left.right.repeat group -closed - Full of a bunch of winners...YEAH! (Page 24)

WTG, Dan!! AWESOME swim!

Go Sticka and Mrs. Sticka! Woohoo!

Bryan! You rock, dude! Do it to it!

My First Triathlon: Part 1
Anticipation

I'm finishing my breakfast (protein shake) as I type this. I'm all packed. All that is left to do is shower, then we load the car and roll on down the road to Birmingham. I'm not as scared as I thought I would be, today. (We'll see what tomorrow morning feels like, hehe.) I'll report to early registration this evening, and attend 2 different short clinics that are being held for 'newbies' and first-timers. I'm soooo excited. But the day feels a bit surreal. I can't believe I'm really doing this!

I honestly don't plan on racing - the thought of racing makes me feel very, VERY stressed, ROFL. So, my game plan is to relax, go at a steady pace, and FINISH! What a miracle that will be for me if I can. Two years ago I was a 240 pound couch/computer potato... six years ago, a two and a half pack smoking machine that couldn't climb a flight of stairs without gasping. God has changed my life... definitely a 180. 
I have to mention Bill, my awesome husband, here. He has been incredible through it all! Supportive, helpful, encouraging, affirming... no one could have a better help mate then I do. And I have to mention YOU guys. I don't think I'd be "TRI-ing" right now, if it wasn't for you!

Okie doke. Will report on the results when I return! Let's go Tri!

Dan - AWESOME on the swim....that is excellent....keep up the great work.

Last workout in the bank....travelling tomorrow....race report hopefully either Sunday or Monday.....I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Go Flipper Go

Bill -- you are the man....we all require the support...

Mav - I would like to send you something via snail mail. If you would, please send me an email, [email protected], with an address (if you prefer, feel free to use a workplace or PO Box) and I'll get it sent next week.

Sticka 

Doing the YTri ranks 4th in my life's list of things to do that were the hardest things I'd ever done but at the same time were rewarding to the max. The first 3 were the births of my 3 children.

Just got home 2 hours ago. We visited Auburn on the way home to spend some time with our son. I'm exhausted and, really, just a bit dazed still. I did it! I finished. I did NOT walk my bike, although there were 2 long hills that right at the top if I had dismounted and walked it, I would have been moving faster. And I never walked during the run, although the uphill leg on the return trip was the slowest run in the history of triathlons, I'm sure.     My time was just under 63 minutes, for which I was incredibly pleased. But omg, I choked the swim, my best event. More on that later. I'm still not sure what happened, but I have an idea.

Out of two women in my category and age group, Beginner Women Age 50 - 54. I came in first. Just wow. That's me on the podium in the yellow shirt. What a feeling... there will never be another day like this.

More later. Can't wait the hear from Bryan and Peter!

Newbie clinic, Friday evening.

6:00 in the morning and I am just getting ready to head out to help with the set-up for our JDRF event. Juanita - WAY TO GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You ROCK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A first place finish - INCREDIBLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I did a double take because I thought your race bib said "Canada Cycles" ) 

Thank you Marianne! Thank you, Peter! (28 miles, Marianne?! WOW. WTG, Peter setting up... You are so cool!)

Ok, here we go:
I'm feeling darned embarrassed here, right now. I guess I'll need to make a correction in my race results. It seems that the YTri was having timing problems. I was definitely called to the podium for first place, but that's not how it shows in the results today. They posted me at 1:02:51, (not certain of the seconds.. was 50 something), after the race, which placed me above the other lady by almost 4 minutes, but I guess that time was wrong.

Results site:

http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=7923

If you go down to the search bar, click on "Show all results", then find the link for "all" and scroll down to the 1:15 time range, you'll find my bib number, 158. (I guess you all know how to navigate these results sites, hehe. It's still new to me. *grin*)

Juanita Etheridgebib number:  158
age:  52
gender:  F
location:  Theodore, AL
division place:  2 out of 3
gender place:  76 out of 94
time:  1:15:36
pace:  0:
swim:  5:36
t1:  2:52
bike:  34:00
t2:  9:57
run:  23:12
penalty:  0:

It shows my bike at 34:00 and my T2 at 9:57 (?!). For T2, I trotted my bike to rack, racked it, took of my helmet, put on my cap, grabbed my running belt, and buckled it while I trotted to the run course. I already had my running shoes on. If you scroll up and down the results, you'll see several folks with very long T2 times and a number of them with no times at all so there must have been a problem with the chips/pad.

