With my co-worker Corrie who came in 16th in her age group! Amazing!
This is probably more information than any of you care to know, but I always enjoy reading the "race reports" of other triathletes, so I did one myself. If you have no idea about how a triathlon works, it may paint a clearer picture.
Race Description: See Jane Run Triathlon in Pleasanton, CA
400 yard swim (1/4 mile), 11 mile bike, 3.1 mile run
Overall Rank: 508 out of 777 (I had to calculate this myself, so it may be a bit off)
Division Rank: 101 out of 135
Overall Time: 1:41:59
Pre-Race Routine: Ate a bowl of oatmeal before leaving the house, drove to Pleasanton with Nancy, set up transition area, checked in and got our ankle timing chips, got body marking (race number written on thigh and shoulder with marker), examed the swim course, met up with co-worker Corrie and her wife Marisela for photo ops. Sooo glad we did this before because I look extremely haggard after any display of athleticism.
Swim: 400 yards
Time: 10:31
Overall Rank: ???
Division Rank: ???
Pace: 9ish minutes (total time included run to transition)
Water Temp: low 70's I think
Water Condition: Lake water, very still
Wetsuit: Didn't use
Course: 400 yard horseshoe shape
Start: Ran into water from a beach start
Drafting: Too scared to draft - don't want to get a foot to the face
Navigation: Easy sighting of the buoys. Stayed perfectly on course
Comments: Felt really good in this event. Kept my head down in the water as much as possible. Only looked up to sight and make sure no one was going to kick me in the head.
What would I do differently next time: Nothing
T1: It was a looooong path from the water to the transition area (where the bikes are). Had to run up the sand, down a concrete path (barefoot - ouch!), into the muddy grass, before stepping onto the timing pad and into the bike area. Finding the bike was easy because of my bright pink beach towel and the thoughtful girl who had a Disney princess balloon on our rack.
Remove Goggles/Cap: Did this while running
Helmet On/Suit Off @ same Time: Didn't wear a wetsuit and really wouldn't be coordinated enough to do this even if I had. I dried off a tiny bit, threw on my t-shirt and running shorts (NOT hardcore enough to run in my tri-swim suit. No one wants to see these white pasty white thighs), wiped off dirty/wet feet and got socks and running shoes on. Helmet on, drink of water, bike off the rack. Ready to go.
Run w/ Bike: Yup, out of the transition area
Jump on Bike: More of a cautious climb onto the bike.
Getting up to speed: Hard to get speed out of the parking lot. Someone had reset my gears to lowest setting because of the steep hill getting out of the parking. That's real sweet, but I would have prefered to do it myself.
Comments: The whole transition was pretty fast, but I did feel that I lost some momentum getting changed.
What would I do differently next time: Get longer shorts for my swim suit so I feel more comfortable continuing the race without running shorts. Also, have my laces halfway tied and ready to go.
Bike: 11 miles
Time: 47:39
Overall Rank: ???
Division Rank: ???
Pace: 4:30/mile
Wind: A tad windy in certain directions, but overall it felt pretty good
Course: The course was all over the place. A group of us got stopped at one intersection so CHP could let cars through. (This has never happened to me before, and according to race reviews it hasn't happened to most people. That's the point of having CHP there closing the roads - to redirect traffic so you don't have to stop in the middle of the race.) I lot a TON of momentum at this point even though I was only stopped for a couple of minutes. The course was not marked well and there were a couple of sharp turns that were really dangerous. Another where we ended up riding straight into other cyclists. Not a good course design.
Gear Changes: I am not a cyclist, so knowing which gear to be in is tough. I found a pretty good one though and mostly stayed in the 2nd.
Eating/Drinking: Tried to grab my water bottle at one point, got the bottle, but couldn't get the cap off while I was moving, so I gave up and put it back.
Comments: I need to train more on the bike. This is by far my weakest event, because I rarely ride. I used a great bike that belongs to my aunt. It's a hybrid that has fairly skinny tires and felt pretty good (much better than using my mountain bike - that would have been a disaster!) Thankfully there weren't a ton of hills; my legs couldn't have taken it. I wimped out on the one big hill and just walked my bike. Hey! Other people were doing it.
What would I do differently next time: Practice more. Make sure I can shift into 3rd. Use a different water bottle that doesn't have to be opened one-handed at 15 mph.
T2: downshifted the last 1/4 mile so my cadence would be shorter and my legs would be more ready for the run.
Riding w/ feet on top of shoes: Don't use clip in pedals
Jumping off bike: Awkward as my legs weren't ready for it.
Racking bike: Our rack had fallen down during the ride, so I had to through my bike on top of Nancy's.
Running shoes off/ helmet off: Threw my helmet off and onto the pile of stuff
Comments: I'll admit, I was bummed that Nancy wasn't still in the transition area. I was hoping I wasn't that far behind her, but she smoked me on the bike (as I knew she would), so mentally I was in a bit of a bad place. I grabbed a small handful of sport beans (eloctrolyte replacement) and a couple swigs of water and ran out of transition.
What would you do differently: Nothing.
Run: 3.1 miles
Time: 39:16
Overall Rank: ???
Division Rank: ???
Pace: 12.6 min/mile
Course: negatives: dusty, uneven, hilly, lots of holes (from snakes???), and rocks. positives: shady, 2 water stops
Keeping cool: It was getting a bit hot, but with the shade on the course it wasn't too bad.
Drink/Eat: Grabbed water at both stops
Comments: My legs were spent by the time I hit the run. At first I was hoping to catch Nancy so we could finish together, but that didn't happen. She's fast! Mentally I felt good and ready to run, but my legs were in control and they said otherwise. There were a few big hills and I considered running up them, but figured at my slow pace any uphill run would match the speed of an uphill walk, so I decided not to waste the energy and just walked them. Walked through the water stops. Tried to run (slow jog) most of the course though. Ran the last 1/2 mile and felt good running through the finish.
What would you do differently: I should probably train more. Story of my life. :)
Warm-Down: Walked around and gathered freebies from the booths
Limiters: Not sure what this means...
Mental Effort: Felt good mentally. Irrational competiveness toward my friend who is much more athletic than I am (even though she doesn't believe it) probably helped me go a bit faster, but also frustrated me. I like to compete against myself and no one else (maybe because I am a sore loser?) :)
Physical Effort: I felt like I left everything on the course, which was my goal. Could I have gone faster with more training? Definitely. Did I feel like I did the very best I could given my abilities? Yes.
OVERALL: Good race. Made my goal time. Hooray! Wish I didn't have this darned competitive drive though. It really makes me feel like an ugly person. Note to self: Do not invite friends to race again, unless we are in different heats (or they are in worse shape than me.) :)
