Tampa Bay Women’s Triathlon
June 16, 2012

Start of the race.

Even though I didn’t really train hard for this, my third triathlon, I was very excited once race morning was here. Carolyn and I left my house at 4:30 am. Transition area opened at 5:30 and we wanted to be there around then. We ended up getting there at about 5:45 am. We found a close parking space, unloaded our gear and then walked over to get our timing chip and body marking done before racking our bikes and getting our stuff ready. There were only 4 porta potties for the 160 women participants! Luckily, I was able to get in and use it before transition closed. I had to race back in so that I could leave my sunglasses with my bike. I didn’t need them this early on the run. This was a reverse triathlon, so we would be running the 5k first, coming back for our bikes for the 7.25 mile ride and then swimming the 225 yards in the pool. The first wave, which Carolyn and I were in, got started at 6:50. Soon we were off!

5K Run: What a beautiful morning to complete a triathlon! The humidity seemed to be lower than it had been all week, which really helped. I started pretty close to the front of the pack. Right away, the leaders were way ahead of me, but there were only 4 or 5 of them. It was strange to be so near the front of the pack. I stayed ahead of most everyone in my wave the entire time. I even managed to pass one woman. The course was confusing. I was so happy there were many volunteers to guide us through the neighborhood where we ran. There were so many right and left hand turns. I tried to take the diagonals as much as possible. There were no mile markers, and I didn’t have my garmin, so I wasn’t sure how far I had gone until I hit the water stop, which was supposed to be 1.5 miles in. I stopped for a few seconds to walk through while drinking my water. Not long after I caught up to this woman who had been way ahead of me for a while. We passed a large group on the side of the road. One guy yelled out that we were at mile two. Yeah! The woman encouraged me as I ran by. She was having allergy issues and not breathing well, but seemed to be holding on OK. I kept plugging away, not really knowing my pace, but pushing pretty hard. One woman, with a green wrist band, passed me just before the end of the run. She started 5 minutes after I did. She was fast! Finally I was turning off the road, running through some grass to reach the transition area. I was at my bike a few seconds before I remembered to look at my watch. It had just passed 24 minutes. I knew the course had to be short. I have never run a 5K that fast! I asked a woman after the race what distance she had on her garmin. It was only a 2.83 run. Still, I am happy with that 8:24 pace! Time - 23:49. T1 – 00:57

Bike: This was a very strange bike course. First of all, it should have been 9.25 miles, but there was a water main break a couple of days before the race. They had to take out a 2 mile portion of the race because of it. I came out of transition, weaving through the shopping plaza at a slow pace. We turned right onto the main road and not even a quarter of a mile down, we had to take a wide uturn to head back in the other direction. Volunteers were yelling out to watch for glass. Looks like someone had tossed a couple of glass bottles in the road. I managed to get around most of it, but did run over a couple of pieces. Thankfully, no damage to the tires. We had a nice long stretch for a couple of miles, so I got down on the arrow bars and tried to pick up my speed. I could tell that I hadn’t been on my bike in over two weeks. I didn’t have the strength I should have. I got passed by a couple of women. Soon, a volunteer directed us up onto the sidewalk. We had to slow down and then take a left to go through a short tunnel that put us on the other side of the street and heading back towards the transition area. We had a couple of miles back to ride before turning right into the shopping plaza, where we had to slow down and make lots of turns. There were volunteers yelling at us to go one way for lap one and one way for lap two. I went to the lap two area, but was still confused. We were on the wrong side of the road and it looked like we were going to were the pool was. I stopped for a few seconds to ask the volunteer to make sure I was going the right way. Another woman, who had been way ahead of me, was there too. She was even more confused than I was! We rode the sidewalk for a short distance, rode through another tunnel to the otherside of the road, then off the sidewalk to join the riders who were on their first loop still. Going through that other tunnel, for the second time, I got stuck behind a woman, who was going really slow. I couldn’t get around her on the side walk, so I just slowed down and then picked up speed once we hit the road again. I didn’t really like this bike course. It was frustrating to have to slow down so much. Time - 7.25 miles in 26:10. T2 – 00:48

The two woman I was stuck behind
for the last lap.

Finishing strong!

