(aka, Another Triathlon)
The Swim (42:56)
Welcome back kids. We left off with my less than aggressive swim start, which may or may not be something to work on for next year and the theme of the day was "bad things happen when you wake up at 4:30 in the morning."
The race started rather uneventfully, due to my race placement, there was very little contact that I was not initiating. And I don't initiate much contact. When I sense I'm coming up on another person I draft while I can and then politely swim around them. The only person that I did initiate contact with was some chick who was swimming perpendicular to the shore. And, um, the race was parallel to the shore. I felt it was my civic duty to reorient her. Although, she seemed displeased. Next time I'll let her swim to Portugal.
So, I was swimming along when I realized a bad thing: I didn't start my watch. Rather than recording some random partial swim time I decided to press on without stopping to start my watch. One of the best things about this swim course is that I prefer to breath to the left and the buoys were always on our left so I always knew when one was near. I got to the first buoy quickly and realized a bad thing: I had no idea how many buoys there were. And I like to count them to gage my progress. Ugg. I wanted to go back to bed. But still I pressed on and by the second buoy was fairly certain that we had one more round buoy and then a triangular turn around buoy. Knowing this calmed my inner OCD. There was a bit of congestion at the triangular "turn here" buoy (and this is where the super fast people from the wave behind me were fast approaching so I was eager to "turn here" and get out of their way) but I got around it and the next turn buoy and started to head home. It was on this trip home that I realized I still had a long time left in the water. Bad thing: have you ever been in an endless pool? Me neither. But, imagine that the return swim was similar to swimming in an endless pool. With a blind fold on. Because the current was against us and the sun was directly in our eyes. And in an effort to not let the waves push me to shore (which I couldn't see because I was breathing to the left per my preference and to avoid staring straight into the glaring sun) I wound up WAY off course, like almost getting hit by on coming swimmers off course, but I readjusted and pressed on some more and assumed I was sort of going the right way, and eventually it was over. Of course, long before it was over, while I was seemingly swimming in place I noticed that my neck was getting a bit tingly, and then it was sort of hot, and then it was freaking on fire hurting like a MF'er. And now I have a wet suit hickey. And its huge and it still hurts. But I still love the new guy - just need to lube up better next time;)
Getting out of the water (I made a really funny face) I had no accurate time because I failed to start my watch, but I knew the real time was just passed 7:30 and I knew that I wanted this to be closer to 7:15 than 7:30. I obviously wasn't thrilled with this extra time, but considering the sun and the current and my detour I accepted it (also, I'm not sure what the other options might have been).
Note for next year: tinted goggles; lots of body glide.
T1 (4:16).
Putting on a wetsuit sucks. But generally you can take your time. Taking off a wetsuit in a hurry sucks infinitely more than putting on a wetsuit with no time constraints. But I managed. Last transition I didn't put my helmet on tightly enough and had to stop mid race to fix it. This time I put my helmet on properly, put on a little jackety thing (it was chilly) and left thinking everything was in order. Bad thing: Of course I failed to velcro one of my shoe's velcros and it made a weird noise the whole time. I know its early and the adrenaline is pumping but I've got to pay more attention here.
The Bike (1:38:41)
So.Much.Fun.
The Swim (42:56)
Welcome back kids. We left off with my less than aggressive swim start, which may or may not be something to work on for next year and the theme of the day was "bad things happen when you wake up at 4:30 in the morning."
The race started rather uneventfully, due to my race placement, there was very little contact that I was not initiating. And I don't initiate much contact. When I sense I'm coming up on another person I draft while I can and then politely swim around them. The only person that I did initiate contact with was some chick who was swimming perpendicular to the shore. And, um, the race was parallel to the shore. I felt it was my civic duty to reorient her. Although, she seemed displeased. Next time I'll let her swim to Portugal.
