Ok, guess it’s time for a race report ;) (as totally dorky
as it sounds), because guess what! Tri
season is officially underway again!!!!
A sprint is a lot different than what I’m really training
for. It’s literally the distances of my
warm-ups these day. This one in
particular was a ¼ mile swim (440 yards, if you’re like me and have no sense of
swimming in miles), 14 mile bike (although everyone seems to have recorded
closer to 15 miles; my garmin said 14.9), and a 5k run. So yeah, literally my normal warm-ups!
At the risk of sounding totally full of myself, I’ll get
this out of the way now: I have won my age group in every single triathlon I have ever done, with the exception of AG
National Championships (and an xterra but that doesn’t feel like it counts
because of the whole mountain biking and trail running part). I don’t say that to brag; I kind of can’t
wait to not get 1st AG,
because then the pressure is off. Not
that I really feel pressure, in the sense that I’m trying to keep the streak
alive, but pressure knowing that there is a streak in the first place. So much of it really has to do with who else
shows up at the race, so it’s kind of a silly thing to even worry about. But, going into it, I knew that there was a
very, very good chance that I would not place first. It was kind of a relief, but still, you’re
never really looking forward to not
being on top ;) But this race was for
fun. This was race just for me to do
something with the word “triathlon” before CDA.
This race was to feel things out, test my kit in a race, and remember
how to pack for these things :) And, again, it’s totally different than an
ironman (especially the run, knowing I will NOT be running all-out haha).
ANYWAY! Enough
prefaces. Just putting that out there.
Katie was doing this as her first triathlon, which was super exciting! I think I was just as excited for her as she
was (if not more). We picked her up and
headed over, with the intention of getting there about 1:15 early, and just
0:15 after transition opened. Well after
all was said and done (and after making the long walk from the parking lot to
transition) it was even later, and there were plenty of people already there in
transition...but they did at least have the racks sorted by number so we both
got spots on our racks just one bike in, which is better than nothing (note:
when I went back right before transition closed, to grab my wetsuit, some guy
that had JUST shown up was there, with his whole family, including his dog, and
shoved ALL the bikes over so that he could have the end spot. So I guess my bike was 3rd. Oh, and someone’s helmet had fallen off their
bike and was on top of my stuff, and the bikes were all askew, and my bars were
tangled. You know, no big. Show up 10 minutes before the race, and just
shove stuff over. Grrrrrrrrrrr).
Anyway, after getting set up and helping Katie make sure she
was set up too, we made a few bathroom stops, looked at the lake, I stuck my toe
in and realized the water was SUPER warm (seriously, what is it with the
weather this year? I am NOT complaining,
but the water was seriously warmer than the air), etc etc etc…. I started the
wetsuit struggle. I hate getting into my
wetsuit. It’s so awkward. I’m so slow.
It’s a workout in itself. And it REALLY stresses me out. I get so, so, SO flustered getting my wetsuit
on, which I guess is why I need to do it with TONS of time to spare (which I
was doing). After a few minutes of whining
and getting antsy and freaking out about it, I was good to go. By this time, Mel had showed up (and Mac had
showed up earlier, too) so we had a good little group of support, which was
AWESOME! :)
Unfortunately, the race was delayed I think 20 minutes;
something about getting all the police officers situated on the bike
course. Tick, tock… I wanted to be done
with the swim by now, not standing around waiting…. But at least I had my little crew around to hang out with, and pass the time with photos of course!
Anyway, finally it was time to go.
Luckily, we were in the third wave—first was the “elite” group
(self-appointed; I honestly could have been in the group based on expected
times, but I would have been wayyyy behind in the swim and didn’t want to swim
with them haha also, talk about pressure to perform!), but that group was pretty small. Then I think it was a small group of men. Then us!
They actually combined a few age groups since they were small, so it
ended up being I think Women 34 and under.
Anyway, it was still a pretty small group, maybe 20-30? Actually I have no idea. But it didn't feel like a ton. A few last hugs and good lucks to Katie, and
we trudged in the water….and…go!
Ok, so. Swimming. I had really hoped it would be fine. I mean it was a 440 yard swim for goodness
sake, I KNOW I can swim that no problem, I KNOW I can even push it hard for
that long. I’ve done it a million
times. But suddenly there were people,
and even with a small group there was some jostling… Honestly, nothing bad at all, I got clawed a few times but whatever, it wasn't awful...but suddenly I
couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t get a full breath, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do
anything! I felt like my wetsuit and
everything was just closing up. After a
lot of gasping and trying really, really hard
to get my breathing controlled (I kept trying to force myself to put my head in
and breathe, and hold it, and force myself to get back to my regular patter,
but I could NOT), I kind of just stopped and treaded water for a minute. I just could not figure it out. I got moving again, and it never really got
better, I kept having to breathe every
stroke which I never, ever have to do, but I just felt like I couldn’t breathe
without doing that….it felt like forever.
I was 100 yards in and thinking “how
in the world can I do this for 2.4 miles, if I can’t even handle a quarter
mile! With like, hardly any people! This is nothing! There is no
way I can do an ironman. No way.” I still feel that way but…..whatever.
