Sunday May 18th, 2008
It’s 3:45 am and I go take a shower. My hotel room contains only a refrigerator, so my morning race meal consists of a slice of dry bread, one banana and 3 slices of turkey. I start drinking water and swallow one salt tablet. It’s a 15 minute walk to the park and transition closes at 5:45 so I need to move quickly. Kevin and I arrive at the park at 5:25 which is cutting it really close in my book. I get body marked first, since this is a requirement before I can enter the transition area. I grab my bike and then head over to the mechanic to get my tires inflated. I see Kevin has a pump so I head his way so he can help me. I then head back to my appointed bike spot and set-up my area. At 5:45 I run over to an area by the swim and grab my timing chip. Off to the restrooms to do the pee dance while waiting in line. They are reviewing the rules over the loud speaker and getting the Pro’s in the starting area since they start at 6 am. I head over to do a quick swim but as soon as I get in, it’s time to get out. Oh well. I watch the pro’s take off and go to find Kevin since I haven’t seen him since transition. I find him in the waiting area since his wave is going to be taking off soon. We go over some swim exercises, give each other hugs and kisses and wish each other good luck. Each wave was scheduled 4 minutes apart however they decide to have each wave go in 3 minutes increment. Good thing I was paying attention because my wave now starts at 6:15 instead of 6:21. I proceed to do a few more arm stretches and run in place for a minute.
This is my first triathlon where we start from the beach and run into the water. I am towards the middle of the pack but when our wave starts I let the girls behind me go ahead. I take it easy, get settled into my swim and start to site after 5-7 stokes. I take a big gulp of salt water, not pretty. I remind myself to stay calm and relaxed, and to swim with ease. I tuck in behind a girl who is in front of me and let her guide me to the turnaround point. People are going by me but none of them are swimming over me, which is a huge relief. They just move over to one side and continue on. At the turnaround point I get sandwiched between two swimmers, which puts me in a panic and a breast-stroke. It last only a minute until I can coerce myself to get back to the free-style stroke. This happens one other time and I again give myself another pep talk and keep moving forward. I am coming home and that is what is what is driving me. I debated about checking my swim time at mid-point but decided against it. I am glad I didn’t because I believe it would have thrown me off. I am out of the water and my time shows 38 and change. OMG…I just swam in 38 minutes. I am excited since I anticipated 45 minutes.
I run with ease through the transition area, maybe even slower than I should of. Oh look being a slow swimmer has its advantages. On my side of the rack my bike sits alone. Now I don’t have to fumble around, I can grab my bike with ease. I put on my hat and glasses and then grab my bike and head out of transition. My shoes are already on my bike which saves me some time. I didn’t practice this but I did visualize this the night before so that counts for something. I’m on my bike but I let up on my right foot and my shoe starts to drag because I am not in it yet, oops, don’t panic…I can fix this…fixed.
I have a very specific bike plan which I plan to follow. I turn on my power-tap which is about a ¼ mile late. Oh well. My heart rate is about 5-6 beats lower than my goal so I pick up the pace. I can’t put into words how this part of the race felt. It was so surreal and fairy tale like and unlike anything I imagined or experienced. Side note-The race officials cautioned the athletes that penalties would be given if the rules were not followed. No drafting is allowed and you must be 3 bike lengths apart. Pass on our left. They have these big burly men with tattoos riding on motorcycle bikes. They have the refs on their backs taking numbers down to issue penalties. Crazy, I haven’t experienced this before. I continue to bring my numbers up and then hold for 10 minutes. I am passing other bikers. I was passed by a few men but that is it. I hit the turnaround point and one lady passes me as I am in a wrong gear going up a tiny incline. This is where the fun begins. There are three of us total, a man, and my lady in blue who stick together as neither of us plans to give up our position. We all are passing other bikers and each taking the lead at one point or another for the next 13 miles. The fun part was it was all within my HR zone, I committed no crimes here. Now here is where I make a small error. I was to bring my hr up another 10 beats for the last few miles. As I start to do this, I see race officials guiding me back into the park. I have to slow down some as there are about 5 speed bumps ahead. My power tap shows 22.4 miles, how the heck do I make an error like this? Oh well…keep going. I get off my bike and proceed to run with my bike shoes on. This feels foreign and I don’t like it. I see my lady in blue pulled over to the side taking her shoes off so I do the same so I can sprint to the bike rack. My husband greets me as I get off my bike and says nice job. He has followed me to the run transition and proceeds to ask me how the swim felt. I mumble fine. He then asks about the bike, again I mumble fine. He tells me great job and to have a great run. Now I am very appreciative of the support he offered me but it throws me off a bit. My goal was to put socks/shoes on and grab hat/race belt and head out to the run. Instead I find myself putting on my hat, than getting socks/shoes on. I do however grab the belt and take off.
