Tri Three

I did one more triathlon over the weekend - The Bear Lake Brawl. Kristy and Melanie also did it. We were worried about the weather. It was supposed to be 30 degrees the night before the race which means a very chilly morning. But it wasn't that chilly the night before and as the sun came out, it warmed up quite nicely. It was still a little cool, but that made for great racing weather.

I had rented a bike in Bountiful on Friday (we dropped the kids off with Helene). When I got my bike off the bike rack Saturday morning, the front tire was flat. Thank goodness Mike knows how to repair a bike flat (I sure don't). He repaired it and I was good to go. I went over to the race at about 8:00 or 8:15 and got my timing chip and set up my transition area. Then I rode my bike back to our campsite, I figured if I were to get another flat, I'd like it to be at the campsite where I could repair it. My race wave didn't start until 9:45 and the other girls started at 10:00. It was after 9:00 by the time we finally went to the race start for good. We did our body marking, and made sure we knew the transition area, and made a potty break. Then got our wetsuits on.

At that point I decided to head down to the lake, my wave would be starting soon. But I walked slowly and cheered people on as I went. When I got down to the lake, I was trying to see where to swim (what were my landmarks). They blew a horn and started a wave. I clapped and I don't remember how it happened, but figured out that the wave that just started was my wave. My timing chip had been started and there I was on the shore without my wetsuit fully on, and probably 50 yards to the starting point. I had the people I was talking to zip up my wetsuit and I ran out into the water.

I guess the redeeming quality was there was a girl right next to me who had done the same thing. I was about 10 feet behind her as we ran into the water. Once I got out to the starting point, I started my stop watch so that I would know my own time. But I was tired when I started swimming, and a little panicked. It was around the first corner when I started catching up to people. That made me feel better. The lake was cold, but a wetsuit always helps. It was clear, you could see the bottom. But that was a little deceiving. I would think I could touch the bottom, but couldn't. In the end, I passed some people, and came out of the water looking and feeling pretty tired. We had about 100 yards from the water to the parking lot where the transition area was. That felt like a long hike.

This is me coming out of the water, I'm on the left

My transition went pretty well, it was hard to get my wetsuit off. But it was nice to be on the bike after the swim. I was still quite wet when I got on the bike, but you dry out pretty quickly. My road bike that I rented was really nice. I passed two people and then two people passed me. I stayed pretty close to the girls who passed me. In fact when I got to the turn around point I had caught up to one of them because she slowed way down. I was able to pass two more just past the turn around point. I really felt like I was giving the bike my all, and I beat my Scofield time, but Kristy and Mel still beat my time. I've got to find a way to get quicker on the bike.

Me starting the bike

Me finishing the bike

My transition from the bike to the run was super quick. I was really annoyed that someones family members were hanging out in the transition area right where I needed to put my bike, and didn't really get out of the way when I yelled "coming right there".

My run actually went really well. There weren't many people by me, and I just kept my pace and ran. It was a little annoying that they had us run on a dirt road for about a mile (you really had to watch where you put your feet). In the last 100 yards a girl came to pass me. For whatever reason, I let her, until I realized she was in my age category and she would be a place ahead of me. So, then I kicked it up a notch and passed her. Then I came up on this really young kid (in his teens) and told him "come on". So, he and I sprinted right to the very end - I won by a hair.

Me finishing the run, the girl you see in the pic is the one I mentioned above

That was the end of my race. Here's my times:
Total: 1:31:00 (my watch said 1:28:07) - 11th in my class/age group
Swim: 18:27:10 (my watch said 18:01:39) - 19th in my class
T1: 3:50:08 (my watch said 3:23:63) - 4th in my class
Bike: 40:23:80 (my watch said 41:34:63) - 13th in my class
T2 & Run: 28:18:70 (my watch said 28:01:39) - ?

My watch can only time 4 splits, so I timed my swim, t1, bike, and run. I split my time in the transition as I was leaving my transition spot. So that's why my bike is a little longer and my run is a little shorter.

Milliseconds also had some issues with timing. No one had T2 times, and some people didn't get swim splits - I didn't get an official run time.

My Scofield time was 1:31:40, so I did beat my Scofield time. And I wanted to be at 1:28:00. With my watch, I was. So, all in all, I'm happy. I was 32 of 106 or 109 (with timing there are three women who supposedly did not finish) women, and 11th in my age group of 32 women. I was right around the top 3rd, which is where I want to be.