Tinfoilman 2007 - First tri of the season

Yesterday's Tinfoilman Triathlon (Tucson, AZ) was my third official triathlon and the first race of the season for me. I took 25th for overall womens (out of 155), but my teammate placed 20th, just 1:00 in front of me. I'm a slow swimmer.

Race strengths: Felt great on the run (but only ran 24:30, which is probably why I felt good), swam my fastest sprint-distance swim, 30s faster than I anticipated.

Race weaknesses: Awkward, clumsy transitions. Couldn't get my bike shoes on to save my life, stuffed the rubber tongue down in my left shoe, blah. Didn't push like I normally do on the bike; I could feel it in my legs that I hadn't been in the saddle for 2 weeks.

I see some real room for improvement, and I think more time in the pool and more bricks will really help. I'm done with grad school apps and GREs and poster presentations by mid-November, and I can't wait to throw myself into tri's until then...

My motto since the summer has been and continues to be: If your choices are to race or to train, always choose to race. And I'm loving it. Got my eye on Nationals (or, in the unlikelihood that I don't go, whatever substitution race I choose) and I want to tromp my time from last year. So pumped!