No fate but the fate you make for yourself.
If you just leave OLN on television all day long, you can come and go all day and eventually you will see the entire TdF stage for the day, as they seem to be replaying it at least 3 or 4 times.
Really enjoying it this year – definitely interesting with all the usual suspects out of the tour.
Today I went and did a brick (bike/run combo) and capped off a very, very good month of training. Things are getting easier (while I won’t say they are easy, just easier), which is really nice. There is a lot to be said to look at a training day that says “1000 meter swim” or “20 mile bike ride” and think “Yep, totally doable.”
Covered over 130 miles this month. :)
MCM distance runs start this weekend. 194 weekend miles between now & October 22. (Plus the shorter weekday running & cross training.)
I feel like I’m in a really good place with all this. Not necessarily faster, but a lot more endurance. Life is good.
Little bro is out of town until next week at a wedding up in NYC. (It’s sad how many places I have written down “Pick Up Donald” for next Wednesday, cause I know I’ll forget.) He only left yesterday, and yet today I found myself completely at loose ends without him “around”. It’s not like we’re joined at the hip or anything like that – we meet up for dinner & beers maybe once every week or so. But I kept finding myself checking to see if he was on IM, or getting ready to send him an email about some stupid thing or another in the news and realizing that the bugger was out of town and NOT going to be online. Damn, if he ever moves out of the area, it’s gonna be weird to be sure. (Somehow I see myself offering to pay for his internet connection…)
Stopped in at the pub this evening for a nightcap – just feeling restless and wanted to get out of the house – caught up with the newest manager-type-dude at GD’s (Dan, but not
Be interesting to see how long it takes me to get used to little bro being out of town…
So, we’re getting bits & pieces of Mike’s IMCdA experience from his girlfriend (I think he’s still in a post race coma.)
The water temp is 60 degrees, and the swim is 2.4 miles long. This is not the time to have a wardrobe malfunction in the form of a busted zipper on your wetsuit, (2 minutes before the swim start) and yet, that is exactly what happened. So, what do you do? You’ve trained for god knows how long, dropped a decent wad of cash on the registration, you’re not injured, dropping out just ain’t in the cards if you can avoid it. You really can’t go without the wetsuit, and swimming w/it unzipped just defeats the purpose.
The answer?
Packing Tape.
I saw pics of it – looked pretty good to me. I wonder if duct tape would have worked as well? Something else to toss in the transition bag, just in case…
Cause I’m in for Colonial Beach on 7/9. 1K OWS in the Potomac, 40K on the bike and a 10K run. Managed to find a room less than 2 miles from the race site this morning so I made my reservations and registered. I will have my Oly done before the beach!
Someone who did the race last year says it’s a good course – longest leg of the swim goes with the current, not too many hills on the bike and the run is flat. Works for me.
Did a 2 mile run today. Well, mostly running. It’s 75 degrees with 95% humidity, so I didn’t push it hard and stuck tight to my run/walk pacing, and I am not dead for it. :) Halfway through I passed a woman hosing out her trashcan in her driveway (No, I don’t know why she couldn’t just leave it out in the rain…) and she apologized for the water running down her driveway and the ensuing puddle. Pointed out to her that I didn’t think I could get any wetter anyway. Rain thankfully kicked in about the last half mile and the thunder held off until I was back in the house.
Dog just came in, shook himself off – right next to the cat. I don’t think I’ve seen Snoopy look quite so offended in a long time.
OK, so there is Colonial Beach… To go or not to go? I’d have to get a room, the host hotel is already sold out, the nearest is Doc’s Motor Court, so I think I’ll call tomorrow and see if they have any openings – I’d prefer not to be too terribly far away if at all possible, since I can’t tell from the website what the parking situation is like.
If I can get a room, I will do it. It’s only a 1000M swim, which would be much better for me I think. Ernie said he’d give me the lowdown on it since he ran it last year. I think I let the mental games get to me WAY too much for Montclair, sick or not.
Who knows, maybe I can find a swim angel. Or wouldn’t it be a freaking hoot if I was someone else’s swim angel? :)
I need an Oly and I need it sooner rather than later – I don’t want Reston to be the first go at it.
I could still get my regular workouts in, drive down on Saturday morning which is a rest day anyway, and kick ass on Sunday. Even cutting out the taper, the workouts next week wouldn’t be too bad to screw me. Yeah, I think I’ve talked myself into it.
