I'm hooked. Completely and totally hooked.
The Lake Logan Sprint Triathlon was AWESOME.
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Background: I went with my friends Hannah and Chad, and some SMR friends (Rick and Keila) had signed up too. I borrowed a road bike from my friend Tim, who was nice enough to not only loan me the bike, but to also put pedals that would work with my shoes and give it a proper tune up. This would be my 3rd time on a road bike. (The Friday before the race was my 2nd time, I trialed the roads and did 11.55 miles in 50 minutes.) I have done two "hard" swim workouts this year, and about 5-6 total swim workouts. (About 8 in the last 10 years total - a blessing in disguise, being "forced" to swim as a child.) And the running you probably know... I have run 6 times in the last 6 weeks - two of those being races. But I'm still in decent shape with all the mountain biking and running in the previous months.
So. Race day. My mom had so lovingly agreed to join for support, knowing it meant a 4:45 wake-up time. (My mom rocks.) We got there and it was foggy and beautiful. It was dawn - about 6:10am when we parked the car. The lake looked as smooth as glass. The atmosphere had a swim meet quality. It was friendly and busy and happy. It reminded me of a group of people who were old friends, who came together for something they loved. I guess that's the actuality too. We parked and I got all my various gear together. We parked on the opposite side of the river and walked across the bridge to the transition area. As we exited the lot, I heard the familiar voice of Hannah. She and Chad had just got all their gear together, and we walked over together, alive with the buzz of adventure - the feeling of trying something new, putting yourself out there, and knowing a good time would be had either way. There is something so fabulous about being with amazing people, in such a beautiful setting, preparing to physically exhaust themselves by choice, with a huge smile the whole time. It's spirit.
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I set up my station. I rolled my socks into my bike shoes (with cornstarch), loosened my running shoes, taped my gel blocks and gloves to my bike handles, put my helmet on the handlebars, and put my bike in the correct gear. I put my inhaler in my bike shorts pocket, folded up my towel on the dewy grass, ensured my drink was placed in the bike holder, set out my cap and goggles, put an extra hair tie on the bike handlebars, and set out my hat. Bike number on bike tube, helmet number on, number pinned to shirt to put on before running. Check, check, check.
Next was the timing chip and marking station. (And I must admit, I felt really badass having my number Sharpied on my arms and legs.) Left ankle, timing chip, bilateral arms and quads - race number, right calf, age. Ok. Age! What a great thing to be able to see as the 45-year-old women FLY by you on the bike. Seriously. (Mental thought: Oh no, it's fine, she's not in my age group, but DANG, look at her leg muscles. Maybe I'll be a badass in 15 years too.) Anyways, back to the story. I'm chipped, marked, organized, half-dressed, and cold. My toes are numb in this beautiful morning dew. I learned today that shivering uses 500% more oxygen by the heart than being warm. 500%! Glad I didn't know that Sunday.So I found Rick. Keila had injured her leg at a race series and was unable to come. I hated to miss her (and hate she's injured) but it was fabulous to see Rick. I compared stations with Hannah. We ran over equipment, shared anxiety and excitement, took some pictures. Mom found a great spectator spot, became official photographer of the day, and pulled out the camping chair. What dedication.
So we pulled on the cap and grabbed the goggles. We headed across the bridge to the swim start. Hannah and I were wave three. Chad was wave 2, and I believe Rick was wave 1. We had 4 minutes between waves. We waded in the water. Some people warmed up. We chatted instead. The cool morning made the water feel great. It reperfused our toes. (My Grandpa, having had boy scouts at Camp Daniel Boone, warned me of the frigid water temperatures. We were lucky that it was actually 75 degrees!)
I missed Rick getting in, but wave 1 entered the water. The horn sounded, they were off. "Wave 2, enter the water." We told Chad good luck. Horn sounded. We filed across the dock, waiting for our turn to enter. "Wave 3, enter the water." Good luck Hannah! Jump in... hey - not too cold, but it still took my breath. I had never done an open water swim. I went to the front, terrified of being kicked. 1 1/2 minutes. 1 minute, 30 seconds. This treading water was making me nervous too! 10 second countdown. Horn sounded.
My strategy was to stay as straight as possible. Straight for the first buoy. The people kind of fell away. I looked up periodically to check my location. Ok, buoy still there. Then the mental thought "Crap! Am I going to get tangled up in some buoy-holding rope and drown?" Anxiety ridden, I was breathing every stroke for a while - which is unlike me. I'm a 3-5er. I turned the first corner and there was a girl to my right, swimming even with me. She had been right behind me the entire first straight-away. I wanted her to go first; I didn't like someone right behind me so I let her go ahead. Second turn - now just straight to the dock. I noticed I looked up about every 10 strokes. It felt too often, so I started trying to go to 25. I made it to 15 once. I wanted to keep checking. (I'm sure made the swim slower, but hey, I didn't run into anyone or veer off course too far, so that's good!) The last 100 meters or so, we caught up with some wave 2 folks. It got a little congested under the bridge, as well as about 10 degrees colder where the river entered the lake. This took my breath a bit more. I skirted around people and made my way to the dock. Okay, arms pull me up and ...... Crap! I can't get on the freaking dock! I flopped over onto my side (I'm sure looking fabulous). Mom said it looked pretty funny later. Okay. Swim - check. Now I had to run from the dock, down the grass to the back of the transition station to get my bike.
