July 26, 2009

Glenview Triathlon

I have to say, I love this race!

Again I was passing people in the pool. I my split was 5:45...I guess 6 minutes was too slow. I think next year, I'll be putting 5 down for the estimated time. I hit the first transition in under a minute and did the bike in 33:00. My T2 was 59 seconds! and then my run was 34:00. I really need to get my run faster because I really shouldn't be slower at the run than the bike. My total race time was 1:15

The awesome news? I came in 6th in my age group!! The bad news? I was one second away from 5th. I also looked at the age group standings and realized that if my run was faster, I could place in the top 3. In fact, only the 1st place person had me beat on anything other than the run. I think I'm going to work on this for next year and go for it!

Who wants to help me drop my 5k time?

Here are my stats and splits:
overall place: 206 out of 363
division place: 6 out of 24
gender place: 65 out of 177
time: 1:15:29
pace: 0:
swim: 5:46
trans 1: 1:32
bike: 33:05
trans 2: 0:59
run: 34:07

July 27, 2008

Glenview Triathlon!!

Can you say "Kickin' ass and takin' names"? Oh yeah! I felt really good about this tri! I came in 12th in my age group!!

The swim portion was 300 yards, in a pool. How awesome is that! I'm a master at pushing off the walls. It really helped me out--I actually passed 5 people! I learned that trick from Pete...he's a genius! I really used it to my advantage and finished in 6:30.

When I was running to transition, I heard "BETHIE!!!" and realized that Tina and Pete were there watching the race! I'm sooo pumped that they came out to watch. It really meant a lot to me to have 'fans'!

I did the ten mile bike in 35:26 (also a kick ass time!) and then headed to the run. The first 1/2 mile of the run, my legs were complete jelly. I really couldn't get my legs. But I finished the 5k with perfect 12 minute splits. I really wanted to run it faster than 37:00, but 12 minute miles are completely respectable in my book (especially since I'm the 12 minute pacer!!).

Here's the break down:
average time: 1:14:19
overall Place: 270
age division place: 12/16
gender place: 106/162
Finish Time: 1:22:27
Swim Time: 6:30
Transition 1: 1:51
Bike Time: 35:25
Transition 2: 1:21
Run Time: 37:23

July 13, 2008

Today was Danskin, and while I finished I feel like I raced like shit. Basically the only thing I feel that I rocked were transitions.

A pic of the beach...many women ready to swim.

This is Sue, Elaine and I ready to swim.

Tri Buddies!
My swim was 5 minutes slower than the last race for the same distance. Open water blows. And 5 minutes? I feel like a no talent ass-clown. I'm supposed to do better with the second one, not go slower. I guess the problem is the open water. I practice in a pool (ie no waves). It was windy and the water was a little choppy. So that pretty much sucked.

Elaine's husband took this pic of our wave swimming...and it totally cracked me up!!

On to the bike. The bike, also not faster. Napierville was 15.82 mph and Danskin was 15.62. To top it off this bike was shorter! So I get no warm fuzzies there. One problem was my chain popped off due to bad shifting. I got it right on (thank you, Pete for showing me the stick trick!!). My main problem was that there was a AWFUL head wind on the second half of the bike. I felt like I was on a stationary bike. My gears were in the big granny gears. And don't get me started on the joys of up hill and in to the wind. (OK, after the post, I checked the weather for Kenosha Co., and the wind was gusting 20 mph. I guess if I was riding 15 mph, I should be thankful I was even making forward progress.)

I was very happy with my transitions. I felt really good about swim to bike. I almost cut my first transition time in half--ROCK STAR!! And then almost a minute off the second transition. From the last. I know it's a different course with different transition areas, but it's nice to have done something significantly better.

Pay no attention to the fat girl trying to get out of her wetsuit. (I hate this pick, but I'm posting it for motivation to work harder to get rid of that sparetire that seems to engulf my mid-section.)

Must get shoes on...

On my way with the bike..

Finally, I guess I can't complain about the run. It was a little over two minutes faster than the last 5k portion of the sprint tri. I guess then I rocked two things...the transitions and the running. This next photo, is my favorite race photo ever--I look awesome!!Over all Rank: 1715 of 3650
Class Rank: 212 of 311
Swim: 00:20:53
Swim Place: 2539
Transition 1: 00:03:09
Bike: 00:47:45
Bike Place1586
Bike MPH: 15.5
Transition 2: 00:02:23
Run: 00:34:17
Run Place: 1952
Run Pace: 00:11:03
Finish Time: 01:48:29

Here's Elaine and me with our medals. Elaine rocked this race! I'm so proud of her!I probably shouldn't be so hard on myself. If you had told me 5 years ago, that I'd do a Tri, I would have laughed at you and asked what you were smoking. Still, I just wish I could improve my swimming. I didn't even do the 10 miler yesterday (cancelled due to lightning). Grrr...I guess there's all the incentive to really go balls out at Glenview.

June 22, 2008

Yeah!! I'm officially a Triathlete! Today I finished my first triathlon, the US Women's Triathlon Series, in Naperville. Here's the skippy:

The start of the race was delayed an hour due to lightning and thunder. I wasn't too nervous, but then again, I was preoccupied with trying to get Elaine to relax, so I guess that kept my mind off of things. Then I saw the GOTR people Sandaya was in tears and in my wave, so I went to her after Elaine's wave had gone. I was not happy with my swim. I just couldn't get a good rhythm going. I ended up doing most of it backstroke (except for the turns). I discovered that I had more power if I used both arms at the same time. My wetsuit really did help with buoyancy, so that helped with my funky backstroke modification. But I did finish in 15:23...not bad for just learning to swim
My first transition was ok. I know how I can do both transitions better now.

The bike was interesting. I'm glad I brought my camel
back, I also know that I can push myself a little bit more. I also learned that I need to tuck my shoelaces into my shoes! My lace got caught in the chain...I was hoping on one foot, almost like a dog peeing on the fire hydrant!

I liked the run. Again, I could have done the transition better. I didn't like that there were no clocks on the course. I think I could have run better if I had taken the time to put on my watch.

I really had no concept of time for this race. The swim felt much longer than 15 minutes. But then again, the bike felt much shorter than 53 minutes. I felt as if I was running at least 12:00 or better for the end of the run. I am happy that I felt stronger as the race progressed. That's a great feeling...when others are dying and I'm happily going along slower, but steady. This is especially good since I ran 7 miles yesterday. Generally it's best to rest before a race, not do a long run!

I also realize that I do need to plan to eat a little something for breakfast. I'm very used to not eating before my runs, however that plan didn't work for the tri. Due to the rain delay, I didn't hit the water until well after 9:00. I chowed down some Shot Blocks on the bike and by the second lap of the bike I felt much better. I think part of my problem was nutrition.

My knees are also VERY sore. I'm concerned because of marathon training. I believe it's due to biking. One knee was sore from the Wondergirl 5k, but both are sore now. I think that I should try to get my runs done on the elliptical (that's low impact), go easy on the bike (and ask one of the boys to adjust it), and I think the swimming should be just fine.

So here's the stats for the race:

Overall Place: 1413 out of 1919
Division Place: 195 out of 236
Time: 1:54:52
Swim: 15:23
Trans 1: 5:58
Bike: 53:35
Trans 2: 3:19
Run: 36:38

The average time was 1:47:07 and the winning time was 1:07:something. I don't think it's to bad for my first tri!