Anything that happened leading up to the race is probably pretty uninteresting to most of you. Jeff, Laura, and I drove from Austin to Dallas Thursday night, and Dallas to Oklahoma City Friday morning, entertaining ourselves and hopefully others with Facebook the entire way. On Friday we picked up our packets, checked our bikes, attended an entirely unnecessary mandatory pre-race meeting, had a tasty pasta dinner, and went to sleep.
Race morning:
Transition opened at 5am, first wave at 7. We arrived at the parking lot at about 5 and walked about ½ mile to the venue. We had excellent rack position – closest rack to bike in/out, farthest from swim out and run out. And we had our spot clearly marked with a sticker on the rack – name, number, city. They knew I was coming! They advertised 6 bikes per rack, but there were only four on my rack. Lots of space! I set up my transition area and ate my pre-race meal – English muffin with PB&J, a banana, and a bottle of Nuun water.
At the pre-race meeting they warned us that there would be extra USAT officials at this race, as it was a training weekend for them. Joy! The woman next to me had just arrived and dropped her bags in the general area of her bike. An official cautioned her that she couldn’t leave her stuff like that, and it needed to look like mine. “Way to be the teachers pet” she said to me. He then proceeded to inspect my area, even touching my sunglasses and helmet strap and leaving the strap inside the helmet instead of open to the outside like I had carefully placed it.
When we woke up it was in the low 60’s, but it got colder as dawn approached. So glad I had my wonderful sherpa and husband so I could wear a jacket and crocs and leave them with him. We had a good long time to huddle together and stay warm and watch the other triathletes do their pre-race routines. My pre-race routine is…to huddle to stay warm and stay in denial about what’s to come.
After watching many people don their wetsuits and declaring it was too early, I finally decided it was time for the struggle. At least everybody struggles. Walked around transition towards the water, only to discover there was a fence between me and the water. The only way to get to the swim start was through transition. I could have rolled under the fence, but with all those extra officials, I decided not to chance it, and walked back around. Many others chanced it, without apparent penalty.
The swim:
I had my pre-race caffeinated Hammer Gel when the first wave began. That first wave of white swim caps/Ironman wannabes went off right on time at 7:15. They had a 15 minute head start before they released the rest of us at 3 minute intervals. I was in wave 4 out of 5 with the other ½ IM Aquabikers. The wave appeared to be 99% women in pink caps, one confused looking male with a gold cap, and one very confident, tall, deep voiced man wearing a pink cap who strode through all the women saying “Let’s Go Ladies”. Think Kenneth in a pink swim cap.
Side note – the logo for Redman looks like the universal sign for the Men’s restroom. The logo on our pink swim caps was the universal sign for the Women’s restroom. I’m afraid if I wear it in public I’ll get asked for directions to the restrooms wherever I go.
The start was a standing water start, but we had to walk out probably 25 yards and it was still shallow enough for me to stand waist deep. We noticed the previous wave of yellow caps were at the first buoy, and it looked like they were all standing up and standing still, like there was some sort of meeting or mass prayer going on at the first buoy. And then…BOOM! Time to swim! It wasn’t too crowded. Not much incidental contact going on. The water was so brown and murky that I couldn’t see anything in front of me at all. No bubbles, no feet, and where are my hands?
We got to the first buoy and right on cue everyone started popping up like prairie dogs. The advantage to my short arms was that I wasn’t hitting bottom, so I kept right on swimming through the throngs of walkers. Just because you can stand doesn’t mean you should!
I actually don’t have much more to say about the swim. It was swimmy. I noticed two white caps passing me, who were on their second loop. Only one loop for me. I passed a few yellow caps. I fought to keep from listing right a lot. Sometimes there was so much distance between buoys that I had to have faith that those in front of me knew where they were going. At then at end the volunteer stander-upper-helpers were stationed out where we started, so we ended up having to walk the same 25 yards back in.
