The night before it's time to get organized and load everything up so when you wake up at 4:30am to travel to the race site you'll be ready to rock and roll.
Loading up bike after I aired up tires.
Basket with shoes, helmet, gloves, and many other things that weren't in picture at this point......
Then it's off to bed with the hopes you'll sleep and not worry about the race. Many times the night before a race I do not sleep well at all! I did however sleep well last night. I woke up at exactly 4:23 am and said well you got 7 minutes to lay here or get on up now. So I got on up and started my coffee. Since I was doing a TRI that included swimming there would be no makeup. Which I rarely wear much makeup at all when running or biking. My friends have gotten use to that I suppose. ha It's just too much trouble when it's going to sweat off. So I left the house in good time which was good because I had to stop 2X to go to the bathroom which I was glad the coffee was going ahead and working now rather than during the race.
I was 1 1/2 hours before race time arriving at the site. Not many people were there yet. Which this was the first time they were hosting this TRI so with it being new it didn't have as many participants as Sunfish TRI which I did back in July. I found a good spot for my bike and then it was time for the body marking. Yes, I said Marking! Your race number on our arm and age on calf.
That's my bike. I'm # 79.... got it ready. Water bottles which I froze the night before so my water would be cold. 
Body marking.... They put your age on your calf supposedly so you can spot others in your age group on the bike or run. I did like having it when I passed several 20 & 30 year old people in the bike and run today. :>) Made me proud to be old and still kicking.
We were given special swim caps. You could either pick white or yellow. They said that way the people working the swim route should be able to easily see all swimmers. I picked yellow.
Then it was off for a brief 5 minute jog to wake my muscles up and a brisk walk down to see where the swim was going to start. This race was different that Sunfish in that we were going to enter down from our bikes in the water and swim a straight line down to an exit to where our bikes were at. Sunfish was like a big circle. You swam out to a buoy and turned around and swam back. So I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this race with it being a long straight swim. At first I thought it might be good and when I walked to look at the course it didn't look too terribly bad. However, you can't even see the pink balloons they had as buoys in this picture cause they are so far out...
We would start here and swim out until we saw a pink balloon and turn and then swim straight down until we would then turn and swim in to exit to where our bikes were parked. I swam about half way out to the buoy to warm up and to get a feeling for the water. It was nice and warm. I felt pretty good at this point and relaxed. I had asked a couple of special people to pray for me. I really felt the love from so many that sent me awesome replies like "God parted the seas or Jesus walked on water", etc. I did have one reply from my SIL that said I worry too much. I know she didn't mean it the way it sounded when I read it. She was trying to tell me not to worry but It hit me the other way...and I also know that I will not say that to someone that tells me they are worried or have a fear cause it made me feel terrible. See I have a bad fear of open water. I can't explain it. I can go to the pool and swim a mile with no problem but when I get in open water I panic. It's like I'm having a panic attack. It's the worst feeling ever. So when I asked my friends to pray for me it was because I truly needed them to do exactly that. My swim in the pool has improved so much since Sunfish that I thought today would be an awesome swim. Warren, the swim coach at the pool, even told me that I would have no problem at all. When he said it I was thinking to myself... but you don't know my fear like I do.
So we are standing in line to start the swim and I give my cousin a hug and told her good luck. I knew she wouldn't have a problem because she's done a couple half ironman and several sprint distances. She tells me to go slow and take it easy. She said, "just relax and breath and try not to focus on the people around you..... just swim like you are in the pool."