Anyway, I finally made it.
I felt the awful the whole to and was panicking, but I started swimming through some tall grass and finally realized it was
about knee-high water, and I got the heck out of there! I always make awful faces at Allen (and Mac
and Mel, this time. Oh, and my coach was
there too, I’m sure he appreciated seeing just how thrilled I was). I think I yelled something about “yeah, finally, that’s
enough of that!!” back to them, as I focused on getting the wetsuit off (and
over my garmin)..which is when I hit the button to start my transition time,
and realized I did the swim in 7-something minutes?! I was sitting there thinking I should be able
to hit 8 minutes as long as I swam strong.
After feeling so awful and dying and stopping, I was convinced I took
wayyyyy longer. So, I guess that was
good. Maybe I was just going wayyyy to hard at the beginning, even though I was trying not to? (I also later realized I forgot to use my inhaler, which I always do before swimming in open water. Otherwise, I can't breathe and start panicking. Hmm, coincidence?)
Transition was fine.
I felt like I was in and out quickly, but I had one of the slower
transition times, at like 1:30 or something.
Oh well. And I didn’t even have
to sit down to put my shoes on! I think that’s a first ;)
I ran out, and hopped on the bike—and it made a noise. What the heck is that?! It sounded like the rear wheel or brakes or
something, I kept looking down and trying to tell what it was. Finally I tried messing with the paper number
on the top tube and it stopped, so I decided it must have been something with
that, and off I went! Whew, crisis
averted. I had a few seconds of serious
panic, thinking my bike had a problem.
Luckily, I’ve essentially ridden the course a billion times
(slight exaggeration). I know that road
like the back of my hand, except the mile or two getting to the main road
(weaving through the park, etc). So that
part was a little annoying, and also very lonely because I didn’t see ANY bikes
and just seemed weird, like was I in the right place? But soon enough I was on east lake samm and in the thick
of things. I kept checking people’s age,
trying to figure out where I was, but never really saw any girls in my age
group—passed a couple, but I was expecting to pass more. There were a lot of other people that must have been
doing the relay, or something? So I did pass a ton of people, just was expecting to see more in my Age Group. Not really sure. I think I got
passed only 2 or 3 times, and they were all super speedy guys so I’m not too
worried ;)
Anyway, I wasn’t entirely sure where the turn-around was
(thought it was at a certain intersection but also thought that was a little
far, so was kind of waiting for it…) and was just heading up the slight incline
towards Inglewood (which I knew had to be the turn-around)…downshifted and…my
chain fell off. Dangit!!! Quickly pulled over (after someone said something
to me about it, like no duh, I know that it fell off, it was pretty obvious
when I tried to pedal) and the dumb thing was stuck! It had wedged itself somehow and I couldn’t get
it unstuck. In hindsight, this was nothing
compared to happen the next day :) but at the time it was super
frustrating. I felt like I was there
forever, but honestly it was probably just a minute or maybe two minutes. Finally I took a chance and just YANKED on
the thing, and ta-da! It was free. Got it on easily after that, looked down at
my hands and realized it was COVERED in grease.
Yes, I know, I need to clean my chain more. I just did! Apparently not enough. My
hands were BLACK. Aside from just
being gross and not wanting to get my bars super dirty, they were all slick and
slimy so I knew I had to get some off.
Of course, there wasn’t really any leaves or grass next to me to wipe
them off on, and my kit was mostly blue and I didn’t want to turn in black, so…I
wiped my hands all over my quads. I
mean, you gotta do what you gotta do! My
hands were still dirty but at least it wasn’t such a thick layer, so I hopped
on my bike (and said sorry to my pretty blue bar tape that was about to turn
grey), and off I went!
Side note, I was happy at how many people asked if I was ok
while I was dealing with everything. I
guess they could have just called for help at the turn-around (which ended up
being like, 100 feet away), but it was still very nice for them to offer, even
though I was totally fine.
It was frustrating, having to slowly catch back up and
re-pass people. But I did it, and now
that I was on the return trip, I really could pedal it hard; I feel like there
is more downhill on the way back, especially coasting back to the park, so I hammered
it as hard as I could! Plus, that's only 7 miles to go, so who cares how hard you go! I also saw Katie
heading out on my way back on, and we waved ecstatically and yelled across the
street at each other and everyone around us thought we were nuts. :) But that’s ok! So fun seeing friends on course!!
I also kept having to wipe my nose but didn't want to with greasy hands. I tried to be careful but I think I still got it on my face. So, I had black legs and a dirty face. I'm sure I was a sight to behold...
I did get kind of stuck behind a couple people in the narrow
lanes back to the park, but got around them reasonably quickly. I was disappointed to miss my 40:00 goal but I
knew that with the chain issue, I could probably subtract two minutes (ok that
might be generous) and be close, so..whatever.
I also reminded myself this is not really a big deal ;)
I got back to transition, dismounted, and Mac, Mel and
Allen were all there cheering! So much
fun. I think I yelled to Mac something
about my chain so she would know why I took so long (haha, yes that was my biggest concern) and then Allen saw
me and was all worried asking what happened, thinking I had crashed.
