Endurance Turtle A journey through this turtles triathlon adventures

Let’s get to the bottom line first, then I will fill in everything else:



Because I over analyze things, here we go (where is my powerpoint clicker)….I went up in over all division ranking, in 2009 I place 9th in Athena and this year I placed 5th. I was slower on the run, but faster in the bike and swim. The part that killed me was the INSANE bike to swim transition and the entirely TOO long of a run to get to the pool. I would also like to point out my bib numbers were a palindrome both years

So this is how it went, on Friday I went over to Whole Foods out at Hastings Ranch and volunteered. I got assigned to the goody bag area outside and camped out there from 4-7pm. It was fun seeing everyone and I was answering a lot of questions that people had about the triathlon. The group I was with were all runners, so when someone had a random question about transitions or clothing…I was the designated person to ask. As a suggestion to the race organizers, I think there should be an “Ask Me” table where people can go up and ask their last minute questions about triathlons. There are a lot of people that make this their first triathlon and they do have an Intro to Tri Clinic, but it is sometimes hard for people to make it out. I also have some other suggestions for the race organizers that I am keeping to myself for the moment. Let’s just say it got a little ugly….and I got a bit bitchy….

Moving on!

Saturday morning, George and I head out to the Rose Bowl. We got there with plenty of time to spare and never felt rushed. We got to say hi to a bunch of friends and our goal was to stay warm for as long as possible. I was a little nervous about my blister, I had it covered up and came to the conclusion that wearing my custom orthodics would just rub the blister even more (since that is what I was wearing when I got the blister). So I made the last minute decision to just wear the regular insoles that came with my New Balance shoes and took the risk. This isn’t the best thing to do on race day, but I had to take a little risk…I also had to avoid getting overly body marked. George and I had a wedding to go to later and I would be wearing a dress…They wanted to put my number in permanent marker on both arms, both hands, my thigh, and something on both of my calves. I told the little young volunteers that they were being lied to and all I needed was my number on each arm and my age on my calf. Once 8AM rolled around, George and I stripped down to our tri gear and we jogged to the start line. I am glad we did this, I think it helped warm us up a bit and get us ready for the race…not like it helped my run any…but I definitely didn’t feel like I was going to die on the run. This year was a little different and we had 3 waves. 1st wave was the 5k, 2nd wave was the men (bye George!) then the 3rd wave was the women.

Run – 36:49:09

Not super impressed with my run. I was 1 minute slower than the year before and this is where I really wanted to improve. I hope the reason why I didn’t do well here is because I couldn’t run the week leading up to the race because of my blister…maybe if I could have at least gotten one run in I would have been a little better. Not sure what my splits were here, just know that their mile markers and my Garmin did not sync up! Their 1 mile was my .80 mile and their 2 mile marker was my 1.80 mile. Blister never bothered me, so I made a good decision with the insoles…phew!

T1 – 1:14

Very satisfied with my T1, it went smoothly and I got out quickly. The chute for the bike exit was small and I got a slow person in front of me, that was annoying. Mount line was a little too close to the chute….but I got on my bike without hitting anyone or falling over. Win for Kristen!

Bike – 35:52:01

Faster on the bike! YESSSS! Maybe the aero bars and embarrassing disc wheel worked! Or I just rode faster this year…. My big problem with the bike is the level of inexperience there is in reference to the riders. I had to yell at a guy for drafting off of me and there were numerous times I had to swerve in order not to crash. In larger races, you stay to the right of the road and only pass on the left. In this race, they have the whole street shut down and everyone is everywhere. No one stays to one area and you have to pass on the left and the right in order to pass anyone. I tried to tell people I was coming as much as possible, but it is what it is. I also noticed that people on mountain bikes tended to swerve a lot…I don’t own a mountain bike….but is it hard to ride in a straight line with those things? This will forever baffle me. The first loop felt great, I was hauling ass. Second loop didn’t feel as good and I started to feel a slight tinge of cramps in my calves coming on. By loop three I was holding off those cramps like nobody’s business. I wanted to keep those damn things away! The only time I cramp is when going from the run to the bike, so I don’t think I have any duathlon’s in my future. I finally get into transition and feel good about my time.

T2 – 4:14:03

WORST TRANSITION EVER! I get back to my rack and there is no room for my bike (other bike were poorly racked). I spend half my time trying to get my bike racked. I really couldn’t throw it on the ground…just couldn’t do it (my inner USAT rules angle was yelling at me over my shoulder). A guy was calling out places for me to put my bike and I finally got it racked. Threw my shoes off (put my crocs on), took the helmet off grabbed my goggles and left. Half way through the transition area I realized I still had my glasses on. THANKFULLY, Tammy, a fellow PTC’er and Disney Tri Team member was volunteering at the end of the transition area. I asked her if she could take my glasses and she did. Not sure if that is against the rules…but there was a lot going on in that whole race that was against the rules so I don’t want to hear it. Now, if you are quick you would have noticed I mentioned something about my crocs. Before the race, George and I were looking at the run to the pool and he said he would wear his sneakers because he is tender footed. I agreed and decided I would wear my crocs, GREAT DECISION! As I was RUNNING AROUND THE WORLD to get to the pool, I never thought about my feet…especially over the rocks, pavement and wood chips. Right before I got to the pool area I threw them off at Monica (fellow PTCer) and ran into the pool area. P.S. Thanks Monica for moving my shoes out from the middle of the path!

Swim – 4:14:03

Jumped in the hot tub and swam my 3 lengths. I had to catch my breath a few times and probably should have trained a bit more in the pool. I was definitely feeling it by the end of the 1st length! Ran out of the pool and crossed the timing mat/finish line! DONE!

Overall, I really wanted to podium in this race…and I didn’t. I will try again next year and I know if I could just knock off 5 minutes off my run I would be there. I am glad they had timing chips this year, that was a big bonus. I will always love this race because of the overall fun of it. There are so many people yelling your name when you are out there on the course and it is great. Thanks to all the volunteers out there, you guys were awesome! Pictures to come later.