Race Report: Tri for the Cure year 3!

I have to say from year to year I forget just how crazy and inspiring the Tri for the Cure is! To see that many women out there is just.... WOW! Incredible. Packet pick up was great, very smooth, they always say to expect lines but in the 3 years I've been going (and I got there around 10) I've never had to wait at all. Straight in to get your chip, chip check, pick up swim cap and over to get your shirt, (soon to be another favorite I can tell) and just that quick your done. Of course then you have to do a little shopping. Picked up a Bondi band this year, but I'm not sure I'll ever have the nerve to wear it...me thinks it looks a little funny on me. But who knows, seeing as how I spend a large part of my life in spandex (and not the same type of spandex I wore in the 80's) its obvious I'm not to worried about how I look. :)

Race day dawns early.....way to early...especially according to my 2 teenage boys that I decided would attend this event with me. I rarely make them go to any of my races as I know it's not that much fun for them, however occasionally I decide they need to see just how I'm spending the weekends they are at there dad's. As well as why I spend so much time training. And to tell the truth there was not a complaint out of them all morning. My oldest son took all the photos and they did a great job being able to see me start and end each of the three disciplines. No easy task when you have all those people out there. The only time I saw them was when I started the run. So any way back to the race report, my alarm went off at about 4:10, this after being awake for awhile at 2, not good, I crawled out of bed dressed and finished gathering stuff up. I made a PB&J sandwich to eat but could only managed about 3/4 of it on the drive out to Cherry Creek. Left the house by shortly after 5 for the 30ish minute drive out to the lake. Got to transition and unpacked, funny how some people think they are going to have several feet instead of several inches. Got body marked and it wasn't long before I got my wetsuit on and headed down to get in line.

This pic came from the Tri for the Cure Website, Transition is huge!!!!

See the arrow pointing me out, click picture to make it bigger.

I was wave 8 which went a little before 7:30 I think. Saw the elites and survivor waves take off and some of them exiting the swim, man they are fast! My swim felt good, I just put my head down and started swimming. Got kicked a few times but nothing major. Sighting was easy, between all the people, and I believe they have more buoys, I had no problems at all. It was a great swim. I didn't really push it, just went nice and steady. I can't believe how easy the swim seems to be for me this year. I feel much more confident and I'm sure the wetsuit doesn't hurt!

Not the best swim exit pics, but I've had much much worse!

Swim time 17:51 rank 784 out of 2704

T1 5:21

T1 well as you would imagine when you have 3000 people competing transition areas are huge! See above photo. So it's quite a run up the boat dock to your bike and then this year there was a bit of a change to allow people to leave as soon as they were done competing, so it was quite a walk to the bike exit also. I felt like I was moving pretty good, could have gone faster but considering the distances, and in bare feet and bike shoes, I'm not to unhappy with my time.

Once on the bike I felt I was passing many people, a few passed me but I felt pretty good. It's a little difficult to pass sometimes when there are so many people too. Drafting is often not something you can even control. And I do find that I often end up behind someone thinking I can't get passed them and spend to much time just cruising along before I realize that I'm not working as hard as I should be. The course is pretty rough, not to bad for 11 miles but won't be much fun next weekend for 22 miles! It was good to be able to ride parts of the course and be a little more prepared for next weekend. I took one Gu on the bike with water and finished feeling like I had worked hard but left enough to keep going.

Bike time 39:49 17.1mph 757 out of 2704
T2 5:04

Nothing much in T2 quick change of shoes, bathroom stop and out to run.

I was fooling around with the Garmin as I left T2 couldn't get it to work right. Although I set it for multi sport I hadn't used it this year and forgot how it worked, then I couldn't get it to do anything. While I was fooling around almost missed seeing my boys as they yelled at me and snapped a pic.

You can tell I was happy to see them! Funny story about the lady you can just barley see. I had told the boys I would wear orange so that I would stand out from all the pink, black and white, well this lady seemed to look just like me and ended up in several of our pics! By the way I guess in the sunlight orange can look alot like pink anyway!

Finally I got the darn Garmin to start and started on my 2 minute run/1 minute walk. Kept that up through the first 2 1/2ish miles or so and felt pretty good. It was hot but could have been much worse. The last part of the run is all downhill so I just ran it in and felt so happy at the finish line. I believe I had a big smile and it's the first time I've ever heard them announce my name and I cheered as I crossed, maybe a good finisher photo? Probably not. :) I carried a bottle of coconut water/water mix. I've found that I really like the taste of it better then Gatorade and it seems to be working with keeping me hydrated and the electrolytes good. I also took a couple of Hammer Endurolytes during the race.

Coming up to the finish line!

Obviously my weakest point!
Running time 36:37 pace 11:48 rank 1558 out of 2704

Total time 1:44:53
1074 out of 2704

And that my friends is 10 minutes faster then last years time of 1:54! I'm very pleased with that. I'm sure the almost 20 lbs I've lost over the last 15 weeks plays a part in that as well as moving from the hybrid bike to the road bike.

Happy very happy about today's performance.

I just have to say that Downing Events does a fantastic job organizing that many women! Everything seems to go very smoothly. The thing I just love is no matter how old you are, what size you are or how athletic you are, Tri for the Cure gives every female a chance to become a triathlete!

Now I don't know if it was the race, the lack of sleep, or the training I've been doing over the last few weeks, but after returning home and showering, I just died. I was so tired. I layed down and took an hour and 1/2 nap and I can't tell you how long it's been since I took a nap, even a short one. It felt fantastic!