The Austin (Inaugural) Triathlon
1500m/25M/10K
Goal Time: 3:15:00
Short version:
Breakfast: Frappuccino and Clif bar
Total Time: 3:06:58
Rank: 35/56 AG, 506/694 OA
Swim: 34:28(2:18/100m), 376/694
T1: 4:24
Bike: 1:25:22 (17.4 mph), 554/694
T2: 2:47
Run: 59:54 (9:40/mile), 496/694
Long version:
I woke up at 4:30 a.m. The kids were at my mom's, so we didn't have much to do to leave by 5:00. DH was a little slow, so we left at 5:15. We arrived around 5:50, parked, then I walked over to transition after working out a meeting place. Well, I didn't take my pump thinking I could just borrow one. The pump I borrowed was so crappy, though, it took me FOREVER to pump up my tires! I finally got that done, got everything set up, and hit the bathroom. I was standing in line so long that I barely had time to catch up with DH. He took my picture and wished me luck. I felt fine.
Swim:
It was a deep water start, so we jumped off a dock and tread water before the start. That didn't worry me at all. There was one guy who bailed, though. He jumped in, but he got out shortly. The race started on time, as is usual with Jack and Adam's events, but we were told the waves would be 3 mins. apart instead of 5 mins. apart. I'm assuming they were trying to get done before bad weather hit, as there was an 80% chance of thunderstorms. I didn't care. The earlier the better. The water was a nice 77 degrees. Many wore wetsuits, but not me. It felt great! We swam left down to the next bridge and back to the bridge closest to us and back to shore. The lake is actually a dammed river, so there is a slight current. I didn't really notice it much, though. I got passed by the wave behind me and passed many in front of me. I just kept swimming and enjoyed it. The only complaint I had about the swim was that the buoys were too far apart. You couldn't really see from one to the next. You had to just follow everyone and hope you were on course until you got closer to the next buoy. My goal was to do the swim in under 35:00. When I got out, my watch said 34:00, so I knew I was on track. I saw DH, and he got my picture!
I'm somewhere on the left of the wave swimming in the water with the red caps
T1:
The run from the swim to transition was really long. We had to run up a couple sets of stairs and into transition. I got into transition, and I couldn't find my bike. I was all turned around for some reason. I had scoped it out ahead of time, but I just got turned around and was looking on the wrong side of the aisle. I finally figured it out and found my bike. I got my stuff on quickly and realized I hadn't reset my bike computer. I tried to reset it, but I was trying to be fast and was doing something wrong, so I just decided to forget it. We had to walk/run our bikes a long way before we could mount (same with the dismount), so T1 was long for everyone, though I could have made mine a little shorter.
Bike:
The bike ride was 3 loops up and down one street and up and down another street. There were just a couple hills that weren't too bad. The ride was in downtown Austin, which is so cool. We rode across the river each time, which was neat. The hills were fun. I was going well over 30 on some of the downhills. I have to get better at drinking on the bike, though. I liked my aerobars, though I know I need a fitting to get lower. It was just nice to be comfortable on them, regardless if they helped my speed (which I doubt). I do use my quads more with them, which could help my run. On the first loop, I saw a woman coming back the other direction take a pretty bad spill. She just flipped forward and ended up on her face. I heard later she was o.k., but it was a scary thing to witness (made me think of Charlotte!). I said a little prayer for her. At the end of the 2nd loop, I passed a woman I have seen at my last two tris. We met before my second tri, then I passed her on the bike at the last one, and we went back and forth, but this time I passed her, and we talked some, then I left her in the dust! LOL I waited for her to finish, though, because she was just behind me on the run. We were so close, we should train together! I told DH 1:30 on the bike, and I beat that time easily! DH got some great pictures of me on the bike.
T2:
Nothing eventful happened in T2. I felt fine. The run in with the bike was long, but other than that it went very smoothly. My toes had gone numb on the bike (I've got to figure that out), so running with my bike at first was weird, but they soon got the feeling back in them.