So much for, “You won’t get my ass into the Potomac River…”
88 year old great grandma loves triathlons
She entered her first triathlon in Beloit in 1993 at age 75, joining her son Bruce — who has competed in several triathlons himself — and her granddaughter in a three-generation team. Each one competed in one leg of the race.
…
She entered her first triathlon on her own in 1995. She’s done 10 more since.
Mike finished IMCdA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Couple folks think that the swim course ran long today at Montclair. I’m still amazed the whole thing didn’t get flooded out with all the rain we’ve gotten, but I’m happy they didn’t have to cancel it, especially since this was the first year for this one.
There is another Oly on 7/9 in Colonial Beach, still has a lot of slots open – that might become the makeup for today. Shorter swim (1K vs 1 mile) – so, something to think about for the next couple days.
Well, just because I am down for the count today doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a couple other races from a distance. Today is Ironman Coeur d’Alene, and Mike is there, as well as the Buffalo Springs 70.3 (half IM distance) and Bill is racing there. Both of these are part of the Ford Ironman Series, which means they have the athlete tracker on the respective race websites. Making it even easier is that Bill & Mike both have the same race numbers.
They’ve both gotten through the swims and are on the bikes! Bill should be coming in for the run any time now. The IMCdA swim had to have been brutal. 2.4 miles, which isn’t the problem in and of itself, especially if you’ve been training up for it – but the water temps were below 60. That is freaking COLD. And as always, there seems to be a few glitches, given that it is showing Mike out of the water, but no transition time. It will probably show up halfway through the bike leg… (They just finally added the T1 time, so he is for sure out on the bike course.)
Me, I’m heading back to bed. I don’t know what on earth I picked up, but the timing couldn’t have been worse. Haven’t heard back from any of the other folks I know that were racing to hear what the conditions were on the course. I am thinking messy to say the least. I’m disappointed, but I still have another Oly to take a swing at this season, so all is not lost, and there is always next year to give this one a go.
They just posted Bill’s bike split – he’s doing great! Just a half mary to go for him.
Well, seeing as how I need to get up in about 4 hours, I should be getting to bed. Got the required “Oh shit, where is it?” hunt out of the way (couldn’t find my timing chip, it was 6 feet away from where I’ve been sitting all night.) Of course, that didn’t happen until 10:45.
There have been flash floods in PW county (where the race is) and with more rain to come overnight, it may be a challenge just getting there tomorrow morning. Should make for an interesting day if nothing else!
Hit packet pickup this afternoon and I do believe I am ready to go – transition bag is packed up, clothes are laid out for tomorrow, and all I need to do in the morning is get the bike on the car rack & fill the camelbak and water bottles. Drove the bike course, and I like it – some gradual rolling hills, but nothing super painful, and I think it’s going to run fast. (Well, if it’s dry.)
Right now, the only real question is the weather. Weatherunderground is calling for the following…
5AM – 70 degrees, 87% humidity, 90% chance of precipitation, Widespread Thunderstorms, Widespread Light Rain Showers
8AM – 72 degrees, 83% humidity, 90% chance of precipitation, Likely Thunderstorms , Likely Light Rain Showers
Race start is 7AM. If there is lightning, it will become a du and we’ll skip the swim. If it’s really, really bad, then the race will have to be cancelled, which would suck, but better than putting people out on an unsafe course. If we’re lucky, the storms will have run their course by 7.
Looking like the water temp will be under 78 – last reading they took was right at 78. The race directors really want it to be wetsuit legal, and understandably so – there are apparently a lot of first timers (both first tri & first Oly distance) and the wetsuits help SO much on the swim – they don’t want to have to be pulling people out of the water.
I’m going to have to be up gawdawful early, and I need to set some backup alarms, because with the storms coming through tonight (and starting right now), I wouldn’t be surprised if the power cut out again like it did the other night.
Transition opens at 5:30, need to be ready to race by 6:45ish – also there is swim warmup time between 6:20 and 6:35, and that would definitely be a good thing for me. Unfortunately, parking is 1.5 miles from the transition area, so that’s a good 15 minute walk there. (I might ride it, but trying to do that w/a full transition bag may be too unwieldy.) I figure I’m going to have to leave here somewhere around 4:30 – Google maps says it should be a 30 minute drive down there, but it took me closer to an hour today with the traffic…
So, I know two other folks that will be out at Lake Montclair this weekend – Ernie & Tim (daerath). Chippy, who was with us at Virginia Run, will be off at IMCDA cheering on her boyfriend, Stake. (These are the folks I ran with in my first race down at Quantico last fall.)
