race report - Lifetime Indoor Tri

I entered this race because it was something new and different, and if you know me, something I haven't tried before usually = something I should try, particularly when it's related to running and multisport. It's been a while since I've done a tri, so I kind of wanted to check in with myself and see what kind of tri shape I'm in. Plus, it was only $30 and I got a cool hat.

Change of pace from the trusty event t-shirt!

Lifetime Fitness is a nice place - probably the nicest gym I've ever been in. I don't even want to know how much it would cost to be a member there. My gym serves its purpose well, there's always an open lane in the pool (BIG issue with my old gym!), and I like paying a no-frills cost for a no-frills gym. Still though....I was drooling a little over the fancy cafe, towel service, indoor waterslide and TWO huge hot tubs with waterfalls pouring into them.

A volunteer walked me to the locker room (thank God, 'cuz that place was enormous), where I changed into my swimsuit and went to the pool, where the previous wave was already swimming. People were all friendly and it was a very fun, low-key, non-competitive type of event. I noticed that someone had gu and I had a total Homer Simpson moment. DOH. I'm always starving after I swim, and in a tri, I ALWAYS have a gel post-swim to stave that off. I had forgotten all about that. I hoped the gatorade I'd brought would suffice. My wave was all girls and one guy. We talked about running and he was pretty impressed that I was doing this the day after a 12.5 mile run. He pointed to a guy in one lane and said he looked like a good runner. I agreed - tall, lanky, skinny - and he didn't put his face in the water the entire swim! Definitely not a swimmer, so all signs pointed to runner.

We got in the pool, gasped and complained about how cold it was (FREEZING!) and did some warm-up laps. The whistle blew, and we had ten minutes to swim as many laps as we could. I had a goal of 18 (450 yards.) There was a giant digital clock on one end of the pool. I realized that nerves must get the best of me during a swim, because I was having trouble breathing that gave me flashbacks to previous races. I did the best I could to get it under control and pretend like I was just swimming laps at the gym, no biggie. I hit 225 just as the clocked clicked 5:00. YES. But even just ten minutes in a pool can be tiring and I started to wind down a little. I hit 17 with just over 20 seconds left, and I knew I couldn't swim an entire pool length in that time, but I decided to go for the half lap and went all out until the whistle blew again. I was well over halfway to the wall.

I saw later that they did give me credit for 18 laps, so I did, too. :)

We had ten minutes to change and get to the spin room (thank God, they had signs.) I wore a swimsuit and did a complete change to a shirt and tri shorts. The awkward thing about that is that a woman left her two little girls sitting on a bench (with crayons and books) while she went to take a shower, and they were watching me strip and try to yank tri shorts over my white ass. Eeek.

In the bike room, we joined the previous group already in progress. Runner-not-swimmer-guy was spinning so fast his legs were a blur. They had two big screens where they were showing a video of a bike race, which I soon found out was in Leadville, where my running buddy is doing a marathon!! After seeing the hills they were biking on, I decided that she is INSANE. We could put the resistance on whatever we wanted, and after some playing, I found a level that seemed to be one where it was a pretty easy effort and I could spin fast without being out of control, while optimizing my speed....which the computer said hovered around 50 mph. I got a gooood laugh out of that one. I also felt a little miserable - I'm used to spin class in a room with giant fans blowing on me, and this room had no fans, so it was a little warm. I was also, as I feared, HUNGRY. I spotted bananas, bottles of water, and granola bars and asked a volunteer if I had to stop if I wanted a granola bar. She was nice enough to bring me a peanut butter chocolate one, which I gratefully tore into!

My bike computer read 24.5 at the end of a half hour. Haha.

We had to do a 20 minute treadmill run last. Runner guy was FLYING. They weren't done with their 20 minute run yet and I tried to sneak a glance at his machine. I was pretty sure it read 3 point something. People in my wave weren't going super fast, but it's SO hard to tell on a treadmill. It's really hard to be competitive when you don't know what you're competing against. I remembered about 2 minutes in that I hate running on a treadmill. I played with the speed a lot, trying to stick with 6 point something but going down to 6.0 for a minute or so a couple of times for a break, trying to just stick it out. My caves tightened up like crazy, probably because they had carried me for 12 miles 24 hours ago. I had a goal of 2.25, but only managed to get 2.15 by ramping up the speed at the end.

All in all, it was fun - a different sort of race for sure, when you literally just have to do the best you can do with no knowledge of how you'll fare in the results (and I'm really very ok with where I am in the results - top third overall and 5th place out of all women!)  The bike was particularly insane since it was so far off from a real bike. I had a bike goal of 9 miles going in, based on how I can do on a REAL bike. Instead, it turned into a how-fast-can-I-spin session. I was a little disappointed that my run wasn't better, since I've done better during speed workouts lately, but I'm not a sprinter. I'd much rather do a long, slower effort than a short, fast one. And, well, the day after a long run isn't a good day for speedwork for anyone!

