Steelman Triahlon Saturday July 16th 2006
Quakertown Pa
.9 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run

I've NEVER been up at 4:15 a.m. I am not a morning person. I didn't go to bed until 11:30 but somehow jumped right out of bed ready to go. I arrived at to the race site at 5:20 and prepared for the 7:00 am start time. Only Problem: The marker from my body marking got all over my clothes, face and body!!!

Swim: The start was a little challenging. We had to wade in water 8 feet deep before the start. That def. takes a little out of you. I've never been kicked, kneed, hit, slapped ,ect as many times as I was today. Not sure what that was about but it seemed to happen most of the swim. The sun was shining and the swim out was hard to sight, but I relied on others and followed their lead. Yes i know, that might not be a good idea if they are going the wrong way, but w/ the sun I felt I had no other options.

Swim Time: 31 minutes

T1: 1:14

Bike: Man was the first hill a m@#$%%^^$. It was about 200yards from transition. Many folks were walking up. The bike course def. had some hills. I almost wipped on the first turnaround. I didn't realize it was coming up and was heading downhill at 33mph. I had to slam on my brakes and lost control. Somehow I didn't crash!! YAH!!. I saw many bikers w/ flats on the course must have been the NUMEROUS rode hazzards. Looking at the results this is where I need to improve my time. I felt good, especially uphill since I always train on hilly roads. However, my average mph's were not what I wanted. Any suggestions on increasing speed would be helpful.

Bike Time: 1:21:00

T2: .49

Run: I tried to run the fasted 10k EVER. There was nobody telling us where to go and STUPID me followed the arrows to the finish line. I lost about 30 seconds until a nice bystander informed me I was heading the wrong way!!! Thanks to whoever you were. (I found out later that many racers made the same mistake, one even got DQ'd as there was a sprint race on the same course and no one was around to tell us where to go). Anyway after that mistake, I headed on the run. The run felt pretty good. No one passed me and I kept a good pace. A couple of times I got a cramp, more annoying than anything. Not sure why I got it? When I finished the race I was a little dizzy but once I got cooled down I felt pretty good. Here's the problem ...the fasted time for the 10k for females was 45 minutes and the males was 41 mintues. I'm not one for accusses but the run did seem LONGER!!

Run Time: 53 Minutes

Total Time: 2:47:54

4th age group (25-29), 13th overall (females) and 75 out of everybody (males and females)

Lessen learned PAY ATTENTION TO WHERE YOU ARE GOING AND IF POSSIBLE GO THROUGH THE COURSE BEFORE THE RACE.

Mistake: Something Happened in the run, everybody agreed it felt longer but still disappointing especially since I usually run a 44 mintue 10k.

Greatest Moment: the finish, the shaded run and all the great prizes