Chippy dropped a comment in Ernie’s blog: Take care of cindy — *we* all know that she is going to kick ass, but I think she is still a little unsure of that, so make sure she doesn’t freak out to much before the race 
It’s good to have folks looking out for you.
OK, so today I got my butt down to Lake Anna for a while to do some open water swimming. Now, it’s been well over 20 years since I actually swam in something other than a pool (not counting floating about at the beach), and it was in the dead of night… Daytime is quite different! At night, your brain doesn’t expect to see anything above or under water and doesn’t care. Daytime? Your brain wants to see…
The water was too warm for a wetsuit – probably over 80, but that’s fine, I was actually comfortable. Now, Lake Anna is more of a boaters/fishers place, so the swimming area isn’t huge, but it’s nice – little beach, snack bar, guarded and cordoned off so you don’t have to worry about getting too far afield from shore. $6 entrance for parking & beach fee.
The swimming area is cordoned off into 3 areas – the “shallow” line runs to about 2 feet, then the next section goes to about 5 feet deep, then there is the “deeper than I am tall” section. I stayed in the middle section, cause I actually felt more comfortable around more people (the back section was totally empty), which surprised me, cause at the pool I want everyone as far away from me as possible.
Getting in the water, first there were little fish – small, maybe 4-5″ long, – very cute little things, bluegill I think. Those didn’t bother me, but the largemouth bass that then wandered by my feet damn near did me in. Once I got past the fish and into deeper waters where I couldn’t see my feet anymore, it was time to attempt swimming, and I had the required open water freakout. Once you go head down, all you can see is green (bright green at least), and my brain basically short circuited and went “OMGWTF, we could just see our feet 30 seconds ago!!” But it did get a little better, I found out I can actually sight (being able to bring your head up and look forward above water to check your location while still moving forward) and spent some time on alternate “head above water” strokes to remind myself I CAN do them if I have to, and flipping over and going along on my back whenever I felt strange.
I don’t feel bad about the open water freakout – pretty much everyone runs into it, I’m just glad I know what it feels like and I have a plan in place to deal with it on Sunday, and I am REALLY glad I made the time to go down there before the race. I made a nice afternoon of it – took lunch, chilled on the little beach and read and worked on my tan sunburn. (Actually I did remember my sunscreen, but I missed a couple spots on my back.) Figure if I do this once a week for the rest of the season, I might actually be semi-comfortable with OWS by the time Reston rolls around in September.
We got an email today w/ a reminder on the wetsuit rules – if the water temps are under 78, it’s totally wetsuit legal. 78-83 is legal, but you’re ineligible for awards. 84 and above – no wetsuits whatsoever. They’re going to be sending something out tomorrow w/the latest lake temps, which makes me think we may be heading towards non-wetsuit legal for the swim. The downside for me of non-wetsuit legal is the loss of the nice additional buoyancy & speed that comes w/a wetsuit. However, the upside is that I would actually not freeze my ass off in the water, and most folks seem to find warm water to be icky, but I find it absolutely lovely.
So, I’ll be VERY interested to see what the temps at Lake Montclair are – granted, it’s tiny compared to Lake Anna, but it’s also over an hour north and doesn’t have a nuclear reactor next door to it.
Interesting thing going into Lake Anna – there is a sign that says, “You are less than 10 miles from the North Anna nuclear facility. In case of an emergency…” and then you can’t read the rest of it, cause that’s the point where your car goes past it, cause the print is too small and it’s too wordy to read quickly – so I just figure the rest is “lean over and kiss your ass goodbye.”
Arm is right as rain today – all is well in my little world. Off to the lake to splash about and try and get used to no visibility…
Dammit, I was doing so well with staying relatively injury free this season. Yesterday, when I was out running, I caught my toe just perfectly on a seam in the sidewalk and went flying. At the time, I couldn’t find anything wrong beyond a couple little scrapes on my hands and my knee, so I got up, dusted myself off and continued. Well, upon waking up this morning, I discovered that I bashed the crap out of the outside of my right arm just below my shoulder. I’ve got full range of motion, and there are no internal grinding noises, so it’s basically just a good hard bruise, but damn it kinda hurts.
