I registered for this race way before finding out that I had gotten into the NYC Triathlon next week. I figured I could do it anyway, despite the NYC tri being a week away, and also despite the fact that I did the Queens Half Marathon yesterday. Ultimately, I'm training for the Poconos Half Ironman and I need to be able to handle this amount of physical activity.
The Central Park Triathlon is a 1/4 mile swim in a pool; 12 miles of biking and 3 miles of running. I did not obsess over this triathlon as I had for the Black Bear, in some ways this is good, although last night I was wondering if I had not gotten enough obsessing time in and that I would forget something important.
SWIM: 3 loops of the pool, 5 people to each lane. I think there were 4 in mine. I was in the last wave. The women in my lane decided that we would all just start at the same time and then arrange ourselves according to speed. Upon starting, one woman just jetted off and was halfway down the pool. I had considered drafting behind someone, but she was not going to be it. As the rest of us swam the first length, I ended up second. By the end of the first loop, another woman passed me, and when starting my third loop, I noticed that the fourth woman was right behind me. I figured since I had not felt her, nor had she touched my feet, I would just keep going. On the way back from that last loop, she passed me. I was wondering whether I had been holding her back, that maybe I should have stopped and let her pass. I also felt bad that I ended up being the last one to finish in my lane, but let it go. I later found out that this woman had been 'drafting' behind me! I don't consider my swimming speed to be draftable; but it certainly made me feel better that someone was drafting behind me rather than I was holding them back.
GARMIN swim time: 10 minutes 50 seconds
T1: As I ran to T1, I passed a bicyclist that was finishing his bike leg. I was stunned. I think I audibly gasped when I saw him. I know that if he was in the first swim wave, he started around 45 minutes before me, but still...
I have found that the fastest way for me to put my socks and shoes on is to sit down right away. I have tried doing it standing up, and it just slows me down. Sat down, put my damp socks on and bicycle shoes. Helmet, sunglasses, race belt and I was off!
GARMIN T1 time: 2 minutes 5 seconds
BIKE: The bike leg consisted of 2 loops of Central Park. It started out going up the steepest hill in Central Park going from the northen part of the park counterclockwise. At this point I had the thought, which I also had at the Black Bear "Now why precisely am I doing this?". I'm not sure what the answer is to this, but I know I enjoy it before and then afterwards, but there is that brain fart when I wonder why.
So by this time of the morning, there were already hundreds of people in Central Park - runners, bikers, walkers, horse-drawn carriages. As the race director stressed, we don't have priority in the park. It's also good that I know this park because they do not put markers out for the bike route. You are expected to know the loop and which are the exits to the park. For me this was not an issue, but I did speak to someone who said she had never ridden in the park, so it could potentially be confusing. The only problem on the bike leg was that my odometer did not work so I did not know my speed. So all I can say about this is that I went as fast as I could. I thought on the downhills that it was good I did not know my speed because I get nervous sometimes when I see a high number. There were a couple of times that I got nervous due to people meandering while walking or biking. Most times, I can call out 'on your left' or 'coming through' but when especially nervous, or when it becomes a close call I can only yell 'aagh' much the same way as if I was in pain in a dentist's chair with my mouth clamped open and me shaking my head 'aagh!'. It works. The only time I had to slow down against my will was at the end of my first loop, where I was finishing the fast downhill, hoping to use my momentum to begin the climb up the big hill. I was too close on the left, and got to a bottleneck of several riders, so I had to slow down and go around them. Ultimately, no big deal, but it did come at the worst possible time, just as I was starting the biggest hill. Although there were hundreds of cyclists riding, I only saw a couple of racers during the whole time I was out there.
Nutrition: I had a broken up Clif bar in a bento box and took several pieces during the ride. I ended up drinking half of my Gatorade bottle during the ride as well.
GARMIN Bike time: 46:50; average speed 16mph. This includes some of my T2 time since I forgot to click it in time.
T2: I forgot about my resolution to sit and did a balancing act to get my bike shoes off and running sneakers on.
