I just did my third triathlon this past weekend. I’m thinking that completing three gives me
the right to call myself a triathlete.
I almost didn’t compete this year. I started having pain on the top of my foot
in early June and then sprained my right ankle in late June. Add that to the extreme heat and my training
was pretty much non-existent. I swam
about five times all summer, I biked three times outside on my bike, and I ran intermittently
but never more than 2 miles. I did hit
spin class at least weekly as that didn’t really bother my ankle. I finally went to an orthopedic guy when my
ankle wasn’t improving at the quick pace I expected. He said I had a cyst growing in a joint on
top of my foot that will probably have to be surgically removed at some point
but gave me a cortisone shot to get me through the tri (yes, he gave the green
light to do the tri; I was half expecting him to tell me it wasn’t a good idea
as I could do further damage) and he set me up with physical therapy for my
ankle. Mind you this was all 10 days
before the tri. That’s the background
story.
I went into this with a goal to just finish. Between my aches and pains and lack of
training I didn’t want to push it. I
went into it telling myself to take it easy since I didn’t have much training
under my belt and my ankle was still bothering me. I honestly thought it would take me 2-3
hours to finish. But when Tom asked me
what time he should be there, I was torn.
There was always the chance that adrenaline would pull me through. Anyway……..
The morning of the race was cold! 63 degrees with a high for the day of 66,
with the threat of rain all morning. Mind you this is way better than the 100
degree heat of the summer so it was a good thing. I woke
up at 5:15 a.m. to eat, stretch, tape my ankle, and mainly to try to get myself
awake. I am not a morning person so it
is a challenge to get my mind and body working independently (let alone
together as a team) before 8 a.m. I
loaded up my gear and arrived at Lake
Nokomis at 6:45 a.m.
All my gear set out and ready to go |
For the race you have to arrive early to set
up your things, get your chip, and get marked – they put your number
everywhere; both hands, both arms, both legs and they put your age and wave on
your calves. They close the transition
area at 7:30 and you can’t return again until after the swim to collect your
bike. There is a mandatory meeting on
the beach at 7:45 and then you wait……
The wait was cold.
Given that you have to check your bag and everything by 7:30 it was
chilly waiting around in just my tri suit.
I should’ve brought a towel I didn’t care about to just wrap myself in
on the beach before the swim and then just leave on the beach. The race officially started at 8:00 a.m.
with the “elite” (i.e. very serious women) hitting the water. It continued in waves every 3 minutes by
age. I was in wave number 7; hitting
the water at 8:18 a.m. And the race was
on…..
SWIM
My swim went okay. No
one tried to swim over me this year, so that was good. It starts out really crowded though so it
takes some time to get in a groove and carve out your own space. My ankle bothered me a bit but otherwise
the swim went pretty well. Until the
end! I made the mistake of standing up
too soon (rather than swimming as far as I could before standing). I stood and tried to sprint out of the
water. It was like I was anchored
down. Running in rough water on sand is
a complete killer. My quads were
burning, my calves cramped, and my heart rate went so high it was very
difficult to regain a steady breathing pattern. Lesson learned. As you might know by now, I do tend to learn
my lessons the hard way. And I usually
have to learn them three times for them to sink in. But I do learn – eventually…….
Transition 1 – this was okay. I was huffing and puffing and dealing with a
major calf cramp but managed to wipe my feet and get my shoes on. I put my shirt on that had my number on it
and it ripped off. It is hard putting on
a shirt while you are dripping wet and it got stuck so when I roughly pulled it
down the number got stuck and ripped off.
That set me back a bit as I had to repin it. When I went to mount my bike, I realized my
shoe lace was not tied. Another minor
set back as I had to pull to the side, set my bike down and get my shoe lace
tied so it didn’t get caught in my gears.
BIKE
I had a rough start on the bike. My legs were burning from the stupid sprint
way to early out of the water and I could not catch my breath. I was wheezing
like I had asthma or something. That
lasted for a good half hour and definitely slowed me down. On top of that I forgot to take off my 5 lb.
bike lock and that was weighing me down.
I also had the wrong water
bottle. I was dying of thirst and had a
screw cap water bottle. Try to unscrew
that while biking and then taking a sip without spilling. I will definitely have to change that next
year. I also need to bring Chap Stick; my lips were sore
and feeling really chapped, which is more of a distraction than you may think. It started raining about 20 minutes into the
bike. It was just a mild sprinkle that
continued on and off throughout the rest of the race, it didn’t really affect
me too much. I was glad it was a light
rain and didn’t amount to much more.
The bike was maybe my toughest leg of the race because I couldn’t get my
breathing down and it is hard to bike with your legs burning.
Transition 2 – I forgot to mention that my right foot fell
completely asleep on the bike. It was
kind of scary actually. I had to take my
shoe off and rub it to get feeling back in it before I could run. I set my bike back on the rack, changed
from my helmet to a baseball cap, rubbed my toes and then headed out on my jog.
RUN
My foot was still tingling and my left hip was hurting (from
putting to much weight on my left side to baby my right ankle). So I got off to a slow start on the jog/run
too. I kept telling myself not to push
it and hurt myself. I walked a couple
of times and otherwise I tried to keep a slow, steady pace. That said, I couldn’t help but to sprint
across the finish line! In hindsight,
the run goes pretty fast and I think I could have pushed it a little more.
Finish – it felt good to finish and even better to know that
it wasn’t 10:18 yet. This meant I
finished in less than two hours. I was
happy about that. I was also happy to
see Tom and Rocky at the finish line even though I finished earlier than
expected. I got my medal, caught my
breath for a bit and then sat down and had some snacks. It was a good ending.
Trying to catch my breathe after crossing the finish line |
My cheerleader and Running Trainer |
Stretching and Chilling after the Race |
Proud of my Metal |
Results:
Swim (500 yards) - 11:07
Transition 1 – 4:17
Bike (15.5 miles) – 59:52
Transition 2 – 2:31
Run (3.1 miles) – 31:48
Last Year (2011) Results:
Swim (500 yards) - 11:37
Transition 1 – 4:16
Bike (15.5 miles) – 54:34
Transition 2 – 2:55
Run (3.1 miles) – 30:40
I beat my swim by 30 seconds, added five minutes to my bike
(no surprise there), and added 1 minute/8 seconds to my run. I can’t believe it only took me five minutes
longer to complete than last year. I
think the adrenaline and inspiration of all the other ladies helped move me
along.
Next year I will beat 1 hour, 44 minutes.
Cheers!
Penelope, The Triathlete