Awards:
http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_plain_text.php?race_id=7925

My category, (BEGGINNER FEMALE 50 - 54 DIVISION) shows me coming in second with a time of 1:15:36. You'll see it shows my bike at 42:32 and T2 at 1:25. (I would have sworn I biked it faster then that though... the 2 monster hills were murder, but the long downhills were FAST.) I guess they knew that T2 was mistimed and it looks like they took off what they thought was the extra and added it to my bike? I'm assuming that they are certain of my complete time, just not the bike split. Don't know why they made a mistake yesterday. Typo?

I'm telling myself that this is not a big deal, AND IT REALLY ISN'T - I finished and made a good showing for myself. That was my goal. I wasn't trying to compete. But I'm having a hard time swallowing right now, just the same. I made a complete fool of myself yesterday running with my arms up to the podium. And now I feel like an idiot. I sent text messages to my kids to let them know how I did, and I couldn't wait to send them the link to the results. But now it's "oops, apparently it was a mistake." Ouch. A 13 minute mistake.

So bear with me guys. I was in a constant state of euphoria yesterday, (even though I thought I was going to die of fatique a couple of times), lol, but today, it's like it never happened.

Question? Should I offer to send my prizes back? (Pictures are below.) I guess I should email them and ask them what to do...

Still can't talk about the swim. I'm really scared now, to compete again the way I reacted in the swim. Will need some advice WHEN I can talk about it, lol.

Anyhow................... can't wait to hear how Peter's and Bryan's day went! Thanks for being here, folks!~

P.S. The finish line STILL ROCKS!

Race Report

We had a gorgeous day for the JDRF Walk/Run To Cure Diabetes. Event took place in the town of Oromocto, just 15 minutes outside Fredericton. It is home to Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, one of Canada's largest Army training bases. Site was on the riverfront so really beautiful.

We had roughly 100 runners registered - about 2/3's were from the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering. Known as "Sappers", the Engineers are TOUGH - first in and last out in war. Their trademark shout is "Chimo" and it sure rang out several times this morning. I have a special affection for the Engineers - my Dad was one, my step-father was one and I served 2 years as Quartermaster in a Combat Engineer Regiment.

There were also a lot of families participating in the walk. Many were from UPS - an amazing organization for community support. Go Big Brown !!

I had to leave fairly quickly afterwards but I understand that approximately $40,000 was raised for juvenile diabetes (more correctly known as Type 1 diabetes) research.

My run went very well. I think in fact that I had a PB. My "chip time" was 27:10 and I felt good and strong throughout. Mrs FBP wasn't feeling great early today when I had to leave for set-up so she took a pass on participating.

Enough about me ...

Flipper - obviously race organizers had a bit of confusion but that in no way diminishes your performance and no, IMHO you should not send back your swag. Who cares BTW if you finished first or second. You ROCKED the YTri and you will ROCK next weekend's race too.

Sticka

Flipper, I totally agree with Sticka.  YOU ROCK!!! First, second or 15th...big deal.  If you feel you should, email them and ask what to do - that is the MAXIMUM responsibility you have.  As far as your kids and everyone else - your feeling of euphoria was EARNED.  I want to channel that euphoria to where it is intended.  Forget the podium for a minute (I know it is hard but bear with me), look at what you accomplished.  Where were you a year ago, 6 months ago, the day you joined this group, even a month or week ago.  You were on a journey - that journey had a way station yesterday (your race) and has one coming up next weekend (your next race)...then the journey continues.

As far as running to the podium with your arms up - I would have kicked your Alabama butt if you hadn't!  Enough said.  You are first in my book and you hold the record for sTRIvers at the YTRI...so consider that swag to be your first place amongst us.

For the swim - without knowing anything else, my guess is that nerves caused the heart rate to be very high.  Couple that with anxiety, the unknown, that question we all have at the starting line of "can I do this?" and you have a recipe for a tough swim.  Don't worry about it - next weekend will be different.  You know what to expect and you KNOW you can do it.  I think you will be amazed at the difference in the two events.  My first race was shorter than my second and at the end of the second I felt about 100 times better than the first, the course of the second was much more difficult too.  So confidence and knowledge make a big difference.

Here's a question to think about...what did you learn at this race that you will improve next weekend?  Like how you set up transition, what time you arrived at the race, did you use enough sunscreen, etc. 