I love running, always have and always will. I focus on being relaxed and to maintain good posture for my first mile. I have my flask which contains two gels mixed with water. Side note- practice drinking water while running. I failed miserably today. The first time I got a drop of water and wore the rest on my face. The second time I only got a small gulp. While on my first loop, I develop this terrible side ache which lasted a few minutes. All I can think of is the pain. I try to think of something else but I fail miserably. I finally work thru it and life is good again. I really need to find out what causes this so I can do my best to avoid these all together. I have Ace of Base melody, “the sign “playing in my head now. It’s a peppy song and that is what I need right now. I struggle with keeping my hr against plan because I am hot. Long story short but I have a bad sun burn and the hot sun beating down on me is killing me. I feel like there is a magnifying glass upon me. I look forward to some shady spots ahead. I am only off by a few beats so I shouldn’t worry too much. Okay, back to my water dilemma. I come to my second loop and grab some water; it goes down my air pipes. I start coughing and I have to slow down a bit. This is crazy, what am I a newbie. I take my last sip of gel a ways down and I stop and walk at the next water station so I can actually drink some water. I get back into a run and focus on getting into a rhythm. I bypass the last water station since I am headed to the finish line. I pick up my HR a few beats and I now running with 2 guys. One drops off and the other continues to run with me. I hear him say good luck and then he stops and walks because of leg cramps. I have .75 miles left. I get passed by a girl at half mile and I wait until I believe I am a quarter mile away and go into a full sprint, thus passing her. I hear the announcer guy say that it’s going to be a battle and who is it going to be. I believe that he is talking about the girl I just passed so I proceed to run faster. I sprint across the finish line. I turn in my chip and grab a Gatorade. Oh wait time check please…I see 2 hours 47 minutes. Kevin congratulates me and says nice job…way to push it. He says I did 3:02 in which I look at him wide-eyed and with the biggest cheesiest grin ever I say nope, I think I just did 2: 47. I show him my watch and he can’t believe it, heck I can’t believe it.
Here is what I do know. There were 25 girls in my age group. I was the 22nd girl out of the water. I came in 3rd place with my bike and 11th place for my run to earn myself an 8th place finish for my AG. This is by far my favorite race because its fun and I topped 10. If you asked me about specific spots on the bike, I would have no idea. I could however give you details of what some of the athletes were wearing, specifically the two I hung out with. The run, this is where I savored the day and focused on having fun. I took in all the sites around me and marveled in the day’s beauty.
I later learned the announcer was talking about the girl ahead of me who came in 3 seconds faster and claimed the 7th place AG spot. Next time:)
Swim -22-38:45 -2:35
T1-2:22
Bike-3 -1:06:56 -22.4
T2- 1:50
Run-11 - 55:48 - 9:00
Time- 2:45:40
Nutrition:
Bike-1 bottle of carb pro/eload and half bottle of water
Run – 2 gels
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Prep Days prior to Honolulu Triathlon
I arrive in Honolulu on Thursday night around 10 pm. Flight is etremely long and I am super exhausted. My hubby picked me up, we head for a quick bite and then off to bed, it’s now 11:30 pm.
A friend of ours lent us their bike boxes for this trip, in which I am extremely grateful for. My friend helps me pack my bike since Kevin is already in Hawaii on business (okay I watched). In packing the front tire I noticed that it definitely needs replacement. It will have to wait till I get to Honolulu.
It’s Friday morning and I call my step-dad in-law to see what was on his agenda is for the day. Kevin has business to attend to so I am on my own for most of the day. Rusty is taking a walk in the nearby vicinity while Kevin and I are having coffee. I end up leaving with Rusty since he offers to take me to the bike shop. So there I am off to run errands. The only 650 tire the bike shop carries are a Gatorskin tire which work out perfectly. I also purchase some CO2 cartridges to pump up my tires, since neither Kevin nor I packed a tire pump. Off to the grocery store and then finally back to my hotel to put my bike together. It’s already 1 in the afternoon, not a lot of time left in the day. It’s now time to put the bike together. OMG, the back tire is shot. I am mad at myself that I didn’t check this prior but I also didn’t know that I would be running errands in the am, so can’t be too mad at myself. Hmmm, I will need to see if I can get another ride to the shop for another tire. My window for my long bike ride is getting shorter. My husband and I decide to go for quick 15-20 minute swim to see how the water feels. The water temp feels great but the salt was killing me. Off to Rusty’s hotel to get our errands started. It’s mandatory to attend a race briefing prior to getting race packets and lucky for the participants they are scheduled every hour. We get there just as one is beginning, how perfect is this. No joke, it’s in another language. Another participant asks if they will be speaking English and she kindly says no, She mentions the slides are in English so that should suffice, so we stay. It is dinner time so we grab our friends and head to dinner. No time for a bike ride. I am pretty exhausted so we head back to the hotel and am in bed by 8:45 pm.