Run:
The start of the run was tough. I don't know if I was just tired or if it was a nutrition thing. I'll get it figured out someday. I also knew I was way ahead of my goal time, so that could have been part of it. It was a two loop run, part of which was next to the bike course, so that was cool. My friend that I ride with was in front of me, so I kept seeing her at all the loop backs (there were lots). I tried to catch her, but I never did. I felt so slow on the first loop, but I felt great on the second loop (that has NEVER happened!). It wasn't as hot as it could have been (upper 70s). They had sponges filled with ice cold water to squeeze over our heads, which really helped. There were a few hills, but they weren't too bad (nothing like the Austin HM). A 52 year old woman came up beside me and ran with me some. She commented on the great weather and said it wasnt' as muggy as she thought it would be. I told her that was because we were running so fast that the wind was cooling us off! She laughed and said she'd take that! We talked about how well run the event was. I told her it was the opposite of Aquarena, and she said she did that one too. We laughed about that. She eventually got ahead of me, and I tried to stay at her pace, but I just didn't think I could keep that up to the end. I did pick up my speed throughout, and I finished SUPER strong. I passed everyone in front of me on the last leg of the race! I was running so fast to the finish (probably under 8:00/mile), I wonder if I could have run faster earlier. I was so worried about losing steam, though. I always like a strong finish, and I'd rather be safe and conserve. I've only been running a year, so I still have problems with pace, but I'm getting better. This is the first time I ranked higher on the run than I did on the bike.
The Finish:
As I ran across the Congress Street bridge over the river (about a half mile from the finish) and down the hill toward the finish line, I was smiling. I was higher than the finish line, so I could look down and see it on my right next to the river, and I could hear the announcer. Everyone was looking at me, it seemed. As I rounded the corner toward the finish, I kept getting faster, and I got tears in my eyes for a minute because I was thinking about what I was about to accomplish. As I crossed the finish line, I could barely slow myself down to get my chip off. I saw DH there smiling, and my riding friend came up and gave me a big hug (this wasn't her first Oly, but it was mine) My goal was to run at a 10:00/mile, and I did a 9:40, which isn't bad. When I stopped my watch, I saw 3:07, so I knew I had shattered my goal. I was SO happy! My friend wanted to beat her last Oly time of 3:24, and she did it in 3:01. I was so proud of her too.
Conclusion:
I did about as well as I did in my last sprint, which was really nice, but my ranking was lower because there are just higher caliber racers at Oly events, I guess. There were some SUPER fancy bike there. If I didn't have aerobars, I may have been the only one. Not really, but I found it really hard to find anyone without them. DH noticed too. The Oly distance might actually be for me. I wasn't sure, but now that I've done one, I'll definitely be doing more. I've got to try to break 3:00! LOL Next season...
Kelli
(edited because I added a photo)
http://This message has been edited by 3chilipeppers (edited Sep-04-2007).
1500m/25M/10K
Goal Time: 3:15:00
Short version:
Breakfast: Frappuccino and Clif bar
Total Time: 3:06:58
Rank: 35/56 AG, 506/694 OA
Swim: 34:28(2:18/100m), 376/694
T1: 4:24
Bike: 1:25:22 (17.4 mph), 554/694
T2: 2:47
Run: 59:54 (9:40/mile), 496/694
Long version:
I woke up at 4:30 a.m. The kids were at my mom's, so we didn't have much to do to leave by 5:00. DH was a little slow, so we left at 5:15. We arrived around 5:50, parked, then I walked over to transition after working out a meeting place. Well, I didn't take my pump thinking I could just borrow one. The pump I borrowed was so crappy, though, it took me FOREVER to pump up my tires! I finally got that done, got everything set up, and hit the bathroom. I was standing in line so long that I barely had time to catch up with DH. He took my picture and wished me luck. I felt fine.
Swim:
It was a deep water start, so we jumped off a dock and tread water before the start. That didn't worry me at all. There was one guy who bailed, though. He jumped in, but he got out shortly. The race started on time, as is usual with Jack and Adam's events, but we were told the waves would be 3 mins. apart instead of 5 mins. apart. I'm assuming they were trying to get done before bad weather hit, as there was an 80% chance of thunderstorms. I didn't care. The earlier the better. The water was a nice 77 degrees. Many wore wetsuits, but not me. It felt great! We swam left down to the next bridge and back to the bridge closest to us and back to shore. The lake is actually a dammed river, so there is a slight current. I didn't really notice it much, though. I got passed by the wave behind me and passed many in front of me. I just kept swimming and enjoyed it. The only complaint I had about the swim was that the buoys were too far apart. You couldn't really see from one to the next. You had to just follow everyone and hope you were on course until you got closer to the next buoy. My goal was to do the swim in under 35:00. When I got out, my watch said 34:00, so I knew I was on track. I saw DH, and he got my picture!