GARMIN T2 time: 10 seconds. Like I said, most of my transition time is included in the bike time. I realized this as I was leaving the T2 transition.
RUN: This was a 3 mile run, out and back; up the same big hill in the northern part of Central Park. This was a tough run. One long big hill and and a bunch of shorter hills. I felt I was doing hill repeats. I was surprised, looking at my Garmin after the race, to see that my heart rate was not up as high as I thought it was. Could I have gone faster? My legs felt like two pieces of iron. I focused on keeping a high cadence, especially going up the hills. Overall, I was happy with my run pace. It was better than the Black Bear run; and also given the fact that I did a half marathon yesterday made it even more reasonable that I would feel a little stiff.
GARMIN Run time: 36:29 11:17 pace
Nutrition: I had a Clif Shot Blox in my race belt and had a few of the squares during the run. At the turnaround, they had water, some of which I sipped, and most of which I poured over my head.
Lessons learned:
1) I assumed that I would get a swim cap for the race and almost did not bring my own. Fortunately I did bring it anyway, otherwise I would have had a way more difficult swim with all the hair in my face! Now I know that I will always have a cap with me no matter what.
2) Don't store your frozen water bottles in the same area as your clothes. My socks got wet and remained wet from the start.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Queens Half Marathon
Today I completed the Queens Half Marathon in Flushing Meadows Park. It was a great day, and although I ran slower than I would have liked to, I ran better than I did in the Black Bear. It's all relative.
I planned to walk during each water station for this race. In the past, I have worn my water bottles so as not to lose precious seconds slowing down to drink water. I thought about how ultimately, as in life, I have to slow down/rest/take care of myself, in order to be able to go faster.
I planned to walk during each water station for this race. In the past, I have worn my water bottles so as not to lose precious seconds slowing down to drink water. I thought about how ultimately, as in life, I have to slow down/rest/take care of myself, in order to be able to go faster.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
First 60 mile ride
Today I went on my first 60 mile ride in years. I went from home in Park Slope /Windsor Terrace, over the Brooklyn Bridge, up the West side bike path; over the George Washington Bridge, up 9W and stopped just about 3 miles short of Piermont, at a market/cafe that was right there on 9W. Right before getting to this market, I had started going down these seriously steep hills, and thought with much trepidation that I was going to have to come up them very shortly. I was not looking forward to it after seeing someone walking up the hill. Fortunately though, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, coming back up the hill. This is a good thing.
Here is a link to my Garmin map, showing the route:
60 mile ride
I can't imagine running 13.1 miles after a ride of this distance, yet this is what I will be doing on October 2nd, at the Pocono Half Ironman. I'm just taking it a day at a time, if I am diligent, I will get there. I suppose.
I have been working my training schedule differently these last few weeks. Originally, I had made a very detailed, 6 month long training schedule that I agonized for a long while, looked at it for 1 week and then never looked at it again after that. These past few weeks I have been making a weekly plan. On Sundays, I make my plan for the following week, based on any particular events going on that week and also influenced by my experience of the week(s) before. This process helps, because then I can remember why I didn't do a particular workout - the weather; a work event that I have to attend, whatever. Otherwise, if I look at it weeks later, I just see that I didn't follow through and get down on myself.
Here is a link to my Garmin map, showing the route:
60 mile ride
I can't imagine running 13.1 miles after a ride of this distance, yet this is what I will be doing on October 2nd, at the Pocono Half Ironman. I'm just taking it a day at a time, if I am diligent, I will get there. I suppose.