It’s a beautiful Saturday morning. Prior to doing our swim and run workouts we decide to go eat breakfast. It’s a 15 minute walk to the park from our hotel so this is plenty of time to let the food settle and find spots by the water to put our belongings. It’s hot outside. My schedule says a 30 minute run below my AET. Kevin is laughing at me because of how slow my run is and he expresses his concern that at that pace I might not finish. I ask what pace I am at since he has the Garmin watch and he proceeds to run at my pace which are 12:20 min miles. My long runs should be at 11:16 so yes this is slow. I can only imagine the heat is driving up my heart rate up. We head over to the water where the buoys are all set up and oh boy……..that is the longest mile of buoys I have ever seen. Here’s the truth. Swimming is not a strong skill that I possess. Swimming sets off all these emotions which come over me like a tidal wave. Panic and fear take over each and every time. I especially don’t like the feeling of being swum over, which happens to me often since I am a slow swimmer. I CAN swim, I do it in the pool 2-3 times a week yet it’s different than open water. Today I imagine I am in a large salty pool with happens to have no pool lanes. I plan to swim out for 15 minutes and then turn around and come back. I was all over the place. I was way out to the right so I would correct myself and then I would find myself way over to the left. This was ongoing and a little scary. I need a game plan, how about every 6 strokes I site. Better, much better. My return trip took 5 minutes longer, not a good sign but nothing I can do about it. We head back to the hotel where I read a book on the patio and Kevin takes a nap. We head over to the park to drop off our bikes and then we plan to head off to an early dinner. While getting ready for dinner I notice that I am completely burnt and it hurts. We set-up for race day and decide to go to bed at 9 pm.
Midnight Kevin calls my name and I answer. I ask what time it is and I am annoyed at the time. Neither of us can sleep. I am unable to sleep because of my sunburn and I still can’t believe how burnt I am. I go back to bed as I have to get up at 3:45 am.
A friend of ours lent us their bike boxes for this trip, in which I am extremely grateful for. My friend helps me pack my bike since Kevin is already in Hawaii on business (okay I watched). In packing the front tire I noticed that it definitely needs replacement. It will have to wait till I get to Honolulu.
It’s Friday morning and I call my step-dad in-law to see what was on his agenda is for the day. Kevin has business to attend to so I am on my own for most of the day. Rusty is taking a walk in the nearby vicinity while Kevin and I are having coffee. I end up leaving with Rusty since he offers to take me to the bike shop. So there I am off to run errands. The only 650 tire the bike shop carries are a Gatorskin tire which work out perfectly. I also purchase some CO2 cartridges to pump up my tires, since neither Kevin nor I packed a tire pump. Off to the grocery store and then finally back to my hotel to put my bike together. It’s already 1 in the afternoon, not a lot of time left in the day. It’s now time to put the bike together. OMG, the back tire is shot. I am mad at myself that I didn’t check this prior but I also didn’t know that I would be running errands in the am, so can’t be too mad at myself. Hmmm, I will need to see if I can get another ride to the shop for another tire. My window for my long bike ride is getting shorter. My husband and I decide to go for quick 15-20 minute swim to see how the water feels. The water temp feels great but the salt was killing me. Off to Rusty’s hotel to get our errands started. It’s mandatory to attend a race briefing prior to getting race packets and lucky for the participants they are scheduled every hour. We get there just as one is beginning, how perfect is this. No joke, it’s in another language. Another participant asks if they will be speaking English and she kindly says no, She mentions the slides are in English so that should suffice, so we stay. It is dinner time so we grab our friends and head to dinner. No time for a bike ride. I am pretty exhausted so we head back to the hotel and am in bed by 8:45 pm.
It’s a beautiful Saturday morning. Prior to doing our swim and run workouts we decide to go eat breakfast. It’s a 15 minute walk to the park from our hotel so this is plenty of time to let the food settle and find spots by the water to put our belongings. It’s hot outside. My schedule says a 30 minute run below my AET. Kevin is laughing at me because of how slow my run is and he expresses his concern that at that pace I might not finish. I ask what pace I am at since he has the Garmin watch and he proceeds to run at my pace which are 12:20 min miles. My long runs should be at 11:16 so yes this is slow. I can only imagine the heat is driving up my heart rate up. We head over to the water where the buoys are all set up and oh boy……..that is the longest mile of buoys I have ever seen. Here’s the truth. Swimming is not a strong skill that I possess. Swimming sets off all these emotions which come over me like a tidal wave. Panic and fear take over each and every time. I especially don’t like the feeling of being swum over, which happens to me often since I am a slow swimmer. I CAN swim, I do it in the pool 2-3 times a week yet it’s different than open water. Today I imagine I am in a large salty pool with happens to have no pool lanes. I plan to swim out for 15 minutes and then turn around and come back. I was all over the place. I was way out to the right so I would correct myself and then I would find myself way over to the left. This was ongoing and a little scary. I need a game plan, how about every 6 strokes I site. Better, much better. My return trip took 5 minutes longer, not a good sign but nothing I can do about it. We head back to the hotel where I read a book on the patio and Kevin takes a nap. We head over to the park to drop off our bikes and then we plan to head off to an early dinner. While getting ready for dinner I notice that I am completely burnt and it hurts. We set-up for race day and decide to go to bed at 9 pm.
Midnight Kevin calls my name and I answer. I ask what time it is and I am annoyed at the time. Neither of us can sleep. I am unable to sleep because of my sunburn and I still can’t believe how burnt I am. I go back to bed as I have to get up at 3:45 am.
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