Uvas Tri Race Report

Pre-pre race:

Decided the best way to rest on Saturday would be a pedicure with my mom. My reasoning was three fold: 1) I needed new teal toes to cheer on my Sharks, 2) I knew the tech would massage my feet, and since my feet had been bothering me, I figured this woudl be a good thing and 3) Mom had had a tough week and needed to be pampered!

Pre-race:

I woke up at 4:30am. I slept like crap. Have I mentioned I work night shift? 4:30 am in the morning is really early for someone who works nights, unless you're already awake! Anyway I got up, made my coffee, grabbed the oatmeal I had made the night before and was out the door.

Once I got my truck parked, I decided to have my oatmeal. Oh wow, that did not taste good. I was not hungry by any measure of the term, but I choked it down because I knew I would appreciate it later. Which I did. But ugh, that was gross. I drank about half of my coffee, which was just enough.

Swim: .75 mi = 20:29.8 min

Swim was a water start, which I liked. I warmed up my wetsuit (=>), swam around a bit to get used to having my face immersed in darkness with every stroke, then lined up right at the front. At the horn, we were off. There was a little contact, but nothing horrible. I was certainly not in front, but I could sight well and just got going. I turned the corner around this peninsula thing, I could NOT see the buoy. Seriously! Where was it?? Luckily, I knew the general location where we'd turn again, but maybe an extra buoy would be nice for next time! After the race, another racer agreed with me, he turned and couldn't see the buoy either. I tried to save my legs for the most part, took a breath every stroke and would sight every 4th or 5th stroke.

Thanks to David, Molly, Jeff, Melissa and Nigel who cheered for me.

Transition 1: 3:39 min

Was slow...I am so befuddled as I get out of the water. I wasn't as dizzy as my ocean swim, but definitely not all brain cells were firing. I fought to get my wetsuit off, got my shoes on, decided against the arm warmers and cycling gloves, put my helmet on and stumbled out of transition. David said I didn't look to happy coming out of transition. He took this picture, he'd gotten a great spectator spot!



Bike: Total time (via Garmin): 1:05.6, 15.96 mi, avg 14.7 mph/hr

My legs did not feel great for the first 5 mi or so. LOTS of lactic acid and my hamstrings were kinda tight. So I tried to spin as much as possible. My goal was to finish the bike in less than an hour, but there were lots of little hills here and there, I tried to push the downhills as much as I could safely (30mph max - HA!). The big hill hurt like a mother, I was out of the saddle a bit, but just tried to spin my way up. I felt much better on the bike than I did at Showdown, and I am happy to report that I didn't get passed by any mountain bikes =). I didn't do any passing of my own, but that's okay we can be sure I didn't draft, LOL. People were pretty courteous about signaling when they were going to pass me, so I appreciated that.

The weather was gorgeous, overcast and almost no wind. Ahh...makes it worth getting up so early. I loved hearing the disc wheels come up behind me, they sounded really cool.

Miles 13 - 15 were a bit up hill. I was hoping for down hill toward the finish, and even though I have ridden the course before, I had conveniently forgotten the uphill. Since I knew I had a run coming up, I just spun up the hills and tried not to redline. My goal was to finish the bike in under and hour. It didn't happen, but I am okay with that, I didn't blow out my legs so it worked out just fine.

Coming into transition, again David's tallness pays off!



Molly was doing the race as a relay. They began 20 minutes behind me. I fully expected her husband to pass me on the bike, but I never heard him. I saw Molly when I came into transition and realized I would probably be seeing her on the run.

Transition 2: Not sure, but certainly faster than T1!

Run: 52:37.8, 5 mi, avg 10:31 mi.

By far, I am most proud of this leg of my race.

Let's see, I felt like the tin man running starting out. My legs were just so stiff. It was incredible! Oh and my feet were numb. Nice. They finally showed up around mile 2. Happily, my heel didn't hurt one bit, and my breathing was labored, but not over the top. It was nice and even. I just picked my own pace and went with it. I really didn't look at Garmin other to see what the mileage was. I did see the total time so I had an idea of what was going on. I really wanted to complete the run in under an hour, so I am quite happy I did that, and ran FASTER than at Showdown even though it was a longer distance by almost 2 miles. Good things happen when you don't have to run a 1/2 mi in and out of transition =).

My legs didn't feel fabulous (and I guess that's normal), but I didn't have any side cramps, all though I could tell I would get them quickly if I picked up the pace, which is why I stayed where I was. I got passed, a lot, but it was nice to get passed by people in my age group in the fact it had taken them that long to catch me.

Molly made an appearance right after I turned around. She caught up to me around mile 4 I think. I wasn't surprised that she caught me. I knew it meant she was having a good run, and again was glad I didn't get caught on the bike!

Total Time = 2:23.12

Thanks to David, Molly, Jeff, Melissa and Nigel who cheered for me. I liked the cheering section, and the cookies that came along with it (he he Melissa, those were yummy!).

Now I am home, watching hockey.

Next up is the dreaded sinus surgery on Tuesday. I know having the surgery is the right decision, however I am more than a little bummed that I am really starting to get in shape only to have to take a week or two off from training. Ugh. In the pool, I finally started making intervals I haven't seen since I was in my early 20s. Oh well, everything will be okay, and I will be able to breathe better!