Liz & Mike - Scott adn I are still thinking Chicago. Part of me really wants to do teh International distance. We'll see how swimming goes this winter, though.
Here's my tri report:
Gotta' love the new bikes, but that's not all I improved on!
It was cool for teh race (50s fo the start). Except for the time waiting to get in the lake with few clothes, that was great for me.
The swim went ok, except when I was about 2/3 or more done and realized I only had 5 min to finish and not be swept. :O I swam my tail off for about 2 minutes and then realized that I had 15 minutes left.
My swim time was about 3 min slower, but so was Scott's. The start was rocky and sharp, so it took us all a bit longer to acutally get in and go from when he said start. I did the crawl almost half the swim, though. That was great for me. I think this course must have been a bit long. Plus, I got to shore, stood up adn then ther was a huge whole wheere I couldn't touch. Flailed through that and finally got back to gruond. We came out on a baot ramp. The bottom was super slick, so I could not move very fast for a bit. The last race also had the mat as you came out. For this one, you had to get out, go up the hill and around to get to the mat. So, I have no idea if I was better, worse or the same even thougth my tiem was 3 min worse. I felt better about it, though. It kind of stunk to have people coming in from the bike just as I finished from the swim, but I was the second to the last heat, so that will happen.
Then, I jogged to my bike. OK, I jogged about 3 racks past my bike and had to go back.
I did ok in transistion. Much better than last time. ~ 3min. Not great, but much better.
Started a littel slow on the bike, but got up to speed after about the first mile. I thin it just takes a bit for your brain and body to switch gears. Passed a few poeple adn that was a very nice feeling. heck, having people in sight was nice.
Got to this awesome down hill. I was flying. After I finished I was thiking of how I'd tell Scott I had a 3 minute mile and let my brain wwander. Then, i realized I'd have to go back up. :O It was at least 1.5 miles long. I did ok, though. Slow, but ok. The course was hillier than the last one, but I went 16 mph with the new bike. (13.6 in the first tri) I felt like Icoudl have pushed harder, but was glad I didn't when I got to the run. I was 12 min faster than last tiem and the mileage was 0.1 miles longer. (Was supposed to be shorter, but Friday we were ntofied that they had to change the course due to construction.)
My transistion for the run was bad, as I had to make a trip back to get my sponge. Doh. OMG, my legs did not want to go. I was so happy to see people ahead of me, but had no desire to pass them. I did pass the man who was doing a limp/walk, though. Poor guy. Passed a couple more. After a bit, I realized that my legs were loosening up. Still the hills wre getting to me. At one point, I thought I could do sub 11, but that quickly went away. I had a hard time catching my splits, though, because I had the bike and run together on the Garmin. It wasn't until lunch later that I realzied I was sub 11. Woo hoo. (Of course, Mr. show off was sub 9. :O) Speaking of, I met him with about a half mile to go. I was moving ok. He left me after a quarter mile (yes he had finished 30 minutes earlier) and told me to kick it in. Yeah, took a bit to increase speed, but I did ok. I still miss having Scott on the run. That gets lonely, especially w/o an mp3. That's a pretty small part of the whole thing, though, and I am thrilled that he had a chance to really see what he could do. OK, when an ambulance went by, I freaked for a bit, but I just gotta' get over that stuff.
It was a fun race and they had an unbelievable amount of vounteers. It's in a rather elite community and they use it as a chance to show off. That sounds bad, but they really take pride in their event andn the whole area seems to come out and help, even though it means a lot of closed roads and such. That was cool. So, it was fun.
Now, I must admit to being a ibt bummed that there won;t be another one this year. Who'd of thunk. Time to gear up the runnign for marathon, though.
My times were
swim (1/2 mile): 27:48
T1 3:23
Bike (18.1 miles): 1:07:40
T2: 3:32
Run (5 miles): 53:39
