Bowl of Berries

Last tri of the season.  It’s been over a month since our last tri which I think was strange for me, Friday night I had a hard time getting into the race frame of mind.  I got all of my race gear together without any problems but then had a hard time breaking down that this is a new and longer distance for me. I have been so focused on the marathon that this race sort of seemed like an after thought but now it was time to focus on the now!

Saturday morning came too quick, 4:30 am is tough.  As usual, Scottie and I have our pre race routine down pat, he takes care of the bikes, I make breakfast, with car loaded, dogs fed we were on the road by 5.  I was awake and excited but with an hour drive in the dark my eyes were heavy.  I stayed awake and perked right up when I saw tons of other cars with bikes.  We pulled into the parking lot, unloaded and walked the half mile or so to the transition area.  This was a pretty large race, 900 participants and because I signed up as  novice and Scottie signed up to compete in his age group our transition spots were at opposite ends.  So we went our separate ways and met up to get our race packets, race chips and body marking.  We went back to our respective spots to finish setting up.  I had my usual PB&J on a bagel, I left the banana for later.  I felt pretty good but ofcourse started getting nervous as I put my wetsuit on and made my way to the beach for the swim start.

Scottie was in wave 3 while I was in the last wave, #10.  So once he was off I met up with some of our friends and chatted while I waited for my wave.  One by one the waves went off and I grew more nervous.  Finally it was my turn and I felt pretty good.  But once the horn went off and we were in the water it was  a different story.  I immediately could not catch my breathe.  I waited for the other swimmer to pass me and start again but once my head was in the water I immediately tried to gasp for breathe which doesn’t work very well!  I was crushed.  I have swum in cold water before with the wetsuit, I know I could do the distance why was I freaking out?  I tried again but I was still hyperventilating.  Thanks to the buoyancy of the wetsuit I was able to sort and bob and tread water for a bit to try and calm down.  The two swimmers behind me were getting rescued so I was dead last.  A boat came to get me but I waved them off.  Then I started weighing my options, do I get pulled out and still try to finish the bike and run unofficially, do I quit altogether? I am so not a quitter!  I am too stubborn!  Plus I would never hear the end of it and will never forgive myself.  So I took one deep breathe and started stroking and I was ok!  I got in my groove and actually felt great.  Go figure.  By the first turn buoy I actually started passing people. Even though I felt ok I felt the swim took forever, now I find out the course was probably long.  I turned the second buoy to make my way back to shore and the water started getting quite choppy.  Nothing terrible but it was funny how the weather and water changed so much.

Once I was near the shore I practically leapt out of the water I was so happy.  I was happy I didn’t quit!  I tried to get my land legs while I ran uphill to the transition area, high fiving Scottie’s Mom and waving to his Dad.  I was shaking so I had to take my time to calm down and get my bike shoes on,  I lightly ran in my shoes and took my time getting on the bike.  I had a hard time clipping in and tried a couple time before I just ran the bike up to the flat road and was finally able to clip in properly.

I am glad Scottie and I biked the course before so I knew what to expect.  I did not expect the head winds the first 10 miles of the bike.  It sucked.  I couldn’t get into it but about 30 minutes in I took a gel, a swig of water, blew some lake water out of my nose (classy eh?) and then it was on.  The next 10 miles were great, I started passing people, I felt strong and before I knew it I was at mile 20.  I knew the last 10 miles were going to be challenging so I took my second gel and some water and concentrated on tackling the hills.  I actually felt pretty good, there was a guy that I would pass up the hills and he would pass me on the downhill.  This went on for the remainder of the race which kept things interesting.  My next challenge was getting out of the pedals, I did NOT want to fall in front of everyone, especially if Scottie’s Dad was taping this!  Again, I would never hear the end of it and I am sure Scottie would put it on You Tube.  I slowed down way before the dismount line and got one shoe out then rolled through and got off with no problem.  Hooray!  I trotted through the transition area and  changed shoes, put on my hat and race belt then tried to find the run exit.  I sort of ran around the transition area aimlessly until I finally found a volunteer who showed me the exit.  Mental note to figure out the run exit before the race starts.

My legs felt like slugs at the run start but that is nothing new, I trotted along and was happy to be in my “element.”  Six miles usually feels like nothing but after an almost 1 mile swim and a 30 mile bike ride, I am sure it will feel different (another mental note to do more brick workouts.)  Before I knew it I was a mile into it and my legs started to loosen up which made me happy. The second mile was no biggie, I was passing people up the hills and was feeling great.  Then I started to get SO HUNGRY!  Like stomach pain hungry, what I would give for a bar, or any solid food at this point.  I should have eaten my Clif bar on the bike, or atleast brought it with me.  Another lesson learned.  I stopped at each water station to take a swig of water and try to have something in my stomach.  I underestimated my nutritional needs for this long of a race,  when I run I don’t typically need as much but doing three sports together is a different beast.  The hills of the race course weren’t exactly fun but I tackled them pretty well since I train on hills all the time.  Everyone was walking up the hills so I was thankful for my run training.  At mile 5 I could hear the finish line announcer, I knew I was almost done.  I estimated I would be just under 4 hours, which was the race cutoff. I rounded the final corner and could see the lake, I was almost there!  It was a tough finish as I started feeling nauseous but I crossed with a smile on my face.  I was so happy to be done!

I quickly said hi to Scottie and his parents and then made a bee line for water and FOOD!  I chugged a bottle, scanned the food table and only saw crackers, chips and cookies so I grabbed a sugar cookie and stood in line for a hot dog.  I squirted ketchup on the dog which was super sweet and fake tasting so I could only eat half of it (I am such a ketchup snob!) I went back to the group and chatted a bit before I felt I needed to sit down and rest a bit.  I got myself together as it started to rain so Scottie and I packed up our transition areas, mine was a mess!  But I found the banana I didn’t eat that morning and could not be more excited, I wanted real food!  Mental note #637, bring my own post race nutrition in case the post race food sucks! Once we got our stuff together we made our way back to the car. The power of the banana started kicking in and I felt much better on the drive home.

We stopped by Scottie’s parent’s house and got our annual flu shot, chatted a bit and Scottie was a saint and drove home while I nodded off. We both refueled with the now traditional Raleigh Times burger and beer and pretty much passed out that night on the couch.

Overall, I am really proud of both of us.  This is a new race for both of us and I think we both learned a lot and can take this into next year’s race season. I had previously planned to do a full Ironman race next year (2.4 m swim, 112 m bike, 26.2 m run) but then I realized, what is the rush?  I think I need to not bite off more then I can chew and really enjoy the process of training and racing, I am not sure I am ready for the big Daddy race yet.  We shall see.  Now, it’s 4 weeks until the marathon!  Oh boy!

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 at 7:38 pm and is filed under Fitness, Races. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.