Not something to take uber seriously, but I think I'm in a good place to do well in the shorter tris I'm eyeballing, and it made a good training day to fit into my 140.6 plan!

Lifetime Indoor Tri results

I can't figure out the scoring. There were 70 people, so the scoring should go from 1-70, but it goes 7-76. And they "adjusted" some of the bike miles (including mine) because some computers were reading faster than others. I guess these are "grain of salt" type of numbers, but I'm good with how I did.

Swim: 18 lengths (technically I was still about 10 feet or so from the wall when time was up, but they gave it to me) - 51 points

Bike: 21 miles (??) - 69 points (8th overall on the bike!)

Run: 2.15 miles - 36 points (this was the day after my long run, so my legs were a bit fed up with me at this point!)

Final score: 156 points, 20/70 overall, 5/41 women

Recap to come!

possibilities....

Ironman 70.3 Muncie  Saturday, July 7, 2012

Rev3 Cedar Point 140.6  Sunday, September 9, 2012

Totally doable, right??? 'Cuz if the world's gonna end, I'm gonna cross those two off my list first!!

I almost would've been doing a triathlon right now

...and it is 39 degrees. Holy crap. I can run in this, no prob - matter of fact, I'd love to be running in this. Swimming in it would be COLD, even with a wetsuit. Biking in this would be cold, and biking and running in this with wet hair?? Brrr. I'm sure it can be done - I used to have the same fear of running in snow, and now I love it - but I'm ok with not trying today. I'm not a fan of cold weather anyway, and I feel like I haven't had time yet to get used to the cold now upon us. Not that I have to - yet - I hear it's supposed to make its way back up into the 70's this week.

I'm being a wee bit lazy this weekend. Well, not lazy, just re-prioritizing. We have/had so much to get done around the house and I'm making that, and QT with the husband, top priority. Plus, this injury is really bugging me mentally and it helps to have my mind elsewhere. I did go to the gym yesterday, out of obligation, but it kind of sucked. I hate the eliptical. It doesn't feel as effective as running, it's repetitive, and the bouncing gives me a headache. My calf started to tighten up on it and I thought, hell no, I am NOT re-aggravating this injury for an elliptical workout. Made it through 10 minutes on the stationary bike before that drove me crazy. Ran one lap on the track (little over .1 mile) and it still hurt. Did some strength training and that was a bit more fun.

I may go for a bike ride today, but I'm doing it as I feel like it and if I get other stuff done. I'm just not really motivated to work out, and I know that will pass because I'm not like most people. That's not my natural state, or if it used to be, it hasn't been for the past few years. I have too much nervous energy that builds up.

I know I'm allowed to run, and I think that's the worst of it. *I* have to be the one to sideline myself, and I am, because I know that the more I run, the longer it will take before I'm running without pain. Obviously I can, and have, run through a lot, but this time it's enough of the ouch that it completely distracts me from the enjoyment I get out of running.

I guess it's a good thing, though. I'm making plans for what workouts I will do in order to NOT run this week, and then I'm going to attempt the 5k next Saturday. The good thing is that I'm still allowed to do such a thing. I'm not going to attempt to blow my PR out of the water, as was the original plan; I'm going to attempt to run a 5k for a good cause, enjoy it, and do the best I can under the circumstances.

Trying to focus on the positives here...and the other is that I am getting better. I've learned that intense calf stretching is NOT the way to handle this injury, and moving around, massaging it, keeping it loose is better. A lot of the gastroc tightness is gone. When I ran, it was different than before - before, I was dragging a stiff leg, now, I'm running on an ouchie one. The PTT stuff is intermittent, but much better. The soleus muscle pain is what wants to stick around, but I'm having some pretty good, pain-free moments with that. I'm hoping that I can manage to get this thing gone with minimal trouble if I just keep being nice to it. Hopefully, now that I have shoes that don't overstress it, it will stay gone.

I keep reminding myself that the happy thing is that I ran a marathon. That was my ultimate, forsaking-all-others goal for the year. If I had to sacrifice some running/PRing in the aftermath, so be it. Doesn't make it fun, but so be it.

I'm still madly jealous of all my peers who are back to running and planning their next races while I take it one day at a time over here. So this is the point where, again, I have to get very focused on myself and do what's right for me. I generally tend to know that when I don't get distracted.

And I will stay cautiously optimistic about the Cincinnati half marathon, even though that will have to be a last-minute signup and another just for fun race.

Next year will be the year of the PR!!