At this point, I still feel pretty good and not too nervous which was a shocker to me! But as soon as I hit the water there that dang fear was again. I could feel my heart starting to pound faster and faster the further out I got from shore. I looked up to spot where I was going and immediately when I saw I still had a LONG ways to go, I started to panic. I tried talking to myself, counting my strokes, praying, etc. Nothing was working. Then I remembered that they said I could grab hold of a canoe if I needed to and it would not count against me. Only if I asked the canoe person to pull me out of the water would I get a DNF. Plus I remembered my cousin saying she had grabbed a canoe several times during her half ironman to catch her breathe. So I started raising my head looking for a canoe or buoy that I could grab to try to catch my breath. I spotted a man in one and started swimming towards him. He noticed me and asked if I was ok. I said yes, but I need breath please. So he came to me and I grabbed hold. I was breathing like I had just ran a sub 5 minute mile! It was awful. I took several deep breaths and tried to regain my composure. I know several minutes had to of passed cause it seemed like an eternity. Finally I took off again only to swallow a big wave of water when a swimmer almost swam over me. That about did me in right there! I seriously thought about calling the canoe over to pull me out. I was choking and could not get my breathing under control. So I turned over on my back hoping I could get my choking under control and regain some composure again. I wasn't even moving my arms. I was just floating and coughing. Finally I felt like I could turn over and start again so I did and at first it was going pretty good. I started counting my strokes again. I was almost to 100 and I looked up and I was going way off course. So I readjusted and tried to get back in the straight line course as close to the pink balloons (buoys) as possible. It was then again that my panic attack came back. I could tell my strokes were getting off and I was barely moving in the water. I looked up and there was another canoe with a lady in it and I was about to hit her. I grabbed hold and she laughed. I was so out of breath I couldn't laugh. I told her I was really struggling with my fear of the open water. She looked and me and told me that most people can't or won't even attempt a TRI because of the swim. She kept on talking but I can't remember most of what she said cause I was praying and trying to take deep breaths. Finally after what seemed like several minutes again I took off again. This time I was determined to push it hard and not stop. I did exactly that for about 100 yards or so and I was finally into the bank. Oh I've never been so happy to see land in all my life! The guy standing there helping people out of the water said "how was it"... I wanted to scream... "horrible", but I was so tired I just smiled and kept on walking to get my bike. I looked down at my watch and saw 19 minutes and almost cried. And the fact that it said .38 and not .25 distance that they had said it was...which could have been from me getting off course! My time was slower than Sunfish by several minutes and it was not at all what I had hoped for today. I had to fight back tears as I walked through mud and grass till I finally got to the transition area. I was so glad I had laid out a small hand towel because I had to wash off my feet and get all the grass off of them before I could put my bike shoes on. Some people think swimming isn't a cardio sport....well all I can say is.... TRY IT... You'll be surprised! and my hat goes off to my friend Jenn that is about to do her ironman! I can't imagine swimming 2 miles! I completely understand now when she told me it took her 2 years of swimming to be where she is at now. Swimming is tough! If you don't believe me... Just go try it! :>)
You have to be real careful when you get your bike. You must have your helmet on before you take your bike off the rack to leave the transition area. They have people standing around watching you. I looked around and realized there was only a few bikes left. I had started early in the pack for the swim, but everyone had passed me swimming and now they were all off on their bikes. Another wave of tears wanted to come, but I fought back and told myself .. YOU ARE NOT A QUITTER.
I slung that helmet on my head and grabbed my bike. I walked my bike out of the transition area (they won't let you mount inside there) and once I was out by the cones where I could mount, I hopped on and off I went. My coworker was raised 1 mile from Flynt Creek. I had showed her the bike course at work and she said.. "oh it's not bad at all.. just a few rolling hills". Well, this afternoon when she called to see how I did, I told her she needed to get on a bike and not in a car to really check out those hills. hee hee A couple were really long and steep. It reminded me so much of the hills at Sunfish which everyone will tell you is a major killer! I don't know why these races want the bike route to start out immediately on hills after you just finished a swim! I mean they could let you ride a couple miles on flats to catch your breath first. At the top of the first hill a young guy was pulled over throwing up not the side of the road. I felt so bad for him. I was peddling as hard as I could and my bike just wouldn't seem to go. I kept trying to switch my gear and it wouldn't go. On big hills you need to find your little ring real fast on your gears. I had to stand up on several hills to push it to the top! Thanks MEL & ROBBIE for awesome spin classes to prepare me!