I have been working my training schedule differently these last few weeks. Originally, I had made a very detailed, 6 month long training schedule that I agonized for a long while, looked at it for 1 week and then never looked at it again after that. These past few weeks I have been making a weekly plan. On Sundays, I make my plan for the following week, based on any particular events going on that week and also influenced by my experience of the week(s) before. This process helps, because then I can remember why I didn't do a particular workout - the weather; a work event that I have to attend, whatever. Otherwise, if I look at it weeks later, I just see that I didn't follow through and get down on myself.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
bad girls bad girls, watcha gonna do when they come for you
Today, I went open water swimming with Theresa. We swam just outside the roped off area. I forgot my goggles and was pretty upset about this, but as I started swimming and saw that I could do it fairly easily by keeping my eyes closed, I felt better about it. I also was thinking that if ever my goggles break or get knocked off my head, I know that I can swim without them. It's easier to swim without
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Next countdown/ learning from mistakes
I spent a week in Florida, contemplating exercise. My plan had been to exercise every day, without the obstacle of work. It didn't work out that way though. I spent most of my time doing nohing but sit in front of the computer.
There are approximately 16 weeks, 4 months left to the Poconos Half Ironman. I have to hunker down and get busy with a training plan. I made a few mistakes just prior to this last triathlon on June 5th which I need to look at so as not to repeat them. What I have noticed with triathletes is how they deal with training / racing mistakes and foibles. Failures are closely examined to find the core issues so as not to repeat them.
First of all, I tapered for the Brooklyn Half Marathon on May 21st, and then I ran minimally after that. Part of planning your race season, it's important to identify your 'A' races, 'B' races and 'C' races. What this impacts mainly, is your taper before the race. This became unclear just prior to the Black Bear, and I suppose just prior to the Brooklyn half. Everything became an 'A' race. The reality is that the Poconos HIM is my A race. The black bear and nyc tri's may be B races. What this means is that I should not have tapered for the Brooklyn Half, and minimal taper for these smaller tri's that are meant as training events for
the Poconos HIM.
-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn
There are approximately 16 weeks, 4 months left to the Poconos Half Ironman. I have to hunker down and get busy with a training plan. I made a few mistakes just prior to this last triathlon on June 5th which I need to look at so as not to repeat them. What I have noticed with triathletes is how they deal with training / racing mistakes and foibles. Failures are closely examined to find the core issues so as not to repeat them.
First of all, I tapered for the Brooklyn Half Marathon on May 21st, and then I ran minimally after that. Part of planning your race season, it's important to identify your 'A' races, 'B' races and 'C' races. What this impacts mainly, is your taper before the race. This became unclear just prior to the Black Bear, and I suppose just prior to the Brooklyn half. Everything became an 'A' race. The reality is that the Poconos HIM is my A race. The black bear and nyc tri's may be B races. What this means is that I should not have tapered for the Brooklyn Half, and minimal taper for these smaller tri's that are meant as training events for
the Poconos HIM.
-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn
Monday, June 6, 2011
Black Bear Tri Race Report - long version
Finally, this race is behind me!
Time results:
Swim: 43:04
T1: 4:36
Bike: 1:43:24
T2: 1:40
Run: 1:19:06
Overall: 4:01:50
I woke up at 3:30 (not planned) and so since I couldn't go back to sleep I decided to go with it. I went into the hotel bathroom and made a double dose of coffee. I got dressed and went down to the lobby and got some milk and more coffee after that, as well made toast with butter and jelly. Heated up my oatmeal, that I had brought with me that was already seasoned with apple and cinnamon, and I added a banana. Oatmeal is my usual breakfast so I wanted to make sure that I had what I usually eat.
The weather was perfect - in the 60's and overcast.
We got to the race area around 6am. Had to get body marked before going into the transition area. I was pretty pumped up; not anxious, but ready. I was happy to be able to get some practice swims in to get used to the water. The water was actually warmer than the air temperature so it felt pretty good. I was the only one, as far as I saw, wearing the neoprene booties. They are used for cold water, and it certainly wasn't cold, but I have been swimming with them all this time, and so did not want to get distracted by new feelings in my feet. Also, I had seen the beach front the day before, and there appeared to be rocks under the water, so I did not want to subject myself to having to walk on that.