Swim: I got my bike racked, took off my helmet, socks and shoes, grabbed my goggles, nose clip and ear plugs from my little bag under the seat and then headed to the pool. It was just a short run to the pool. I put in my earplugs as I slowly ran over the pool deck. I pulled my goggles over my eyes, put the nose clip on and then eased into the pool. It was warm! But it felt pretty good to be in the water. I started free style swimming. I could tell I didn’t have a lot of leg strenght left, so I concentrated on using my arms to propel me through the water. We swam in a zig zag fasion to get through the pool swim. I pushed off at each end of the pool to try and gain a little momentum. By the third lap, other women were passing my in my lane. It was getting pretty crowded in there! The last 1.5 laps were frustrating. A woman had passed me in the water, moved in front of me and then slowed down. I couldn’t get around her because there were faster swimmers to my side. I had to stop and hold the side a couple of times in the last lap because she almost kicked me in the face. I couldn’t even get around her as we climbed out of the pool! I was very happy to run up the steps and across the short pool deck to the finish mat. I am really happy with my swim. I felt I did much better in this swim than in the two previous triathlons, though I am still slow! I was number one (for age group) in the run and bike, but number four for swim. Time – 225 yards in 5:58.

Me and Carolyn after the race.

So, despite the hassles of the bike and swim, I had a really good time with this race. I managed to place first out of eight in the 40 and over Athena age group. Everyone got a nice finishers medal. As an age group winner, I got a nice triathlon necklace too. J

Up next, the Top Gun Triathlon at Fort Desoto. I really need to get out more on my bike and train for this one!

IMG Academies 5K
May 26, 2012

Fun race through IMG. Lots of different terrain. Run over the sidewalk, road, wooden bridge, dirt grass and then a tall man made hill. All in the first mile! Most of the race was on grass. Around the football, soccer and baseball fields. It was super hot and humid, so I am pretty happy with this finish time, even though it's a little slow. Finish time 26:36.

Florida International Triathlon
Siesta Beach, May 12, 2012

Leah, Susan, Clare, Ken, Me and Gina before the race!

Finally it is the day I’ve been preparing for. This is the triathlon that was supposed to be my first, but is now my second because I was tired of waiting and completed one 3 weeks ago. J We had a good sized group of people from my runners club, the Sarasota Road Runners Club, doing this event. For most, it was their first triathlon. A windy and warm morning greeted us as we arrived at Siesta Beach Saturday morning. Gina and I got our chips and had our bib numbers marked on both our arms before heading over to the transition area to get our bikes and gear set up for the race. We had photos taken with members of our group before getting kicked out of the area at 6:45 am. A whole hour before our swim wave was to go. We headed over to the bathrooms and then onto the beach to watch the first waves of swimmers doing the longer swim distance. I was so happy I wasn’t swimming the longer distance. It looked like way to much swimming. Soon enough, Gina, Susan, Clare, Carol, Carolyn and I were getting into the start area as we were the next wave of swimmers to go!

Swim: I ran out into the water and kept running as far as I could before I started to swim. I only had to swim a little bit before we hit the sand bar, where I was able to touch the ground and run/swim a little bit and pass the first of four buoys. Now it was very deep. The water was pretty choppy. There were a few women around me, so I had to keep an eye out for legs and arms. I didn’t want to get hit. I did my side swimming thing again. It was hard to get into a rhythm with so many people around me. At one point, a volunteer on her surfboard asked if I was OK. Yes, I’m OK, this is just what I look like when I swim! J I made it to the second buoy, which is where we turned left and into the current and waves. Small 3 foot waves rolling right into my face. This was the toughest part of the swim. I used breast stroke, side swimming and some free style to get through it. I still had a couple of women near me that I had to keep an eye out for. One kept hitting me with her foot. I didn’t have the strength to pass her and I really didn’t want to hold back until she pulled ahead, so I just had to deal with it. Finally we turned back to the beach at the third buoy. Just as we turned the corner, the guys who were in the wave behind us, caught up. Thankfully they were spread out, so It wasn’t a mass of them trying to swim by me. I tried to get out of their way as best as I could. Once we hit that last buoy, and the sand bar, I knew I had this. I ran/swam while I could and then finished the swim strong. As soon as I could touch the bottom again, I started running it in. The run across the beach is long. Once we got to the parking lot, we had to run down and around the transition area before entering, it had to be about a quarter of a mile of running to the transition. I see Gina getting her gear on and yell out to her. As I reach my bike, I see Carolyn running out with her bike and yell out to her. I reach my bike, wipe off my face, put my tank top on, squirt water on my feet to get the sand off, dry them a bit before getting socks and shoes on, put my sunglasses and helmet on and then grab my bike and head out of transition. Swim - 14:33. Transition 1 - 2:25   