Cincinnati Triathlon - race report

Let me tell you why I did this race: this was me overcoming fear. I think I've mentioned before, I'm a little afraid of deep water. In my carefree college study abroad years, I had a bad experience with a riptide off a secluded beach when my friends and I were not exactly sober. Since then, water that's not in a pool and especially water that isn't still is not my friend. Don't even ask how I embarrassed myself snorkeling on my honeymoon.

Anyway.....

So honestly, I chose this to be my first Oly because I figured there's nothing scarier to swim in than the Ohio River. (Not 100% true, but I seriously doubt I'll ever be mentally able to do a tri with an ocean swim. And there's no ocean for hundreds of miles anyway.) The downside of this race is that it was pricey pricey, and run by a company from Tuscon. Their lack of familiarity was obvious when they thought it was a good idea to have packet pickup (mandatory) the day before, at Sawyer Point, the day of a Reds game. First of all, finding it was difficult, and there was nowhere to park that didn't cost $10. Fortunately, my husband drove around while I got the pickup taken care of.

They had ONE other packet pickup time and location, but I couldn't make it because I was watching Megadeth/Godsmack/Disturbed with the husband. But anyway....

The event itself was really well organized and the crowd support was fantastic. I was pretty much terrified but I was happy to find others in the same boat while we set up our transition areas. Got marked with my number (95, good even number) and my age and an O on the other calf for Olympic, and made our way down to an unfamiliar part of the river for the swim start. We got to watch the men start, and then our wave wandered down some steps (and under branches) to get into the river.

People were really, really nice. Triathletes, at least the non-elite ones, are a friendly, supportive bunch, and our wave being mostly female, there was some bonding going on. I mentioned being a slow swimmer and another girl, Casey, was thrilled that she wasn't the only slow person there. I also warned everyone that I would probably pee as soon as I hit the water. (There was a line for the restrooms and I was terrified of missing my start!) We got in, where there were rocks that were shallow enough to stand on. This made me happy because I didn't want to expend any energy treading water. However, our wave was not just women but Clydesdale men, and I kept having to move because these big guys were right behind me. I ended up finding a pretty isolated spot behind everyone. THEN I got sweet relief for my bladder. (No, it's not gross; there are WAAAY grosser things than my pee in the river!) The guy counted down...one minute. 45 seconds. 20 seconds. Crap, dude, I'm still peeing!!! Luckily I was done just before we started.

The swim started out smoothly. No trampling or scrambling, at least not in my spot. I followed the pack...and they got further and further ahead. There was one person beside me for a bit, but then they were gone, too. Now, I was intentionally taking the swim slow and steady, because I was afraid that if I got tired, I'd start panicking. But this was a little ridiculous. Open water swimming tends to feel like you're not going anywhere anyway, because it takes so long for scenery to get closer. I channeled Finding Nemo and told myself to just keep swimming. I counted strokes. The "I'm So Lonely" Kim Jong Il song from Team America got stuck in my head. Seriously?? I was swimming all by myself. I was a little worried, actually, because I didn't see any kayaks and I could only guess they were up with the majority of the swimmers. It was kinda fun swimming in the river but it got really boring. I almost seriously wondered if I was the victim of an elaborate prank and they were all going to see how long I'd swim in the Ohio River by myself.

The good news is that I'm pretty good at sighting with little practice. I stayed pretty close to the shore without straying off path. At one point, I was totally surprised that my hand brushed the bottom and I managed to cut my finger. All I could do was file a mental note to douse that thing in neosporin later. Finally, I got to a point where there were lifeguards along the shore. I asked one if I was last and he said yes, then he said something else that I couldn't hear through the water in my ears. I took my head out of the water to tell him not to let me drown. He walked with me. Then the water got pretty choppy. See my aforementioned issues with non-still water. I panicked a little and asked the guard why the water was so choppy. He said a boat had gone through earlier. I had to force myself to calm down and not be silly about it, the water wasn't going to kill me, although it made breathing a little harder.

FINALLY I got to the end. It felt like it took forever. It was a little bit of a struggle because the water got too shallow to swim, but the rocks were too sharp to walk on. They had multiple people there to help me out of the water and onto dry land, and then I looked around like a crazy person trying to figure out where to go. Someone asked me if I was ok and I responded that I was just disoriented as they pointed me to the transition area. There were LOTS of volunteers and spectators and they were all cheering, which was awesome, and I tried to look strong and athletic as I jogged toward my bike.

Yep, I must've been last. My bike was all by its lonesome in the Olympic tri area. I made my way onto the course, mounted the bike, rode for a minute, and......crap. A hugely steep hill. I made it about halfway up and seriously doubted my ability to continue. I managed to get a foot unclipped and pulled over and just stood there, doubled over my bike. I pulled out a gel and sucked it down and decided that if I was going to be taking up time, I might as well be moving forward, so I walked up the hill. At the top, I stopped to catch my breath again. I've pretty much never felt so defeated in my life. A spectator asked me if I was ok, if I needed water, and I remembered I had some on my bike. I took a swig and, after I nearly threw up, I remembered that it was gatorade, not water. "It's SOOO HOT!" I heard myself saying. I managed to get back on the bike and move forward.

