Bottomless lakes Triathlon, 2008 Race Report

Okay, so this is the third time I've done this one. Breakfast was a powerbar 2 hours out and a double latte gel 20 minutes out. This triathlon takes off in a tiny little alkaline lake (pTOO! pTOOOEY!) that's warm enough without a wetsuit (about 68 degrees was our estimation). I had some tell me that wear it for security because of the buoyancy (the lake is really clear and about 80 feet deep.) I wore my Point zero three fastkin, because I wanted to test it in a shorter triathlon to see how it went.

Swim: I was told that I was maybe 6th or 7th woman out of the water. I think my swim time was 8 minutes or so, which is really not bad when you consider that I've been extremely lax in my swim training. The fastskin came off easily, I slipped it down and stepped out of it as I walking toward the transition area, and then started running through transition.

14k Bike: I slipped into my bike shoes, no socks, and took off. I ALWAYS forget that this road rides from start to finish like it was paved by hand by blind monkeys but nevertheless, it's a fast, fun, curvy with a couple of hills that will get your heartrate up a bit. I R-r-r-r-ode the b-b-b-bike over the b-b-b-bumps up and d-d-d-d-down the h-h-h-h-ills until I got to the f-f-f-f-inish, averaging about 16.2 miles per hour, I think. I drank Accelerade from my aero bottle and came in feeling strong and good and then slipped on my running hat and running shoes (again, no socks) and headed out to the 4k run.

So, then I hit the run: I grabbed a cup of water BIG MISTAKE!! I can barely drink standing still without choking, much less when running, and when I start choking, then it's all over. I become the flem monster. I cough until I gag. I grabbed for my Albuterol inhaler, and guess what? It was gone. I always keep it in my cleavage (comfortable, trust me) but today, it was gone. Probably floating in the lake or something.

Sooooo I took off wheezing and coughing and then got a side stitch DAM-DAM-DAMMIT! But I ran slowly, and managed to finish, watching most of the women pass by me effortlessly. I was hoping for a faster time than this, but I was happy just to beat last year's time.

Results: First place Athena. This gives me 38 points in the Southwest Challenge Series in the Athena division, with 4 races. The two women ahead of me have 7 races (52 points) and 5 races (41 points).

My time: I dunno. about 1:12 or something, which would be 4 minutes faster that last year. My watch says I had two splits: The first one was 1:12:02 and the second one was 1.73 seconds. I thought I was hitting the split button, but--no. All in all, I was pretty happy with my performance, and I know that if I hadn't coughed up a lung on the run, I'd have done better.

Some friends of ours took pictures, and if I can get some copies, I'll post 'em!

Coming up:
Juny 19th, La Scorchita (maybe) 15 mile run. Starts at midnight in Ft. Worth. More on this later.
June 26th, Odessa Sprint Triathlon
August 2nd, Barb's race half Iron

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