Mermaid Triathlon - A Race Report, AKA Don't Mess with Pink Bike

eeek...almost two weeks after the Mermaid Alameda Triathlon and now I post? Sheesh! It isn't really fresh in my mind right now, so I will do my best to summarize.

1) Coffee: Or rather, lack thereof. I wanted to be at transition at 6, which meant leaving the house at 5:15. Which meant waking up at 4:45. Which meant too much of a pain to make coffee at that hour. So, I figured drive to Jack n the Box for coffee. Aren't they open 24 hours? Apparently, not all of them. I drove around for about 20 minutes tryng to get a stupid cup of coffee. 7-11 would have made more sense. And no caffeine is not an option.

2) Goal: this wasn't an A race for me, and all I really wanted was to beat last year's time. Last year I was suuuuuper slow because I did it the day after the Sierra Century and my tushie was howling. Last year's Triathlon was the one where my so-called "friend" lapped me on the bike and yelled out, "That's what I am talking about?" Couldn't she see the pain I was in on the bike? But, I am totally over her comment...took a year...But this tri is pretty easy, flat, short distance...so I figured I could rock it. Speaking of

3) Rocks: the swim entry was brutal. The "beach" at Alameda was way rocky, and I was super afraid of slipping on rocks because coordination is not one of my skillz. We had to walk down a ramp to get in the water. Once I gingerly stepped on a couple of rocks and realized at that rate it would take me an hour to get in the water, I decided to sit down, get on my belly and scooch my way into the water. Not very ladylike. I kinda got scraped up and bloody. But I was in the water!

4)Swim: This was one crazy, bouncy swim. The waves were way crazy and my sighting was not great. Swim time was slower than last year's. Oh well.

5)Bike: Wait...before I talk about that, I need to talk to about...

6)Annoying people in transition: Despite the coffee drama, I was able to get my transition stuff ready early and on a relatively empty rack. I went to go check in with my workout group, came back and saw a very bulky mountain bike next to my pristine pink bike that Dennis painstakingly built for me. The beast was practically spooning my precious girl! And then someone else's bags and shoes were in front of my transition gear. I already have space issues, and I could feel myself getting stressed and my neck getting blotchy. And one of the pedals of the mountain bike was pressing against one of my running shoes. Uh, hello? Common courtesy people. I moved my bike a couple inches away from the mountain bike and tried my hardest not to make a snappy comment or give a dirty look. It was probably her first tri, but I didn't feel up to giving a transition area lecture. Seriously, there are a few things I value. Dennis. Friends. Family. Kitties. Pink Bike. Don't mess with pink bike.


7) Bike: so, after the swim (and after the dizziness from said swim eventually wore off...seriously that swim was crazy). I got on the bike. I haven't biked a whole lot this year, so wasn't expecting much, but I felt super fast in the beginning. I was passing people, felt strong, felt like I was going to rock the bike. At the turnaround it all became clear as to why I was going so fast.

8) Wind. Yeah, not so fast coming back. But it was super awesome to see mermaid buddies out there on the bike.

9) Honestly, I am totally blanking on the run. Oh well.

10) Post race was fun. We all hung out, got the 15 minute free massages. The ladies on Team Mermaid are such an amazing group of women, all bonded together by the wonderful coaches, Heidi and Kelly. Also, quite a few people on our team placed, which made me feel like I placed. Well, not really. But super awesome when we all cheered for them!

11) Vacation: That night hubby and I took off for a week long trip to Cozumel. It was a great trip, and the tri was a cool way to get in vacay mode.


So, for fun, here are the comparisons from 2010 and 2011:

Swim
2010 11:16
2011 11:45

Bike
2010: 51:50
2011: 44:11 (4th fastest in age group!)

Run
2010: 28:30
2011: 27:01

Overall Time
2010: 1:37:29
2011: 1:28:38

Almost 9 minutes faster this year! Not too shabby.