I'm not going to lie. At that moment, I was about to just head back to my car and go home. I thought about having to tell everyone that I DNF'd my first oly tri and I was surprised that the idea didn't bother me an iota. Then, out of nowhere, a thought crossed my mind. "If you can't effing hold your head up and do your best when you're in last place, then you don't deserve to ever be first." And with that, I kept moving.

The bike course was a lot of suck - mostly rolling hills. The Oly tri was two laps, so I was getting passed by some of the frontrunners on their second lap. My goal was just to survive. At one point, I passed a guy standing by a pickup truck. I later found out he was the race director. He asked me if I was on my first lap and then wrote down my number. Great, that confirmed it - I was in dead last place. Thankfully, I recalled something that had been posted on the beginner triathlete forum: DFL>DNF>DNS. So I kept going.

I tried to motivate myself by telling myself, over and over, that the next time around I was going to defeat that first hill (which was actually an exit ramp that we had to ride up to get to Columbia Parkway.) But really, I didn't believe it, and when I got to the hill I walked it again. I didn't stop this time, though, and did the course again. This time, the guy got in his truck after I passed him and was stopping to pick up cones. On the way back, he was actually coaching me. He was really nice and I appreciated the gesture, but part of me was also thinking, "JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME SURVIVE THIS!!" Before I reached the turnaround, I had seen Casey on her way back and truck man kept telling me I could catch her. "I see her! She's up there! She's going slow! You'll get her!" Toward the end of the bike leg, I did pass her. Then she caught me again and was trying to make conversation. I got a little nervous, as we were breaking the three bike length rule, then it hit me - who's going to penalize the two people in last place??? So we had a couple of miles to chat as we rode into transition.

She seemed pretty terrified of the run. I knew it was her first tri, and in the beginning I'd told her to keep moving, no matter what. She said her legs felt like jello. "Keep running! It'll get better!" In transition, I held up Speedy. "This is my good luck turtle! He'll give you good luck too!" Her husband was on the other side of the fence cheering her on too. I started out ahead of her on the run and I knew from our previous conversation that I was a faster runner, so I kept going.

Holy crap - the run. It was SO HOT. The course was an out and back through a park, then over a bridge and back, and twice for the Oly. So I got to see a lot of the other runners on their way back through the park, and a LOT of people were walking. I was even with a girl who was on her second lap and she was taking walk breaks. My garmin said I had a decent pace but soon I had to walk too. I stopped at a water stop - actually STOPPED moving - so I could inhale another gel and drink some water. The rest of the run was a lot of trying to get myself to a certain point - time or mileage wise - and taking little walk breaks, grabbing water at every water stop, pouring it over my head. I was afraid of dehydration but I drank too much water and my stomach felt sick and sloshy. I apparently got ahead of someone else and I don't know how, because I didn't remember passing her, but she was walking the whole thing and apparently favoring a hip. We cheered each other on every time we passed each other. I got through the park and ran away from it, but a spectator stopped me and said, "Wait, you've got to go that way. Up the hill." I swore. Then I apologized. Then I swore again. I ran up to the "hill" - the purple people bridge - and I realized that was just ridiculous. The sun was in full force right there and it was HOT. People ahead of me were walking. I asked a course monitor if anyone had ran up the bridge and he laughed and told me no. So I walked the hill, ran the bridge, took a walk break, ran back down the hill toward the finish line. The course got within eyeshot of the finish line before I had to turn around, although I won't lie, I thought about being really dishonest and just finishing!

I gave up on any hopes of a good time or pace and focused on surviving. Any running I did was because I knew the race would be over sooner. I stopped at a water stop and the water I poured on my head was pretty warm. I mentioned it to a volunteer and they apologized, so I quickly clarified that I knew it wasn't their fault!! I got to the water stop at the end of the park and the volunteers commiserated with me. "Just think, you paid to do this!" one of them told me. Since I was by myself, I had their full attention and got four cups of water to pour on myself.

My shoes were squishy. I stopped at the warm water stop again, about 4 3/4 miles in, and OMG. THEY HAD ICE!! They had PILES of ice in the cups and I swear, it was like Jesus Christ himself had come down and put it there. "I LOVE YOU!!" I yelled at them as I dumped a cup over myself. "You want more? Come here!" The woman who said it was standing next to an open water jug full of ice. I ran to it, grabbed as much as I could hold in two hands, and shoved it down my bra. I took two more cups and thanked them profusely as I walked off drinking my cold water. When I finished the water, I dumped most of the ice down the back of my shorts and stuffed a few cubes in my headband.

