Odyssey HIT Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This HAD to be long. When Mike told me my time in T1 (45 minutes), my only response was "there is no way that is correct. There is NO way i didn't beat your swim time on this course." I came out of the water in the top 1/2, had caught the mens wave before me (I love doing that) (only two waves: guys, then girls), and was swimming strong. Felt a little nautious in the water (swallowed a bit in the beginning), but felt fine by the end. Definetly felt like I was swimming longer than I should have been for a 1.2 mile course. My friend Tony came in 6th OA (4th last year) and said his swim time was a full 10 minutes slower this year; 1st OA winner echoed his statement, as did most people who did last year vs this year. But whatever: everyone had to do the same course, so in the end I guess it doesn't matter, but an extra ten minutes of swimming is a really really long time to be swimming!

Tinted goggles. Sun was right in my eyes on the home stretch.

Awesome. Felt great. I was taking a gel every 35-40 minutes, drinking as much water as was humanly possible -- finished the race with no nutrition or water left on my bike, which was exactly how I wanted it (started with a camel back, a water bottle in my 1 cage, and an aero bottle full -- refilled aero bottle at the water stops (which was a nice surprise -- the year I spectated this there were NO water bottle handoffs, so i wasn't expecting any this year).

Wasn't looking at speed, just wanted to keep my cadence up and my HR down. Let people pass me -- long day and didn't want to start my race at mile 15 of the bike. Just kept my momentum up and kept moving. Had to stop a few time -- gel paclk that wou;dn't open, chain that wouldn't shift, and my complete and utter inability to pee on myself (seems that a lifetime of NOT peeing worked against me here).

Total
bike time and my bike computer time were only about 5 minutes off, which made me happy -- i thought it would be more.

Oh my god, the run. Ouch. It was clocking 97 degrees when I started and I was feeling it. The run starts up a huge hill and I seriously did not appreciate it. Took about a mile to get my legs under me -- and that was a painful first mile. I think my legs were tired in ways I've never felt before. But, by mile 2-3, they were feeling fine and I felt like I was running strong. And then. the heat. Oh my god. It was SO hot. I was taking four waters at every stop -- two to drink and two to wear, doing anything and everything to keep my body cool. I was sweating out a TON of salt, so I was taking a gel about every 30 minutes, but around mile 4 I hit a point where I was getting black spots and headachy -- precursors to passing out for me. Good times. I immediately starting walking, kept drinking and eating, and running when in the shade. My legs and muscles felt fine when I was running -- I had been worried about IT bands, knee pain, whatever, but none of that was a problem -- I just couldn't keep my HR and body temp down. It was really brutal, and totally frustrating. I ended up running with some dude (first triathlon. His quote from mile 6 "man, I don't ever think I'll do a full one" me: "I don't think NOW is the time to make that decision") and I was actually out WALKING him -- I was walking strong, but just couldn't manage the heat. We found a trail that ran alongside of the road that was dirt packed and shaded -- that went for about 4 miles parallel... I'm sure we would have been penalized for going 'off course' but I swear I did not care at that point. I wanted shade and no pavement, and that's what it was. Anyway, so it went. My last mile took us 8 minutes and 15 seconds. Ha. A nice change after walking so much, but I won't say it didn't hurt. Anyway, finished strong, and was totally happy to be done!



Pick a cooler time of year to race!

Walked immediately into the lake and spent a good 5 minutes floating, enjoying being weightless, not moving, and cooling off. Swam about 100 meters out and back to stretch myself out a bit.



The carnage report:
Shins. Never had shin pain before, this is new :). A litte ice and advil and we seem ok today. Resting HR is still pretty high, and I'm still tired, but other wise I feel great!

I'm signed up for Eagleman in '08 -- shouldn't be as hot, and I've got plenty of time to get my running up to (ha) speed!