Cultivation Sprint TRI Wiggins 8-25-18

Cultivation Sprint TRI - Wiggins 8-25-18

Another practice day of swim, bike and run!  I felt really good going into this race.  My swim has been good lately, my bike really improved, and I'm back running more than walking.  I had swam the same distance a couple weeks ago before my long bike and felt great.  I was calm in the water and there wasn't even all the race staff out there watching over us.  I swam at ease so I thought I was ready for the race..... BUT...

However, as soon as I hit the water I panicked! The weeds/grass was so high in the water that I freaked out.  Every time I put my head down in the water it was like tons of fingers trying to grab my face.  Several times my arms came up with grass all over them.  I went into full freak out mode.  I kept telling myself to just breathe that surely we would get out off this mess soon!  I had seen none of this the day we practiced!  However, Jason and I didn't start from the same place.

Just imagine something like this... 

For many of you this might not bother you... but for me it does.  Guess I'm just a sissy when it comes to things in the water. :>) 

It seemed like an eternity and then I was finally out of the grass.  I started trying to swim fast.   I knew I needed to make up time lost while I was freaking out in the grass.  I honestly thought I swam pretty fast from then to the end, but when I exited the swim and looked at my watch I was so disappointed!  My time was so SLOW!!! Almost as slow as when I first started swim years ago! It seems when I try to swim fast I end up wasting time and energy and I actually swim faster when I am relaxed and just swim easy.  I do not understand this!  I have beat myself up all weekend thinking about this swim time.  I will barely make the cutoff time in Chattanooga if I swim at this same pace!!! It was a good thing I had a 2 hour 45 minute run yesterday followed by a day of family so that I wouldn't get too down thinking about this dang swim.  I'm 5 weeks out from Chattanooga.  So last night I googled info on swim times and found this article real interesting.....   It says you lose time sighting when in open water among several other things.  I probably sight way too much when in open water.  I swam off course one race and since then I've been scared I'd do it again so I am constantly sighting.  I need to fix that.  I just want to be calm in the river in Chattanooga and make that swim time... PLEASE :>)  If you reading this... Prayers greatly appreciated. 

Here's the link to the swim article:

Why your pool times down equal OWS times

As for the bike portion of the race, I had a great bike.  My watch said I averaged 18.2 mph.  I've really gotten stronger on the bike with all the biking I've been doing and especially since I've now rode those hills in Wiggins a couple of times.  One more really long bike ride this coming weekend.... THANK GOODNESS ..   I'm kind of at the point where I'm over the really long bikes.  My neck and shoulders need a break. LOL  

I was able to run most all of the run segment with an average pace of 9:32 :>)   Amanda and I meet a lady with a Betty suit on like us right before the race.  She came over and wanted to greet the "other" Bettys she said.  When on the run I passed her and she handed me this Betty arm band.  She was very sweet.  I wish I could remember her name!  

I wasn't expecting to place in my group especially due to my swim! However, I got 2nd place.  I will say that I noticed when looking at the names there were a few ladies that are in my age group that were not at the race this year.  We would have been pretty dang close on bike and run, but they would have smoked me in the swim. :>)  I'm just thankful that I finished with no injury and now I must take what happen in the swim and try to learn from it.    Thank you Amanda for the pictures! We received a cute coffee mug. 

This was our timing chip.  It was disposable... never seen one of these.

Well, that's a wrap for the race.  It's 5 weeks till Chatty and boy I'm starting to get nervous especially after that crappy swim!  However, I know that every race is different.  Nothing is ever the same.  I can't dwell on it.  This weekend I head back to Columbus, Ga for a 2.4 mile swim... "Chase the Hooch".  It's in the river and since it's the same distance as Chattanooga, I'm hoping it will be a good swim and reassure me that I can do this.  :>)  If you're like me, we all have days where we doubt ourselves.  That's when we must dig deep and find that inner faith.  Mine is God.  I know he'll lead me on race day. :>)  

Chattahoochee Challenge - Olympic distance Triathlon & Duathlon 8-11-18

Chattahoochee Challenge - Olympic distance Triathlon &  Duathlon 8-11-18

Krista and I had been anxiously awaiting this race.  It was going to be her first long distance Duathlon and a Oly for me with swim practice in a river.  We had even talked Jennifer Patterson into going and she was going to do the Oly with me.  We were all pumped and ready.  However, on the drive to Georgia on Friday, Krista and I drove through some bad heavy rain.  At some points it was so hard we could barely see the road.  We were so over rain by the time we arrived in Ga.  