The ice on my head actually started to give me a headache so I shook it out, but the rest of the ice felt AMAZING. It gave me a new boost of energy. I was able to run a bit more and passed someone ahead of me. She told me she was just trying to survive and I agreed. I told her I was rattling because I had a bra full of ice. Innocent passersby were giving me strange looks as I kept running, sounding a bit like a well-shaken martini.

One more time across the bridge! As I was taking a walk break, a pedestrian asked me what the race was all about. I told them the distances, feeling pretty proud of myself. I high-fived Casey, who was on her way across. I cheered on the walking/limping woman. Over the bridge, hit the 6 mile mark. Casey's husband and kids were there cheering for me and I told them their mom was still in it. Just .2 to go! I can run .2 miles!! Those .2 were about all I could manage to run at one time. By the time I hit the finish line, I felt extremely hot, but I was getting chills at the same time and I knew I had hit my physical limit. The ice in my shorts had only taken a half mile to melt. By the time I hit the finish line, I was down to maybe one or two cubes left in my bra. That's hot, people!!

I was greeted at the finish line with not a medal....but a bottle of cold water in a finisher koozie. I drank the water in no time. They were going through the list of winners. I grabbed some food and made sure I cheered on the three women who finished behind me. The first thing I did when I got to my phone was to check the weather: heat index 109. Hoooooly crap.

That was mentally the TOUGHEST race I'd ever done. The one thing that disappointed me was the swim. I absolutely know I'm a slow swimmer, but I've NEVER finished last. I'm still a bit perturbed by that and I'm thinking there must be something terribly off about my form, even though a swimmer friend told me it's not half bad. This winter, I think I'm going to take a few lessons. The bike and run were just destined to be tough in th heat and I'm not bemoaning my times from them at all. The run, especially, was WAY off my running pace and not at all reflective of my ability. It was just freaking hot.

The official results may have some errors. They say I beat four people (including two of the men who were ahead of me because their swim had started earlier - I knew I had beat one, though, because he was barely ahead of me on the run) but the one woman behind me is missing from the results. Oh well. They also have a slower swim time for Casey, which makes no sense because she definitely started the bike ahead of me. I can't figure out exactly what happened....but my bike and run times match my garmin more or less, so I think my time's about right.

My results:

Swim: 30:28 (faster than two people)
T1: 2:13 (looks to be somewhere in the middle)
Bike: 1:44:36 (faster than 5, tied with 1)
T2: 2:01 (one second more than FTF, haha)
Run: 1:17:42 (yup, for a 10k!!!) <--still faster than 15 people
Total: 3:37:02

Not exactly the 3 hour goal I had for myself, but these weren't exactly ideal conditions, either!! And honestly, I've been really neglecting the bike lately because I don't want it to cause me any issues while running. My goal was to finish....and that's what I did. So ultimately, I'm happy with myself. The end!

Fit to Fight official results, and I FREAKING SURVIVED!!

The important news: I am still alive after the Olympic tri!! I am an Olympic distance triathlete!!! It was a sloooow performance, but it was hot. Way hot. And for some unknown reason, I was dead last on the swim. Now, I don't pretend to be a fast swimmer, but I had noooo clue that I was that slow. Small sigh there.

The good news is that I was absolutely NOT last on the bike or run. I finished overall ahead of three women, and one man was barely ahead of me (after their swim started 10-15 minutes before ours.)

And I FINISHED, which was really my only goal.

Here's the facebook note I posted, entitled "things I learned today":

The Ohio River smells like butt, and has surprise shallow parts.
The hills on Columbia Parkway are annoying. The bike course could not have been on Riverside instead because....???
Sports bras will collect amazing amounts of driftwood and river funk if you swim in them.
Sports bras also are great for holding ice while running on a hot day. (Yes, I absolutely did stop at a water stop and shovel ice into my bra. And my shorts. And it felt AMAZING.)
Adding to that, my butt apparently melts ice 1/2 mile before my breasteses do. (The butt ice was completely melted after only a half mile. THAT MEANS IT'S HOT.)
Even when you're slow, you're still beating everyone who's not out there.
Spectators who cheer for everyone are heroes.
Spectators who only cheer for their friends and then stare at you as you go by should be kicked. (Or even better, sit there and read their freaking newspaper. Do that on your front porch.)
And finally, if you can't suck it up and smile and hold your head up and keep going when you're in last place, you don't ever deserve to be first. (I did not come in last, but I was the last one out of the water on the swim leg. Makes it really easy to spot your bike in transition.)


And also....I have the official results from last weekend, and I'm happy.