The other part that was new for me was wearing the race chip on my ankle. Under the wetsuit, the edges of the chip were cutting into my skin. A few times during the race, I had to reach down and adjust that chip so that it wouldn't cut my skin. In terms of the swim, I also knew that I would have to take it off and put it back on after taking off my wet suit, so that was another stressful bit, since I did not know how I would be feeling.
SWIM
My wave was the last wave, composed of women over the age of 35. Everyone was really friendly. There was one woman there who was more focused on the wave before us (women 34 and under) where her 16 yo daughter was competing in her first triathlon. I counted the buoys that were in the water 4 orange, one yellow (where the Sprint distance made a right turn) then 3 more orange buoys and another yellow, where the Olympic distance made a right turn, then another right and finally back to the swim exit, where we made a left turn at the last yellow buoy.
You had to swim out to the start and tread water until they counted down and said 'go!'. I had decided that I was not going to 'hold back' in the swim, and would just start swimming with all the others. I realized it was not necessary to hold back, as the faster swimmers will just be faster. I suppose holding back works better during a mass start or something like that.
During the swim, I had no issues with the dark water and the water temperature was nice and there was no wind, which was GREAT. I basically focused on getting to the first buoy, and counted the buoys as I passed them. In between this, I focused only on my breathing and stroke, taking care not to lose my breath. 1-2-3 stroke, 1- stroke 1- stroke, and then over again, facing the other side.
In terms of problems, I did have a few small ones. They were small because I refused to let them get the best of me, but they were potentially more stressfull issues. One, my goggle strap came loose. The goggles had two straps going around my head, and while swimming, I realized that one of the straps was brushing against my mouth as I turned to breathe! First I didn't really know what was going on, but when I realized it, I thought I could stop and put the flapping strap under my swim cap, but I didn't want to risk it. The second issue was that I couldn't see out of my goggles. I had been so worried about them fogging up, that I had put defogger, I had spit in them, I had done this several times and in the end, they didn't fog up, but there were these droplets inside my goggles that blocked a clear view. Again, I thought about stopping to clear them out, but I was not going to risk it either. I saw enough to know where the buoys were. Then the third issue that was stressful was that each of my calves cramped up at different times. I assumed it was because I was bending my knees too much, so when I felt the cramp I more consciously kicked 'scissor' style, which helped the cramp go away. I am glad I was able to not panic over any of these things.
I swam the whole way. I only stopped to make sure I was going in the right direction and I was relaxed enough that I could even think about my stroke and was not just flailing as I do when I'm stressed out or tired while swimming.
When I made the second right turn into the home stretch, I started feeling emotional and got a lump in my throat, but then put those thoughts aside, because it is very hard to breath while you are crying! I was so happy that I could finish this swim!
T1
My transition out of my wetsuit was not as expected, mostly because I was so unbalanced after the swim. In practice, I can take it off while standing, but during this race I had to sit down and I couldn't stay balanced! I fell back as if I was going to do a backwards summersault! So, it was slow going for a bit. I put my shoes on and ran on the grass to the mount/dismount area. In my rush to get started I fell over my bike and killed my shin. I got up and kept on going.
BIKE
I was pretty out of breath at this point from the running, but I got on my bike and set off on the 24 mile course. For the first 8 miles or so, I thought there was something wrong with my bike. I could not go fast at all. I briefly stopped to see if my brakes were rubbing, but was too anxious to really stop and look. I was worried about this because I hadn't even started the hills and already I was close to using the easiest gear. I decided to just keep going and not entertain the thoughts of subterfuge. Some time later, I felt completely different, and was able to go at faster speeds. At that point I realized that it had been me, not the bike, that was not well oiled! Also, although people always talk about doing bike/run bricks - I have recently seen that what really gets to me is the swim to bike transition. My legs are STIFF and I rarely have seen too much talk about that.