So, the debate today is do the workouts, but extra easy, or just give things a rest and pick back up on Wednesday w/the next scheduled workout. (Bike & swim today, both requiring that arm.) DAMMIT, I am pissed.
Edit: Hour ride on the trainer, requires no arms… Swim TBD.
Did a 5K here in Fairfax yesterday – pretty fun, if a little warm. Did it in 32:26, which is a 10:16 mile – not too bad at all. :) So, if you’re looking for a 5K to do next summer, check out the Tim Harmon 5K, starts & ends at the Gov’t Center in Fairfax. Free massages at the end, sodas along w/water at the finish (yeah, you know I went for a cold Coke), a nice area to run in and a band.
Next weekend is Lake Montclair. Mile lake swim, 24 miles on the bike and then a 10K run. If I can get through the swim, it’s all good. Gonna get down to the race site this week and scope things out – I’ve heard the bike section has a few hills on it and it would probably be good to know where those are ahead of time. Also heading down to Lake Anna for some open water swim practice this week – there’s probably closer places, but I don’t know where they are, and this is a guarded area, so it’s all good. Figure I’ll pack a lunch and make a day of it and work on my tan. :) Granted, I should have gotten in an OWS practice before now, but finding a swim legal guarded area has been a bit of a challenge. (The lake at the race site apparently requires a HOA pass.)
So, with the upcoming race, workouts are somewhat reduced this week, and then next week is recovery. WOOT. Then no races until 8/13 – I’m gonna get the DT’s. ;) Though I may scout around to see if there is a July 4th run within a reasonable distance.
Edmonton managed to tie up the series last night – I’m happy it’s going to be a full 7 game series – tomorrow should be a ton of fun to watch.
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating – the folks over at The Bike Lane are terrific. Now, I am well past the “big cash” being dropped point when I head in there – now it’s a $6 tube and that’s about it, however, I am still in the “lots of little adjustments” stage with the bike, and every time I go in there, they manage to find time for me. Yesterday it was replacing a defective sensor on my bike computer and getting the seatpost & pedals tweaked for the clipless pedals/shoes – it was a mob scene cause it was Saturday, but they got me taken care of, the bike feels great and I have a working computer now and another spare tube, since I got to use one of them this morning when I had a flat. (Which I was able to handle quite well – always sketchy on a bike you’ve never worked on before – at least for me.)
Also – DC folks – yes, there is a tropical storm out there. At the moment, it doesn’t appear to be tracking anywhere near us. At all. So, was it really necessary to clean out the damn grocery store?? WTF, folks, it was like locusts had gone through there.
Oh, and in other news, at least one other BT’er thinks Cancun 70.3 is a very good idea. We’ll see what the 2007 racing season brings. :-D
I think I’ve found the one:
Clear OWS, bike ride through the route of the ancient Mayans, and oh, yeah, IT’S IN CANCUN.
(Actually, it’s also very well timed – mid September race so you have all summer to prep for it. Much better than being stuck inside training all winter. Yeah, that’s it.)
And another one is in the books! 1:43:15 for a pace of 11:05 – woohoo!!! Could not have asked for more absolutely perfect, spot on weather for it – 70 degrees and a very, very light rain through most of the race.
And last night’s 4 mile run put the lid on my best training month to date. Over 5K of swimming, 43 miles on the bike plus trainer time, and 20 miles of running. (The running mileage is definitely lower than it’s been this spring, but the swimming has been much MUCH more necessary.) 15K on tap this Saturday and then a mini tri Sunday – it’s just a 250M indoor pool swim, 4 mile bike ride and a 1.4 mile run – should be an fun & insane free for all. (This is assuming I am not in too much pain from the 15K, in which case, I may just go and volunteer.) Overall, just incredibly pleased with what I’ve accomplished last month.
On tap for June is to keep the training volume up and the following:
6/2 – Volunteering at packet pickup for the mini. (I am writing this down because I keep worrying that I’ll forget.)
6/3 – 15K down at Quantico
6/4 – Manassas Mini (depending on if I can move, LOL)
6/17 – Tim Harmon 5K
6/25 – Lake Montclair Olympic distance tri.
