Treasure Island Triathlon

November 4, 2006
San Francisco, CA

I wasn't sure how well I would do here, but I wasn't too nervous when we lined up in the 54 degree water at a little after noon. There were only 9 of us competing and the money went 10 deep, so I found some comfort in that I would at least make a little bit of money this weekend! I did however have one goal in mind and that was to move one spot up in the overall Tri-Cal Pro Series. Now for me to accomplish this task, I had to finish in front of one particular competitor. It seems as though Kelly Couch and I seem to flip-flop in each race and by that I mean, I will finish in front of her at one race and then the next race she will finish in front of me! So, it was up in the air at this point.




The gun went off and I found myself in a pretty good position to draft off a few women. Once we rounded the first buoy, I was still in a pack of three other women and I felt pretty good. A few times I tried to manuever around them, but decided that it might be a good idea to sit in. Once around the second buoy though I noticed that there was a slight gap between the girl directly in front of me and the two other women. I decided to make a move on the inside and pass the girl that I was with. I was surprised how good I felt and how easily I was able to catch the other women by the turn around buoy. I had created a gap of approximately one minute and now found myself exiting the water with Mirinda Carfrae and Malaika Homo, whom I've never come out of the water with before.



In the past I would be about a minute behind Malaika, but today was different and I was exited that I would have some people to work with on the bike. Before we started the race, my friend Beth had said that if I can come out of the water with Mirinda, that she's a pretty strong cyclist; so I was pleased that it happened to work out like that!
I exited the water in 21:32 with a :52 T1, the fastest of the girls!!



Mirinda, Malaika and myself worked well together for about a lap or two before we dropped Malaika. We had passed Karen and picked up Linda and the new group of three worked well and we were making time on Becky, the first place woman. The course for those of you who have never been here is quite technical with approximately 21 turns per each of the 6 laps. The turns are not very sharp as you can pedal through most of them except for the u-turn at the top of a small climb. The sun started to peek through the clouds at about half way through the ride to help us thaw from the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay. A lap or two before we were finished I saw Kelly walking her bike...she must have gotten a flat. She was no longer a threat to the overall points, but it is bittersweet luck; you never want to see someone flat out in a race.




Linda, Mirinda and I entered T2 at the same time; with Mirinda and I tying for the fastes bike split of 1:05:59! Mirinda had a quick transition and was out. I was just behind her but knew that I would not be able to catch her on the run. I was in third place and wanted to at least keep it there. I didn't have the snap in my legs that I'm used to, but if I could just keep a steady pace I'd be okay and hold onto third.My run time was 37:20 and total time of 2:06:22.



I was able to do just that; 3rd place and I moved myself into 2nd place in the Tri-Cal Pro Series!!

Now, there's just one more race to go, the 70.3 World Championships is Clearwater, Florida on Saturday.