I, like at your fellow Turtles, are very very proud of you.

sTRIVE

B

By the way - CapTexTri was very very very hot and humid.  My finish was 3:15:51.  I was very pleased.  I will put up a complete race report later.  It was blazing sun into the 90s on the run and I started at 7:15 this morning.  It did cloud up after I finished pouring some much needed relief on the Sprint tri and the First tri groups as well as some Olympic participants who were still on the course.  I didn't even scare a podium Flipper....smile (I was way deep in my age group) and I think 833 overall out of about 1500 in the Oly.  There were about 2500 total in the 3 events.  Here are my splits:

swim 34:05

T1 5:51 (including walking about a hammy/calf cramp)

bike 1:17:50

T2 4:44 (including a port-a-let stop)

Run a long hot 1:13:19

but there was a Finish Line....there may be video at some point of the crossing...

Full report to follow

sTRIve

b

Way to go Bryan. Remember way back during the deep dark days of winter when I promised not to whine about the cold and some of y'all mentioned heat/humidity as your foe. You've proven how tough you are for sure!!!!!

FBP 

Race Report

Capitol of Texas Triathlon - one of the biggest Olympic distance events in Texas (according to the propaganda) was held in Austin on May 25, 2008. It was my first Olympic. We arrived in Austin yesterday about 1pm or so and spent about an hour in line to pick up my packet. We then attended the rules seminar and the race course seminar, checked in the bike, cruised the Expo and then decided it was time for dinner.

The alarm went off at 4:15 this morning. Ouch. We were staying about 20 minutes from the course and with 2500 participants, 1500 in the Olympic, 700 in the sprint and 300 in the First Tri, I wanted to get a good parking place so I wouldn't have to hike miles after the race. Yeah, yeah, I know...I am an athlete - walk....but I will have just covered about 30 miles under my own power and to save a few more footsteps would be nice. So we got over to the site and scored a very close spot to leave the vehicle. Got transition set up and then wetsuited up for the swim.

The Swim
When I walked out on the launch dock yesterday, it seemed they had put the turning buoys way to far down the lake....you could barely see them. Well, not to worry, they will move them into position by morning. Not really, see, this morning they were still two bridges away. Yes, two bridges -- note to self, watch the pilings when you go under the bridge. The pros went off pretty close to 7 and I was in the third wave (this ultimately turned out very good as it just kept getting hotter). So it was national anthem, pros in the water and before you know it I was bobbing in Lady Bird Lake (Town Lake) getting ready to swim about a mile. It would be my longest open water swim yet. The gun goes off and me and about 150 of my closest friends get after it...bumping, smacking, pushing, grabbing, none of it intentional, just part of the process. I think it is really pretty cool. Soon you are out of the washing machine and just stroking your way up the lake. I am fortunate to swim pretty straight so I don't have to sight all that much and before I knew it, I was looking at the turn buoy - make a right here and another right about 100 yards further up and head back toward the starting area, make the right at that turn buoy and then arms are grabbing you to help you stand up and get out of the water. One interesting tidbit, on the return trip my left hand contacted something really hard about 18-24 inches underwater. Looking down, I was pulling myself over a block of concrete, looked like some kind of footing or piling for an old bridge or dock or something. Let me tell you, it was startling.

T1
I had made the decision to walk the transitions ahead of time. As I moved into transition, they had us racked as far as physically possible from the bike out. No biggie, just more walking in my cycle shoes. I sat down to put on my cycle shoes and immediately got a cramp in my left hammy and calf. So I took some time and walked it out a little and massaged it some to try to make it feel better. Surprisingly, I never felt it again but it did slow down my transition.

Bike
The bike was a 4 lap ride. Yeah, 1500 Oly athletes on a 4 loop course....there WILL be drafting - no option. Someone said they had calculated that there was not arithmetic way that all those bikes could be in proper position on the course at one time. Needless to say, my third and fourth laps were really crowded. Less than 5 minutes into the ride, my Aero Bottle's velcro strap that holds it in the bracket came loose and out of the bracket. I almost lost the bottle and held it in with my left hand for a couple of minutes and then realized I was going to have to stop and fix it. Bummer, it cost me some time but I could not have held it the entire ride. That would have been miserable. The ride was really fast for me, over 19 miles per hour average. I also lost my little yellow bottle stopper thingy and also my electrolyte replacement pills so that really sucked as much fluid as I lost today. I paid for the lost of the electrolytes later and learned to have some spares in transition but they were gone today. All in all, even with the stop, this was a great ride for me.