Official time: 1:42:11 (ps - 11 is my lucky number)
99th place out of 195 total. (Top half. Ish. I'll take it!)
8th out of 19, 30-34 age group
Swim: 12:12, 16th place age group (that's at least 2 minutes slower than I usually swim. Hmmmm.)
T1: 1:43, 5th place AG
Bike: 53:29, 5th place AG
T2: 2:00, 16th place AG (stupid calf sleeves!)
Run: 32:45, 10th place AG

Overall: 160th place swim, 92 bike, 110 run

I'm switching my focus more to running now, but guess which discipline I'm going to really work on over the winter??? (And guess which one is my LEAST favorite?? LOL!)

Fit to Fight Triathlon - race recap

First of all, I threw caution to the wind a little bit when huz and I were invited to a pool party yesterday. I drank four beers and ate potato chips and sat in the sun all afternoon, followed by a pretty healthy dinner at an Asian bistro and, in the aftermath of beer/sun/food, passing out on the couch by 9 pm.

I woke up a few times in the middle of the night for water, probably because I dehydrated myself a bit, and I was a little worried about race performance. In the aftermath, though, I never really felt like I was under-hydrated or under-fueled. I may just be a bit lucky there.

Woke up at 5 am, coffee, breakfast, normal routine. Mentally, I didn't feel nearly as nervous as I did for Tri for Joe, but I still felt like I'd been suckerpunched in the gut and like I could (sorry for the grossness) either pee, poop, or vomit all over myself at any given moment. So, therapist that I am, I spend the entire 40 minute ride analyzing my nervousness. I have all the cognitive tricks down and I KNEW, mentally, that there was no reason for nerves at all, but my gut never did really get the message. Luckily, breakfast stayed inside. My fear of dehydration was still hanging on, so I had three water bottles with me - one gatorade and one water for the bike, and one water for the drive up, during which I was so nervous I forgot to sip on said water until I was about 5 minutes down the road.

The race was really well organized (HFP FTW again); they were sharpie-ing people's  numbers onto their arms and I noticed that everyone had a different number on their calf. As it turns out, that was for your age. I'm not sure why, although during the bike and run, I did appreciate knowing whether someone passing me was in my age bracket or not, so I suppose that's why. I'm not a super competitive person, but I guess we all have it in our nature sometimes. Also amusing - the woman with the sharpie asked me for my age and I blurted out "30" like it was nothing, even though I'm actually not yet 30. Guess I'm getting used to the idea, and the fact that in the tri world, I am 30. Then I clarified it by saying, "Well, I'm not yet. But I will be. Later this year. That's what you want, right?" Nerves only exacerbate my usual verbal diarrhea. She gave me a funny look, branded me with a nice big "30", gave me a chip to strap on my ankle, and sent me off to transition.

I was a little annoyed that I didn't get a great spot in transition, which would make me have to take a few extra steps to get there, but I got my stuff all beautifully organized. (That morning, I had double-checked every single thing in my bag, from helmet down to lucky stuffed turtle, no less than 3 times each.) Found a bench so I could do some of my PT prescribed stretches and was happy that my hip seemed much more compliant than it has recently. The one thing I was missing was a step for calf stretches, which I was happy to find in the kiddie pool. This gave me the extra bonus of simultaneously stretching and testing the water, which was really, really warm. A little dragon pose as extra encouragement for the hip, and then I noticed people swimming laps in the lap pool. YES! Warm-up time. It was a little chilly still, and I HATE cold water, so I was pleasantly surprised that the lap pool also felt like bathwater. Did a nice, slow 100 in the pool, got out, waited.

They lined people up by speed, starting with under 5:00. (HOLY EFFING CRAP.) I waited...waited some more...then they announced 9-9:30. On a good day, I've been doing 400 in about 9:20 at the gym, but that's been a recent development. By the time I stopped debating with myself and went to join the line, they were announcing 9:30-10:00 and I hurried up and joined in. Good thing, too, because the last group was 10 and over. I hate being in the "...and over" group. Happened during the thanksgiving 10k too. Nothing to make you feel like a slow kid than being told, "Yeah, and the rest of you, get in behind everyone else here!" :)

The pool swim was really, really organized. I wondered how it would work out in reality, if people needed to pass or be passed or whatnot, but it stayed pretty organized. They let us go one at a time (so I was waiting FOREVER), then when the last person reached about the middle of the pool, the next could go. Swim the length of the pool, come back down the other half of the lane, duck under the rope into the next lane, repeat times 8. The girl in front of me mentioned that she always swims 10:00 400's. I never caught up with her but I think we stayed about the same distance apart the whole time. I mostly tried to match the speed of whoever was next to me and tried (and mostly failed) to keep track of how many laps I had to go. Before I hit my last lap, I felt someone touch my ankle and realized the girl behind me (who hadn't actually been the one right behind me in line) was catching up to me, so I stopped for a few seconds at the wall and let her pass.