I just registered for the 5K this week, they had flyers for it at the 10K last weekend. I’ve never done a stand alone 5K before, and it should be fun. It’s also a whopping 20 minutes from the house and starts at 8:30, so I don’t have to be up at 5AM. Lake Montclair is why my swimming volume has been upped so much – it’s a 1 mile lake swim to start things off, so I’m shooting for 3x a week in the pool. I’ve added in a speedwork day on Tuesdays for running – just around the block (1.5 miles) and it’s walk 1 minute, sprint 1 minute. Did that yesterday w/ a 10:56 pace, not too bad considering half of it was walking. :)
Oh, since I’ve stopped the whole “work” thing, I moved the laptop out of the office down to the living room. The dog is MUCH happier with this setup as he can chill out on the sofa with me instead of cramming himself under the desk. He’s becoming a fan of the Late Late Show as well.
Oh, and this was sent by a friend of the family – damn funny video – it’s like they have seen me & my brother go at it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhcA4Ry65FU Work safe.
1:10:37 – Not to bad considering summer finally has decided to show up…
Kickass day today. Got the bike in and out of the shop, got shoes on order, bike has a computer so I can stop trying to estimate how much time I waste waiting for stoplights. Great swim, then a beautiful day for a ride, even though it was windy as all get out.
Gonna stick w/the stock pedals that came w/the bike for the time being, they’re combo clipless/flats, so I’m not always stuck with having to use the clipless. I’ve heard of issues w/hotspots w/the platform, but we’ll see. Worst case scenario I try something else later. LBS’ supplier was out of the size I need in the “women’s” version, so they’re ordering the men’s version for me – which is fine by me, they’re just plain black. The colors on the women’s cycling shoes pretty much make me want to vomit anyway.
Also hit the uni swim shop and picked up some new suits. My tried & true speedo just isn’t gonna last a whole lot longer, and now I have to hit the pool more to justify the purchase. :) The TI stuff is working really, really well for the swimming – Did almost 30 minutes of drills before doing any actual swimming – just did a 100M for time reasons, but it felt great, basically no fatigue at all, and a decent pace for me. I may not have to have my ass dragged out of the water at Lake Montclair after all if I can keep this up. (I am adding a third swim workout per week to my plan just to be safe, LOL.)
Dear 2006 Virginia Run Sprint Triathlon Participants,
LJ and I would like to extend a huge congratulations to everyone the participated in the 2nd Virginia Run Sprint Tri! The event went off without a hitch and the weather held off for us too! We hope that you all enjoyed the day as much as we did and we truly can’t thank you enough for all of your support of this event!
We also raised over $5,000 for Special Olympics Virginia this year and mark your calendars for 5:50pm this Wednesday night (May 24th) as Channel 4 News will be airing a very special story on Jon Callahan who is the 45 year old gentleman with Down Syndrome who finished the VA Run Sprint Tri in an amazing 1 hour 54 min 51 seconds! Be sure to check out his story!
This sport kicks ass.
Sitting here and had a yen for a rum & coke, so off to the fridge and some rooting around the bar to see what’s about. Oooh, unopened bottle of Cruzan Dark Estate rum. How this has remained unopened is beyond me, as it came back from the Virgin Islands sometime in 2003 I think. Wow, that is some nice smooth stuff there. Of course, my domestic inclinations being what they are, I can’t seem to find a clean normal glass, so it’s in a red party cup. Nothing quite like regressing back to the age of 19. Very classy.
Went running over at Burke Lake today – I really need to do that more often since it’s so ridiculously close, and the trails are a nice break from the pavement. However, it does demonstrate my need for some sort of nifty GPS system. (OK, I need it like I need a hole in the head, but they’re cool.) The “trail” is 4.7 miles, but there are lots of places I was off the trail and on super twisty obstacle laden dirt paths that were MUCH more fun. I’m slow, and even slower on trails, but there is no way it took me a full 70 minutes to do 4.7 miles, so I ended up estimating it at around 6 miles. Definitely a great day for it.
Bike & swim tomorrow, need to get Bulletproof back to the shop to get some cable stretching tended to, the rear derailleur is a little bit ‘off’ – should be nothing more than a quick adjustment. Tomorrow’s other big task is remembering to call the title company and see what it’s going to take to get the house title changed over.
First couple days of blissful unemployment haven’t really felt any different, because I was going to take the first half of this week off anyway had I not quit the job instead. Did have a couple random work related thoughts enter my head today, and it was so nice to then think…”Not my problem anymore.” and away they went.