I pressed on during the bike still having trouble changing gears and when I reached down to finally drink me some water ..... guess what? My water bottle was almost still froze solid! I could barely get 3 sips of water! I was so aggravated at myself for not adding a little water this morning to the ice. I really thought they would thaw out by the time I started my bike ride. So now, I'm hot, my legs feel like I'm padding a 50 pound bike, and I have no water. I was frustrated but I was determined to not stop. There are no water stops on the bike route so you better have water in your water bottle. Soon I started to pass several people which made me feel better. I would look at their calf for their age and when they were younger than me, I would just smile. There was one girl I passed who had her bike in the transition area where my bike was at. She said she had done several TRIs. She had her friend with her who was doing her first TRI. I had mentioned to her that the swim made me nervous and she told me her swim was good that she was worried about her run because she'd probably have to walk. I flew by her on a downhill and yelled . "good job" to her as I passed her. She didn't reply or either I didn't hear her.
The bike ride was beautiful! Lots of beautiful big pastures with cows or horses. I really enjoyed the scenery even though the hills were tough. My bike kept acting up, but I was pushing forward. Soon I was back in the park and ready to park my bike and start the run. They are very strict about when you can dismount your bike also so I slowed down and was waiting for the guy to give me the ok. He kept saying .. "at the cones"... I kept looking and there was cones everywhere! But I finally figured out that he meant the cones right where you enter in the transition area. I dismounted and decided to change socks. My socks were soaking wet when I took off my bike shoes. I have a bad blister on one of my toes and had forgotten a band aid so I knew I needed dry socks for the run. I sat down on my bucket and begin changing. That's when I looked over and noticed all these people that had already finished the race and they were eating and laughing at the finish line. I so wanted to be over there at that moment. I told myself to suck it up buttercup and get my run on.
This is what my watched said for my bike... however, I thought I had hit stop instead of lap when I exited the transition area and after riding for about a mile I realized my watch wasn't moving so I hit start again! I looked tonight and the race results have me at a 16.9 pace on bike so maybe my bike wasn't as bad as I thought. LOL
After riding the bike for several miles, your legs feel like JELLO when you start off on the run. It takes a good 1/2 to 1 mile for your legs to feel like they are actual legs again. Right before my watched beeped 1 mile, I saw my cousin coming in to finish. We did a high five and she told me to keep going it would be over soon. :>) It was just another couple of feet that I saw my neighbor Dennis coming in to finish. We also did a high five and said GOOD JOB to each other. I then started to realize that so many people were walking the run and I was running. I felt good. This is what I'm use to doing. RUNNING It was a nice run because we left the paved park road onto a trial road in the woods so we had shade which was very nice by this time because it was getting mid morning and the temps were rising. I ran the whole way! It felt great. As I was coming in to finish the girl that was in the transition area with me was just starting her run. She yell when she saw me and said "nice job #79". Boy that made me smile cause I had come in before her even though she beat me big time in the swim!
I crossed the finish line and it was like... WOW.. I did it! I was still under 2 hours so it wasn't as horrible as I thought. However, the ladies that beat me in my age division did it in like 1:34! I beat some of them in bike and some in run but I was last in swim! So what does this tell me??? That I've got to continue to PRACTICE!
I also noticed when I was talking with my cousin at my car that my back break was tight against my tire! No wonder I had to peddle so hard! and I thought my bike was making a noise but you don't want to stop during a race to look. Now this just makes me wonder how much faster my bike ride might have been.....
I think with every race you learn something. Today I learned that I need to check my brakes! Now I know why some people ride their bike around a little before the race. I'm sure they are checking things out before the race starts. :>) I also learned to check water bottles! I need hydration. :>) And the biggest thing I learned is that I must find a place to practice open water swimming! I've got to conquer this fear. As we were standing around for awards, I listened as so many talked about how they do open water practices often. Dennis, my neighbor also told me that he notices that when I go to the pool I just swim for a mile. He says I should start doing doing some speed intervals and not worry about making a mile every time. I smiled when he told me that because Warren told me that exact same thing last week. So I need to quit focusing on just swimming a mile, I need to work on some speed work.
Another short distance TRI is in the books for 2015 and I'm smiling. It's by God's grace that I finished and I'm forever thankful to him and all my friend that prayed for me today. You'll never know how much that means to me! If you need me to pray for you for ANYTHING... Just let me know!
Happy Weekend! What did you do for exercise today? And remember... You can do all things through Christ Jesus! Philippians 4:13!
Love,
D
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