Pasadena Triathlon Race Recap

1:02.57
5th place in my age group
13th woman overall
108/849



How I know I did my best:
-breathing so hard during the swim that I couldn't keep my face under water for seconds at a time
-arms were so weak post swim that it was hard to hold a cup of water to my mouth
-legs were wobbly pushing my bike to my car 25 minutes after I had finished
-face tingling on the drive to breakfast
-sitting on a computer 3 hours later unable to focus on anything

Score.



Highlights:
-Saw James Marsden (Cyclops). It was his first tri. He looks like himself in person.
-Beating my brother by six solid minutes.
-post-race breakfast

Lowlights:
-Not factoring in how every loop was an uphill followed by a downhill. No bike training for the uphill = balls sucking
-People all over the goddamn bike area lollygagging in the left area
-Not hitting the goal my trainer had set for me time-wise
-Stomach/side cramp the entire goddamn run
-Water leaking in to my goggles
-The whole awful long swim
-being woken up at 12:40am by my asshole cat and not being able to fall back asleep for over an hour



Breakdown:

The Run: 5.3k -- 24:46

I had a major case of pre-race nerves, so I stood on the start line wondering if I was going to throw up. I'm sure not enough sleep contributed. I was looking forward to starting so I could forget everything else and just push myself. And then we started. Oh, right, the whole first half was up hill. Shit. I started near the front of my wave, and pretty much immediately started passing people. I spent the whole run passing people, and was only passed once, by a woman who I overtook right before the end of the run. So, not a single runner passed me. I was plagued the whole run with a stomach/side cramp. It started within minutes of starting the race, and disappeared somewhere during the transition. It was annoying.

I had no idea what my pace was the whole time. I was passing people, but felt like I was going too slow the first half, even though we were going uphill. I was receiving mixed signals. The second half I just pushed harder. Coming up to the transition area I was passing people who were walking. WALKING! People! The transition area is right there! Work a little harder!

T1: -- 1:05

I flipped my race belt around as I ran in to the transition. At soon as I hit my bike I strapped on my helmet, unracked my bike, and took off. I paused to spit, and it didn't all dislodge from my mouth, so I wiped it off with my hand, then continued pushing my bike forward, which meant I transferred a giant wad of spit to my bike handle. Smart. People were moving so fucking slow out of the transition. I was careful when moving around people, but jesus.

Bike: 15.3k -- 30:54

The start of the bike was a clusterfuck. People had no concept of how to climb on their stupid fucking bikes. I thought I was going to punch someone. And then, once everyone was moving, people were going to slow. And, fuck, uphill.

The bike was three loops, so three times I had the pleasure of trying to maintain 17mph on an uphill, and speeding 22-26mph on a downhill. While weaving around people who didn't understand "stay right unless you're passing" and yelling "on your left" until I felt like a broken record.

The first two laps, I got passed semi regularly (passed more people than passed me), mostly by guys with fancy wheels and alien looking helmets. They can pass me all they want. The last lap all the pros were gone, and it was me and all the bike doofuses. And normal people, don't get me wrong. You don't notice the people who follow the rules. You notice the 14 year old kid weaving across the entire bike lane as though he's out for a merry jaunt. I didn't want to feel like an asshole, but I was pushing as hard as I could and didn't have the mental energy for an obstacle course.

T2: 2:07

I unhooked my bike helmet as I entered the transition area. It took a few tries. Not too dexterous at that point in the race. Threw my bike on the rack, threw down my helmet. Threw off my sunglasses. Slipped off my shoes. Tore off my socks. Grabbed my goggles. RAN. The pool was about 500 yards away. I pulled on my goggles while jogging off my bike legs. It felt like everyone in front of me was walking. So I just ran around them.

Swim: 150m -- 4:03

I hit the pool, and there wasn't a line. Sweet. I hopped in, pushed off, and started stroking (heh). Water filled my right goggle immediately. Fuck. Not much I could do. Why were my arms so tired? Why was the wall so far away? Oh, because I trained in a 25m pool and this was a 50m pool. I was going hard, but I felt so slow. SO SLOW. The water in my goggle was bothering me, so I tried to fix it at the first turn around. Precious time, but I needed it.

The second length, fuck, so long, so hard, so slow.

The third length, fuck, this is ALL I have to do. Just fucking nut up and do it. I don't think I was going any faster. I was moving as best I could.

And then I was coming out of the pool. BOOM, finish line. BOOM, medal. Take my anklet timer off quickly, please, it's hard to stay standing. Stumble to the table with water. Whimper, repeatedly. Have trouble holding a cup of water. Whimper. Whimper.

The End.



I am happy with how I did. I am proud of myself.