Hit the MCM registration rally today and I am in. Also had to get a shirt…
Finally sat down and watched the TI (Total Immersion) swim video – yeah, probably should have done that when it actually got here a couple weeks back, but life got in the way of things. 40 minute video, it doesn’t get to actual swimming until about the 38 minute point, LOL. I doubt I’ll remember any of the specific drills by the time I’m in the water, but I’m heading to the pool either tonight or first thing tomorrow, and I’ll look at it again before I go – some pretty cool stuff in it though, the best being what I can only describe as “how to cheat and stay in forward motion when you need a break.” It is however, quite disconcerting that in the opening scenes, absolutely no one is coming up for air…
Definitely enjoying a couple lazy days to be sure. Lecture again tomorrow night up in Carlisle, “The Red Army’s High Commands in World War II”, looks like another good one. Next big project is getting the damn townhouse sold, and then getting this place really seriously reorganized.
Triathlons are hard.
Well, thank you Commander Obvious. No, it’s not that I ever thought it would be easy, trust me, but it’s really different from anything I’ve done before. You don’t really “rest” anywhere along the way. I think I put forth about the same amount of overall effort as I did for the half mary, except that I crammed it into an hours less time.
Absolutely nothing will 100% prepare you for your first tri.
I trained, I read countless race reports, I saw videos, I practiced transitions, I bricked. I prepared as best as I could, but still realized that today would in essence be one big learning experience, and the morning was filled with surprises. They ran the gamut:
– Wetsuits really are worth the wrestle to get on and there is no such thing as too much body glide. (Though, where does it go? There’s nothing on the inside of my wetsuit, and there was none left on my legs or arms, and I used more for the run on the inside of my arms and it was just…gone.)
– A wetsuit will not actually keep you dry. (I knew this on an intellectual level, but still when I got it all off, I couldn’t help but think, “WTF, I am soaked!”)
– I swim too fast when I start and freak out. (New swim philosophy: Start slow and back off.)
– I am not near the spaz in transition I expected I would be, even with the fight between wetsuit and watch.
– Bulletproof was a Very Good Purchase.
– I ranked higher in AG and overall for the SWIM of all things…
– You can put a big gash in your thumb somewhere between the swim and T1 and not even notice it until you look down on the bike and wonder, “Why am I bleeding?”
– There are a lot of folks that forget to call out “On your left” when they pass you. I am not one of those people, and everyone can hear me, including the people 2 or 3 bikes ahead…
– The nylon bag I had inside my transition bag is so not waterproof and my wetsuit was quite soggy when I stuffed it in the transition bag. (No harm done, but since my tri shorts were drier than my jeans were by the end, I showed up at IHOP in high style…)
Not surprising? The finish line is so, so sweet.
I am a confirmed BOP’er.
This doesn’t bother me a bit (though I’ll admit I was happy to not DFL for my age group, I’m sure it’s coming at some point, and that’s OK, someone has to DFL.) As I’ve said before, I’m firmly in the “Just Do It” crowd, and really only racing against myself and looking to have fun. Mission Accomplished! I figure I really get my money’s worth out of the race registrations. :-D However, it is a bit odd to see people finishing the bike leg as you’re getting out of your wetsuit…
You can do a sprint tri on a near empty stomach.
Though I don’t recommend this, it can be done. I yakked three freaking times before I left the house cause of the sinus issues, so by the start all I had in me was some gatorade and coffee. I pointed out to Chippy, “Two races with you, both times I’ve thrown up. I think it’s you.” (She ran w/ me at Quantico, the site of the infamous “puke & sprint” finish last fall.)
Screw swim time trials
Next time I have to submit an estimated swim time, I am just going to pick the worst swim pace I’ve had in the past 3 months.
You’re not the only one that can’t flip turn.
I was #344 – everyone went out in number order (or something close to it) so the really good swimmers were up front. We’re all watching and saying “Wow…look at all those flip turns…I can’t do that – can you?” “No.” “Thank god I’m not the only one!”
The dog has a love/hate relationship with race days, and is sadly unimpressed with my title of triathlete.
Seriously, he gets his nose all out of joint cause he knows I am headed out the door to run and do things and he’s not going along. However, when I get back, it’s “OMG, you came back! And you smell AWFUL!! I LOVE YOU! And now it’s nap time!”
