35th out of 128
400 yard swim, 11 mile bike, 3.1 mile run
swim: 9:45 / bike 39:23 / run 30:01 total time: 1:22
age 34, 9:45.7/ 1:35.3/ 39:23.9 /1:39.1 /30:01.8 / 1:22:25.8
Friday morning I rushed out of the house to walk the reservoir with a mommy group friend - we walked the 2.7 miles pushing our babies and caught up on each others lives. The night before I can't remember what I ate but I did drink a vitamin water. My brother and sister in law are visiting with their 8 month old who unfortunately gave us all colds so I woke up on Saturday morning with a sore throat. I went to bed around 9:30. I tossed and turned and around 3 am woke up to feed my baby - hopefully he will be sleeping through the night the next time I have an event! When it seemed I finally fell asleep, the alarm clock went off at 5am.
I had a plain bagel with almond butter and jam and a mug of jasmine tea. I put Heed electrolytes to drink in my bike bottle. I decided against wearing a wetsuit but made sure to apply lots of body glide because I had some chafing during an aquatic park swim and run.
It was dark as I drove to Shadow Cliffs and I felt a rush of excitement as I started seeing other cars with mounted bikes and was especially proud to be part of an all-women event. I got setup in the transition area with some pointers from Angela and Noel and noted where we would be coming in from the bike and leaving for the bike and run.
I was a little nervous because my family wasn't there yet, but they finally showed and we took lots of photos. About thirty minutes before the start I had a few squeezes of a power gel. We went to the water's edge - wish I had brought my flip flops - lots of gravel, duck poo, and then trekking to the bathrooms. Start was a little delayed. It was hard to hear the countdown and I felt like there weren't many people in my wave, until it started. I was glad to be next to a few other Janes.
But suddenly we were running and I wasn't sure when to start swimming - just followed the lead of people in front of me. I think being in the middle of the pack was a mistake - it was too crowded - I couldn't go forward and people were swimming into me from behind. For the first few minutes I just swam with my head up, trying to get out of the pack and swallowed a lot of water - had a brief moment of panic. Finally made my way to the far right edge and away from all the thrashing and could finally swim. After I calmed down and got my breath back, I was able to settle into a rhythm and sight every once in awhile. One disadvantage of being out to the right was i think I had to swim further - sometimes I was looking right up at the buddies along the right edge. I also had no one around me so had no one to draft or follow. Made it out, saw my husband cheering me on and yanked off my cap and started running. Saw Noel who told me to run on the grass - good call - that pavement was rough.
I think my transition went okay - put on my bike shoes which I had put glide on beforehand, got my helmet and sunglasses on fine, took a quick sip of water. Ran to the mount area and quickly got on and clipped in pretty easily. I made it up the hill quickly but I think the mountain bike has a slight advantage for hill climbs. On the flats I got passed a lot. So glad I had a bottle of water w/electrolytes to rehydrate - I had debated not bringing it! The ride got a little hairy when we were directed to take a left and stay within the cones, but then suddenly found we were face-to-face with bikers going the other way. They told us to cross over and when I found a break, I quickly cut over - but it was a little disconcerting. Passing was a little confusing - should you pass on the right when riding in the opposite lane of vehicle traffic?
My T2 was much slower - felt like i was moving in slow motion, my bike seemed so heavy and was worried about knocking down the racks so set it gingerly in the middle. Thought about skipping my hat but was glad I grabbed it - the sun out on the run was brutal! There was a pretty steep hill but I just kept telling myself to keep moving. I grabbed water from both stations but it was hard to choke it down - I ended up only swallowing a little water. I saw the 1 mile marker and told myself I'd wait till mile 2 to just start running all out. But I never saw it and before I knew it, we were looping back down to the parking lot. From there, I ran all the way in and still felt like I could've run more. It was hot and dry though and running down gravelly hills makes me afraid of turning an ankle. Next time, I think I need a watch/monitor so I can guage how far I've biked and how far I've swum.