I'm somewhere on the left of the wave swimming in the water with the red caps
T1:
The run from the swim to transition was really long. We had to run up a couple sets of stairs and into transition. I got into transition, and I couldn't find my bike. I was all turned around for some reason. I had scoped it out ahead of time, but I just got turned around and was looking on the wrong side of the aisle. I finally figured it out and found my bike. I got my stuff on quickly and realized I hadn't reset my bike computer. I tried to reset it, but I was trying to be fast and was doing something wrong, so I just decided to forget it. We had to walk/run our bikes a long way before we could mount (same with the dismount), so T1 was long for everyone, though I could have made mine a little shorter.
Bike:
The bike ride was 3 loops up and down one street and up and down another street. There were just a couple hills that weren't too bad. The ride was in downtown Austin, which is so cool. We rode across the river each time, which was neat. The hills were fun. I was going well over 30 on some of the downhills. I have to get better at drinking on the bike, though. I liked my aerobars, though I know I need a fitting to get lower. It was just nice to be comfortable on them, regardless if they helped my speed (which I doubt). I do use my quads more with them, which could help my run. On the first loop, I saw a woman coming back the other direction take a pretty bad spill. She just flipped forward and ended up on her face. I heard later she was o.k., but it was a scary thing to witness (made me think of Charlotte!). I said a little prayer for her. At the end of the 2nd loop, I passed a woman I have seen at my last two tris. We met before my second tri, then I passed her on the bike at the last one, and we went back and forth, but this time I passed her, and we talked some, then I left her in the dust! LOL I waited for her to finish, though, because she was just behind me on the run. We were so close, we should train together! I told DH 1:30 on the bike, and I beat that time easily! DH got some great pictures of me on the bike.
T2:
Nothing eventful happened in T2. I felt fine. The run in with the bike was long, but other than that it went very smoothly. My toes had gone numb on the bike (I've got to figure that out), so running with my bike at first was weird, but they soon got the feeling back in them.
Run:
The start of the run was tough. I don't know if I was just tired or if it was a nutrition thing. I'll get it figured out someday. I also knew I was way ahead of my goal time, so that could have been part of it. It was a two loop run, part of which was next to the bike course, so that was cool. My friend that I ride with was in front of me, so I kept seeing her at all the loop backs (there were lots). I tried to catch her, but I never did. I felt so slow on the first loop, but I felt great on the second loop (that has NEVER happened!). It wasn't as hot as it could have been (upper 70s). They had sponges filled with ice cold water to squeeze over our heads, which really helped. There were a few hills, but they weren't too bad (nothing like the Austin HM). A 52 year old woman came up beside me and ran with me some. She commented on the great weather and said it wasnt' as muggy as she thought it would be. I told her that was because we were running so fast that the wind was cooling us off! She laughed and said she'd take that! We talked about how well run the event was. I told her it was the opposite of Aquarena, and she said she did that one too. We laughed about that. She eventually got ahead of me, and I tried to stay at her pace, but I just didn't think I could keep that up to the end. I did pick up my speed throughout, and I finished SUPER strong. I passed everyone in front of me on the last leg of the race! I was running so fast to the finish (probably under 8:00/mile), I wonder if I could have run faster earlier. I was so worried about losing steam, though. I always like a strong finish, and I'd rather be safe and conserve. I've only been running a year, so I still have problems with pace, but I'm getting better. This is the first time I ranked higher on the run than I did on the bike.
The Finish:
As I ran across the Congress Street bridge over the river (about a half mile from the finish) and down the hill toward the finish line, I was smiling. I was higher than the finish line, so I could look down and see it on my right next to the river, and I could hear the announcer. Everyone was looking at me, it seemed. As I rounded the corner toward the finish, I kept getting faster, and I got tears in my eyes for a minute because I was thinking about what I was about to accomplish. As I crossed the finish line, I could barely slow myself down to get my chip off. I saw DH there smiling, and my riding friend came up and gave me a big hug (this wasn't her first Oly, but it was mine) My goal was to run at a 10:00/mile, and I did a 9:40, which isn't bad. When I stopped my watch, I saw 3:07, so I knew I had shattered my goal. I was SO happy! My friend wanted to beat her last Oly time of 3:24, and she did it in 3:01. I was so proud of her too.
Conclusion:
I did about as well as I did in my last sprint, which was really nice, but my ranking was lower because there are just higher caliber racers at Oly events, I guess. There were some SUPER fancy bike there. If I didn't have aerobars, I may have been the only one. Not really, but I found it really hard to find anyone without them. DH noticed too. The Oly distance might actually be for me. I wasn't sure, but now that I've done one, I'll definitely be doing more. I've got to try to break 3:00! LOL Next season...
Kelli
(edited because I added a photo)
http://This message has been edited by 3chilipeppers (edited Sep-04-2007).