So, I was swimming along when I realized a bad thing: I didn't start my watch. Rather than recording some random partial swim time I decided to press on without stopping to start my watch. One of the best things about this swim course is that I prefer to breath to the left and the buoys were always on our left so I always knew when one was near. I got to the first buoy quickly and realized a bad thing: I had no idea how many buoys there were. And I like to count them to gage my progress. Ugg. I wanted to go back to bed. But still I pressed on and by the second buoy was fairly certain that we had one more round buoy and then a triangular turn around buoy. Knowing this calmed my inner OCD. There was a bit of congestion at the triangular "turn here" buoy (and this is where the super fast people from the wave behind me were fast approaching so I was eager to "turn here" and get out of their way) but I got around it and the next turn buoy and started to head home. It was on this trip home that I realized I still had a long time left in the water. Bad thing: have you ever been in an endless pool? Me neither. But, imagine that the return swim was similar to swimming in an endless pool. With a blind fold on. Because the current was against us and the sun was directly in our eyes. And in an effort to not let the waves push me to shore (which I couldn't see because I was breathing to the left per my preference and to avoid staring straight into the glaring sun) I wound up WAY off course, like almost getting hit by on coming swimmers off course, but I readjusted and pressed on some more and assumed I was sort of going the right way, and eventually it was over. Of course, long before it was over, while I was seemingly swimming in place I noticed that my neck was getting a bit tingly, and then it was sort of hot, and then it was freaking on fire hurting like a MF'er. And now I have a wet suit hickey. And its huge and it still hurts. But I still love the new guy - just need to lube up better next time;)
Getting out of the water (I made a really funny face) I had no accurate time because I failed to start my watch, but I knew the real time was just passed 7:30 and I knew that I wanted this to be closer to 7:15 than 7:30. I obviously wasn't thrilled with this extra time, but considering the sun and the current and my detour I accepted it (also, I'm not sure what the other options might have been).Note for next year: tinted goggles; lots of body glide.
T1 (4:16).
Putting on a wetsuit sucks. But generally you can take your time. Taking off a wetsuit in a hurry sucks infinitely more than putting on a wetsuit with no time constraints. But I managed. Last transition I didn't put my helmet on tightly enough and had to stop mid race to fix it. This time I put my helmet on properly, put on a little jackety thing (it was chilly) and left thinking everything was in order. Bad thing: Of course I failed to velcro one of my shoe's velcros and it made a weird noise the whole time. I know its early and the adrenaline is pumping but I've got to pay more attention here.
The Bike (1:38:41)
So.Much.Fun.
Seriously. I'm not fast. And sort of I'm not sure I want to be (its kind of scary) but this was So.Much.Fun. Like a roller coaster fun. The up hills were definitely up, but manageable and the downhills were THE FUNNEST. I even went 27.9 mph for awhile which is the fastest I've ever gone ... and I really wanted to go 28 mph but I was too afraid to shift my weight or do anything else to go faster because that same movement might have made me fall and despite being THE FUNNEST it was still TERRIFYING. Seriously. Shortly after this, I had an ah ha! moment. SBR (the store) Swim, Bike, Run. I am so SMRT.
So that was the bike, I rode, I ate, I drank (bad thing: although not enough, I went camelback again, but there was a crick in the hose thingy and it was hard to get water out and I like ALOT of water when I ride; next time), I figured out what SBR stands for and I finished the course.
T2 (3:19)
This could have been faster. But I had a lot of water to drink. I was parched. Or as some would say, perched.
The Run (1:06:45)
So that was the bike, I rode, I ate, I drank (bad thing: although not enough, I went camelback again, but there was a crick in the hose thingy and it was hard to get water out and I like ALOT of water when I ride; next time), I figured out what SBR stands for and I finished the course.
T2 (3:19)
This could have been faster. But I had a lot of water to drink. I was parched. Or as some would say, perched.
The Run (1:06:45)
This was advertised as Flat, Fast and Fun. It was flat and I had fun. Lets leave it at that. I ran all but the rest stops which was my goal and I finished which was The Goal. Towards the end I tried to repeat "Flat, Fast and Fun" in my head and I could.not.do.it. I started thinking I was suffering from over exhaustion. It kept coming out "Fat, Flast and Fun" and at first I couldn't even tell why that was wrong (but I knew it was) and then there was another ah ha! moment when I realized what it was supposed to be. But I still couldn't say it right. Until the very end when I got it out in my head: "Flat, Fast and Fun." I finished happily knowing that I was not going crazy.
So that was that (Overall: 672/733; AG: 45/55). Not winning anytime soon. But it was So.Much.Fun. Or at least, once I got home and took a shower I realized that it was;) Monday I was sore but by Tuesday I was working out again ... slowly, but still getting out there.
And next ...? We'll see. Probably a practice tri with Susan in two weeks and then I have some other ideas but I want to see how the winter goes. I have a quasi leadership position with the local tri team so I want to go to more of their workouts and see where I am come February. I think I definitely want an early, early season race for winter motivation, but that is as much as I know for certain.
More later kids. Thanks for reading;)
So that was that (Overall: 672/733; AG: 45/55). Not winning anytime soon. But it was So.Much.Fun. Or at least, once I got home and took a shower I realized that it was;) Monday I was sore but by Tuesday I was working out again ... slowly, but still getting out there.
And next ...? We'll see. Probably a practice tri with Susan in two weeks and then I have some other ideas but I want to see how the winter goes. I have a quasi leadership position with the local tri team so I want to go to more of their workouts and see where I am come February. I think I definitely want an early, early season race for winter motivation, but that is as much as I know for certain.
More later kids. Thanks for reading;)
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