also noticed there were no mile markers on the route. Even though it's a single loop we do 2x's you think they could set out mile indicators.
Before I even made it back out to the road on the 1st loop, Bob Stocks caught up to me on his 2nd loop (is that considered "lapping?") He was nice enough to run with me for maybe a mile or so. We talked about my cramping and he tried to give me a tip on how to fight it. Just talking with him helped to keep my mind off of how I was feeling! Thanks Bob! (He made this race look so easy!) Even slowing down to run with me he got 1st in his a.g.!
It's amazing how much I focus on people's calves during a race like this! Constantly on the lookout for my a.g. I think I passed 2 people in my a.g. I remember the 2nd one. It was at the last turnaround at the pier. I really picked up the pace here because I didn't want her to pass me again. I think this sometimes gets me going faster. I start imagining people are behind me catching up to me. From the pier on I picked up the pace and after the turn-off to the finish I kept picking it up. I sprinted to the finish (just so I could pass a girl in the SPRINT - can't let a girl be in front of me!)
I took water at 3 separate stops. Just sips. Never took the gel I had for fear of making the cramping come back or worse.

Train more for running. Not drink too much gatorade before.

Drank water and had to go straight to getting Tyler ready for his tri! It was so cool to watch him race and enjoy it as much as he did! But the amount of energy I put out after the race to get him ready and jockstrap him was just about equal to the entire race I did! I had to run off to get his stuff in my car. Then we wandered around way too much trying to figure out where to go and if he needed to get body marked (he didn't). Then I went into the water with him, ran with him to his bike, then ran with him on the bike and run course. He took off like a bat out of hell on the bike. I couldn't keep up, but for some reason still thought it was a good idea to keep going on the course looking for him. I was a worried mother to see him take off in the street in an unfamiliar area... I wandered so far away from his transition area, that when he passed me coming back, I had to run, seriously, as fast as I could so I wouldn't miss his run! Thank goodness grandpa was there to help him in transition! I found him sprinting on the 1st part of his run. I reminded him of "pacing" himself so he slowed down to a pace he could maintain. I ran with him the rest of the way. I got to run through the finish chute 2x's! Since Tyler sprinted to the finish passing everyone in front of him, in his mind he thinks he "won!" I'm letting him believe that. :)


Always could train more, and in a more intense way. Especially train more for running. "Grandma" does her best!


After thinking about it, I like how they set us up in transition. Lining us up themselves in order of arrival worked out nicely. (But, was I placed near a person who felt compelled to swipe my bike computer?? Or somebody who accidentally thought it was theirs and accidentally took it home with them?) There are lots of awesome volunteers; score-this does a nice job organizing races; the lake, bike route and run are fantastic!