My camera's floatation device (two fishing bobbers)
You can see one of the Kayakers who took my picture with my camera's float in the foreground
At the tranisition area with Tristan (during the race)
Enjoying a Krispy Kreme at the bike aid station
After the finish 3 hours 48 minutes later!
I will write more later today (Wed)
SWIM TIME: 45:38
SWIM TO BIKE TRANSITION: 21:23
BIKE TIME: 1:44:15
BIKE TO RUN TRANSITION: 4:09
RUN TIME: 42:49
FINISH TIME: 3:38:12
I am finally starting to become less stiff after my IronGirl tri. I had a great time and really enjoyed the event (and we did have perfect weather). But as you can see just above, my times for each segment of the race were abysmal. I thought I set the bar low last year but clearly this year I set the bar low then started digging!
But during the event I had lots of fun and some of my extended time on the course is explained by things holding me back.
The first part of the tri is the swim. In the swim I took my waterproof camera. My camera has had no swimming lessons and I am not convinced even with swimming lessons it would not sink. Thus the camera was attached to two fishing bobbers. They were very large (approximately 2.5 inches in diameter). This did not help in my quest to be streamlined. Essentially I had my camera in my pocket. The camera had its usual wrist strap. Then I had a lanyard attached to my swimming outfit and I would clip it in when not in use. This actually was a bit cumbersome to operate, but at least I did not lose an expensive waterproof camera or have to swim like a salmon upstream against 1500 swimmers heading to the finish.
My camera’s set up caused quite a stir. People were highly amused by the journey it was taking. It also caused a bit of concern by one kayaker I was approaching to take my picture. Apparently he did not realize I came with floaties and was worried I had swum into a fishing line and needed assistance getting a hook out of me. He was ready to help me disengage from the floats but I assured him the floats were an integral part of my outfit.
Another reason my tri was so slow was that my husband brought me Krispy Kreme’s to enjoy along the way. Sadly they were not hot, but they were yummy none the less. I ate two immediately after the transition to bike and saved one for halfway into the bike portion. I really dislike biking so it was a nice treat to get off my bike about mile 10, stretch my legs and power down a Krispy Kreme. More races need Krispy Kreme’s in my world!
Finally I realized during the event I really need to learn how to bike efficiently. I bike to and from work moderately frequently, but typically I remain in the same gear (3rd or middle gear). Sometimes I have to work hard, sometimes it’s a piece of cake but it works for me. Well, during the bike event people would yell things like “use a lower gear” and “ use a bigger rotator”. They might as well have been speaking a foreign language because I had no idea what they were tying to convey to me. But because I wanted to act like I knew what I was doing I would press my one button thingy or push down on the other do-hicky (like I said I am clueless…running all you really need to know how to do is tie your shoe laces and put one foot in front of the other!).
Well, invariably I would press or push down on the wrong thing and I would come to a dead stop on a hill. Or else my feet would start spinning wildly out of control. It was not a pretty sight. Clearly I need to practice my listening skills (or else spectators need to stop yelling instructions because I have no clue what they are proposing I do).
As in every event, I decided I would NEVER do it again at the finish line. But just a few hours later I told my husband we needed to pencil in the IronGirl event in next years calendar. And I am even trying to figure out how to shave a few minutes (hours?) off my time next year. One of my friends has rightfully commented that perhaps I should spend less time in the transition. That might be a good start especially if you look at the stats that started this blog! Others could (and did) complete entire segments of the tri in the amount of time I loitered in the transition.
SWIM TO BIKE TRANSITION: 21:23
BIKE TIME: 1:44:15
BIKE TO RUN TRANSITION: 4:09
RUN TIME: 42:49
FINISH TIME: 3:38:12
I am finally starting to become less stiff after my IronGirl tri. I had a great time and really enjoyed the event (and we did have perfect weather). But as you can see just above, my times for each segment of the race were abysmal. I thought I set the bar low last year but clearly this year I set the bar low then started digging!
But during the event I had lots of fun and some of my extended time on the course is explained by things holding me back.
The first part of the tri is the swim. In the swim I took my waterproof camera. My camera has had no swimming lessons and I am not convinced even with swimming lessons it would not sink. Thus the camera was attached to two fishing bobbers. They were very large (approximately 2.5 inches in diameter). This did not help in my quest to be streamlined. Essentially I had my camera in my pocket. The camera had its usual wrist strap. Then I had a lanyard attached to my swimming outfit and I would clip it in when not in use. This actually was a bit cumbersome to operate, but at least I did not lose an expensive waterproof camera or have to swim like a salmon upstream against 1500 swimmers heading to the finish.
My camera’s set up caused quite a stir. People were highly amused by the journey it was taking. It also caused a bit of concern by one kayaker I was approaching to take my picture. Apparently he did not realize I came with floaties and was worried I had swum into a fishing line and needed assistance getting a hook out of me. He was ready to help me disengage from the floats but I assured him the floats were an integral part of my outfit.
Another reason my tri was so slow was that my husband brought me Krispy Kreme’s to enjoy along the way. Sadly they were not hot, but they were yummy none the less. I ate two immediately after the transition to bike and saved one for halfway into the bike portion. I really dislike biking so it was a nice treat to get off my bike about mile 10, stretch my legs and power down a Krispy Kreme. More races need Krispy Kreme’s in my world!
Finally I realized during the event I really need to learn how to bike efficiently. I bike to and from work moderately frequently, but typically I remain in the same gear (3rd or middle gear). Sometimes I have to work hard, sometimes it’s a piece of cake but it works for me. Well, during the bike event people would yell things like “use a lower gear” and “ use a bigger rotator”. They might as well have been speaking a foreign language because I had no idea what they were tying to convey to me. But because I wanted to act like I knew what I was doing I would press my one button thingy or push down on the other do-hicky (like I said I am clueless…running all you really need to know how to do is tie your shoe laces and put one foot in front of the other!).
Well, invariably I would press or push down on the wrong thing and I would come to a dead stop on a hill. Or else my feet would start spinning wildly out of control. It was not a pretty sight. Clearly I need to practice my listening skills (or else spectators need to stop yelling instructions because I have no clue what they are proposing I do).
As in every event, I decided I would NEVER do it again at the finish line. But just a few hours later I told my husband we needed to pencil in the IronGirl event in next years calendar. And I am even trying to figure out how to shave a few minutes (hours?) off my time next year. One of my friends has rightfully commented that perhaps I should spend less time in the transition. That might be a good start especially if you look at the stats that started this blog! Others could (and did) complete entire segments of the tri in the amount of time I loitered in the transition.
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1 comment:
Tammy ---congratulations!!! I love the photos --love the finishing photo and fabulous tri-outfit:))!! It cracks me up that you took your camera on the swim. I used to do tris and reading about irongirl makes me want to do one again --maybe next summer!! I wouldn't worry about your time -you weren't in it to win..
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