“My chain came off, I’m fine!!” I yelled, and ran in to rack my bike.
Luckily, my T2 was pretty blazing quick. Throw bike on rack, throw off helmet, sit
down, rip off shoes, put on socks then put on shoes, grab race belt, get up, run
out and get belt clipped on somewhere along the way. I saw my coach and his team right at the run
out, and they all cheered and yelled for me, I think he said something about “what
happened!?” and laughed at my legs all black from the grease, and again I had
to yell something back about my chain so that people would quit thinking I was
that slow on the bike ;)
I got confused running out, they had a couple other courses
set up and I kinda started going the wrong way, but was quickly led back on
track by the volunteers. As per usual, I
was flying. I looked down and my garmin said 5:15. I know it was still getting itself
calibrated, I think it ended up saying my fastest was like 5:25, but still, I
realized I was running WAYYYY too hard.
I tried to slow it down and get it under control, and rounded the last
corner past spectators (more cheers from the crew, and Mac telling me to go
kill it), and was onto the trails.
Let me be clear: when they describe the run course as “cross-country-like
trails,” I was thinking more of watershed trails. Or hiking trails. Or something resembling a "trail," preferably with dirt. This was just spaces in the grass and trees
that had slightly shorter grass so you could kind of tell where to go. It was HARD to run in!!!! Soon I didn’t have to worry about slowing
myself down, because this was hard and it sucked and why am I running soooooo slow!!
Pick it up, Kelley!! I was supposed to be running a 7:00 pace, but I
was 7:30 and creeping up. I know part of
it was not being fully rested, training, etc etc…but a BIG part of it was the
course, I am positive about that. It was
super uneven and I didn’t want to trip and twist my ankle and get hurt (how
stupid would that be), so I ran as hard and fast as I could but knew it would be
slower than I wanted. It also just felt
hard. I think I hit mile 1, and realized
I still had 2.1 miles to go and I was not happy. Usually I love the run, it’s my favorite when
I’m racing, but I just wanted this to be done.
It was also a really weird course, with one tiny little
loop, then one long out and back, then halfway on the “back” it had one more
little out and back. So you had no idea
where you were, or where anyone else was, and you could miss people, too (I
never saw Katie, she must have been on one of the loops or out and backs while I
was in another one). After the first
little loop you ran back near the transition area, so Mac was standing there at
the side and yelled at me “COME ON, PUSH IT ROSANNE, she’s right in front of you, you can go
harder than that!!” hahahaha of course. She knows she's one of the few people that can give me crap and tell me to go harder, even
though I’m already running has hard as I can; I kinda of laughed at that. Can’t wait to yell at her in her race this
weekend and tell HER to go faster! ;)
Oh, and it was also really narrow! Even running single file was pretty tight in
some spots, since you had people running in both directions, so it was hard to
pass if there was oncoming traffic (also hard because you didn’t know if you were going to accelerate into a
ditch).
Ok, enough complaining.
But I didn’t like the run course :P
Anyway, finally I knew I was really, really close, and the
volunteers directed me out of the trails area and back to the main area. One last stretch before rounding the
corner to the finish line, saw Mac again taking pictures and yelling at me to
hurry up, and went as strong as I could to the line. This time I also tried to make sure I wasn’t
staring at my watch the whole time, which I have a habit of doing! Happily finished, stopped and got my chip taken off,
got a medal and some water etc, and wandered around to find my crew!
Overall, it was a great race, even though I was whining in
my head about it a lot. Also really
short!! It felt so weird to already be
done! My garmin said 1:17-something, although I wasn't sure if it had auto-paused on the bike when it stopped (I think it did, I heard it beep but didn't know if it paused the total elapsed time). Anyway, we hovered and waited for
Katie to finish, and Shawn came over to find me too. I think his first words were “come on, I think you
could have been a little faster….” Haha, thanks coach!
Anyway, he was happy for me, and then he instructed me to take it easy the
rest of the day (and eat, which I gladly agreed to do) and just ride easy on my
long bike the next day. Perfect! Then Katie finished so we cheered her, then
found her at the finish line. I think the first thing she said was that it sucked, and she was never doing another triathlon again, but my the car ride home she was already talking about "well maybe one with a better run course..." etc etc. ;)
All in all, a good day.
I realized later that I still won my age group (although was a little
unsure because the results they had printed were kind of confusing), but we had
a very busy day ahead of us (Duthie and Katie’s graduation!) so I wasn’t about
to wait around another 2 hours for awards.
Once the results were officially posted online, it was confirmed, but oh
well! I guess I’ll have to experience my
not-1st-in-AG some other time.
That sounds super cocky, but it’s not meant to me. I raced it hard and gave it what I had, but I
was obviously not 100% in it and not super invested, and I really wasn't expecting it especially after having to stop on the bike; mostly, I was really happy
to have a successful, fun race, and remind myself what an actual triathlon is
like!! Now it’s time to carry that
momentum to CDA.
Because, you know….18 days.
Gulp.
Official times:
Swim 00:07:49
T1 00:01:31
Bike 00:44:19
T2 00:00:57
Run 00:23:29
Total 01:18:04
No comments:
Post a Comment