The hills were killer hills. I was happy that I have trained on hills in the Poconos. I'm not fast, I go at 4.5 to 5mph on those hills. At the stage that I am in fitness, all I do when going up the hills is 'not stop'. The hills are so steep that one seconds' hesitation is all you need to lose that last bit of momentum and have to end up walking up the hill. Around mile 20, they had forwarned us of a steep incline and had we not had the heads up on it, and had I not practiced - I would have definitely walked. You can't even use your prior momentum because at that point, you have to slow down to make a right turn.
Then there are the downhills. The race coordinator said that a person could reach 50mph on the downhill. I could not imagine that, nor even letting myself get to that point. But when I got to the first downhill, I could see all the way down to the bottom, and then it starts back uphill. So, I let it all hang out, and went down without putting on the brakes. I went at 30-33mph; and my max was 37mph. This was all without pedaling. Maybe I was high on the adrenaline, but I loved it. I've been afraid in the past on training rides, and it was actually something that I was working towards: being able to go downhill withough putting on the brakes. This is where I would make up for lost time on the uphills. I don't know how faster people do it - the wind is tremendous at that speed!
Then on the final stretch back to transition, we were on the main road. Heading back to the dismount area, I did half of my new skill that I learned in my brick class - I got out of my shoes before the dismount. I didn't do the second half, which is putting my leg over the seat and riding with one foot on one pedal and jumping off. It's still too new a trick for me. I had already fallen once clumsily, I was not going to do it again!
Eating on the bike: I had two Cliff bars in my bento box, that I had divided into quarters. As I rode, I ate the pieces. I also had two Gatorade bottles. In training, I had only used one bottle, and when setting myself up with the second bottle - I realized that I was not going to be able to reach the second bottle very comfortably while riding, especially since it was very stiff, and it's length barely fit in my bicycle - this is another great example of the need to go through every detail prior to race day. So I did another new thing while riding on the bike. On a flat part, I took my empty water bottle out, held it in one hand, while I pulled the other bottle out and switched the bottle locations. Just as I was in the middle of this, I saw that I was heading towards a downhill - I basically thought to myself, that if it came down to it and I was not done with the switch, I would just ditch the bottle left in my hand. But, I was able to complete the switch successfully. hooray!
T2. As I got into the second transition, I heard the awards ceremonies for the winners. It wasn't a surprise, because I knew that the winners take a little over 2 hours to finish this distance, and here I was in T2 3 hours after the start. At the second transition, I really had to pee so I decided not to take any water or my planned cliff shots bloks. I felt so full from the urge to pee, that I couldn't think of anything else. Next time, I will take my planned nutrition.
RUN: The run was a trail run; two 5k loops. I was pretty slow and in major discomfort with my extremely full bladder. If I had come across a port-a-potty, I would have definitely used it, but there were none. I contemplated heading into the forest, but there would have been too many witnesses. I also contemplated asking the ambulance drivers that were at an intersection, if I could pee behind their ambulance, but I didn't do that either. Eventually, the pressure subsided, but then I also, was starting to feel thirstier. I got some water, and tried their HEED drink, which was quite disgusting. It tasted like salt water. I knew it was a bad idea to try something new, but I also knew that I had very little energy. So, I ran the 2 loops. I focused on not psyching myself out while I saw people finishing their second loop while I was starting my first.
Then I was done! I had thought I was second to last, but it turns out that I was 4th from last overall, and last in my age group. I am proud of having done this, and also relieved that it's over! It was a great race, very well organized with great people - tri it, you'll like it!
Time results:
Swim: 43:04
T1: 4:36
Bike: 1:43:24
T2: 1:40
Run: 1:19:06
Overall: 4:01:50
I woke up at 3:30 (not planned) and so since I couldn't go back to sleep I decided to go with it. I went into the hotel bathroom and made a double dose of coffee. I got dressed and went down to the lobby and got some milk and more coffee after that, as well made toast with butter and jelly. Heated up my oatmeal, that I had brought with me that was already seasoned with apple and cinnamon, and I added a banana. Oatmeal is my usual breakfast so I wanted to make sure that I had what I usually eat.
The weather was perfect - in the 60's and overcast.