T2
About 2/3 of the way into the ride, I knew I would have to make a pit stop in T2. So I racked the bike, grabbed the hat and race belt, changed shoes, made a pit stop and started on the 10k run in blistering sun.

The Run
At that time, I was at about 2 hours racing and I entertained some thought of a 3 hour Oly debut. Then my body reminded me it was about 1000 degrees with 250% humidity...it would be a slow run. It was a 2 lap run course with several aid stations. They added one or two yesterday due to the weather to the ones already planned. At one aid station, at Jack and Adam's Bike Shop, they were not only serving water and ice, they had the garden hose out and would hose you down as you ran by...that was great. Part of the run course also got you into downtown so you had a little shade from the buildings. The run was pretty grueling but all in all was uneventful, just hot and long.

So the final times were:
Swim 34:05
T1 5:51
Bike 1:17:50
T2 4:44
Run 1:13:19
Total 3:15:51

My take: I was slow in the transitions but with the cramp and the pit stop I guess I was okay. The run was painfully slow - I have always been slow but I think even with the conditions I could or should have gone faster. On the flip side, I was very pleased with my swim and bike.

I ended up toward the bottom of my age group which is fine, there are some very fast people in Austin and I was glad to be there and to play. I was ranked 833 overall out of approximately 1500 and I am cool with that too. I had originally said anything between 3:30 and 3:45 would have been okay with me. After the bike, I dreamed of 3:00 for about 8 seconds and then came back to reality. Looking at 3:15 seemed a little more reasonable so that became my target. All in all, I was really pleased with my time. There are always going to be those who are faster than me but I can honestly say I don't think there is anyone who enjoys the experience more. It hurts, sure, but I try to take in every moment and I encourage you to do the same. We really are lucky to be able to do this.

The event:
This is a very well run, large triathlon. It was a blast and I will definitely do it again. My compliments to the race director and all of his volunteers. After a rain out last year, they rallied beautifully to run an exceptional race today in spite of the conditions. It would have been nice to have a more spread out bike course, it got really crowded, but the urban nature of this event is really cool.

Ah, how good the finish line feels.

sTRIve

And Bryan! What an accomplishment for YOU today! AWESOME. How I appreciate you dealing with my dilemma before you even mentioned that great race of yours! You ARE tough! and such an inspiration to me. WTG, you. You did SO GOOD!!

Please know, guys, that I'm not fussing about not coming in first or even placing, OR even coming in LAST. I swear. Honestly, I had psyched myself away from any thought of racing. I congratulated and cheered on EVERYONE who passed me. I heartily thanked every volunteer I ran into, some of them, several times, (like Al Schlosser who was a member of the local tri club and the designated last finisher for the race...That was SO cool). I soaked up the atmosphere and enjoyed every sensation I experienced. It was an incredible day! But now... I just feel so sheepish to have thought I won and find out I didn't. I'll see a lot of these people again. I met several who will be in the Mobile area this weekend for the Grandman. I feel like I should have KNOWN that I really didn't come in first. You know? Does that sound silly? And I feel for the woman who should have been recognized instead of me. But ok, enough. I'm harping. It's 'water under the bridge' right? I'm trying to let it go... promise.

I'm not sure if the swim panic was simply nerves. But I trust you Bryan, more then you know. I really wanted to talk to you about it. Thank you so much for taking so much time to comment on it, because I'm really scared to swim again. Let me set the scene. (Another long post... forgive me, ya'll.) It was an interval swim start, with 5 seconds between each participant. We were lined up in order around the perimeter of the pool. I knew better then to stand there and let myself get more nervous, so I struck up conversations with everyone around me. (Those people must think I'm slap crazy, hehe.) We joked an cut up and had a blast. It was a long wait. When it was getting close to my time to start, I glanced up at the gallery and Bill was signaling me to roll my shoulders and take some deep breaths. What a sweetheart. I jumped in and DID NOT sprint. I took off like I was warming up at home, and the first length was fine. To back up, let me describe the lanes. They had the lane ropes set up where the 1st and 8th lanes were extra wide, and the inner lanes were narrow. When I enter lane 2, my arms started hitting the lanes ropes on both sides of me! I freaked. I kept swimming trying to focus on keeping myself long in the water, and everything else went out of my head but the fear of hitting the lane ropes. By the time I got to lane 3, I was totally panicked. I was gripped by claustrophobia, my strokes shortened and I was gasping for breath! Me! I can swim for 2 miles, Bryan! and love every minute of it! Swimming was going to be my best event. Not fast, by any means, but definitely not painful. OMG. I honestly don't even know how I finished the swim. I was so afraid someone would think I was drowning and jump in to help me.

