Athletes Only!

After a last minute Sports Basement run to grab some C02 cartridges for my portable bike pump (I was apparently riding around with the wrong cartridges for 1.5 years…good thing I never got a flat!) and a brief demo from Paul on how to work it, thanks Paul! (yeah, I didn’t really know how to work the pump either), I headed off to Lake San Antonio, home of the 25th Annual Wildflower triathlon.

The drive was uneventful with not much traffic. I made it there in 3 hours or so and was amazed to pull into the Team in Training camping area to see it utterly packed. I guess that was why there was no traffic…everyone was there already. I found a parking spot, did a quick walk around for a tent spot, ran back to the car for the tent and then attempted to set it up alone…in the wind*. Not a good idea. Luckily a fellow TnTer was nearby and lent a hand. With the tent set up and my air mattress inflated -- ohhhh yesssss -- I headed down to the sports expo to pick up my race packet. My number was 2395. It felt good to me.

I got back to the campsite and saw Stacy, my tent mate, wandering around. She was happy to see me. We made our tent homey and then headed down to the TnT pasta dinner. I stayed away from all vegetables. I did not need a repeat of what happened to me at The Sentinel, last September, after a dinner that included raw vegetables (what was I thinking?). We had an uplifting presentation and then I headed off to get my gear ready for the race the next day.

I was kind of freaking out since I had so much to do and was really overwhelmed by it all. It directly ties in to what I hate about camping. That everything is all over the place and you have to keep running in between your tent, your car, the bathroom etc. I had made all my bottles of nutrition and fluids at home the morning before, which saved me some time. One thing about me, I tend to freak out about minor things when I have a giant thing on my mind, like a half Ironman. On Friday night I was freaking out about how to get my gear to the transition area. Since we have to ride our bikes down there on race morning, most people use backpacks etc. I don’t have a back pack, but a giant Land’s End tote. (rolling eyes) At least it zips. I practiced wearing it on my back like a backpack and checked its ability to stay on my back. It worked pretty good, however I was curious about how wearing about 20lbs on my back while riding down Lynch Hill (giant steep descent) would work out. I made it.

Transition Area – those are rows and rows of bikes

Saturday morning, in the transition area, I freaked out about whether or not to wear my Camelbak. Before I was able to make a decision, I noticed the woman next to me in the transition area checking her tires for things stuck in them. “Oh,” I thought, “That’s a good idea.” I started to check my tires, something I had never done before, and saw all these little slits all over…then I saw one with a stone jammed into it that was way too deep for me to get out without possibly damaging my tube. Great. So, after I made my decision to not wear a Camelbak, I freaked out about the stone for a while. Then it was time to get my wetsuit on for the swim.

Swimmers waiting to start

Swimmers in the water

Hez coming out of the water and taking advantage of the photo op (first pink cap)

Most races categorize the athletes (Eeee! That’s me!) by age group. I was in the 35-39 group, which was scheduled to leave at 9:20am, the third from the last group**. Only one other teammate, Gina, was in this group with me. I wasn’t really nervous while waiting to swim. Then the gun went off and I got in the water and panicked. I usually do this, but this time it really got to me and I wasn’t doing anything close to real swimming for the first 15 minutes. I did a lot of doggy paddling and finally when I realized that that was just making me more tired, I stopped moving and bobbed there for a minute while I got my breathing under control and then I started swimming. It took me about 55 minutes, which was a little longer than I was shooting for. (At the time, I didn’t realize how difficult the swim conditions were, until the next day while watching the Olympic race and noticed the water was almost as smooth as glass.) I ran out of the water and to the transition area to get ready for the bike. I was, again, pretty calm since the bike is my favorite part.

