Lake Stevens 70.3 - Team Tri-Style

Rather than doing the entire race ourselves Col and I did it as Team Tri-Style - Col did the swim and run and I did the bike. From the start of the day there was way less pressure since I did not have to worry about doing the swim or run thought at the same time it was very strange not to be getting in the water at at the start or doing the run after the bike.
Of course they put the relay teams in the very last wave so we sat on the grass and watched the rest of the crew start. The pros were already coming in as well. Once Col started I headed back over to the transition area and cheered the crew on when they came in. Col had a great swim - she had told me to expect a sub 45min and she came out of the water at 39:58. Luckily I was ready to go - we transfered the chip and I was off - It took me a good minute just to run through the trans area with my bike - since were were right by the water.
Once on the bike I realized I had not taken a gel or any salt before starting.. So I quickly had 2 salts and some accelerade and a little bit of gel just to be safe. With in the first 5-10 miles a group of male pros passed me on there second loop - they even sounded different then everyone else because of their disc wheels - I heard a whirr and then they were past me and were gone. I felt really good - I was passing a lot of people esp going uphill. I made sure to drink accelerade every 5 miles or less - 2 mouthfuls of gel every 10 miles fallowed by either nuun or accelerade to rinse my mouth out - a salt every 15 miles. It worked out really well - the only thing was my salt stick got sort of loose and I wound up just pulling it off my bike and putting it in my bento box - I had to hold the end in my mouth and turn it to get the alt out. It worked fine just took a bit longer than when it is on the bike.
I did really well going up all the hills - I played cat and mouse with a couple of other riders - I would pass them going up then they would pass me on the "flats". One gal even hollered a compliment at how well I climbed - it felt great to have my legs back like that again. I held my own on the downhills - I barely braked - which I think is huge - I even passed a few people going down which has NEVER happened before. I did get a warning by the refs about moving left and not passing - the ref guy gave what felt like a 5 min lecture about staying all the way right no matter what the road conditions ect.. It sort of messed up my pace till they were gone and I finally passed the gal that could not maintain an even pace.
I finished the 1st lap in 1:33 and felt good and strong. On the second lap I had to remind my self to eat - I could hear Kyle yelling at me to eat/drink and Futa yelling swerve. lol I had half a bottle of accelerade left when I went through the aid station - I was really looking forward to a bottle of Gatorade for some more calories but they only had water - what a joke I was soo annoyed. I grabbed a bottle anyway and used it to dilute my highly concentrated accelerade. Even still I felt good esp when I was going up hill - yes I know that is messed up. There was a lot more car traffic which mostly got in the way during the climbs
I did get the same pain in my lower back - only on the right side - just like in Kona but it went away when i went into my aeros or sat all the way up to climb. Luckily after a while it just faded away or I just forgot about it. I made sure to continue to push myself all the way into the finish - since I knew I did not have to save anything for the long run.
I came in at 3:12 - Col grabbed the chip and was off on the run. I racked my bike had a quick work or two with a nice gal from another relay team and went for a 2 mile run to take advantage of the transition training. On gal yelled at me for not having a run bib but I just kept going. I ran 2 miles (1 mile out and 1 back) along the bike course. It actually felt really good - I was able to maintain a 9 min mile pace so i finished in 18 min. Afterwards I went straight out on the run course to see how the crew was doing - since I never saw any of them on the bike. Everyone was doing really well - Kyle and Bryan were already on their second lap, Steph was well into her 1st but looked really strong and of course Col was flying. Sadly i forgot to grab my camera or anything to eat before heading out of the tranistion area so I just cheered. Futa was nice enough to share some chex mix and water with me because I did not want to miss a minute :)
Everyone finished really well - everyone improved from Hawaii and had a good time. It was very good day. We hung out for the roll down just in case Kyle could get a spot for Clearwater but no love. Then once home we crashed and took it easy the rest of the day/night.

Col and I (Team Tri-Style) came in 4th in the female relay team division :)

Final times
Swim 39:58
T1 1:09
Bike 3:12:40
T2 0:53
Run 01:50:00
Overall Time 5:44:37