Pleasant Prairie Triathlon - International Race - TriathlonOlympic

I knew this was going well as it was happening... even though I didn't have my watch working. I didn't wear my HRM because I HONEST TO GOD didn't think we were going to end up racing, so I left it in the bottom of my bag, which became water logged... and I was in such a hurry to set up transition, I didn't go fishing through my bag to find it.

At any rate, I ***THOUGHT*** I pressed the button to "start" but apparently I either didn't press it enough or hard enough or something, because I heard a "BEEP" as I was swimming, and there was no data displayed on my watch when I got out of the water. The swim FELT good, as best I could tell. (2 minutes off last year! YAY!)

There was NO SUN to glare in my eyes, so sighting was a breeze. Also I (((HEART))) my Socket Rockets. I am going to order another pair, as the ones I've got are all scratched up.

Not much. I don't look at my watch while I'm swimming anyway, so I suppose whether or not my watch is working is a rather minor detail.

I lost some time here because I **TRIED** to put on a light jacket for the bike ride. I got it on, zipped it up, and the zipper came undone from the bottom up. I tried to fix it, but ended up pulling the jacket up over my head and helmet and just tossing it aside. That stupid conundrum took some time.

I don't know. I thought I needed a jacket... but I clearly did not. I wasn't going to stay dry, and once I started pedaling, I started to get warm. So... I dunno.

Ok, so my plan here was NOT TO FALL. This race was an ADD-ON to my season and I didn't want to splat myself on the concrete due to carelessness or recklessness... we ALL KNOW how much I WANT to be able to run the marathon in October... ;)

Anyway, so I held back... alot.

Here's a stupid mistake... ready for this? I took my Bento Box, and everything inside it... extra gels, etc etc... off my bike before we drove it up on Saturday. I never re-attached it. UGH. No gel for the bike ride. In fact, no readily accessible gel for the entire freaking race. The gels I did have were stuffed inside my bag, which was stuffed inside a PLASTIC bag, keeping dry. DUMB DUMB DUMB.

So, here I am... cruising along on the bike trying to figure out how I can get adequate calories for a bike/run combo. Decided I'd chug all my Heed.

Drank a large 24 oz bottle of Heed... and drank 2/3 of a 16 oz bottle of Heed. I'll have you know this was MORE fluid than I had on the entire Racine bike course! I was worried about not having enough calories, and I knew Heed contained Maltodextrin, so that's got to be good for something, right?

And I figured the water would keep me hydrated.

A gel in my pocket or someplace. Not be so willy nilly and rushed in setting my stuff up. Part of that couldn't be helped because of the race conditions this morning. The other part of that is my Type-B+ personality. I think I'm not quite Type-A enough to be a really successful triathlete. ;)

So I got my bike racked, and got my shoes on... and by now the aforementioned HEED had made it's way to my bladder and MAN! I had to PEE! So, unlike the woman next to me, I didn't squat in transition and pee right there next to my bike, but rather I went to a porta pottie. Peed there... started feeling the rumblings of some oddball gastrointestinal stuff... hung out a little while longer... and finally got myself onto the run.

Not take ALL my nutrition in LIQUID form.

This was alright. I walked way more than I wanted to, but when I was running, I felt like I had good form going and I felt relatively fast. But those running bursts did not last long. My hips, lower back, knees, ankles and all other body connections just HURT. They start to HURT. It's not muscular pain... it's definitely joint pain.

I feel like such a wuss when I walk, but sometimes I just CAN'T run another step. It hurts. But if I walk for a couple of seconds... take big walking strides and stretch things out a tiny bit, I'm good to go for another burst. Need to extend the bursts of running... and somehow minimize the walking.

This "run" included a porta potty break of no less than 4 minutes for gastroinestinal distress... and it also included, like I said, LOTS of walking. :(

I'm thinking I must eliminate coffee from my pre race routine and from my long runs. I think it's the coffee that's doing this to my "system". I didn't have any coffee before Racine, and I didn't have these problems there either.I think it starts to have an effect about 2 hours in, because I don't have problems when I do a 10K with coffee before hand.

We'll see what a coffee moratorium does for me.

Walk around...see Dumpster, Kelly, maggyruth, Hangloose, Schmize, some of my other friends that I used to ride with, and gnaw on half a bagel. I also took Kelly's banana right out of her hand. (She didn't look like she wanted it, so I offered it eat it for her...)


More run training. I need to have PATIENCE and slowly harden myself for more running. I *so* want to be faster. I *will* do the work... I just don't want to get hurt in the process. So if it takes longer for me, due to my propensity to be sore, my pre-maturely arthritic joints, and whatever else makes me unique, then that's got to be OK. I'll have killer swim and bike splits and get passed in the run for another season or two. I just need to know it's possible, it can happen, and it's coming... 10 minute miles over the course of the 10K would make me much more competitive. Then, the runners I beat out of the water and on the bike would have a hard time running me down with a good lead.

A temporary inconvenience toward a future improvement.

Remind me of this when I start to whine about how slow I am.


Suck-o-rama conditions. Would have been a heck of alot more fun if it would have been a wee bit less wet and cold outside.

Maggyruth was industrious enough to make us TEAM TERRI temp tattoos! We raced today in honor of BunnyRunner! Unfortunately, I couldn't get my tattoo to stick...but the intent was the same, and hopefully it churned up alot of good MOJO for Terri.