Bike: It took me a little while to get my breathing under control once I was out on the bike. I passed a few people right away and then settled into a nice pace. It wasn’t as fast as it could be, but I wanted to save my legs for the beach run. I was worried about how the beach would be when we got back. It was high tide and last year during this race, we ran all of the race on soft sand because of the high tide. At about mile 3.5, I caught up and then passed, Clare and Gina. We reached the end of the road and started heading back towards the beach. Just before reaching the beach, we take a right onto Midnight Pass Rd. This is a nice stretch of road that provides some shade. I am being passed by lots of fast riders, but I am still able to pass a few people two. We make our way into Siesta Village, which is a hassle, because there are lots of cars sharing the road with us. There also seems to be a lot of riders near me as we get closer to the transition area. I try to keep the 3 bike length distance while passing, but it’s not easy. Soon enough I am making the turn into the beach parking area. I get off my bike and run it over to my spot in transition. I quickly take off my helmet, grab my visor and water bottle and head out of transition. Bike - 47:18, Transition 2 - 1:24. 

After seeing my bike time, I really wish I would have pushed the pace more. I had a faster time last year.

Run: We make our way across a grassy area and come up to a split in the course. The international distance goes to the left and the sprint goes to the right. So happy I’m not going left! I make my way towards the water, over the very soft, deep sand. I take a few endurolytes because it is hot, and I only took one drink of water on the bike ride. Thankfully, the sand near the water’s edge is still pretty hard packed. I know I am not going as fast as I normally would during a 5K, but I decide to keep a nice steady pace and save a little for the end. We are heading right into the wind, so I don’t want to waste too much energy so early. The beach is very crowded with people and kids. I am having to weave my way through them and around them. I see Carolyn  and Carol up ahead and concentrate on catching up to them. I do catch up and pass after saying hi. Just past the water stop, I see the turn around sign. Hurray! So happy to see that. I run around it and head home. The wind is behind me now, which makes it easier to run, but also means I feel hotter.  I see more friendly faces and call out greetings. It’s so motivating to see my friends out there competing with me. Soon I am making the turn to head back over the beach and to the finish. I pass another woman and decide my goal right then was to finish ahead of her. I pick up the pace a bit once I hit the pathway that leads to the finish area. I make the sharp turn to the right and see no one behind me, and then sprint it in to the finish. Run – 28:58

Finish: 1:34:35

We did it! 

I find out, once results are posted, that I have come in first place in the Athena division. Last year there were 5 women in my age group for the Athena division. This year? Just me! So, yes, I got first place, but I feel kinda strange bragging about it since I had no competition! J

Ron Jon Cocoa Beach Triathlon
April 22, 2012

Dawn and I drove over to Cocoa Beach very early Sunday morning. We had picked up our packets the day before (1.5 hours of waiting in line!!), so we didn’t have to worry about that race morning. We got our bikes and gear set up before heading over to check out were we would be swimming. The water didn’t look too bad, considering how windy it was. A storm had moved through Saturday during the day and evening, but left the wind behind for us. We learned that the swim was now “wetsuit legal” since the temperature of the water had cooled down. Didn’t factor into our plans much as we didn’t have any wetsuits! We did learn, from chatting with others, that wearing a wetsuit helps keep you buoyant, which helps you swim better. I might have to invest in one if I keep up doing these triathlons. J