Hez getting on the bike (in purple)

I headed out into a short, but immediate climb. Behind me I heard my teammate, Mika, call my name. Mika was in the 40+ swim group, so she was obviously kicking ass since she got in the water 5 minutes after me and was then passing me up the hill! She is amazing! Then, just a mere 5 miles into the ride it got very difficult. On our first big descent, at the bottom I saw several police motorcycles and an ambulance on the side of the road tending to two cyclists who had crashed. I was zipping down the hill and just as I got to the ambulance a giant gust of wind blew at me from the right side and my bike almost went out from under me. See, my bike weighs under 20lb…and I do not…so you can imagine how top heavy that is! At this point, I realized that the cyclists who had crashed on the side of the road, did so because of the crosswind. I started to get really nervous because there are a lot of down hills on this course, one being the backside of Nasty Grade, which probably lasts a couple of miles. But, off I went into the 56 mile bike ride. I was pretty tense the whole way anticipating giant gust of wind to blow me off my bike at any time. And the funny thing about this triathlon stuff -- for me, when I’m swimming I say, I can’t wait til I get on my bike. When I’m on the bike I’m like, I can’t wait til I get off. And on the run I’m like, I can’t wait til I get to stop.

So that wind? Well, after the crosswind, it turned into a headwind for about the next 25-30 miles. I cannot express how hard it is to ride under this condition. I was working overtime to try and keep a good speed and a good time being that, because I was in the 3rd to last time wave, I had less time than other competitors to complete the bike ride. The cut off time, for the bike, was 4 hours and 30 minutes after I got out of the water. I did this ride during training weekend in 4 hours and 14 minutes. I knew I would cut it close but, as I got to the 24 mile mark and saw my time, my heart sank. My normal 24 mile time is an hour and 50 minutes. I was already at 2 hours and 20 minutes. 30 minutes longer than usual. I kept pushing and thought I still might be able to make the cut off if I had no flats, didn’t stop at water stops, and the wind stopped. I had to take into account Nasty Grade, which is almost a 4 mile climb and would slow me down, and whether or not the wind conditions on the back side of Nasty Grade allowed me to zip down the hill with no brakes. (During training weekend I clocked 42 mph).

Well, the good news is I kicked ass on Nasty Grade. You may remember last month that I had to get off and walk, but, after much analyzing from IronMo, we agreed it was because I didn’t eat enough in the beginning of the bike ride. Armed with a bottle of “during workout liquid nutrition” totaling about 1,000 calories, water and Thermalytes, I was in good shape to climb. I was stoked to be passing people up the hill and just kept saying to myself that I had to make it to the top without stopping because I needed to tell my teammate Laura, and Nasty Grade companion during training weekend, that I made it. At one point I was going so slow that a fly landed on me. Uh, thanks fly.

Coming down off of the hill was a little scary. There was still a cross wind and even though I noticed that when I braked my bike reacted a lot worse, I rode the brakes all the way down. 42 mph descent in April? 27mph descent in May. Ugh. It was painful in more ways than one as I was so tense on the way down, that when I was done my back in between my shoulder blades was burning. At that point I had about 12 miles to go and only 30 minutes to do it and I still had several more climbs.

I rolled in at 2:50pm, five minutes past the cut off and was not allowed to go on. I was really ok with it though. At a certain point in the ride I knew I wouldn’t make it. I wasn’t the only one either. There were at least 20 or more people behind me. I packed up my stuff and headed back to camp.

The good news is that I totally didn’t have to run a half marathon. The bad news is that I was completely primed and ready to and was bummed that I couldn’t.

Thanks to everyone who supported me by donations and mental stuff. It really means a lot to me that you see the importance of what donating to an organization like the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society means. It means that we’re saving lives and during that process we’re also helping patients live more comfortably during their treatment.

What is next? This summer I’ll be riding with the Team in Training cycle team. I’ll be taking my experience and knowledge with me to help mentor about 8-10 people. I’m taking a break on fundraising and donating my time instead. The team is training for the Marin Metric Century (62 miles) and the Honolulu Century (100 miles). Leading up to both of those rides I’ll be racking up 50 or more miles a week with my training rides, experiencing new cycling routes and meeting new people. Check http://www.hezrocks.blogspot.com/ for updates this summer!


Thanks again!
Heather


*This is foreshadowing.
**That is more foreshadowing.