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 Swim
Comments: The first 500 yards were super shallow - as in water only up to your butt shallow and was incredibly dirty. I dunked by goggles into the water to help seal them but it just made them nasty sludge filled and not very easy to see out of. oddly, that didn't bother me because I was calm before this swim like never before. That did not last. As soon as we got deep enough to swim, I lost it. Initially I couldn't even decide what the problem was. The wet suit? The stomach thing going on? oh no, it was the roll of the waves created some serious motion that my motion sick sissy self could not take and I struggled something fierce. I immediately repeated to myself Trish's advice, "find your tempo and stick with it or you will struggle the whole time" find your tempo - ok, going to find my tempo. stroke, stroke .. oh my god, i can't find my tempo! oh good, there's Jen beside me. just swim like she's swimming, stroke, stroke - shit! I can't do this! I let dispair overwhelm me and before I even got to the first turn I sobbed internally (and would have externally if you could cry while swimming), and thought about the guy we saw in the med tent while we were waiting for our start who had been pulled from the water. now i knew why, the swell probably got to him too! oh, there's Jen, ok, I can do this. Then I got kicked in the crown of the nose, but it was helpful because it took my attention away from the swell overwhelming problem. I tried crawl again, just as someone literally locked arms with me. she stopped and said, 'sorry!' oh, women are so nice. thank god it's only women coming behind us. Ok, this is ok, I can do this. I will breast stroke to the first turn buoy and if i can just reach the first turn it will be better. We reached the first turn relatively quickly even though I was doing breast stroke. At this point I thought, ok, now that we have turned, the swell won't be so disruptive for me. find my tempo - stroke one, stroke two. wth is in this water? my nose is all snotty and I can't breath! there is algae bloom in here like they were talking about on NPR. oh my god, I can't breath. tempo, tempo, find a tempo. I can't find a freaking tempo! Oh my god, I can't do this - YEAH, DAMN RIGHT I QUIT TODAY PEOPLE! I CAN'T DO IT!! again, I sobbed internally, I can't do this! I am going to drown and there are no kayaks around me so they won't even know I have drowned. How long will it take for them to even realize I never got out of the water? they won't even know to look for me for another seven hours from now because they will assume I went out on the bike and the run and they just missed me. only after I don't come across the finish line will they start wondering, and then it will be another few hours and who would Jen and Jon even tell? the race people will be busy with the race, they will be too busy too look so they won't even look for my body until tomorrow morning, but what are you going to do if you quit? you can't spend the day in the amusement park - you can't go on the rides so what ARE you going to do? ok, finish the swim slow, then when they take away your chip for being too slow, finish anyway because you have nothing better to do. ok, come on, you can do this. just mind over matter, swim dammit, swim. the last wave is just now even with you and Jen is still right there so you'll be ok. You still have time. you have 1:20 to swim it because you weren't the last wave. I can see the next red turn buoy. almost there, then you are almost done! As I reach the turn buoy, the blind woman linked to her guide with a rope swim past me, not knowing to turn. um, I should tell her. do I touch her? i need to let her know she can turn. just then the rope must have gone taunt because she stopped swimming and her guide said, 'we are turning, then a straight shot. we have plenty of time'. oh good, we have plenty of time. if i can just keep up with her I'll make the cut-off. your facing shore now so just crawl the rest of the way. ok, here was go, stroke, strooooo, shit! I can't do it. screw it, i am going to breast stroke it in. I can keep up. uhh, yeah, no I can't. ok, crawl. what is in this water!?! I really cannot breathe. no, no, no. swim, just swim. there's Jen and some other people. this race prides itself on being super athlete friendly - they will let me out on the course even if i don't make 1:20. I can do it. ...and i struggled between couple strokes of the crawl and breast stroking the rest of the way in. 49 minutes?! oh great, my watch is broken. did I not hit start when we started? something is wrong. probably because it got wet it slowed down. oh well, they are cheering for me, not stopping for me. swim - DONE ...yes, these are the thoughts I am thinking as I am struggling. then there is Jen beside me again. Thank god for Jen!  Transition 1
 Bike
What would you do differently?: I need better components. Transition 2
 Run
Post race
Event comments: why would you mess with my transition while I'm out on the course?! Last updated: 2012-07-19 12:00 AM
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United States
REVOLUTION3 Triathlon
70F / 21C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 241/713
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 2/41
Pre-race was a little tough. The night before we went to an Italian restaurant but they had nothing at all that I could eat. They claimed even the pizza sauce had Parmesan cheese and there was nothing that they could make me other than a turkey sandwich or angel hair pasta with green peppers and olive oil for a sauce. other than I am allergic to turkey and green peppers, how gross - pasta in oil. I got to the annoyed beyond functioning stage with the waitress and her flippancy so was not inclined to spend $22 on pasta with oil and opted to just go with the two beers. I did have a slice of Jen's pizza, which I took apart and ate the sauce. there was no parmeson in the pizza sauce so I could have gone with pizza sauce, but was too late. This food fiasco really threw me off because I needed to get some schedule given the issues with food the last couple weeks. The night did not go well.
I set out my stuff for the race, went to bed and next morning up at 4:45 and off to race venue. The drive was quick because no traffic so I was there by 5:10. My stomach, and my accordingly fuzzy head, having serious issues because of the night before. I did half a bite of a power bar and lots of water to try to settle things down and rescue my brain - what was I doing to myself?!? I checked in my stuff at transition - which was beautiful wooden slots for your wheel rather than a spot to hang handlebars. It was so wonderful because it meant that I could set up without the intimidation of someone along side coming by, shoving bikes over to give themselves more room, race officials moving stuff because you were too spread out, whatever -- not that these things have happened other than the sprawling set-up next to me, but I have seen it happen to others so it always makes me feel a bit tense. but this set-up was fabulous. I set up everything, then went through a calm, mental checklist like never before, then double checked the list - putting glasses in jersey pocket to save transition time because I could put those on while on the bike. (a goal is to shorten transition times significantly from what I have done before - no more 4, 5, 6 minutes unless done on purpose). I had brought to bike jerseys over and decided to go with the orange sleeves rather than sleeveless blue because I needed the warmth and orange. Also decided, yes, I will go orange on the run with orange shorts, shirt and visor (I had brought pink visor and thought no shirt change and black compression shorts only, but hey, they was about having fun too so orange it was). I also had a look at my breaks and gave the wheels a spin too -- something I have never done before but I was embracing this set-up. happy with set up, I grabbed goggle, swim cap and wet suit and headed back to car for a nap. no point in sitting around for nearly 4 hours when I could get a nap in. Back at car, I double checked swim wave start times to be sure I didn't convince myself of incorrect time, texted Jen on what to grab me if they could find a bagel shop, and by now, my feet were freezing so ran the heater on the car for a little to warm it up. then a little text messaging to the luck wishers and ready for a nap, except I was cold again and wishing I had brought quilt from the hotel. little more warm up with the heater and I got in a good one hour nap. I was awoken with my stomach going crazy. the abuse from the night before -- the last two nights actually, was not sitting well. But by now, Jen and Jon headed over and bringing a bagel so I could take a few nibbles of that for the bread to get in my stomach and settle down the acid.