Deuces Wild Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Ok...this is where my goal immediately changed from 3 hours to 3:30. The water was cold! As I started rounding the first corner of the channel, and tried to really start swimming out of the fray.....the elevation and inability to breathe hit me hard. I went into a full blow panic attack and actually rolled onto my back for like 3 strokes. (I hate being on my back, so it's not really resting for me!) I haven't freaked out like this since my very first Triathlon. The voices in my head were totally screaming at me to stop and quit the race. Or get out of the water and just do the bike and run. There was NO way I could do this swim. (This is what was going on in my head). My goggles somehow were full of water and fogged over immediately after I would clear them out. I was doing a LOT of one sided breathing, which tends to make me breathe too fast. I was somehow able to tell myself that I am not quitting. We drove clear up here and paid money to be here, and even though I may not be feeling it now...I really DO enjoy doing this. Plus, I would let a lot of people down, and I KNOW my will is stronger than the negative voices in my head, so I pressed on. It really wasn't until about the half way point that I was able to get into any type of rhythm, if you could even call it that. I didn't do too bad of a job sighting and stayed close to the buoys....I wasn't swimming any further than I had to!! I was certain I was the last one out there, but as I rounded the last buoy, I saw a handful of people behind me, and that made me feel better. It was also at this point that we were catching up with the stragglers from the previous wave, so again...that made me feel better. Since I don't kick in my wetsuit, I started kicking as I entered the boat channel to get some blood down to my feet and wake them up. I walked up the steep boat dock to the strippers where AZChica helped me out. That was awesome and MUCH easier than doing it yourself!!! I then trotted up the hill to T1. Quick glance at my watch showed 36 min. Goal was 30, but with my complete freak-out thrown into the mix, I decided 36 was better than quitting, and I would take it.

Not to freak out. Perhaps try to get there a few days prior and get a little acclimated to the elevation.

Had a pretty good T1. Just quickly did what I had to do, grabbed my bike, and ran it down the loooong chute and up the hill to the mount line. This added time to T1. The mount was on a hill, and I had my bike down in a low gear becuase of this, and was fine, but I guess a lot of people didn't. People were falling over and grabbing onto the fence, etc....

Nothing

The bike was pretty good. Took until mile 4 before my breathing was under control. Elevation didn't play a roll on the bike. Lots of hills. Not too many places that were just a nice flat straight away where you could cruise. It's funny because on the bike sometimes your in a groove and your legs are just outputting power like there's no tomorrow, and other times you feel like you are moving like a turtle!! We were out in the middle of nowhere, and the wind was quite steady. No IMAZ type winds, but you know you have a strong head wind when you are hammering as hard as you can down a down hill, and you are only going 17mph!!! I somehow lost my chain about mile 10. Crap!! I don't want grease all over my hands!! It took me a bit to get it back on, as I was trying to put it on the wrong ring, but once I got it on, I rubbed my hands in the dirt and took off again. A few snap, crackles and pops later, I think I had it all back in gear again. Probably lost a good 4 min there. WAY too long! BUT...still no flats during a race....so I will take a chain any day over a flat! The stretch of hi-way leading to town was one, long up hill. This girl passed me and said "I will pass you now, but then you will pass me on the downhill." As we had done that about 3 times already. I said "Yeah...I am good on the downhill’s! Go figure!" BUT...This time when she passed me she just stayed in front of me, and for some reason my legs were feeling kind of good at this point, so in about 2 min I passed her and never saw her again. What really sucks is that you are just trying to pound out your last few miles, and your legs are toast, and the people doing the Half are blowing past you!!! They are on mile 49 and fresh as a daisy!! Grrrrrr....someday..... The last bit of road was the nastiest. It led to the park. It was hilly and the asphalt was all chewed up. Up until then, I managed to stay in aero position down the down hills, even though the cross winds were freaking me out and I was thanking God for all the core work I have done over the past year, so I could keep control of my bike!! But as I approached this last downhill, something told me to stay near my breaks, and thank God I did!! I lost my water bottle scrunchy and got totally splashed, and had to break on a downhill so I wouldn't run into the pickup driving in front of me who was slowing down for the bike in front of him. VERY bad road to negotiate and having the cars in the mix just made it worse!!! Took in my Sport Beans on the bike, 1 electrolyte pill, and grabbed some CarBoom drink at an aide station about 3/4 of the way through the bike. It wasn't strong, so I was happy about that. Did my first successful bike bottle hand off! Dismount was interesting because again, it was on a hill, but this time you were going downhill!! Jell-O legs on the down hill trying to control your bike....not fun! But I managed to run with my bike back through the long chute and around to my spot.

Not much.

T2 was fine. was mad I was getting grease on my new shoes and laces...but what are you going to do? Tried to wipe my hands a bit on the wet face towel I had from the swim, but nothing was coming off.

Wow. The run totally sucked. I have never had a run suck this bad!! My knee was fine coming off the bike, but as the run went on, it deteriorated quickly. The ran started off on a dirt path around a lake. Whenever I got to a nasty spot of large rocks, or iffy terrain, I would walk through it. The last thing I needed was a twisted ankle or to jack my knee up worse. The water in my water belt was the temperature of bath water and was SO NOT refreshing!! But it was wet. I caught up with PirateGirl during the first mile and said hi! As we hit the campground, a guy was spraying us with a garden hose. That felt great!! Lots of hills on the run as well. This is the race where my mantra of "There is no walking in Triathlons" was completely thrown out the window. The elevation came back into play here, and the knee was not holding up. At this point I know my time is totally sucking as I walk/run, and my run was pretty slow. So what's a girl to do? SING of course!! The first song was "I wanna be an airborne ranger. I want to live a life of danger!" I came up on a guy who was struggling and I sang the first line to him and he replied "Good luck with that!" Later on a turn around I saw him coming and I said "You wanna be a Ranger yet?" Just just gave me that "crazy girl!" laugh. As I moved along the song then switched to "Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinha!" Then we have the ever popular, and newly created "Trudging along! Uh-ha! Trudging along! Oh-yea! Trudging along! One more! Trudging along!" I managed to switch out my hot water for cold water at aide stations, and got some Carboom liquid at the midway point. At one point I was picking flowers and putting them in my hair...what else do you do when you are walking in the sticks to pass the time? I have never done this much walking in a race before, and I totally felt like a slacker. Running peg-legged was really taking it out of me, and my left leg that was doing most of the work was toast. I looked at my watch and decided that if I really pushed it I could maybe still make the 3:30 goal. So I pushed forward, and made it. I was finally done!!!

Not have a bad knee, and not run at 6,320 ft elevation!!!

They were handing out our medals, which were cool and had bike chain around them (which was appropriate), and also these huge, phallic looking popsicles. It was cold and tasty!!! I walked over and sat down with the fam and ate the bulk of the popsicle before my son took the rest.


Bad knee and elevation. Not a good combo. I don't recommend it!


Even though *I* didn't have a great race....this is a great race. Beautiful setting, challenging course, tons of aide stations and everything was well marked and was a quality race.