American Triple T - Race #3: Olympic PM - TriathlonOlympic

This swim came AFTER the bike. Heading into the swim, I was still worried about David out there on the road (see bike comments below). I decided I had done everything I could, and that he would want me to concentrate on my race. The water felt GREAT after biking out in the hot sun. I couldn't wait to get in. My breathing settled in right away, and the earplugs worked wonders. Just cheapo things from Kroger kept that cold water right out. I noticed people near the beach in race caps just floating around. Not sure if they were having a tough day or what, but they didn't seem eager to get started on the second leg of the tri. Everyone was very spread out from coming off the bike, so it was easy to get clear water. I was passing people and felt wonderful.

nothing.

This was the rare bike-to-swim transition. I was very upset about David being out on the road needing a new tire. As I came into transition, I was looking for Doc and also for anyone I thought could help. Not seeing Doc or his car, I started asking every volunteer I saw. Finally someone referred me to a lady who went over to the announcers tent and told someone. Meanwhile I was struggling into my wetsuit. I don't think the plastic bags would have helped much. I was not moving that quickly in general. I wanted to make sure I got my earplugs and pulled my wetsuit all the way up so I didn't have shoulder issues. A volunteer was ready to zip me up, which was nice. I ran out of transition and didn't see the lady and didn't see anyone leaving with a tire, so I was still frantic. On the way to the beach, I saw the lady again and she said she told someone. I said, "Did they go?" and she said, "Yes." I said, "For sure?" and she said, "Well, I don't know for sure. You might want to tell a race official, too." I was looking where she was pointing but just then I saw Doc and I knew I could trust him more than the race crew. I called out, "Doc, I need your help!" While I was still running. He jumped up and I stopped and explained the situation and asked him to buy a 700c tire (and a tube, just in case) from the red-and-white tent, and drive out to 125, take a left, and he would see David out there walking. Doc took off at a trot, and I was able to get a little peace of mind know someone would at least find him. Unless the race crew didn't go and Doc took a wrong turn. But I had done my best.

Give more clear directions so I could have been sure David was getting proper help and not worried.

The race began with the bike, so David and I were next to each other mounting up, time trial style. It was fun leaving like that. We were a team so we were allowed to draft during this race, but I immediately knew it was not going to happen. As soon as we made it onto 125, I was killing myself to keep up with David enough to draft off of him. He told me to let him know when he was going to fast, but it became almost a constant thing and I knew I needed to back off because I couldn't maintain that power output and still race the next day. I let him go, and I was glad I had worked through the emotions of doing that during a prior training ride. I was pretty sure I would catch up on the swim and run and we might still finish together.
I missed seeing him when we passed on the out-and-back, because there were two cars passing and I was paying attention to that.
He was less than a mile ahead of me at the halfway point.
On the climb back up from the turnaround, I started feeling pretty demoralized. I just felt that I didn't really have the cycling fitness required for this thing. Here I was with my triple chainring, and people were flying past me on tri bikes. It was irritating, and for a while I didn't see anyone on the road and I felt last, even though I knew I wasn't because there had been people still coming out when I was heading back.
After a while of not seeing anyone in front of me, I was cheered to see a helmet up ahead of me. But then I noticed the person was walking, so that wasn't good. As I got closer, I saw the person had a big tattoo on their left calf ... oh NO! It was David! I had many thoughts. I would like to say one of them wasn't, "If he drops out, we are both DQ'd because we're a team" but that thought did pass through my mind. As I rolled up to him, I shouted his name and asked what happened. He said his tube blew so hard it blew a hole in the tire and the tire was cashed. I asked if there was anything I could do. He said if I saw Doc in transition, ask him to buy a tire and bring it to him. I said okay, and I pushed ahead with renewed vigor to get to transition. I headed up the steep climb, and at the top were three guys cheering everyone on. I was trying to ask if they had a tire. I started yelling from halfway up, "HEY! (gasp) DO YOU (gasp) HAVE A TIRE? (gasp)?" And they were like, "Yay! Yeah! You can do it! Come on!!" And I yelled again but they kept cheering. Finally I said, "LISTEN! (gasp) LISTEN! (gasp) DO (gasp) YOU (gasp) HAVE (gasp) A (gasp) TIRE?" They said no. By this time I was cresting the hill and explained the situation. They said they were sorry.
So I tried to get back as quickly as I could to transition to get help.

Get a new light carbon fiber road bike.
Or train more.

This was my swim-to-run transition. It was fine, especially when I saw David's bike in the transition area, meaning he made it back. I still didn't know if he came in under his own power or had accepted a ride and a DQ.

I felt really great on the run, after cooling off in the swim. I didn't have any cramping coming out of the swim like other people. I felt cool and ready to run. On the way out, I passed Dan (DLaw) who had arrived for Little Smokies the next day. I told him about David and he said yes, he had seen him roll into transition. That made me think David rode in under his own power. I was wondering at this point whether to just walk the run course until David caught up to me, but I decided I really wanted to just do my best no matter what. We could be officially DQd by now, and all I could do was do my best for me. I felt good and the hills didn't seem as bad as in the morning. I kept putting ice in my bra and in my pockets to keep cool. The course was shadier, since it was later in the afternoon, but the air was hot.
As I was coming back in, I saw David heading out. I asked him what happened and he briefly told me that he had repaired the tire, but had blisters on his feet from walking on the hot pavement. I asked if he wanted me to wait for him and he gave an emphatic no. I finished my run, but wanted to finish with him. I passed Dan again on the way to the finish, and he was loading up his truck to move that way.

Caught up with Dan and discussed where we were camping.
Sat in the creek before eating.
Then got a plate of food for me and a couple things for David and sat in the finish chute waiting for him.
He came in like a champ.
Later, after riding our bikes back to the parking lot, Dan took us to the showers and took David's wheel to get trued by the mechanic. Thank goodness for Dan!


Fatigue and thoughts of Sunday.


Great, but really starting to worry about Sunday by Saturday night.