login
 Swim
Comments: This swim was great for me. The water was as calm as you could ask for. It was crazy though, because beforehand I'm lying on the ground staring at nothing trying not to flip out. Then they called my wave to get in the water, and I'm like, holy shit!!! So I put my goggles on, put the cap on over it, and spit in my lenses. Get in the water and rinse it a bit. Stick them to my face, and doh! they are too loose!!! They are tom's goggles with are sunglasses-y, same model as mine so the shape is right, but tom's head is so big! So i'm like, crap crap, what if they leak??? I know nothing new on race day but they are the same model, just the lenses are shaded, so I didn't think anything of it. I'm mentally flipping out because they've already called 2 minutes to go! So i am grasping at the goggles and i found the straps to tighten them and YANK. so then, i think it will probably be ok adn i better swim towards the start line and get in position. Turns out they didn't leak at all so thank goodness. I positioned myself towards the back and to the right (the outside). I couldn't have gotten to the front anyway, I didn't have time since I was messing with the goggles. I swear, it went by so fast, in no time, he's like "10...9...8...." OMG!!!! So then we were off, and there was some churn but a lot less than I expected. Way less. Some body bumping, but nothign serious at all, we just went. The wave was small and there was plenty of room. I was determined not to over-sight on this swim. I sighted a lot less and yet never got off track, unlike Ridgefield where I sighted every 4 strokes and got way out of line, what gives? Oh well. Anyway, this was quite easy. Just steady swimming, which I can do any day of the week. Since there were no waves and the water temp was 80 degrees (didn't even have the "oooh" effect when you got in), there was nothing to freak me out. No visibility, but I guess I'm used to that by now, I've done enough tris. So basically, just steady steady steady. Because the waves were so small, it was basically impossible to find feet to draft off of, so I gave up on that. Sometimes I would catch some bubbles from someone off to the right or left, but nothing serious, I stopped trying. Around half way, we caught the slower members of the previous group, which were MEN. MEN do not like to be caught by women!!!! These dudes would swim like crazy whenever I got near, like kicking and churning and go fast suddenly, and I'd think, but you can't be that fast because I caught you when you had a 4 minute advantage, but now you're kicking so hard to get away! Whatever, I didn't care. my worst bumps were from these orange capped men, so my 2nd half was a lot more disrupted than my first, but still, it was fine. nothing serious. there were quite a few sharp turns in the course, and osmetimes i had to take a second to reorient and find my new sighting landmark, but i always did and never got off course. whooppeee!! i think my last 200 yards sucked because we were almost there, and i just...i dunno. i was caught between these 2 orange dudes and couldn't quite squirt between them, so i had to stop and change direction to swim around them. i bet i lost quite some time in the last 200. oh well. I was pleased with this, it was just steady and easy. I could ahve done that all day long. What would you do differently?: i don't know...i need to get faster, but i am certainly perfectly comfortable.  Transition 1
Comments: This was a pretty good transition - a squirt of water, a wipe of the feet, and into my bike shoes. my shoes are hard to get into, they are road shoes. so i will not have fast T1's with these, ever. but i dont' mind. helmet on, gloves on (but not velcroed), and i'm off. after i mount, i get my sunglasses on and velcro my gloves as i ride. unfortunately, this is where tom caught me on tape so i'm not going very fast at all, i look like i'm lollygagging. but anyway. What would you do differently?: not much, i guess.  Bike
Comments: This bike was just so pleasant. Especially when there are no hills, biking is just....pleasant. Just go go go. I tried to keep a steady effort that would NOT wear me out because I knew the real test would be the run, but I didn't want to lollygag either. So, I did what I could. I passed quite a lot of people, including men, which was super fun. I was also passed by a lot of people, but that's to be expected. Nutrition: I had one gel almost immediately, and then another at 17 miles. By the end, I had finished my water and half of my Hydroboom. I took small sips at relatively frequent intervals (every few miles). Since I was doing the race "blind" I didn't want to look at my computer. So I had it set it to cadence and distance - i had no idea what my speed was or time. Finally, at 20 miles or so, I had to know my time, so i checked - 1:07!! wow, then I thought, I am going to come in early on this one! So then I kept going....finally, at around mile 21 or 22, i had to know my average speed, and it was 18.1!! I got it up to 18.2 but then slowed down to get a drink and come in to final transition, in the end my bike said 18.1, as does the race results. wooooooo! Just what I hoped for. Easy and uneventful. What would you do differently?: Not much. This was just what I thought I could do, and I was happy with it. I bet I could have gone faster, but then I probably would have died on the run. Transition 2