I LOVE wetsuit strippers! I think they should be a must at any wetsuit legal event. They had me out of my wetsuit toot sweet! The ground between swim out and my bike was a paved parking lot and it was nicely swept so very kind to my delicate footsies. Quickly ran to my bike, put on gloves, socks, shoes, sunglasses, helmet, and it was time to bike! Laura was not far behind me out of the swim and we wished each other a good ride.
The bike:
We drove the course the day before and learned that while it was flat compared to the Tour de France, it was not flat compared to Houston. It was probably more like River Cities flat, with rollers. It was an out and back course – twice for the ½, four times for the full Iron distance. Very easy to mentally break into very reasonable 14 mile chunks. And I liked being able to see my peeps and cheer them on (and hopefully they’d do the same). While driving the course, we found a couple of geocaches, which also served as milestones along the ride. I always smile when I know “there’s a cache there”.
There were aid stations every 7ish miles. The first 7 and 14 miles flew by and I felt like I was flying. At the first turnaround I teased a woman who was adjusting her shorts. She admitted she had just peed. I told her I was saving that for later. (Note: I never did pee on the bike. A sure sign I wasn’t drinking enough)
And then I saw the funniest thing I have ever seen in a triathlon. A aero-helmeted woman passed by, and her tri shorts had split just above the chamois. There was her cute little butt crack, peeking out for all to see! Oh Lord! That can happen? She was laughing about it. There was one guy in our little pack who wasn’t quite sure how to react. So next time you put on your bike or tri shorts, check that seam! Later she passed me again wearing baggy shorts over her bike shorts. Somebody along the way must have donated their shorts to the cause. Now that I think about it, I hope she didn’t accept outside aid! That would totally ruin your day, to have your shorts split and then get DQd for covering up!
My pee-ing friend (whose name was Becky) and I leapfrogged the whole way back to the next turnaround point. We were making great time! She said we could beat three hours if we kept up that pace. I was feeling great and it seemed altogether possible! The last stretch into the park had grown a hill and some wind and it was work! I thought about how much fun (NOT) it would be the second time.
Jeff and Ed (and Ed’s camera) were at the turnaround waiting for us. We looped through a small parking lot, which required a certain amount of “wheeeeeee”ing. I even got the guy ahead of me to participate. I hammed it up for Ed’s camera and left for loop 2.
Ok, just keep up the pace and it will be a fabulous time! Except…it suddenly became harder. Where I had not used my small front chain ring the entire first loop, I needed it now. Not long into the second loop Becky passed me for the last time. I couldn’t keep up. There was a section of road that was very rough, and that sucked some soul out of me. I finished the Clif bar that I had been working on the entire ride and realized I probably should have finished that a while ago. At the turnaround I took a water handup without dropping it or injuring the volunteer or myself (yay!). Shortly thereafter I ate a caffeinated Hammer Gel, hoping it would give me the boost I needed. Probably too little too late. The wind was very head-windish and I was ready to be done. My neck and lower back were tired of aero position, and I started sitting up more and more. I watched my average speed drop and drop. I was doing the best I could with what I had left. My main thought was “Ironman is STUPID” (sorry Iron-peeps). I realized my 3 hour bike goal was slipping away. But I still had hopes for an under 4 hour total time. I thanked every police officer and volunteer along the way. Special shoutout to the 3 officers at the turn onto the highway frontage road. All the officers were nice and responded to my Thank You’s with a friendly You’re Welcome, but these three were cheerleaders too! Both times I passed them they had a “you’re doing great” or “looking good” for me. Back to the final stretch that I knew would suck, and since I knew it was going to suck, it wasn’t so bad. Put it in an easy gear and pedal. At the last turn into the park, a spectator cheered me to go to my happy place. That’s a great idea! Where were you an hour ago? I could have used that sentiment much earlier! So I went to my happy place for the last 3 minutes and was exceedingly happy to reach the dismount line!