Swim (quarter mile): We got started just after 7:30 am. The race was delayed by half an hour to make sure the earlier storms and lightning had a chance to be well away from us. Dawn and I started in the 4^th wave. The water felt pretty good considering it was supposed to be cold. We stood in the waist deep water for a few minutes before we heard the “Go” shouted. I ran a few steps in the water before putting on my nose plug. Unfortunately, my nose plug broke as I went to put it on! Not a good start. I have a problem swimming without it. I had water running down my nose and throat within minutes. I stopped trying to freestyle swim and went with a breast stroke for a few minutes. Soon I was near one of the volunteers on his paddle board. He asked if I needed to grab on and rest, so I did. I told him what was going on. He told me I need to exhale through my nose while in the water and that should help. I let most of the next wave of swimmers pass by me before getting back to the swim. I made a wide turn around the buoy so that I wouldn’t get hit by the other swimmers. Half way done! I used all methods of swimming to get myself back to the shore. As I was finishing, I had women from two waves after mine, swimming by me! I climbed out of the water and ran towards the transition. Race organizers had set up a plastic baby pool with water, for us to run through, so I did that before running to my bike. I dried off my face, put on my sunglasses and top, then went to put on socks and shoes. At this point I noticed the bottom of my foot was bleeding. Not much I could do about it, so I put on my socks and shoes, grabbed my bike and headed out of the transition. Swim- 16:03 (ouch! Almost twice as long as it should have been) Transition 1 – 1:57.

Bike (12.5 miles): I headed out on my bike and within minutes I saw Dawn up ahead. She should have been much further ahead, since she is such a good swimmer. When I caught up to her, she told me she had had a problem with her bike, which took about 8 minutes to fix. She was feeling pretty mad about it. I told her I would see her later before passing and riding along. Once we turned south, we were riding into very strong winds. It was pretty rough going for the next 5.5 miles until the turn around. We were riding on a two lane, one way road, were we had the right side to ourselves. I managed to pass a few people, but for the most part, I was passed by people on their fancy tri bikes. Once we hit the turnaround, I was able to get some speed going. It felt awesome! Soon enough, I was making the turn to the left that would bring us back to the transition. That last mile was rough. The winds were pretty strong here too. I had to change gears again and just keep peddling. On the last little stretch of the ride, we shared the road with the runners. There were people already running into the finish before I had even finished my bike! I was so happy to get my bike back on the rack! I changed out my helmet for a visor, pulled on my skirt cover-up and grabbed my water bottle, before heading out of the transition. Bike – 44:12. Transition 2 – 0:54.

Back of the event shirt.

Run (5k): It took my legs a couple of minutes to feel normal after the bike, but once we hit the entrance to the golf course, I was feeling good. We ran a good portion of the 5K on the paved sidewalks of the golf course. I started passing other runners right away. I could tell from the number on the back of their legs, which swim wave they had started in. It felt really good to catch up to, and pass, people who had passed me in the swim and bike. I felt really strong the entire run.  About 2 miles into the run, we exited the golf course, turned left and ran through the neighborhood next to the golf course. After passing the last water stop, I heard a volunteer say we had about 1.25 miles to go. I was so happy to hear it! I ran the last quarter mile strong, passing a couple of guys just before the finish line. J Run - 26:28.

Finish – 1:29:36. Good enough for 2^nd in age group (first timers). There were a lot of first timers. I finished 34^th overall in first timers. Which was right in the middle of 68 first timers for this race. J

I am so happy to have completed my first triathlon! I look forward to doing another one next month. 

Me and Dawn after the race!

Double race weekend March 17 and 18, 2012
St Patty's Day 8K and Florida Beach Halfathon

Saturday's race was an 8K St. Patty's day run down in Venice. We arrived in plenty of time, around 7am, to pick up our packets and use the bathroom a couple of times before the 8am start. I wasn't sure how I was going to run this race. I had the half marathon the next day. Once I got running though, I felt pretty good, so I decided to push it for this race.

The first mile was great. We ran north, from Sharky's restaurant, turned right, at the edge of the airport and headed towards the canal. At the end of that road, we get onto the Venice trail system that runs along the water front. It's a nice, wide, paved trail. We head south on that to the end then turn to the right. The course is basically a big circle. By mile 2 I am feeling a little slow down. I catch up to a young boy who has been running hard. He sees me to his left and then speeds up again. I guess he didn't want this old lady beating him! :)

I started slowing down a little by mile 3. I could feel the fatigue of racing the past few weeks and I think my bad eating habits over the past week didn't help either. The last mile was run near the beach, heading back towards Sharky's Restaurant. When I saw the turn off the main road that lead to the finish, I pushed it hard and passed this woman that had been ahead of me for a little while. :)

Finished with my best 8K time. 42:07! The 8K was just under 5 miles (4.96). I was off my best 5 mile race pace by over a minute. Need to get used to the humidity again.
Splits: 8:13/8:22/8:35/8:44/8:10

Sunday's race

This was my 39th half marathon. I'm happy I ran it, but not happy with my time. I knew by mile 2 that my legs were toast. Too many races over the past few weeks. I decided to treat it as a fun run and just take it easy. I ran walked using 4/1, then 3/1 and finally 2/1 intervals. It was just so hot! The best part of the run was getting a few photos of me were you can see air under both feet! I've been trying to get some photos like that for a while.