I was short of breath, so I didn't rush too much at the station. Bike shorts on, socks and shoes on, swig of water. Inhaler in pocket. Helmet on and fastened. Run with bike to mounting line. Ahhhh! This is a blast!!!
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Mounted bike, and was off. Well, as off as I could be. The bike portion was my Everest here. It started out uphill. I went slowly - one to catch my breath and two because it was hard! I kept pushing. The downhills (I think) are one place cyclist gain speed, but I'm not too comfortable going super fast, because I'm just not used to it. It was a beautiful course though - rolling hills and farmland. I was surprised how few people were around me, knowing this was a race of almost 200 people. A lot of people passed me. I didn't really mind though. I pushed as hard as I could, but tried to remember to conserve energy for the run. I had my gatorade/green tea/honey mixed drink. (It was not good.) Then I kind of freaked myself out thinking of the 3 cups of coffee earlier that day, then green tea. I didn't want to have a heart attack. (Like I needed more adrenaline. Geez. Sometimes I feel this is the blog inside the head of an extremely anxious person. Hell, that's probably why I love running. Whatever.) I passed one girl. Just one, but hey, that's okay. It was pretty fun, but I was excited when I knew we were on that final downhill back to the transition stations. I hopped off my bike at the dismount line and ran it down the road, into the transition station to do my favorite - running!!!.JPG)
Transition station went pretty smooth. I racked my bike, switched shoes, grabbed my shirt and had and off I went (struggling to put shirt over head and run simultaneously).
Ahhh, the run. How fun, how great, how... Crap. I'm EXHAUSTED. About 1/10 mile in, I realized how tired I was. I told myself I should have demolished that disgusting drink. Hey though, this is my favorite part. I decided to enjoy it, and try to run the whole way, even if it was slow. I crossed the bridge and there was Rick! I shared my feelings, with a smile. "Holy crap Rick, I'm exhausted!" (I become very eloquent when hypoglycemic.) He (I believe) was feeling good. He seemed to be running well. We chatted a bit - then I continued on. Hey - there's Hannah! We chatted too. I again, shared my feelings, oh so eloquently. She was encouraging as always. I hopefully encouraged back (I was in my own world, I think I did) and continued on. My head told me, "Just keep running. Just keep running. Slow down a little if you need to - just keep running. If you walk, you may not be able to start again". At the 1 mile mark, the aid station had some water - or so I thought. I took a sip, and I don't know what it really was (tea, powerade?), but it was not what I was wanting at the time. Hey - only two more miles! (Aww! I hate it's almost over!) Doo de doo. 1.5 mile turnaround - now the best part, a slight downhill the whole way back! My shin was alright, but my right knee was hurting. Ugh that right knee. What to do? I just tuned it out and kept pushing. I felt like I was just jogging though. Like 8:15 pace or so. (Turns out, it was under 7:30) With about 1/2 mile left, I got that end of the race feeling. I pretended like I had been running only, and had a good kick left. This lasted about 12 steps. Oh well. Just keep up a pace. I was breathing way too fast as it was. Last turn - I can see the finish line! I didn't speed up though, just kept the pace. A guy shot past me - I encouraged him - and kept plugging away. Ahh, BEEP, through the last timing chip chirp. .JPG)
Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe. I was handed a water, used the inhaler, got my chip cut off, walked around the gate and there came Hannah! Woo-hoo!!!! Chad walked over - he had already finished too! In came Rick! Yay! Great race!!! We caught our breath, mom came over, and I don't even know what was said. I think I gushed about how fun it was, but it may have been how hard it was. I don't remember. We took more pictures. Hung around and absorbed the experience. I had some watermelon and cantaloupe, as well as a turkey and cheese sandwich from the sponsors.
We stayed for awards. Rick won his age group! I got 3rd, and Hannah got a very close 4th - making us perfect training partners. We all had a blast - I can't stop looking at pictures.
My times were as follows:
Swim: 5 00:11:26 T1: 00:01:46 Bike: 41 00:50:57 T2: 00:01:24 Run: 13 00:23:21 Total: 01:28:52
I miss Sunday. I had Guster lyrics in my head, "I wish tomorrow was like today." I am officially hooked. I can't wait to find another one. I am definitely doing this one next year - it was so beautiful. I hated it was over so quickly - I may do the international distance that's on Saturday in 2011.All in all, if you can't tell, this was epic. (In the words of a friend.) The people, the experience, the atmosphere, the setting. All epic. (And highly recommended to all.) Epic.