The run:
But wait! There is no run in an aquabike! Oh, but there is. In order to actually finish, you had to rack your bike and then run out, just as if you were going to run, but then you fork left to the finish line, where the poor fools doing the triathlon have to fork right, into the hell that is the run. So I doffed my bike shoes, helmet, and gloves, and donned running shoes, running hat, and race belt, and imitated a triathlete by shuffling to run out. Volunteers along the way wished me a good run. I told a few I was done, and then gave up and said thanks to the rest. The run felt like an eternity, but according to the time tracker it was only about 90 seconds from run out (plus the run from my bike), so it had to be less than the equivalent of once around a track. But it was definitely more than no run at all, which you would expect in an Aquabike.
In the week before the race we were encouraged to fill out a pre-race form where we could list our teammates and anyone we wanted to shout out to (in 24 characters or less). I wondered where that would be used. It was cool. In the finish chute I crossed the early timing mat, and before I crossed the finish line I heard the announcer shouting out to Jeff & my teammates Laura, Lynn, & Peggy.
And I was done! Ed took my picture. Jeff was there for a sweaty post-race hug and kiss. I wandered through the food tent and grabbed as much as I could carry, assuming it was my only chance. Turns out at this race, you could go through as many times as you wanted! And I did!
Here’s the beauty of the aquabike at a full distance race – you get to see what it’s like to finish early! Even though I had my typical middle of the pack finish, I was in the first group of finishers by definition. There was plenty of food! There were plenty of finishers shirts (when will they realize not all girls like pink?)! There was no line for massage! It was awesome! I think I’ll try to become fast, just so I can enjoy this at every race I do (if only)!
Summary: I was perfectly trained for an Olympic distance aquabike. For a half IM aquabike, I demonstrated the perfect positive split race. I didn’t quite make either of my dream goals, but I was close and definitely within range of my realistic goals. My bike time was improved from last year’s Ironstar by about 6 ½ minutes, but I expected that since I didn’t have to save anything for the run this time. If I’d had to run afterwards, I definitely didn’t eat and drink enough, but it was fine for today. Aquabike is very forgiving.
My times –
Swim – 44:33
T1 – 2:36
Bike – 3:16:57
T2 – 2:07
Run – 1:27
Total – 4:07:38
There’s a vicious rumor going around that this time earned me hardware, but I have not yet heard anything official, since I skipped the awards banquet. Pre-race literature said awards would only be given to the top 3 Aquabikers, and didn’t distinguish between men & women, so I had no thought of winning anything. Stay tuned to see how this works out!
Post race notes:
We had the perfect weather. The day before would have been too windy. The day after, too cold. Race day – pretty perfect.
Schwag-wise, I wasn’t so impressed. River Cities is the standard by which no other race can compare. ½ IM people got a cotton T and a canvas drawstring backpack type bag filled with mostly advertisements, a 70.3 sticker (um, not me) a Redman keychain flashlight, one mini-clif bar, and one Hammer Gel (raspberry, yuck). The medal is cool, but the finishers T is girly, baby, pastel pink. It probably will never touch my skin. I just don’t wear pink. I tried to trade for a men’s black shirt and it sent them into fits, so I politely gave up.
And now for the thank you’s. First – thank you Jeff for giving up your weekend to support me. This race couldn’t have been as much fun for you as Ironstar was, as you were stuck at the venue waiting for me to loop around every 90 minutes. But thank you for putting on your happy face every time I saw you! Thanks to Lynn for choosing this race. I probably wouldn’t have even known about it if it weren’t for you, and I’m glad you introduced it to me! And thanks to Laura & Peggy for going too and making it a party! And thanks to all my tri-friends for cheering us on Facebook and trying to stalk us with an uncooperative athlete tracker. I felt your energy for sure!
This concludes tri season 2010. I have no idea what’s next. I don’t have to right now.
P.S. There was a clown. There really was. I didn’t see it, but Ed & Jeff did.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment