Gator Bait Olympic - 6/21/14 - Boerne, TX - Race Summary:
Overall time - 3:45:18
WEATHER: Fantastic for racing, it was overcast the entire day. Funny thing is about an hour after the race the sun broke.
SWIM: Upon arrival they informed us the water was cool enough for wetsuits. I still have yet to buy a wetsuit and who would have thought it would be cool in June in Texas. However, maybe a wetsuit would have helped me out.
A short history lesson - almost 2 years ago I had back surgery and have a fair amount of nerve damage in my left leg, this can result in severe cramping during over use.
This was a time trial swim start so we started individually and with just over 100 people doing the Olympic distance you didn't have to worry about anyone beating you up or running into you. I was ready for the swim, had high hopes of improving my time from last year. I walked in over the rocks and started to swim - BAM - just like that complete leg cramp. Normally when swimming I don't get a leg cramp until 2000 yds and it's usually in my calf, but on this Saturday it was my entire leg. Tried several times to work it out but each time I would start freestyle it would cramp up again. So I did a lot of modified breast stroke and side stroke dragging my left leg behind me. It was moments like this that I realize why my training plan has other swim strokes incorporated (Thanks Krista).
At the first buoy one of the safety kayaker came over to ask if I was ok - at that moment I thought about quitting! But I just told him that today the swim was not going my way and he told me no worries you got this, the bike and run will be better! Ok Mr Kayaker I'll believe you and move on.
I thought for sure this would be my longest swim ever but I was not the last one out of the water, I passed people and my swim was about 30 seconds faster than last year, when I did all freestyle. So I'm hopeful in July I'll be able to do all freestyle and see more improvement.
BIKE: When exiting the water, the hubby knew I was upset - I could not even smile for him just a quick wave and quietly mumbled the words "cramp."
But I had to turn my attitude around, I could make up time on the bike, I love the bike. This was a tough course with a crazy climb they called "Heartbreak Hill" and I was a bit intimidated but I have been training hard on the bike and I was looking forward to this.
I was moving quickly, working up to the big gear - at mile 3.....pshhhhhhhhh - ARE YOU KIDDING ME - I look down, rear tire is flat and I hear the rim hitting. Mother F-er -these tubes are brand news! Now I'm upset and thinking no way. All I can do is pull over and start to change the tire- the adrenaline is going and I'm upset and ticked off and again I thought about quitting! It took me about 10 minutes to change the tire and those people that I passed on the swim have now passed me. I hop back on the bike and figured worse thing that could happen is someone tells me I'm taking too long and need to stop. But I started to refocus and realize that it's a bad day and I would make the most of it...what else could go wrong......when I got to "Heartbreak Hill" I'm working through the gears as the climb gets steeper and I drop the chain....the bad luck just keeps coming. Hop off the bike, again, and get the chain back on, at this point I know I can't get back on and climb because of how steep it is so I walk the bike up the hill and hop back on once again.
At some point I realize that my bike odometer doesn't seem to be correct, I assume the sensor has gotten knocked off or spaced too far but I'm not getting off the bike again to fix it. I figure I have my watch and it should be tracking my time and distance....well that information doesn't seem correct either. So I'm kind of racing blind, but I was able to repass a couple of folks which made me feel a bit better.
When I make it back to transition and see the hubby and tell him I got a flat. he can tell it was more than the tire that was deflated.
RUN: OK I only have 6 miles to run, nobody has told me to get off the course and there are others around me so I keep going. The run is 2 loops on a dam and then a straight shot to the finish line. On the run I realize I'm not as far back as I think I am. I'm running slow but pass a few people and talk to a few others that are feeling as rough as I am.
I can now see the finish line and a young lady holding the American flag says "you are almost there, finish strong." Yea, she is right, so I pick up my pace a bit run through the finish, get my medal and there just like always is my wonderful hubby with a smile on his face and says you did it!
NUTRITION: I'm glad the weather was not bad because I was not very good at fluid or food intake. So I need to really focus on that area.
SUMMARY: Overall there was a lot that went wrong but despite that I still had a good race and despite feelings of wanting to quit, I didn't and that is what I'm most proud of. There is so much more to triathlon than swim, bike and run, there is a huge mental game that you have to learn to handle and this was just an Olympic distance.
Despite all the issues, I did take almost 30 minutes off my time from last years Olympic distance race, I made improvement on the bike (really) and run.
As I'm typing this I'm a bit sore but overall feel petty good and will be ready to return to training tomorrow morning and I'm very happy that I did not give in to those "quit" moments because that would have created far more disappointment!
Comments
Post a Comment