This was my very first tri so I was hoping to improve greatly over last year. Of course, they decided to double the distances. Last year was 400/9/5k, this year was 800/16/5k.
As always, the Palomas is a fabulous resort and if you don't go to race there are plenty of pools to spend your day toasting by. Like last year there was gender specific tee, this year they were tech tees. Erik and I went into town for dinner at a Mexican place we ate at last year. I tried to get into bed at a decent hour. The race doesn't start until 9am, but transition opens at 7 or so and I wanted breakfast. This would be my first race with my wetsuit (previous races, I borrowed one).
Swim:
I was feeling pretty good about the swim given the progress I had made in the pool. I got in the water and got warmed up and hoped that I wouldn't repeat the freak out from last year. Yeah, good luck. The horn went off and we waded out (this swim is awesome in that you can *almost* walk to the first turn), I finally dived in and started swimming. I don't know what happened but I was doing so well and then all of a sudden my mind went haywire and I started panicing. I flipped over and tried to catch my breath. I kept trying to keep swimming and my mind kept freaking out on me. It was a miserable swim and I just wanted it over. I could breath, I could swim, but I couldn't do it all at the same time! Looking back on it, I think it has to do with the salt water. My throat and lungs start to burn after I start swallowing water that is getting kicked up, so I have to assume that is what it is. I made it out of the swim and started the slog up the sandy hill. Naturally the timing mat is in the transition area so my time includes the walk up the hill.
Swim = 20:50
T1:
I had my wetsuit half off by time I made it into transition, but I still struggle with getting it off over my feet. Nothing exciting here. I managed to not forget anything. Grabbed my helmet, gloves, garmin and I was off.
T1=2:51 (I think most of the time was centered around my wetsuit. And walking to the line)
Bike:
Finally! Something I can do and go faster at. Thanks to mountain biking I've noticed my road biking has gotten stronger. Last year it was a 1 loop course, this year it was doubled. They shut down 1/2 of the road (it's a divided road, bikes on one side, cars on the other) so that helps with some of the traffic issues. The course is 3 legs, 2 with a roundabout, 1 u-turn. I passed lots of people on the bike. I hauled on the slight downhills and tried to get up the uphills with as little effort as possible. My goal had been about an hour for the 16 miles. I came up a little short, but not I'm not terribly disappointed by this.
Bike = 63:49
T2:
Again nothing exciting. In, out, done.
T2=1:16
Run:
My least favorite leg. I'd like to say that I spent lots of time running in prep for this. But I didn't. And I paid for it. As well as changing up the course the nearly doubled the beach run. I had tried jogging part of it the night before and nearly died. I tried to just keep a slow pace, with the option of walking on the uphills. I had hoped to run .75 mi and walk for a min. Ideally, I should go a mile and then walk (aside from aid stations). There seemed to be a lot more uphill on the course than last year. These are not gradual uphills either, its the golf course cart path so it can just up because it fits the course. The Olympic had a similar course, but took a different turn than the sprints. I guess there was some issues with people doing the oly who took the wrong turn and this made the course almost 2 miles short. Oops. The run was really hot and I was doubling up on water at the aid stations so that I could dump some on myself. I finally made it to the last part of the course that led to the beach run. I made the decsion to walk the beach in front of phase I and then start running when I hit phase II so that I would have some energy to run across the finish line and hit the slip'n'slide!! I barely made it, even walking Phase I. The sand was very soft and at least ankle deep. I saw a few people stop and take off their shoes and just finish barefoot. This probably would have been a good idea. I finally crossed the line and hit the slip'n'slide, but again there wasn't a ton of water on it and I didn't go very far. :-(
Run = 39:59 (2 mins faster than last year)
Total time = 2:08:31
Not the best overall race, but it wasn't terrible. This is a fun race for me in a fun locale. We'll be back next year if anyone wants to come!
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