We got to the race area around 6am. Had to get body marked before going into the transition area. I was pretty pumped up; not anxious, but ready. I was happy to be able to get some practice swims in to get used to the water. The water was actually warmer than the air temperature so it felt pretty good. I was the only one, as far as I saw, wearing the neoprene booties. They are used for cold water, and it certainly wasn't cold, but I have been swimming with them all this time, and so did not want to get distracted by new feelings in my feet. Also, I had seen the beach front the day before, and there appeared to be rocks under the water, so I did not want to subject myself to having to walk on that.
The other part that was new for me was wearing the race chip on my ankle. Under the wetsuit, the edges of the chip were cutting into my skin. A few times during the race, I had to reach down and adjust that chip so that it wouldn't cut my skin. In terms of the swim, I also knew that I would have to take it off and put it back on after taking off my wet suit, so that was another stressful bit, since I did not know how I would be feeling.
SWIM
My wave was the last wave, composed of women over the age of 35. Everyone was really friendly. There was one woman there who was more focused on the wave before us (women 34 and under) where her 16 yo daughter was competing in her first triathlon. I counted the buoys that were in the water 4 orange, one yellow (where the Sprint distance made a right turn) then 3 more orange buoys and another yellow, where the Olympic distance made a right turn, then another right and finally back to the swim exit, where we made a left turn at the last yellow buoy.
You had to swim out to the start and tread water until they counted down and said 'go!'. I had decided that I was not going to 'hold back' in the swim, and would just start swimming with all the others. I realized it was not necessary to hold back, as the faster swimmers will just be faster. I suppose holding back works better during a mass start or something like that.
During the swim, I had no issues with the dark water and the water temperature was nice and there was no wind, which was GREAT. I basically focused on getting to the first buoy, and counted the buoys as I passed them. In between this, I focused only on my breathing and stroke, taking care not to lose my breath. 1-2-3 stroke, 1- stroke 1- stroke, and then over again, facing the other side.
In terms of problems, I did have a few small ones. They were small because I refused to let them get the best of me, but they were potentially more stressfull issues. One, my goggle strap came loose. The goggles had two straps going around my head, and while swimming, I realized that one of the straps was brushing against my mouth as I turned to breathe! First I didn't really know what was going on, but when I realized it, I thought I could stop and put the flapping strap under my swim cap, but I didn't want to risk it. The second issue was that I couldn't see out of my goggles. I had been so worried about them fogging up, that I had put defogger, I had spit in them, I had done this several times and in the end, they didn't fog up, but there were these droplets inside my goggles that blocked a clear view. Again, I thought about stopping to clear them out, but I was not going to risk it either. I saw enough to know where the buoys were. Then the third issue that was stressful was that each of my calves cramped up at different times. I assumed it was because I was bending my knees too much, so when I felt the cramp I more consciously kicked 'scissor' style, which helped the cramp go away. I am glad I was able to not panic over any of these things.
I swam the whole way. I only stopped to make sure I was going in the right direction and I was relaxed enough that I could even think about my stroke and was not just flailing as I do when I'm stressed out or tired while swimming.
When I made the second right turn into the home stretch, I started feeling emotional and got a lump in my throat, but then put those thoughts aside, because it is very hard to breath while you are crying! I was so happy that I could finish this swim!
T1
My transition out of my wetsuit was not as expected, mostly because I was so unbalanced after the swim. In practice, I can take it off while standing, but during this race I had to sit down and I couldn't stay balanced! I fell back as if I was going to do a backwards summersault! So, it was slow going for a bit. I put my shoes on and ran on the grass to the mount/dismount area. In my rush to get started I fell over my bike and killed my shin. I got up and kept on going.
