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 Swim
Comments: Cr@p. But they did the right thing. I just wanted to swim, not that it would have helped my finish any. I just wanted to do it.  Transition 1
 Bike
Comments: The rain stopped by time I got on the road, but the roads in the park were still puddled and wet. By time I crossed the dam, the road was basically dry. It was windy and gusty. We had head, tail, and crosswinds, and they were all a factor in my ride. I passed a few people, and was passed by a lot of people. The hills were rough on me, as I expected they would be. I used every single gear, moving smoothly between the small and large front ring, until I got back into the park. I dropped the chain and it was a disaster. It seemed like it took me forever to sort it all out, and I was a greasy mess by time I got the chain back where it was supposed to be. I really only lost about 3-4 minutes here, but it was frustrating and I was stuck in the small ring for the rest of the ride (only a couple miles) because I didn't trust that I wouldn't drop it again. What would you do differently?: Train on the bike better. Longer. Harder. Transition 2
Comments: I was slow. My hands were a mess, and I refused to run with them like that, so I took time to wipe them off pretty well on my soaking wet towel. I opted to use my Nike Frees in stead of the Zoots, so I had to tie my shoes, but I really didn't lose that much time doing that. Oh, I also wiped my legs down . . . um, . . . . you know. Just because. What would you do differently?: It was what it was.  Run
Comments: This was the pace I trained at for this run. (Well, not Salty pace, but 9:40 pace). I didn't expect to hit it, especially coming off the bike, and walking half way up that stupid hill. Both times. But I did it, and it felt amazing. It was painful, but not so much that I wanted to stop. I took a clif shot walking up the hill the first time, and then I grabbed another on my second loop through the campsite. It was hot and steamy out there. So I grabbed water each time I ran past the water stop (four times), drank and little and poured the rest on me. I got a little emotional as I crossed the finish line when I realized that I hit my goal pace. It was nice for something to go right on this wet, windy, stormy (and a little scary) day. I did an Olympic distance race! . . . well, kind of. Sort of. Not so much. What would you do differently?: Run up the hill. All the way. But really, I didn't start walking until I calculated that I could walk faster than I was running. Post race
Warm down: Nothing. Walked around. Cooled off. Ate a Luna Bar. There was take-out pizza. Wow. Okay. That was really disappointing. It was like someone thought, "Oh, crap! We forgot post race food. Let's get take out -- 50 boxes." Icky. But I don't eat much after racing anyway, not immediately. What limited your ability to perform faster: Lack of proper bike training. Event comments: Well. I have some complaints. The weather wasn't their fault, so that's not my beef. They made the right call with the information they had at the time. There was a live band. That was cool, I guess. But there was nothing else at the end -- they handed you your medal, a bottle of water, and you could grab some greasy takeout pizza if you wanted. That was it. No massage. No fruit. Nothing but water to drink. No race pictures, evidently. The race directors are conveniently not answering that question on the Facebook page. That was disappointing because I was there alone, so no pictures of me. On second thought, maybe that's a good thing. I was a sweaty, greasy, salty, dirty mess. (My hair was stiff from all of the salt I sweat out of my body.) Oh, and don't forget that I peed on myself. Twice. Just for good measure. Okay. No pictures. Thank goodness. Last updated: 2013-02-02 12:00 AM
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United States
Ultramax Sports
78F / 26C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 284/314
Age Group = 50-54
Age Group Rank = 4/5
Since it was KU Commencement weekend, rooms were hard to come by. We ended up getting a KOA Kamping Kabin in Topeka, which worked out great.
I had our own commencement Saturday morning, so we drove up at around noon. Went to packet pick up and then I donned the wet suit and took a very short swim. The water was choppy but great. Then we drove up to Kansas City so hubby could pick up his new car. We didn't get back to Topeka until after 6. We ended up eating dinner at Carlos O'Kelly's and I had a Caribbean salad with shrimp.
I had worked on hydrating all day, but with outside commencement and driving, I'm not sure I did a fantastic job.
My plan was to get to bed early, but it didn't work out well. Storms were forecast to roll in, and when they did it was windy. Our poor little cabin was really creaking. Ben (the 12 year old) was a little freaked out, so he and I chatted a little. I probably didn't get to sleep until about 1:00 a.m. when the wind, distant thunder, and the creaking lulled me to sleep.
I woke up at 5:00 a.m. Packed up the car. (Because of the storms, we kept my bike in the cabin with us over night) and headed off to Quick Shop. I found yummy oatmeal (dried fruit, nuts, brown sugar) and got a coffee and cream and then headed for Clinton Lake.
It was raining pretty hard and there was some thunder in the distance, so I wasn't giving the swim much chance, but I was still hopeful that the race would go on, and was even holding out hope that we would be able to swim, even if it were shortened.
I got transition set up and then just hung around with everyone trying to stay dry. I understand why we were trying to stay dry, but I also found it a little comical because we were going to get wet anyway, if the swim was on, but whatever. People were complaining. It was cold, windy, and raining, so many people were wearing their wet suits, not just in preparation for the swim. I would have roasted, so I just put on a jacket with a hood. I was fine.
The pros were supposed to take off at 7:30, but the RD announced that they would delay the swim to see what would happen. The weather just got worse. The lake was choppy, with white caps, and there was lightning in the distance, and some of that not so distant.
At about 8:00 ish, I guess, my husband texted me from Topeka and said that it was easing up and he thought we would be okay. At that point, the RD decided to call it, so the swim was officially cancelled and we were doing a Du.
I would estimate that a full 100 people left -- some at the first delay (I overheard someone saying "Even if we swim, I don't want to swim in that, and I don't want to bike in the rain.) Others left once the race was changed to a Du. I must admit that I considered it. I don't have a lot of experience riding in the rain anymore, even if I did grow up in Oregon. So I called hubby to get his opinion. We decided that I would go ahead and do it, especially since he was pretty sure the rain was going to end and that we would be fine (since it had ended where he was already). I promised him that if I felt it was in any way dangerous on the road, I would bag it.
So we lined up in whatever order we wanted, after the pros and elites took off. We had about 3-5 seconds between each rider, so this went fairly quickly. I was starting to get excited.
I took in a Clif shot and got in line.