So many kids, I don't know what to do.



Wednesday, August 10, 2011

It Was Hot

Sorry.  Not describing anything scandalous here.   Just a race recap.

I did the Bridgeland Tri on Sunday.  It was a sprint length tri, 500 m, 13.5, and 3.5.

I haven't raced since June what with the cruise and then signing up for the race in Vermont.  I was really looking forward to this race.  I wanted to knock it out of the park.  I wanted to beat this chick at practice who has been slacking off and telling me how it is hard to workout when she would rather sit on the couch with her new boyfriend.  I wanted to run 3.5 miles at a 9/mile pace.

Instead here is what happened.


We showed up early on Sunday after listening to the fishing report.  My group of loyal supporters was happy to be there.  Don't they look like it?  Body marking and transition were WAY backed up.  There was talk about delaying the start.  I got ticked.  I was already a bit miffed that all of the men's waves started before any of the women's.  Great.  I wanted to run in the searing heat.  My bike rack was the one furthest back.  Uhg.

I had to stop and remind myself I can not change the weather, or my bike placement, or the timing of the waves.  As I read in an Ironman's blog not long ago, "The only thing I have control over is my attitude."  I wish I could say I only had to remind myself of that once, but by the time I stood in an ant pile waiting for my swim wave to start I had already reminded myself multiple times.

I swam well.  My strategy was to start WAY left.  It added a couple of meters to my swim, but it kept me out of the "scrum" of swimmers and that was nice.  It was a straight swim course with no turn around which was also nice.  I was able to swim in the proper position without having to stick my head out of the water to check my position. My time was a whole minute faster than in practice last weekend.  Probably it was the best swim I have had this season.
Time -11:39, 16/54

My attitude was improving as I had one leg under my belt and I felt like if everything went well.  I felt I could make my A Goal time of 1:27:00.  I figured that time would put me in the top ten in my age group and assure that I beat the chick who was hanging out with her boyfriend!!  My bike sounded so much better than it had in the past since I had some minor repairs done.  The bike route was crowded.  There were a few instances of scary passing. At mile 8 I saw the chick pass me.  I wanted to keep her in my sights in case she had a rough run and I could still catch her.  I spent the next few miles really pushing myself to keep her in view.  By the time I finished only two people from my age group had passed me.  My A Goal was still within reach, but it was going to require the best run of my life!
Time - 41:17, 17/54 (19.6 mph)

 All summer I have been working on my running and finally it was beginning to pay off.  Conversely the week before the race I had run for crap.  It is Africa hot here and running in it is hellacious.  It's awful.  I tried to run in the heat about four times the week before the race.  I have to say that none of those times was I completely successful.
I started to run and my legs already hurt.  I figured I had gone out too hard on the bike.  I told myself to ignore it for 30 minutes and move on. I had heard a hard core triathlete from my team talking about how the pain just had to be ignored.  I was ready to try it.   Mile 1 - 9:29.  Mile 2 was through a nature trail.  I started sneezing and snorting and coughing.  Other people were losing time blessing me!!  I told myself to ignore it for 30 minutes and move on.  Mile 2 - 10:20.  I got discouraged.

Did I mention it was hot?  I am not using this as an excuse.  It was hot for everybody and many racers handled it much better than I did.  I am just saying....HOT.  I weight myself before the race.  After the race I drank two cans of Coke, a can of grapefruit juice, and half a bottle of water.  Then I weighed myself again. I was still down three pounds.  That is a lot of sweat!!


By mile 3 I had let the heat, the allergies, and all the people passing me affect me.  I slowed way down.  I walked a few steps.  Walking in a triathlon seems to do something to me mentally.  I felt totally defeated.  I walked a little more.  Mile 3 11:20.  By the time I got to the turn many ladies from my age group had passed me.  It is really hard to finish top ten when eleven people pass you on the run!  I did run the last .65 of a mile at a decent pace to finish that infernal inferno run.

Time: 40.14, 33/54 (10:52 pace)
Total: 1:35:17, 23/54


By the way...I did beat the chick with the new boyfriend.  She had two flats in the bike.   I feel bad for her.  She was having a good race.  I didn't want to beat her like that.  It doesn't exactly count.

You got any regrets lately?

(Side note - Wednesday morning I was scheduled to do a hard bike/run brick.  I ran a 8:35 mile.  That was the first time I had run under a 9 minute mile probably EVER.   Why didn't I do that on Sunday?)

6 comments:

  1. Everyone looks so thrilled to be up that early!

    Seriously, congratulations! You finished and beat I Heart My Boyfriend Girl. That's quite an accomplishment. Especially in this freaking heat.

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  2. Oh wow, that was intense, and even with all that brutal heat, you still pulled a respectable time!

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  3. You beat the heck out of me ... I was busy holding down the couch praising the Lord for air conditioning!

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  4. I am so impressed you made it through. The heat would have taken so much out of me.

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  5. You are my hero. I get a bad attitude when I get up in the morning and have a cramp in my calf.

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  6. Seriously, heat just sucks!! I think you did awesome considering the heat and allergies!!

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