Neighborhood tris are cool, cause lots of folks sit out in their driveways and cheer you on.
I don’t know how many time I said “Thank you for coming out today!!”, to the spectators – though my voice got smaller and smaller as the race went on. And to the volunteers. And the police department. The folks that set up the makeshift music stop with the car stereo were great.
Post tri refreshments are really good.
I don’t know if this is Va Run specific or a tri thing, but at the finish they had a wading pool filled with ice and SODAS. Given the choice between water, gatorade and an orange soda, the orange soda wins HANDS DOWN. Mmm, fizzy sugar.
It is super cool to see your brother, who is WAY more of a night owl that you even are, on seven different occasions on the course, and then finish and look up and see the folks you raced with, who finished waaay ahead of you, all waiting for you.
‘Nuff said.
There is no such thing as a typical triathlete.
All shapes and sizes, young and old, fast and slow. I saw someone on the run leg who was going on crutches. Holy cow. I cheered for him as I went by in the other direction. (He beat me quite handily, he was on the way back IN when I saw him on my way out on the run.)
DFL = Dead Fucking Last
BOP = Back Of the Pack
AG = Age Group (30-34 for me)
I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I managed to accomplish everything I wanted – finished in under 2 hours, broke an hour on the bike leg and despite my best attempts, didn’t drown on the swim. Total time 1:42:22 and the full race report is up.
Honestly, I think it was harder than the half marathon was and that went on for almost an hour longer. There just aren’t a lot of opportunities to take a breather in a tri the way you can on a run.
But it was totally, totally fun.
I will fully admit, the race prep process for a tri truly satisfies my inner dork. You’ve got all this gear and lists and figuring out how to have it all arranged and such. I’ve got the big transition bag (that you can fit a small body in) and then inside that, I’ve got a bag with “general” stuff and then a box that has the actual stuff I’ll need for transition – since the weather is looking a tad sketchy tomorrow I wanted to have something that I could keep stuff somewhat dry. That, and it’s all together and less likely to get accidentally kicked around as others are going in and out, and even if it is, with the top on, at least my stuff won’t go flying everywhere.
So, the box has bike gloves, body glide*, goggles*, hat, ipod*, race belt, shoes, socks, swim cap*, and a towel. Little bag has my camera, cell, wallet, spare sunglasses & socks, electrical tape, sharpies and first aid kit. Big transition bag has an outside pocket for my helmet and a water bottle. Dry clothes are smushed in on the sides of the bag, wetsuit on top, and there is just enough room for my camelbak once I get it filled up in the morning. The plan is to just keep stuffing things back in the big bag as I’m done w/them in the transitions. Hopefully it will work! Oh, and the camelbak has all my bike tools in it.
I put the sharpies to good use this evening and the top of the box now says, “Ten feet tall and bulletproof” – figure between that, the pink bike, and that race numbers are on the racks, I have at least half a chance in hell of seeing it before I trip over it or run past it.
The transition bag is really cool – everything fits perfectly – it is HUGE. Bag, box & clothes fit in it perfectly. Then the bottom unzips and expands and *woot* enough room for the wetsuit on top of the rest of it. So, once I get the box & wetsuit out, I can zip the bottom back up so it takes up less space. Best part, it was free with my wetsuit.
Good swag on this race – nice lightweight sweatshirt, 2 water bottles and some gels (which I should give to someone else cause I’ll never use them) – they were also selling raffle tickets (this race & the raffle is benefiting Special Olympics) and for $10 thrown their way, 10 raffle tix, a bag from last year (which is now the “inside” transition bag), a little towel and another water bottle. I give it a week and I won’t be able to locate any of the three bottles.
OK, off to bed, crack of dawn comes early – gun goes off at 6:45 AM.
*These are for the swim & before the race, but I want them right where I know where they are instead of floating around somewhere in the bottom of the bag.
Some general “fear of the unknown” issues with tomorrow’s race. Trying to just remember that everyone has a first tri and this one is mine, and to just treat it as a fun learning experience and that I’ll be so much more prepared for the rest of the season for it. But, EEP. Plus, there is a decent chance of rain, which will make it even more challenging.
Packet pickup today and they’re having a pre-race meeting at 1 – hopefully I can snag a little more insight somehow! Hopefully meeting up with some other BT’ers as well, maybe that will settle my nerves a bit. :)