Shout-out to The End

Best radio station in Seattle... I don't know what I'd do without them!

www.1077theend.com

What I'm listening to this week:

Lisztomania, Phoenix
Crystalized, The XX
Just Breathe, Pearl Jam
Jane Says, Jane's Addiction
Home, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
Animal, Neon Trees
Memories, Weezer
The Freshmen, The Verve Pipe
Runaway Train, Soul Asylum
In One Ear, Cage the Elephant
Everlong, Foo Fighters
Little Lion Man, Mumford & Sons
Starlight, Muse
Hammerhead, The Offspring

Just a small sample of course, but all of the music they play is so amazing!!

Danskin Sprint Tri race report

Yep, that's right, I haven't completely fallen off the face of the earth! It's just been an absolutely crazy month, up and down and exhausting and ridiculous. Which also means that I haven't done much training (read - basically none) since the San Francisco 1/2. However, in the spirit of getting back on track, here is my Danskin triathlon race report!

Background/training - As stated in the above paragraph... pretty much none. Plus I was also sick for a week... so I wasn't really expecting to even race this - just planned on doing it for fun.

Swim - Hopped in the water with my wave of about 50 people. The swim was pretty intense - it was super crowded (even once my wave got spread out, I started to run into people from the back of the wave in front of us) and the water was really really choppy because of all the people. I'm pretty sure I swallowed more lake water than I ever have before. I even had to stop and tread water for a few seconds once because I got a nice lungful of water along with a kick in the head. However, unlike the Seafair tri, I was swimming really strongly on the rare occasions I did get an open stretch of water to myself, and I was better about muscling my way in between people (although there were still a few occasions where I had to hit the brakes and go around... kind of frustrating). Time: 19:02

Transition 1 - My bike was racked in pretty much the farthest place from all the entry/exit points, so it was a loooong transition. It went pretty uneventfully, just took a lot longer to get from the water to the bike and out to the road to hop on. Time: 4:44

Bike - Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by how strong I felt on the bike. I feel like I could really make great strides and be good at the bike with more training and a decent road bike. As it is I'm fairly middle of the pack on my $5 garage sale hybrid. The course had a lot of rolling hills (the same course as Seafair plus an extra hill or two), and since Danskin is such a beginner friendly race, there were a LOT of people in front of me to pass. I was having so much fun passing people that I never really got tired, which is probably why my bike was faster than at Seafair. Time: 46:08, 15.6 mph

Transition 2 - I had a minor moment of panic at this point because my Gatorade had disappeared, and it was getting really hot and I wanted a drink before the run portion. I also couldn't find my bag with my phone and my keys in it because the transition area was such a mess, so I ran out keeping my fingers crossed that I'd find them after the race. Time: 1:54

Run - It was pretty warm out by the time I started the run, and the course didn't have much shade on it, so I made it my goal to just keep a steady pace, only walk through the water stops, make it up the hill running, and finish stronger than I did at Seafair. I managed to keep myself distracted for the first few miles by counting all the people I passed (there were LOTS of people walking) until I lost track at around 30. I drank and dumped water on myself at every aid station, and I made it up the short (but STEEEEEEP) hill running the entire way (I only saw three other people do it). I felt like I was going to puke at the top because it was so hot, but it was downhill towards the finish and I managed to kick it in pretty strong. Time: 32:27

Final time: 1:44:18

Breakdown:

Clock Time
01:44:18

Overall Place
873 / 3313

Division Place
52 / 114

Swim
00:19:02

Swimrank
720

Trans1
00:04:44

Bike
00:46:08

Bikerank
1369

Mph
15.6

Trans2
00:01:54

Runrank
1099

Run
00:32:27

Pace
00:10:28

Reflections - I was really pleased with how this race went given my lack of training and my plan to just go in and do it for fun! I thought the swim would have been faster, but I had a great time pushing it and passing people on the bike and going strong and steady on the run. I guess I just need to keep working on my swim speed and accept/acknowledge that the crowds and choppy water in big races are going to slow me down a little bit no matter what! But I wasn't expecting a PR at all, so especially given the heat and the longer transitions, I am happy with it!

Next up - Black Diamond Olympic Triathlon, September 25

More pictures to come soon!