It will really be better next time? In an open water swim, I can swim to the outside right? away from the crowd? I don't think I ever want to do a tri with a pool swim again, lol.

There. Omg, I feel so much better sharing that with you guys. Silly... but better.

What would I do without my sTRIve team... I've been looking at your 'sticker site', Sticka, and I'd like to design a "sTRIve" sticker and order one for each of us. So I'll be wanting some addresses down the road later in the summer. You guys mean the world to me!

Oh! And I forgot to post my finish line! Hubby was right there to take this! Yey!

Mav

1:17 on the bike ( what color is your bike again???) - gray (raw carbon color) with some red trim

3:15 overall. That is awesome.  I was pleased...on the race report you will see I was hoping for 3:30 but would have been okay under 3:45

Cant wait to read your race report.  It's posted

How was the run?.  Brutal - I poured ice water on my head regularly, put ice in my cap, drank a lot. I made the decision to just take it slow and keep moving...you know...left.right.repeat

What happened to your leg? I don't know. I get some cramps in my feet during the swim from time to time that work their way out as I swim. But this one hit in transition. It couldn't have been electrolytes since all I had done was swim and I had taken in electrolytes before the start. I was really worried because of the length of the day I had left but I never felt it again.

What did you eat/drink?  I use Hammer products.  I use their gels (apple cinnamon is my favorite - it tastes like apple pie), Endurolytes - electrolyte capsules, HEED - calories, no sugar and a pleasant mild taste.  I should have used Perpetuem - their fuel for events over 2 hours but I hadn't really trained with it so I stuck with what I had used. I lost my Endurolytes on the bike - I really think this had some to do with the run.

How did it feel to go that long on the swim?  Loved it.  L - O - V - E - D  I-T.  It was over before I knew it.  I would swim it again tonight.  It was a Blast!

Did you encounter much "turbulance" on the swim? Yes - but after a little frustration I just decided they all liked me so much they wanted to touch me and I started to laugh each time there was contact. The only thing I wish was that I could find a draft. I was never able to find someone to draft off of.

Did you wear a wetsuit or not.  Yes - water was about 68-70 at start.

CANT believe your temps, I would never have been able to complete in those temps.  Sister, It was hot.

 Can you tell I am a little excited????  Yes and you should be...it was cool.  One tip, this is NOT a sprint.  Treat it as an endurance event, work your way through it and you will be fine.
Go girl Go

Flipper - still your name even with a little panic.  Let it go girl. Next one will be better, pool or not.  You were way out of your element...you were looking at 3 events with transitions (that you had not practiced enough), that's enough to freak out Janet Evans, Ian Thorpe and Mark Spitz.  Forget about it.  It's done and time to move on.  De-brief, evaluate, keep the lessons, let the rest go.

There was a guy who approached Jack Nicklaus after a round at a tournament and asked him how he had missed a putt on 18. Jack calmly explained he hadn't missed it. The guy said he had, Jack said he hadn't. Finally, the guy gave up and walked off, ticked. A newspaper guy approached Jack's caddy, who had seen the whole thing.  The caddy said, no big deal. Jack doesn't think he has ever missed a putt. He has put those out of his mind.

Moral of the story...don't be with Jack Nicklaus, he may not be counting correctly...no really...forget it.  Embrace the positive.  No more negative.

You will NEVER have another first triathlon - please focus on the positive things you have learned.

By the way, I am proud to confer upon you the title of "TRIATHLETE".

BRYAN BRYAN BRYAN! What an awesome report! You have a gift for description! I could see it like I was there. Wow. How exciting! Ok, now I’m determined. I WILL do this. I know I can swim. I’ll be ok. I want to feel what you felt in that long swim today. I want to do an Oly someday. And the story about Jack Nicklaus? JUST WHAT I NEEDED! Bless you, Bryan! I are a triathlete! Woohoo!

Mav, you are going to NAIL your Oly! You go, girl! I would love to see pics of that bike course!

Rock on, turtles!