Swim was mostly uneventful. I tried to focus on my zen, my form (which went to crap at times until I reminded myself of things like reaching and rolling), and making it as strong as I possibly could. The photographer was positioned beside the last lane and as he zoomed in on me, all I could think of was, "Great, just what I need, a pic of myself with my mouth wide open like some retarded fish"...but it did help me really clear up my form for a few seconds!

Got out of the pool, fighting the woozy feeling that always hits me after swimming. The volunteers at transition were awesome. One was yelling at me, "She's smiling! She's breathing!" I didn't feel like I was smiling but I did after she said that, and I gave her the verbal agreement that I was, indeed, breathing!

Time to bike!! I think I transitioned pretty quickly, especially with no clothing changes like at Tri for Joe. (Swam in a tankini top and tri shorts.) Almost forgot my sunglasses, but putting them on my bike seat was a fantastic idea. Mounted the bike, and my right foot did NOT want to clip in. It took me several tries and some pleading with it out loud before I heard the satisfying click. Sucked down a gel and looked around for somewhere to put the empty. Settled on my sports bra. Cleavage is good for something.

The bike leg seemed pretty empty, which felt weird. I passed a few people right off the bat and then.....nobody. After a while I saw the frontrunners coming back, but even that took a little while. The course was way hillier than I thought. I remembered mapping it out and noting some gradual inclines that didn't look too bad; I didn't realize the first leg was pretty rolling. Then we had to turn, do a loop, and come back the same way we went out. The loop was a bit miserable. It was one of those deceptive gradual inclines that don't really LOOK like an incline, but make the ride a lot tougher. I had to slow down and at one point got some mucus in my throat that WOULD NOT GO AWAY. I tried some gatorade and that just stuck in my throat, too. I was still passing people, but hacking like a lifetime smoker. I finally felt better when I remembered seeing the incline on this part of the course when I mapped it out. THAT was why I was kinda sucking. And I remembered the other side of the loop was mostly downhill.

The hills were still a bit rough. Down the road, I saw a HUGE incline. One of those that looks like it magically goes straight up toward the sky. The voice in my head started cursing. As I got closer, I saw a police car and an officer. He was pointing to the left!! This was where the loop turns around - right BEFORE that hill!!! OH, THANK GOD!!!

The rolling hills sucked a little more on the way back, but I kept plugging along. I was very happy to only be passed by three people during the bike leg, while I probably passed at least 10. Everyone looked a bit stunned by the hills! Saw some of the runners starting down the run path, along with some of the obviously very fast, fit, athletic men starting the bike leg, and a group of men running. Took me a second to realize that was the men's duathlon. So that put me at about an hour into the women's tri, judging by my late swim start.

Transition time again. The downside was that you had to dismount, then walk/run your bike through grass allll the way around the transition area. My legs felt rubbery and running in my bike shoes is tough anyway. That was a long walk/half-jog. As I did, I realized that I was starting to bake. Oh, this run may be a bit of a pain. Had to take off the chip to put on the calf sleeves, which was annoying as all get out but necessary. Put on running shoes, ditched the helmet, drank some gatorade, nearly forgot to put my timing chip back on but grabbed it at the last second.

I skipped the water station right outside transition, but I did give the gel pack to a volunteer before blurting out, "Sorry, that was in my bra!" They all cracked up. The rubber legs sensation SUCKS, but I also know from experience that it goes away and that I'm usually running faster than I FEEL, so I kept at it. A lot of people were taking walk breaks. It. Was. HOT. The road out of the park was loooooong. Passed some people, got passed a few times. Goal was to just survive the run. I got to feeling relatively comfy after a while and told myself that I was going faster than I thought. I became more and more aware of the heat, though. I was very aware that my armpits were incredibly sweaty and I hadn't thought to re-apply deodorant after the swim. Wouldn't be a half bad idea next time! Sometime after one mile, we had looped around the park and had to go back in. There was a short but steep hill. I was determined to run up it, but my legs decided to start walking without my consent. Dang it. I let them for a minute, then ran again. I really really regretted skipping the water. There was another water stop further up and I took a small sip from a cup before dumping it on my head. The water was cold enough to shock me for half a second and I had to catch my breath before I could run again.

The trail in the park was really pretty. I would've enjoyed it more had I not been frying. There were a few moments of blessed relief in some shady spots, but most of it was wide open. I had to force myself to keep running. I could hear the announcer and thought it was almost over, even though that felt a little fast, and then found out we had to pass the transition point and run in another loop. Then we passed it again - I could SEE the finish line - and there was ANOTHER big loop to run around!! There was a woman who was kind of running with me at that point - she was walk/running and I would pass her when she walked, and she would pass me when she ran. Every time we passed each other, we'd try to muster up something encouraging.

