August 9, 2009
Kathy

Hi Team. I just finished my first Olympic distance triathlon! It was called the Oshkosh Triathlon, but was in Winneconne, WI (which is just outside of Oshkosh). Ironically, my first ever triathlon in June was a sprint distance in the same little city called, the Mighty Wolf Tri. I chose these two races to be close to my hometown, and family in the area. In fact, my brother caught the tri-bug and did his first the sprint distance tri today. And, my nephew and niece (ages 6 and 4) did their first kids tri the day before our race. Triathlons may just become a family affair!

The weather was HOT, like Texas hot; 100% humidity and highs in the low 90s. In fact, in the picture of me pre-race barely came out b/c the camera lens kept fogging up. Good practice for potential weather in Austin in October.

I'll start with a list of things that I remembered because it will be shorter than the list of things that I forgot. Not exactly, but I did forget a number of key things including: extra insulin (that wasn't already in my pump), my tri top (which was on the drying rack in my basement), my running cap (also on the drying rack) and my special protein homemade bars (sitting ready to go in the refrigerator). Those who know me may be suprised at my forgetfulness, but those who really know me are likely not surprised at all. I've learned the important lesson of list making, which includes a list of things to grab the morning of departure.

Despite the forgotten items, the race was really fun and went well. I went topless, ha, just kidding. I bought a shirt to wear, didn't run out of insulin and bought protein bars at the store. I attempted to use my CGMS to monitor blood sugars, but the calibration was really off, so I basically just used it for trends. My race and blood sugars were as follows:

5:00 AM wake - drink coffee eat breakfast; b.s. 121
5:45 AM depart; b.s. 231, correction bolus 1 unit
6:15 AM arrive at race, set up transition
6:45 AM set temp basal to 65%, eat granola bar and fruit snacks (I forgot to set temp basal earlier)
7:00 AM Race Start, I'm in "wave 2" and proceed to get passed by those in "wave 6"

3/4 mile swim time 30:59
T1 04:02 - drink Gatorade, b.s. 113
31 mile bike time 1:41:34; drank water and Gatorade throughout, ate Cliff Bar and package of shot blocks
T2 02:30 - drink Gatorade, b.s. 105
10K run time 1:02:37- drink Gatorade and water at every station, ate package of Sport Beans
Finished 03:21:43

As always, happy training, and don't forget you lists!