Finish: 2:15:24

First Watch Sarasota Half Marathon
March 11, 2012

It's all about this bling!

Race morning, once again, started off early. Saturday night was the night to set our clocks forward, so we lost an hour of sleep. Brenda and I decided we were going to have a 4:30 wake up, which would feel like 3:30. I woke up on my own at 4:20 and decided to just get up. I reached over to turn off my alarm, only to discover that I had never set it to go off! Wow, I'm lucky! :) Brenda and I hit the road around 5:30, arriving at the Players Theater parking lot about 10 minutes later. We pulled in right next to Gina and Charlotte and when we got out of our car, we saw Dawn parked just a few spots away. This parking area was just across the street from the main parking area and the race start. Much easier to get in to and more importantly, would be much easier to get out of later! We met up with Jake, Summer, Brett and Jeff and just hung out for a while waiting for the half fanatic photo time. Eventually everyone showed up, we got our photo taken and then headed over to the corral. It was packed! We entered at the 10 min mile spot, but wanted to make our way up to the 8 min mile spot. We weaved our way through the crowd, finally getting as close as we could. They really need to change the way they do this! We only had to wait a few minutes before we were off!

Me and Brenda before the race.

Jake was going to try and lead us all to an under 2 hour race. We started off very fast and used 4/1 intervals right away. The first mile was great, then we hit the bridge. Normally, the bridge is no big deal for me, but today, trying to run it and an 8 min mile pace, I was struggling up that thing! I fell back a little from the group but caught up with them on the down side. There was a water stop at the bottom of the bridge, so I decided to take 2 endurolytes while I was there. I had forgotten to take them before the race and it was already pretty hot out.

Miles 1 through 3: 8:39/ 8:57/ 9:05

Best photo of the day!

I kept up with the group until we got to St Armand's Circle, but then fell back. The pace was just to much for me in the heat. The 2 hour pace group was there, so I decided to hang with them a bit even though they were not walking at all. The pace felt better. Dawn was running with them too. I held on to that pace until we hit the bridge, but once again, they all pulled ahead and I never caught them. I did see my group of runners ahead, so when I saw them walk, I would walk. My legs were feeling pretty good. I only had to stop a couple of times to stretch so far.

Miles 4 through 6: 9:14/ 9:39/ 9:37

I caught up to Jake and Gina around mile 8. Dawn was much further ahead and Brett and Summer were behind me. The heat was really getting to us all. This stretch of the race is on a major road. We were running north and had the far left side of the road for the runners. Unfortunately it was pretty slanted. I kept to the right as much as I could, but that was near the cars, who were driving south. I was so happy when we turned to the left and started our run through the nice neighborhood that is south of the Ringling Museum of Art. Just before the museum, volunteers were handing out cold, lemon scented washcloths. So wonderful! The best thing ever! :)

Miles 7 through 10: 10:00/ 9:07/ 10:04/ 9:58

Focused on the finish line! The
woman in blue is who I passed! :)

Around mile 11, Jake asked if it was OK for him to take off. Of course! We had really slowed him down. The last couple of miles were pretty slow for us. Gina told me to go ahead a couple of times, but there was no way I had the energy to push it any harder than I was. The only good thing was that my legs were feeling pretty good. I didn't need to stretch at all for the last few miles. Around mile 12, we caught up to Dawn. It was so wonderful to know that we were almost done! We took one last walking break around mile 12.5, then got down to finishing this thing. We ran past the relay exchange area, were runners were waiting for their partners so that they could run it in together. That gave me a nice little boost. We turned right just past the crowd and up ahead was the finish line banner. I was just behind this other woman, who had been running near us the past few miles. I pushed myself to the limit, running past her and finishing strong.