BIKE
I was pretty out of breath at this point from the running, but I got on my bike and set off on the 24 mile course. For the first 8 miles or so, I thought there was something wrong with my bike. I could not go fast at all. I briefly stopped to see if my brakes were rubbing, but was too anxious to really stop and look. I was worried about this because I hadn't even started the hills and already I was close to using the easiest gear. I decided to just keep going and not entertain the thoughts of subterfuge. Some time later, I felt completely different, and was able to go at faster speeds. At that point I realized that it had been me, not the bike, that was not well oiled! Also, although people always talk about doing bike/run bricks - I have recently seen that what really gets to me is the swim to bike transition. My legs are STIFF and I rarely have seen too much talk about that.
The hills were killer hills. I was happy that I have trained on hills in the Poconos. I'm not fast, I go at 4.5 to 5mph on those hills. At the stage that I am in fitness, all I do when going up the hills is 'not stop'. The hills are so steep that one seconds' hesitation is all you need to lose that last bit of momentum and have to end up walking up the hill. Around mile 20, they had forwarned us of a steep incline and had we not had the heads up on it, and had I not practiced - I would have definitely walked. You can't even use your prior momentum because at that point, you have to slow down to make a right turn.
Then there are the downhills. The race coordinator said that a person could reach 50mph on the downhill. I could not imagine that, nor even letting myself get to that point. But when I got to the first downhill, I could see all the way down to the bottom, and then it starts back uphill. So, I let it all hang out, and went down without putting on the brakes. I went at 30-33mph; and my max was 37mph. This was all without pedaling. Maybe I was high on the adrenaline, but I loved it. I've been afraid in the past on training rides, and it was actually something that I was working towards: being able to go downhill withough putting on the brakes. This is where I would make up for lost time on the uphills. I don't know how faster people do it - the wind is tremendous at that speed!
Then on the final stretch back to transition, we were on the main road. Heading back to the dismount area, I did half of my new skill that I learned in my brick class - I got out of my shoes before the dismount. I didn't do the second half, which is putting my leg over the seat and riding with one foot on one pedal and jumping off. It's still too new a trick for me. I had already fallen once clumsily, I was not going to do it again!
Eating on the bike: I had two Cliff bars in my bento box, that I had divided into quarters. As I rode, I ate the pieces. I also had two Gatorade bottles. In training, I had only used one bottle, and when setting myself up with the second bottle - I realized that I was not going to be able to reach the second bottle very comfortably while riding, especially since it was very stiff, and it's length barely fit in my bicycle - this is another great example of the need to go through every detail prior to race day. So I did another new thing while riding on the bike. On a flat part, I took my empty water bottle out, held it in one hand, while I pulled the other bottle out and switched the bottle locations. Just as I was in the middle of this, I saw that I was heading towards a downhill - I basically thought to myself, that if it came down to it and I was not done with the switch, I would just ditch the bottle left in my hand. But, I was able to complete the switch successfully. hooray!
T2. As I got into the second transition, I heard the awards ceremonies for the winners. It wasn't a surprise, because I knew that the winners take a little over 2 hours to finish this distance, and here I was in T2 3 hours after the start. At the second transition, I really had to pee so I decided not to take any water or my planned cliff shots bloks. I felt so full from the urge to pee, that I couldn't think of anything else. Next time, I will take my planned nutrition.
RUN: The run was a trail run; two 5k loops. I was pretty slow and in major discomfort with my extremely full bladder. If I had come across a port-a-potty, I would have definitely used it, but there were none. I contemplated heading into the forest, but there would have been too many witnesses. I also contemplated asking the ambulance drivers that were at an intersection, if I could pee behind their ambulance, but I didn't do that either. Eventually, the pressure subsided, but then I also, was starting to feel thirstier. I got some water, and tried their HEED drink, which was quite disgusting. It tasted like salt water. I knew it was a bad idea to try something new, but I also knew that I had very little energy. So, I ran the 2 loops. I focused on not psyching myself out while I saw people finishing their second loop while I was starting my first.
Then I was done! I had thought I was second to last, but it turns out that I was 4th from last overall, and last in my age group. I am proud of having done this, and also relieved that it's over! It was a great race, very well organized with great people - tri it, you'll like it!
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