Comments: This was a pretty good transition for me. In and out. I had to walk the bike in to collect myself, but once I got my helmet off and shoes on, I was off and running. What would you do differently?: Not much. I guess I could learn to get my shoes off while on the bike, but whatevs.  Run
Comments: Tom ways my first half was ~30 minutes, and the 2nd half around 34 minutes and noticeably slowed down. I think it had a lot to do with the shade (1st half pretty shaded, 2nd half not so much) and advancing heat. On the 2nd half, I could tell sometimes I had slowed to a crawl, and would think, "wtf is wrong with me?" but then I'd hit some shade and speed right up. Or when the breeze hit or stopped, I'd change pace accordingly, like, it was IMMEDIATE. So yeah. I know I don't do well in heat and there's the straight up evidence. Anyway, it was still just what I thought, 1:05-ish. Oh yeah - I lost 3-4 spots in my AG within a half a mile. I thought, wow, this sucks. But I couldn't go any faster. As the race went on, I think I lost 8-9 spots. I knew my weakness would be the run, and it was clear here. Yikes. I just couldn't go faster! The thing was, I was fine - heart/lungs all fine, I could have carried on a whole conversation, any time I did speak I sounded totally normal and unwinded. However, I still coudl not go faster, I think because of my lack of fitness. When I'm fit, I have many more gears. When I'm not, I don't. So what was clear to me is that I'm fit enough to have endurance...I felt good a the end and could have run more, but I'm not fit enough to push it and go to my backup gears. So....time to work on the run. As usual. Oh, so they gave out these cold washcloths after a mile or so, and it was awesome, I wrapped it around my neck and it was great. However, I was stupid and discarded it after it stopped being cold! I thought we would get more, but I should have KEPT it and poured aid station water on it. So dumb!!! I bet I could have shaved some time if I had. Stupid me!!!! Oh yeah - nutrition: No calories. I just had a sip of water every station starting with the 3rd station (there were a lot). Perfect, no bonking, which means I done good during the bike. What would you do differently?: Train more, run faster, you know, the usual :). Oh, and keep that cold washcloth!!! Gar, so dumb! Post race
Warm down: Nothing, chugged a bottle of water, stood in line to get some food, and then we left for a 3 hour drive. Nice. Oh yeah, right before we left Tom went and looked at my results for me - and found out I was 42/52 in my AG!!!! I was like, for reals? That's so terrible! I know you can't control who shows up on race day, but I thought with a 3:04 I'd do better than that. Seriously, that is SOLID BOP. Wow. What a gut check, I thought I did ok. But the important thing is I am happy with my performance, it's right in line with my predictions/hopes (I thought it was entirely possible for me to do 11:30s on the run, so I'm glad I didn't), and I had a great time. So, the only thing was the post-race food seemed unexceptional. A ham and cheese hoagie, a half a pretzel, a soda, and a Grandma's cookie. That's what we got. Tom and I were eager to avoid the storms that were predicted, but most importantly the Jersey shore traffic, so we wanted to leave as soon as we could. So, we just jumped in the car and headed back to Connecticut. So, that means on the long car ride, I had 1 cookie, some watermelon (which was in the car), a half of the sandwich (which I had to choke down because it was gross), and a banana. That was it. 4 hours post-race, this was all I had ingested. But this happens, I was hungry, but I was too tired to care, so I didn't really say, 'we have to stop now and eat'. plus, there is so much inertia to stopping and we were driving along, no traffic, and wanted it to stay that way. At no point did I think, "let's stop the next time we have a chance." So, we got home around 4pm, and I just wanted to pee and shower. Which I did, in that order. Then I just wanted to lie down. It was tough - I could NOT decide what I wanted more, food, or rest. I wanted food so much, but could not gather the energy to do anything. So I just laid around. Finally, I was sooooooooo hungry that I ate a Fiber One bar. BAD IDEA. Fiber One is so full of fiber that I think I got my stomach all excited about the prospect of food, of which there was not much. So I got even more hungry, like, the blindingly