Miles 11 through 13.1: 9:47/ 10:03/ 9:26
Finish: 2:04:35

It wasn't the PR I had hoped for, but it is 1:15 faster than last week's half marathon and is now my second best half marathon time! I need to find a flat half marathon with cold temps so that I can get that PR! :)

Gasparilla Half Marathon 2012

The Sarasota gang before the race.

Race morning started off early again. I got up at 3 am! I checked the weather to see if the cold front had moved through earlier. Nope. It was 70, humid and very windy. I picked up Renee at 3:45 and then we were on our way to the Tampa Convention Center. I missed our exit, so I had to try to remember how to get there from another direction. Only added a few minutes to our time. We had a very short wait in traffic to get into the parking garage. $10 later (ouch) we were parked and meeting Gina and Stephanie right on time at 5 am. We waited for a few other friends before checking our bags and heading out into the crazy wind. It started raining just before we got out side. We took a group photo, then started the walk over towards the start. We stopped by the Publix, to see if there were any Fanatics still hanging around. We were past the time of the group photo. They were all still there, so we got a couple more group photos and then headed over to the start. They had a line of porta potties down a side street, next to the corrals, so I decided to use them. Thankfully the lines were not long here. I found one with 4 guys in it. Score! They always go faster than the women. J I think I was there for only 5 minutes. Met up with Gina and Vicky and the we headed over to our corral. We got in at the back of the first corral (no one looked at bibs. We made our way up a little then hung out. There was a light rain. I was very happy to have my garbage bag rain coat on.  Just before 6am, We all tossed off our garbage bags to get ready for the start. After the national anthem, without any blast of an airhorn or fireworks, we were off! 

Half Fanatics before the race!

Gina and I decided to run the first 3 miles and then start 4/1 intervals.  The streets were pretty wide and it was easy to get around people until we hit the ramp going up to the bridge. We slowed down quite a bit running through that tight space. It didn’t last long and soon we were at our brisk pace again. Around mile 2, we got to the first water stop. I grabbed a cup, pinched it and then tried to sip it while still running. Some got in my mouth and some got in my nose! Yuck. I decided I would just slow down and take a few seconds to drink at the rest of the water stops. At about mile 2.75, we decided to go ahead with the intervals. We are occasionally blown to the side by a wind gust, but really the wind isn’t too bad so far.

Miles 1 through 3: 9:37, 8:45, 9:17

By now my left leg is hurting. The IT band and hamstrings are tight. I start stretching for a few seconds at every other walking break. The stretching does help, but the benefits don’t last long. Around mile 6, we run back over the bridge, off of Davis Island, and start our long run on Bayshore Blvd.  It is beautiful here. Great views of the water and of the fantastic houses facing the water. There are lots of race photographers just after the bridge. One right after the other. I pose and pose for each of them. Do they get any shots of me? No!! Geesh. We can really feel the wind now, but it still isn’t too bad. Gusts every once in a while that blow us to the side, but other than that, the wind wasn’t so bad. We catch up to Summer during the 8^th mile. She ran both races the day before and is running both on this day. She decides to add intervals and run with us for a while.

Miles 4 through 9: 9:39, 9:46, 9:41, 9:34, 9:39, 10;02

This was the best photo of me on
on the course! 

Soon we are curving to the left and now running on the other side of BayShore Blvd. There is a grassy area with trees and bushes that break up the right and left sides of the road. We keep an eye out for friends that may be behind us.  Looking for friendly faces on the other side of the road helps to distract me from the IT band pain. By now I am stopping to stretch at every walk break!  After a couple of miles, Summer drops back and it is just me and Gina again, trying to keep up the pace. She has pulled ahead of me a little, but I am not far behind. With about a mile to go, we are side by side, looking forward to getting to the finish. We take one more walking break then decide to just run it in. I am pushing as hard as I can. Gina is very encouraging, which helps me to keep pushing. We finally see the finish line banner just ahead of us. I am at my max as I run it across the finish line!

Miles 10 through 13.18: 9:51, 9:56, 9:39, 8:56 (Wow!!), 1:23 (last little .18)

Finish: 2:05:50. 

This is my third fastest time and my best half marathon time in over 10 years! Very happy with it. J

Ken, Gina and me after the race!