W00t:
- Picked a good line at the start and had a very clean first 200m – avoided the washing machine
- Stuck with a pack of women in the first lap, my split was just a little over 17min for the first lap
- For some reason didn’t feel so hot on the second lap and slowed down, ended up with a split over a minute slower than my time at Oliver half iron a few weeks ago.
T1 – 3:11
W00t:
- Didn't make any obvious mistakes, like knocking over my behind the seat water bottle
- Everything was just slow. The wetsuit got stuck on my heals and the wetsuit strippers had to pull pretty hard to get it off. The run between the beach and the transition was slow. Still felt a bit off after the swim.
- This time was pretty slow compared to the rest of the top 10 women... Maybe I need to learn how to put my shoes on while riding
Bike – 3:00:43
W00t:
- Climbed steady and kept it at my own pace, watts below my climbing cap. Didn't get caught up in a mini king-of-the-hill battle at the beginning of Richter Pass with people getting out of their saddles, etc. And sure enough, I passed most of those folks later in the climb.
- Did well on the descents. Somehow, I managed to pass bigger guys on the descents a few times. How did that happen? I guess I have a pretty aero dynamic setup :) Also I must be more comfortable going down at 45mph in my aero now… I used to chicken out and reach for the breaks.
- While I did well at keeping my watts below the cap, I didn't do so well at keeping them above the lower bound of my target range. A few times I would look down and see 160s or 170s instead of targeted 190. Felt sluggish. I know this is still a good bike split for this course, but I think if I was feeling 100%, I should have been a few minutes faster.
- Didn't stick to my nutrition plan. With the 95 degree heat, my Perpetuem bottles got so warm and nasty. I finished the first one, but opted for the cold Gatorade that they handed out on the course instead of my second bottle. Only got through half of the Gatorade bottle, which put me at almost 200 calories less than I planned.
T2 – 1:25
W00t:
- Pretty happy with this transition – everything went pretty smooth.
- Perhaps could shave off 10 sec if I could learn how to take my shoes off while on the bike...
Run – 1:46:05
W00t:
- Managed to run the whole way despite my legs cramping up
- Very slow run for me! The slowest HIM run split in the last 3 years. I felt really sluggish right from the start. Kept waiting for it to go away, but it never happened. Probably had something to do with the fact that I didn’t eat enough on the bike.
- My calf muscles starting cramping at mile 9. First, I started getting spasms in my right leg – it happened once, then a second time after about half a mile. Then I got them in both legs and they started happening more frequently. Similar thing happened to me in the last mile of the Yakima Canyon Marathon so I altered my stride in the same way I did at the marathon – basically, didn’t push off with my feet anymore, and ran by just using my quads and my hamstrings. This helped mitigate the spasms, but definitely slowed me down.
Overall – 5:28:18
W00t:
- 4th in AG, 7th overall – not a bad standing for having a crappy day
- A very pretty course and superb race organization. Highly recommend! Don’t go looking for a PR though :)
- Bummer to miss the podium by about 2 minutes. I keep thinking "if only I could have stuck with the pack at the swim" or "if only I could have had faster transitions" or "if only I didn't get the stupid leg cramps"... But 2 minutes is 2 minutes. I just didn't have it yesterday.
- I need to learn how to manage the heat better – not sure how to do it in Seattle though. I guess I'll just keep going to hot places to race (next up – Troika in Spokane!)
- Definitely need to work on my climbing strength – I just didn’t have the stamina to keep my watts up for 7 miles up the hill...
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