ravenous painful kind of hungry. I said to Tom, "I want chips!!!!!!" and he's like, "we don't have any honey, you didn't want to go to the store on the way home". and i said, "because i was tired and i needed to pee and take a shower! i don't care! i am HUNGRY!" and he was like, "you are so funny." and then i was like, "I AM HUNGRY!!!!!" and i started pounding his leg with my fist (i am lying face down on the couch with one arm wrapped around his leg), and i am pounding (hard) yelling, "give me something to eat!" and he's like, omg what the hell is wrong with my wife? and he's like, ok, ok ok, what do you want? and i know we don't have anything that i can eat immediately, so i'm like, "GET ME THE WATERMELON!!! AND THE CHERRIES!!!!" so he gets up to get them. and he's holding them both and holds out hte watermelon to me, and i'm just eyeing it with crazed hunger, and i just shake my head and reach for the cherries, and the way i do it is with the focus of a toddler. and he's like, "holy crap, you're like a child!" and i'm sitting there, sort of placated, eating. he could not believe it, i was like, literally, an out of control 3 year old who wanted food. But I means, really, by this time it had been about 6 hours since I'd finished, and I'd still eaten really nothing substantial. Finally, we went out to eat and I got clam chowder, a bacon cheeseburger, and a beer. i didn't finish it, but finally I was happy. Finally, about 7 hrs postrace, I got real food. mmmmm..... Then....we went to the grocery store to get some milk, and I was walking around in a weird outfit (i could not be bothered to dress normally for dinner, i just threw something on so i could eat asap), and walking funny, and clutching 2 grapefruits and a bag of grapes looking for him and the cart. and he said, "you know, you could almost pass as a homeless person right now." and i was like, "wtf?" but with my attire, my sloppy hair, my weird crazy shuffle, the blank look in my face, and clutching food with no cart and no basket, i did look pretty pathetic. it was sad. Then we went home and passed out. Fin. If you have read to here, you are amazing. I am such a blabbermouth in these RRs. What limited your ability to perform faster: Lack of training, as usual. The heat was starting to be prohibitive at the end too. Event comments: This was a great race. With the volume of people there, every contingency was considered and precautions made, it was extraordinary. There is only one thing I could have wished for and that was better post race food. And more direction. After I finished the race, someone took my chip and handed me water, but that was it. There were so many club tents that I didn't really know what was available to me as a racer. I found the food tent, and I saw a massage tent but the line was too slow and we wanted to leave. Other than that, I don't know if there was anything. It would have been nice to hear, "there is the food tent where you can get XYZ, and there is whatever other tents where you can get ABC". But also, I just did not like my ham sandwich at all, I could not finish it but I knew I needed to eat something on the car. The pretzel was nice, but half a pretzel (i only had half a pretzel in my goodie bag) for postrace food is really not enough. hence my crazy breakdown detailed above. Some pizza? Some hot dogs? Burger? Something, anything? I don't know. I'm big on food. However, I am still a big fan of this race and would do it again in a heartbeat. It was fantastically run. All the other important stuff - venue, volunteers, aid stations, signs, everything - TOP NOTCH. Last updated: 2008-03-31 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
CGI Racing
80+F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 575/735
Age Group = F25-29
Age Group Rank = 42/52
We got to New Jersey the day before around 3pm, and the first thing we did was go to Hoagie Haven, the Princeton campus go-to place for fatty hoagies open til 1am. I had an ~8in cheesesteak and tom had the other 8 inches and a gyro. We didn't want to get too full because Auntie and Uncle were going to take us out for dinner.
Then we drove to packet pickup and got my stuff. You could tell it was going to be a big production, the area was just huge - unlike all the little local races I've done before, this was a BIG deal. I started to get nervous.
The guy in front of me in line at packet pickup didn't have a USAT card with him even though he signed up with a USAT number. When they said they couldn't let him check in without proof of license and he would have to buy another one, he didn't protest or anything, he just went with them to the other tent to get it taken care of - which tells me he just took someone else's number to save 10 bucks and knew the jig was up. I guess people don't realize that if they do that they are actually screwing the RD. For a big race like this, they aren't taking any chances, so that's good.
