Mermaid Tri

Yesterday was a lot of fun; a good race, and good friends to hang out with. I finished middle of the pack, five minutes slower than last year, but the tshirt was cute, so what else do you need from a race?


We got there early morning to register and set up transistion.


The last tri I did was last years Mermaid so it took me awhile to remember how everything goes!



The water was freezing this year. I dove right under to get my face wet and it gave me an instant headache. Brr! No wetsuit for me, but I did have a oneill surfer top. By the time I decided I might want it, it was too late to go get it out of transition. Once I started swimming it was fine, although a little hard to catch my breath.

Swim time last year: 10:07
Swim time this year: 13:35

I thought I did pretty good on the swim. I kept in the middle of the wave to the first buoy, then drifted towards the back which is usual for me. The water was a bit choppy so I had to tread water breifly once to cough the water out of my nose, but when I went around the second buoy I felt like I was actually swimming, and swam strong to the beach. But still I was slower. I was a bit dizzy getting out of the water this year (I could feel the water in my ear), so I walked up the hill instead of running like last year. Maybe that made a difference?

Bike time last year: 35:22
Bike time this year: 35:30


I was so surprised when I saw this. I felt really fast on the bike this year. One girl I passed told me I was keeping a great pace, and I passed a lot of people, but here I was actually 8 seconds slower. Not much difference from last year at all. In the past I felt like I never tried that hard on the bike part because I was afraid of being too tired for the run, but this year I made a concious effort to push hard. I guess I should have slacked as usual, because my run time was much slower this year.

Run time last year: 29:45
Run time this year: 30:26

It felt like a long run, and I didn't remember the course winding around itself like that from before. I thought I was almost done, and then I had to do another loop. That was discouraging!


Here I am trying to keep pace on the sand. No sprinting victouriously across the finish line this year.


Phew, all done. I was tired! The worst part about being the last person in your group of friends to finish is that everyone else has had a chance to rest. So when you cross the finish line everybody else is full on energy, and asking you questions and all you want to do is stand there and stare stupidly out into space until all your systems are functioning again.


There we all are. The lady at the end looking like an olympic athlete is Ellen from Monday night rides at Arasterdero. She has never done a tri before, and took third place. The lady in orange wearing the 204 also is from Monday night rides at Arastradero and is just glad to be in one piece and standing.