1. I have to get faster in the swim. If I want to be more competitive I cannot give up 10 - 15 minutes on the swim. That's it. I need those minutes. I need to get to the pool and get it done!
2. I have to train harder on the bike this winter to develop my riding muscles. I am new to cycling (3 years on the road) and I know there is untapped potential in my legs. I need to figure out / find / hire someone to help me reach this potential. I need to learn more about using power and I need to push myself harder here.
3. I have to figure out the mental aspect of the run. I lost the mental game at Cozumel (read about that here: Ironman Cozumel) on the run. Just because I couldn't get a gel in me, I basically surrendered to hitting the wall HOURS before it could even happen - I actually remember at 14km, 1/3 into the run, that I was "not going to make it if I couldn't keep nutrition in me".. I didn't even think I could do it drinking pepsi every 10 minutes! Why did my brain not let me entertain the idea of just running the marathon on gatorade and pepsi? I'm sure it could be done. I thought there would be more variety of food on the run but the aid stations were sparse.
I'm not sure I'll be ready for Lake Placid in 2014, but I'm setting my sights on a race in 2015 which will be all out try for a Kona slot.
Showing posts with label swim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swim. Show all posts
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
2nd Annual Aaron Vaughn Memorial Swim Race Report
This past Friday we made our annual summer trip to my home town of Stuart, Florida. Saturday I swam the 1k Aaron Vaughn Memorial Frogman Swim. I swam the event last year and was thrilled to be back to swim this year.
I had a bit of a size dilemma with this new skin suit. I was convinced I needed a medium, but the local tri shop here only had the small in stock, the medium hadn't arrived yet. After spending the good part of an hour walking around The tri shop, the wonderful owner offered me the opportunity to wear the small for the race to try it out. If you are ever in Stuart check out Riverfront Kayaks Tri- Athletica if you need any gear!
The surf was rough - we swam out to the buoys, turned north, swam forever, turned around and came back. We must have swam with the current to the north and fought the current heading south. Not to mention the waves were breaking on us too. Thank goodness for bilateral breathing. I felt good, keeping good form and even stayed on one ladies feet for quite awhile. It felt like a very long swim and sure enough my garmin said I swam 1.3 km. I finished with an official time of 27:02, 12th female. Last year I finished 7th in 22:42. This troubles me just a little bit, but I remember last year being quite calm and this year we did fight the waves, not to mention I'm pretty sure the course was long!
He was exhausted! Since the surf had really picked up and CA's age group had to swim out and across, she decided not to participate.
The weather was perfect but the surf was a little on the rough side. With a cap of 300 swimmers in 3 distances (5k, 1k and 200 meter), it was the perfect number of swimmers to create a good start. I was so excited to try out the new TYR Torque swimskin as IMCOZ is typically a wetsuit illegal race. Again, the family and friends of Aaron Vaughn put on an excellent event and I hope they raised a lot of money for their Operation 300 camp.
So back to the beach....
It was a beautiful morning. The registration / sign in process was a little disorganized but being a second year event, they still have a learning curve. I finally got signed in, body marked and all and was on the beach with plenty of time to hang out. This year the included a tad pool swim for kids under 10. Both my kids registered, JJ in the 5-7 age group and CA in the 8-10.
The 73 5k swimmers took off around 9:20, then the 100 1k swimmers started 8 minutes later.
The surf was rough - we swam out to the buoys, turned north, swam forever, turned around and came back. We must have swam with the current to the north and fought the current heading south. Not to mention the waves were breaking on us too. Thank goodness for bilateral breathing. I felt good, keeping good form and even stayed on one ladies feet for quite awhile. It felt like a very long swim and sure enough my garmin said I swam 1.3 km. I finished with an official time of 27:02, 12th female. Last year I finished 7th in 22:42. This troubles me just a little bit, but I remember last year being quite calm and this year we did fight the waves, not to mention I'm pretty sure the course was long!
I loved swimming in the swim skin! Thanks to Tri-Athletica I'm a proud owner of a TYR Torque!
After the 200meter race finished the tadpole swim got under way. Poor little JJ had to swim out about 12 meters to a buoy and back through the break surf. There were 7 brave kids in his group.
He did an awesome job and made it back to the beach in 3rd place resulting in a nice little medal for his collection.
He was exhausted! Since the surf had really picked up and CA's age group had to swim out and across, she decided not to participate.
All in all it was a great morning. The organizers do a very good job with plenty of food and drink for the participants. There was even free smoothies for everyone at the end! I hope we are back in town for the 3rd annual Aaron Vaughn swim next year!
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