Anyway, then we went to talk to these Princeton kids (we are so proud of anything cool from our alma mater) who make bamboo bikes. They had a couple to show us and they were really really cool. The frame joins were carbon fiber and hand woven to create joins. They were quite pretty. They showed us a graph of materials strengths and it appears that bamboo is actually better than steel and aluminum, and approaches carbon fiber. The only this is you can't construct bamboo to order, like this other stuff. But they talked about how bamboo is used for scaffolding and stuff in asia, it's strong stuff. Anyway, it was cool. If you're interested, check it out at http://www.solcycles.com
Then I was exhausted from running around all day. We went to my Auntie and Uncle's place and hung out for a bit, then went out to eat Chinese food. At first I was worried it wouldn't agree with me for the next day, but hten I realized that I have been eating restaurant chinese food my whole life, and when you eat it with Chinese people, it's not the same as American people's idea of Chinese food. So I ate plenty of food and then we went home and I pretty much went to bed. Oh yeah, first I had some ice cream (a teeeeeeeny bit) with granola, strawberries, and blueberries.
That night, I woke up at 1:30am SURE that it was almost time to get up. I got in one of those internal debates of "should i open my eyes to check, should i try to go back to sleep or just get up?" then i realized I had to pee quite badly. i can never fall asleep once i've realized I have to pee. so i decided to check the time (by this time 1:43, which shocked the crap out of me), and so i said, i guess i'm going to pee and trying to go back to sleep. Of course, I coudln't quite sleep again as easily....but I did sleep a bit.
Tom's phone alarm went of at 5am, and I kept waiting for mine to go off too, because we had both set ours. THANK GOODNESS FOR MY HUSBAND, because silly me had set the alarm for 5pm. oops.
I got up and began to get ready, I got dressed, body glided the appropriate parts, and put on a layer of sunblock. Then I went downstairs where Auntie and Uncle were kindly bustling around on our behalf because they are the nicest people. Uncle made me a cup of strong coffee, which was incredible. I didn't even need to add sugar, just a smidge of milk - and it was DELICIOUS. And had the desired effect - I was almost done with the coffee when I knew I would have a successful bathroom trip BEFORE leaving, which was what I wanted, I wanted to avoid portajohns if possible. I also tried to eat a plain bagel. It was very slow going because it was dry. But I slowly put it away, and I ate one yummy banana.
Then, after my bathroom trip, we were off. The drive, which should take 20 minutes, took 45 because of the loooong line of cars to get into the park. I hadn't wanted to get there TOOOO early because the sprinters would be off at 7:30, but my wave was off at 8:36, so too early just means sitting around. So I guess we paid a price of waaaaiiiiiiting to get in. I was feeling too out of it and stressed to get on my bike and ride in while Tom continued on and parked the car. I was starting to feel really nervous, my stomach was churning from the coffee, I could not finish my bagel (I had most of it though), and I was doing my drunk breathing routine - deeeeep breaths and strong exhale, for fear of losing it.
Oh yeah - and on the car ride I made the decision to do the race naked - i.e. no watch, not HRM, no nothing. I would fly blind. All my best races are done that way, so far. It would just be one less thing to worry about.
Finally, we got there and I set up my transition area, and put on some extra sunblock. Realized then that I was going to have to hit the portajohns. Seems the coffee was extremely effective! Eeek. I was not looking forward to the portapotties, doh! Got in line. Chatted with the man ahead of me, who confessed that that morning, when he got to the race, he discovered his front tire is totally flat and would not hold air. So he's like crap! Because he said, "well, hell, I don't know how to change a tire, and even if I did, I didn't have spare!" And he said it as if we we would be like, "Yeah, no kidding! Poor you, who the hell knows how to change a tire anyway!" But of course internally Tom and I are like, who the heck would come to a race like this and not bring a spare, let along not know how to change a tire? He said, "thank goodness I just took it to the Specialized tent and they did it for me, nice and easy, only charge me $6!" We were like, "um, yeah, great." He was friendly and stuff, but geez, dude, you gotta learn how to change a tire!! Anyway, I got scared as we got close to the front of the line because the air just SMELLED. I was not happy, doh! Somehow though, the inside did not smell. I was shocked, I don't get it. But it didn't, and it had the Purell stuff too, so I wasn't as unhappy as I thought I would be. But still, ew.
Then around 7:30 as the sprint was starting, we walked towards to water to watch some swimming and I slowly munched on a clif bar. I ate almost all of it, and stopped with 30 minutes to go. We saw some get pulled out of the water, and felt bad for them. With 10 minutes to go, I had a gel, which I had to force down. I spent the last 20 minutes in a mental daze, just trying to stay calm, do my breathing, and not get stressed. The course looked soooo long. But at least the water was calm....I can't explain how I was just nervous. I guess anytime you do a distance you've never done, you'd get nervous.
I didn't do any warmup. I just tried to stay calm.