Here we are trying to have fun in spite of the rain on our drive. 

Right as we were arriving in Ga, I got a text from Jennifer who was already at packet pickup telling me the swim was canceled.  I could hardly believe it.  I kept asking her if she was sure she heard the news right.  And once Krista and I got to packet pickup, the news was confirmed.  The swim was canceled.  All the recent hard rain they had received had caused some places to be near flood level and the core of engineers had to open the dams to release some water which made it unsafe for the swim.  Talk about a BIG let down for me!  I so needed that river swim!  I'm trying not to focus on my 2.4 mile swim coming up in 7 weeks at Chattanooga and really wanted some river practice.  But I couldn't change what mother nature had caused so I got ready to do the Duathlon that Krista was going to be doing.  

Friday night we had dinner at 11th and Bay.  Very nice restaurant! 

Here we are on Saturday morning setting up and waiting to start:

A cool bike we saw in transition

Mine and Jennifer's bikes ready to go

Jennifer, Me & Krista waiting till start time... it's still dark when we set up our stuff.  Yes.... we start EARLY in the mornings on race days. :) 

A race crew member took a picture of us while we waited to start.

It was an overcast morning and the humidity was very BAD!  I haven't done a duathlon in awhile so I was a tad bit nervous.  But when they blew the whistle for us to start, I got right into my pace and ran.  I ran completely the first 1.7 miles (was supposed to be 2!) with an average of 9:18... boy I was excited about that!  I haven't ran that good in a while. 

                                                         

Check out that pace.. whoop whoop 

The bike route was 2 loops.  It was a fun bike route.  It had several twist and turns so on the first loop I was kind of nervous going around the curves, but the 2nd loop I really liked it and smile most of the time. 

Jennifer found this picture of me on their Facebook page and sent to me.

Check out some of them miles on the bike. :)  The bike course was short!  Turned out to be close to 23 miles in stead of 26! 

The last run loop which was supposed to be a 10K (6.2 miles) turned out to be 5.56 miles!  All events were shorter than the race distance!  First time ever for that to happen to me.    The last run segment... started off pretty good, but the need for the bathroom hit me between mile 2-3 and I had to slow way down to avoid an accident.  LOL  There were no porta potties along the run course. :(  So I just prayed that when I finished I would not have poop in my pants.  Yep, I don't like to talk about it... but trust me... a lot of runners have this issue from time to time... hee hee 

The finish line had a water slide!  Boy was I ready for that when I crossed that finish line!  

Me, Krista & Jennifer at the finish line after we were all done. 

To my surprise I placed 2nd in my age group!  I was thrilled and shocked.  There were some fast people in the race.  I saw tons of ironman bags in transition area.

 Jennifer also placed 2nd in her age group.  Good thing she's not in my age group! ha  We got these cool bricks.

After we cleaned up from our hot race, Krista and I walked around town to stretch our legs.  As you can see the river is still flowing really good behind us.  Columbus, Ga is really a pretty place!  We had lunch at The Simple Greek.  Awesome salad!  After our walk we went back to our room and took a much needed nap.  I think between the drive in the heavy rain on Friday and then racing in very humid conditions on Saturday morning, we needed a nap / break.  Jennifer was with her man and son :)  they went water rafting that afternoon! I think they had a real adventure... they flipped and Jennifer said for a minute she couldn't find her son and was in panic mode.  She said next time she goes rafting she'll probably not take her child with her. hee hee

After Krista and I took nap we had a wonderful cup coffee in the hotel lobby and chatted.  It was so nice being off with no husband and no kids (more so for Krista than me.. hee hee.. my kids grown and my husband never wants to travel to races with me).  I have to say how proud I am of Krista!  She tackled and conquered her first long distance duathlon!  I've seen her make many improvements over the past couple of years and she's not done yet!  She will tackle her first full marathon in December and I have NO doubt she'll conquer it!  She's got sheer determination to meet her goal.   She works hard every day to accomplish her goals.  

We ended up having dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant that one of my PPRF running friends recommended.  We actually had good food at all the places we ate during the weekend!

  Check out how charming this Italian place is:

My steak was the best steak I've had in a LONG time!  

So that's a wrap for a girls weekend in Columbus, Ga

Until next time.....  DO YA JOB :)  Continue to push forward.  Don't let set backs stop you.  Aim for that goal.  See ya at the finish line! 

#7weekstoironmanchoo YIKES :)