Aaaand the finish line!! All I could do when they handed me water and a medal was to blurt out, "THAT WAS HOT!!" and then grab for my ankles. I felt like I may never catch my breath again.

Post-race was a really nice spread. I went straight for the watermelon and thought of my running buddy. :) They also had frozen yogurt (SOOO AWESOME!) and a PT booth where a nice PT stretched out my legs as I ate my yogurt - after I gave him the laundry list of current issues, of course. And they had potato chips and pickle spears. OMG. Pickles make a great post-run food. I'm going to start keeping them in my fridge. They're juicy, they're salty, they're refreshing.

I waited around for the latest update of times. I can't say I wasn't a little disappointed. I was optimistic, because overall, the race felt good. It felt like I'd given it my best...and the time they posted for me was 1:42:11. It didn't even beat Tri for Joe, which had a longer swim (although it had a shorter bike) and where my run was awful. I was hoping that between the swim and the run, I could beat that time by at least 15 minutes.

BUT....I was in 94th place. I was told there were 600 participants in the tri and I'm guessing at least half those were in the women's tri. It's possible people who started and finished after me could have a faster time than me - which is one thing I love about tris, btw. If someone passes you or finishes with you, you could still totally be beating them. You never know! But with my late swim start, I doubt it. So I'm guessing I finished in the top third. Even the people at the top didn't have that great of times, and I'm guessing the hilly bike and hot run killed us all a bit.

So, despite the numbers, I'm determined to be happy with this one. I enjoyed it, and I did my freaking best. I didn't give up. It FELT like a good effort and I'm happy about it. And, comparatively, I really didn't do so bad. The numbers actually don't mean a lot when they don't take into account the conditions, right?

Can't wait until they post the actual splits. I'm a little worried about the Oly next weekend, because this took quite a bit of effort. I also think that if I make myself, I can sustain that effort. I also hope to GOD that the weather is better because a 6.2 in those conditions might have about killed me. It also may be kinda fun because I'm putting NO pressure on myself other than to just finish....but part of me knows that's also how I usually PR!

I also will say that this race was for a great cause - Ovarian Cancer awareness and prevention - and doing a women's tri was a fantastic experience. SO many women of all different shapes and sizes, but all of whom have trained to do something that's no small athletic feat - it was really, really, really cool. I wasn't going to spend the money, but I *may* have to sign up for Tri for a Cure now.

Also, the volunteers were all fantastic and enthusiastic and the officers who kept the course safe and nearly traffic-free did a wonderful job. And finally, the race shirt is awesome! It's my first ever sleeveless race shirt, which is a great idea, and it's adorable. Techincal fabric too. I was bemoaning my lack of sleeveless running gear in this heat.

I'll definitely be back to do this one next year!

I lied

I registered for the Cincy tri yesterday, because it was the last day to save $10 on the registration fee (which I gave back nearly in full to active.com due to their "fees" to register online). So I'm officially in for my first-ever oly tri on 7/24.

The temperature was in triple digits yesterday. The humidity is routinely 80%+. Please cross your fingers that I don't have to bike 24 miles/run 6 in that kind of crap!

Also cross your fingers that I don't drown. (Scary fact about triathlons - when there's an open water swim and the race doesn't provide swim caps, it's recommended that you don't wear a black cap because you won't be seen as easily if you slip under the water.) Realistically, though, I shouldn't drown. I can swim in a pool for an hour+ without stopping. The swim is the scariest part, for me, because a person is not nearly as likely to die during the bike or the run. If you need to stop, you can stop. If you stop swimming, you can die. YAY.

Also cross your fingers that I don't get some crazy disease from the Ohio River. It's a little gross in there, although there shouldn't be anything grosser in there than there was in the mud from Warrior Dash. Or the internet-diagnosed lake parasite that my running buddy finds so intriguing. :) (Seriously, it only left me with a few random blisters/welts that healed. Well, except the one on my hand because I keep picking at it.)

And finally, I need some finger crossings for my iffy hip and shin. I'll be extra nice to them for the next two weeks.

PS - I have no time goal. None. I haven't been biking as much as I should lately because of my hip iffiness. I know I can cover the distance, I want to overcome my fear of the river swim (which has decreased significantly since I actually tried an open water swim) and I want to be able to say I did it. I've been eyeballing the Cincinnati tri since I moved here three years ago. The bike is a bit hilly (Columbia parkway) and the run is flat except the purple people bridge (which I get to cross twice since I'm doing the oly.) And it will probably be hot.  I don't even feel like I can remotely predict my time and for the first time in a race, I don't care to. I'm just going to do it!!