Top Gun Triathlon VII, Fort Desoto, FL

.25 mile/11 miles/3.1 miles

Short version:
Goal Time: 1:30:00
Total Time: 1:30:57
525/658 OA, 24/30 AG

Breakfast: Whole Wheat Bagel with Peanut Butter, 1 cup Honey Bunches of Oats, ½ cup milk

Swim: 14:48 (rank: 25/30 AG)
T1: 3:24
Bike: 33:38 (19.7 mph, rank: 20/30 AG)
T2: 2:31
Run: 36:37 (11:15/mile, rank: 25/30 AG)

Long version:
I made sure that I packed everything the night before because I wanted to be up and out of the house by 5:30 since that was when the transition area opened up and I figured it would take me about 30 minutes to get there. By the time I got the bike rack on the car and got everything loaded up it was actually 5:45 when I left, so I was already running a little bit behind. On the way there, I was getting ready to head over the Skyway Bridge when I saw cars ahead of me start swerving. When I got up to that point, someone had lost their bike and must not have known it because no one stopped. If there were not cars beside me, behind me, and no place to pull over, I would have stopped and moved the bike or put it on my rack and took it to the venue and turned it in. It was a sick feeling because I know how much I love my bike and it would kill me to lose it. I felt really bad for whoever lost theirs. I kept one eye on the road and one eye on the rearview mirror all of the way there and all of the way back.

I picked up my chip (I had picked up my packet the day before), got body marked and headed into transition. This time, I made sure I had everything, including my sunglasses which I had left in the car at the last race. The transition area was well laid out and well marked. I had no trouble finding my space and getting my bike racked

I went down to the beach and found a friend of mine (Trez) who is training for a half iron but was doing this race as a warm up. We agreed that the buoys looked a whole lot further apart than a ¼ mile. After we chatted for awhile, I jumped in the water and did a warm up swim out to the buoy and back. The first thing I noticed is that the current was going to be against us. I had practiced this same course before and the current was with us then. My suspicion was confirmed when the announcer said ?It looks like we are going to have a tough swim this morning because of the tide change.? Dang it!! Also, even the winner remarked on the loud speaker during the awards that the swim was a lot longer than he had anticipated.

Swim:
My wave was the very last one. I got to see Trez go off and of course I had to rib her a bit before she left by telling her she better swim fast or I would be yelling ?on your left? in the water. When my wave finally started, as I always do, I stayed to the back and outside of the pack. I had learned to dolphin so I did that for the first time and felt it really helped. I guarantee I was one of the last to the first buoy, by the second buoy, I noticed that I was catching a lot of people because I was still stroking the same as when I started. By the next buoy, I was definitely passing people. Now that is something new for me in the water. Also, I had been freaked out in the past by people swimming over, under, knocking me in the head, grabbing my legs. This time, I was right in there fighting, and I know I was smiling. It was actually fun. I started almost last and came out of the water somewhere in the middle, so I considered that a huge success for me. When I got out of the water, I ran the whole way to transition for the first time and was actually a lot faster in transition than I had been in the past.

Bike:
I jumped on my bike. Starting in the last wave has its advantages. I started passing people right away. During the whole time, I was only passed by one person and they were part of a relay. The only bad thing is that 7 miles in my speedometer quit working and I had no idea how fast or slow I was going. I jut pushed as hard as I could and wound up just a shade under 20mph. I want so badly to average above 20mph, but I guess that day will have to wait. I feel confident on my bike so I know that I will keep getting better. Now I need to find out what the devil is wrong with my speedometer.

Run:
After transition, I could not find my legs. I ran for a bit, walked for a bit, and did that for about the first mile. Also, the first half of the run was on sand which really kills me for some reason. It must be a psychological thing because the sand is hard packed, but I feel like it wears me out so much more than running on asphalt. So I got passed a lot. About half way, they had these towels soaked in ice water they were handing out. Jeesh, did those feel good. Just before the 2 mile mark, something happened. All of the sudden I had energy again. I could run for a long time without walking. Over the course of the last mile, I knew that it was my fastest and many of those that were passing me in the beginning were being passed by yours truly. I was still running well and even kicked it in about the last tenth of a mile. Trez was there cheering me at the finish and I high-fived her and crossed the line. I knew I was close to my goal, and was a little disappointed to find out that I missed it by less than a minute. However, I had not counted on the swim being against the current which added almost 5 minutes to my time. Incidentally, Trez beat me on swim time by one lousy second.

Since this was only my third triathlon, I feel like I have improved so much. At the first, I was not even able to swim from one buoy to the next without resting and now I have no problems swimming the whole way. I was 1:30 faster on my 5K than the last triathlon, and that one was all on roads.

There was a lot of good food after the race and I hung out with Trez for awhile before heading home. Triathletes are so fun to hang out with because they are so passionate about the sport and so easy to carry on a conversation with. I spent a long time in transition removing my bike because a bunch of us got to talking about other races and things we had seen on this course. I know that I am addicted because after the race was over I was a little sad that I would not be doing one again until September 8th.