Lethbridge Oly Race Report!!

WOOHOOO!! 2nd place female overall and 2nd place in my age category at the Splash Pedal Gasp Olympic Triathlon Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!

Last year's time at the race: 2:45:21 This year's: 2:31:05 A new PB by 14:16!! YAY!!!

Now here's the schwag:
My medal for 2nd in age group



$50 gift certificate to Runners Soul for 2nd female overall



Now onto the race report...

Swim
12 people per lane sounds like a gong show waiting to happen and as usual didn't disappoint. LOL! This year, I managed to pass two people however, but then got caught behind Mr. Knees and Feet for the rest of the swim. He was in a hurry to get by me, but then slowed right down. Consequently, I drafted by touching his knees, inner legs, and feet for 90% of the swim. Poor dude -- sorry man, if you are reading this. He started to fade as the laps went on, and I did a real dirty move for the last lap -- I used all my surge practice to get by him. LOL!!

I probably should have done that a hell of a lot earlier, but it was pretty hairy having 3 abreast swimmers on one side of the black line, and another 2 coming down the other...

I had requested a "head bonk" from the timers to let me know when my last lap was... It was great -- I learned that trick last year at the race when a young girl who was volunteering asked me. Hee-hee! I was a little worried about the logistics of getting out of the pool as it is in deep water and you can't push off the floor to get out. But there was no need to fear -- I was so jazzed up I just flew out of the pool. LOL!!!!

I stopped doing flip turns as I used Mr. Knees and Feet as an excuse -- I made a promise to myself this year to be more aggressive on the swim, and I was -- to a point. I learned this year that I need to completely ignore what anyone else is doing and just concentrate on doing my own thing -- shoulda, woulda, coulda, right? ;)

Bike
The Sperminator was out in full force. I had a great bike AND was the fastest female on the bike!! :) :) :) I honestly thought I was the first female too, because I didn't see anyone else...Needless to say there was a frigging awesome chick who was moving so fast I never even saw her. I passed only one girl on the bike -- the rest were guys and not too many at that.

I knew the bike was going to be where I could make up a lot of time, so I really hammered it and pushed myself. At the beginning of the ride I gulped some air down with my Gatorade/Carbo Pro and had hymen-throat for the rest of the ride. ACK!! I kept trying to breathe/swallow/burp; it was like a sticky membrane covered my throat. I would pound my chest and burp and drink mixture would come up. NICE.

I saw Darryl just after I reached the turn around, and I pedaled away to see how long it would take him to catch me...LOL!! He eventually passed, but it was nice to see someone I knew! :) :)

Run
The whole bike portion I was saying to myself, "How bad do you want to win this?" And I would answer, "BAD!" Or, "How much do you want this?" Answer: "I want to win!" I pedaled away like crazy knowing that my running whilst improving, is still shite. LOL!!
I kept saying to myself, "Now is the time to hammer, here is where you can make up a lot of time."

After transition, I ran scared and was wheezing like an asthmatic 90 year old man who also happens to have emphysema. It was ugly. The run descends STEEPLY -- I wrote about it last year. It's like running up Turtle Mountain for the return trip, to give you an idea...Ahhh, I get ahead of myself...

I discovered during the half marathon a couple of weeks ago that I'm good at running downhill. A lot of people would slow down going downhill, while I sort of rolled on by. My knees and legs can take it I guess, so I knew this descent that goes down, down, down for I don't know how many kilometers was another opportunity to put some distance between me and all the faster runners out there. Read: everyone! LOL!!!!

It didn't take me too long to feel pretty rough from all the wheezing and gasping I was doing. Finally the turn around came and I still wasn't seeing any women. I didn't know that Ms. Speedy would win by 10 minutes!!!!!! HOLY DOODLY!!! The trail was marked with little pink surveyor flags and I concentrated on running flag to flag -- collecting them in my mind. Too soon, the inevitable climb back up to the top of the coulees began. OH God I was a hot mess.

I was still running scared, and got a fright when I finally saw a woman heading out to the turn around. She still had a ways to go, so I was praying I would be able to stay ahead of her, but I was falling apart pretty fast.

The last deadly set of hills, saw me walking again this year, although not as much. My legs were really hurting and I was making so much noise trying to breathe, I'm sure people thought I was dying. These two guys near the top of the last mountain climb yelled encouragement when I walked for a bit. I tried to run, but only managed three steps before I reverted back to a quick walk until I could summon my legs to "run" again.

FINALLY IT WAS OVER.

Ahhhhhhhh..

Cool things:

My Mom and Dad came to watch and had a great time spectating.

I met and hung out afterward with my blogger buddies: Darryl, Leslie (HOLY HOT BOD!!!), and Leslie's other half, Chad (GOLD MEDAL BABY!! LOL!!!)

I met and was complimented by the third fastest female overall. EEEEE! :) :):)

I am over feeling inadequate about wearing my Sperminator helmet. :)

I really wanted to win this race, but I did the best I could. Like our Arizona swim coach said, I went "ovaries out" and I could not have gone any harder except maybe for the swim. The girl that ended up winning was incredible!! I am even more motivated than ever to train even harder. (Before the race I stored my change of clothes in locker #1. Hahahahaha!! Positive thinking right? Shhh -- don't tell anyone, I feel like a knob for doing that!)

BIG HUGS and THANK YOU to Sara my SUPER COACH! "Here she comes to save the day!!" :) :) :) Despite my Phoebe-esque running, you are gradually turning me into a runner... :) :) :) My parents were shocked that I looked like I knew what I was doing swimming too. They said, "WOW -- you can swim!" Hahahahahahaha -- My Mom said, "What a difference from before!" I am hungry to get fitter and faster!!! :) :)

Now, onto the 1/2 IM on May 24... WHEEEEEE!!!