Tri-ing Again (April 26th Bonelli Sprint Triathlon)

Many of you may recall last summer when I ran my first reverse-sprint triathlon. It was not pretty, but I did it. While I vowed next time I would train more, that did not quite work out for me in light of my vacations. So last Sunday morning (after arriving back from the Canary Islands after 29 hours of travel early Saturday morning) I ran my second Sprint Triathlon. . . . although this time it was in the correct order and the weather was much, much cooler.

Now again, don't go getting too impressed. It was really not that long of an event - despite the drama and whining you are about to read. But I was proud that I went out, still did it, and finished despite all of the circumstances and lack of training. (BTW - in case you missed it, the key word here was actually finishing.)

In Over My Head

So, if you have not figured it out yet, I had spent the last 3-4 weeks on vacations eating and drinking tasty Spanish wine, with very little exercise in between. (Unless lifting my luggage onto the bed can be considered a work out.) So I was debating whether or not to even do this event. Jane, though, had another perspective and strongly "encouraged" me to do it. So, I said ok. I say "encouraged," but she actually signed me up for the event while I was out of the country. While I cannot deny that I thought about spending Sunday morning on my couch instead of getting up early, I had sort of agreed to do it, so could not really back out and leave Jane by herself.

While starting my travels home with only three hours of sleep I did not get home until early Saturday morning from the Canary Islands, I was up early on Saturday (after four hours of sleep) and fell back to sleep somewhat early Saturday night. This is good right? A good night's sleep before the event. Perfect. But my sleep was not very restful. From about midnight until three a.m., I awoke numerous times, each time after having some bad dream about a triathlon. Shocking. In the first dream I remember, I apparently forgot my swimsuit and goggles. Jane thought I had intentionally forgotten them to get out of the event. But hey, if I wanted to get out of the event, I just would not have ever gotten out of bed - even in a dream. The second dream I remembered, I could not even find the swim course. It was down some road. I was confused. It was bad. But the last dream I remember involved an ocean swim. When I finally found the swim start, I looked down to see the waves were crashing in at 15-18 feet. People were struggling to get out into the water, past the waves, to the buoy and back.

I guess you don't have to be a psychologist or even somewhat smart to figure out that my subconscious obviously I thought I was in over my head (figuratively and literally). But it is me, and that never stopped me before. After all, I am short, so lots of things are over my head. So after some fitful sleep, I woke up again at 4 a.m. After tossing and turning for a bit longer, I got up, got dressed, gathered all of my stuff, and headed out.

Yeah - This Was Dumb

So we got out to the event early, found a good transition area, organized all of our junk (a.k.a. gear), and we were getting ready to go. Here is a picture of Jane and I in our wetsuits and swim caps about 30 minutes before the start. (Yes, I know I look like a pink potato head with ears sticking out. But if my friends cannot laugh at me, who can?)

Before the race, we decided to warm up a little and get used to the lake water. While the air temperature was only about 55 degrees or so at the time, the water temperature was supposed to be close to 70 degrees. But after getting in, I was not buying it. But with the wet suit, it was not cold for too long, and I was more concerned about the slime I was stepping in then the temperature of the not so clear water.

So the various waves of participants ahead of us got started, it was finally our turn, and we were off. The first 20 meters was all about trying to get going and getting clobbered as everyone searched for space.

Then after about 15 more meters of freestyle swimming, I simply could not catch my breath. Every time I turned my head and inhaled, I felt the cold air fill my lungs. Rather than being relieved to have oxygen, the air felt like little knives cutting at my lungs. I kept trying to swim and catch my breath but to no avail, the sharp, cold air kept stabbing me. At this point in time, I had many thoughts running through my head, including:

1) Don't panic chances are you won't drown (I am a strong swimmer after all usually, and there are like 20 life guards out here;

2) Why am I here again?

3) Can I just quit and go back to shore?

4) Boy this was dumb to do when I have not been in the pool for over two months; and finally

5) O.k. what's the plan?

(I guess I should add that six was probably - oh look, I am not the only idiot out here having a hard time with this as I saw other pink caps bobbing in the water.)

So my plan was just to start to use the butterfly stroke and try to catch my breath. While it took a little time to get momentum and get my breathing straight - I was finally making progress. While at times it felt like forever, I finally started passing some other slow swimmers and saw the end of the swim in sight. When I started walking out of the water and fumbling to get out of my wet suit, I quickly realized how much energy I had just expended. I could barely walk and unzip my wet suit, while climbing up off the beach into the transition area. Then I it hit me - holy mole - I still have to bike and run - this was the short part of the event. Yes, this was dumb.

(As a side note, this was the first time I had ever tried to swim any event wearing a wet suit. Apparently people say that the first few times you swim a triathlon with one, you often feel like you cannot breathe. Huh. That sure would have been nice to know a bit earlier.)

Knowing Makes It Easier

After getting off my wetsuit, getting my biking gear, and heading out - the bike was fairly uneventful. Well, sort of. At first could not get my clipless pedal attached. (New pedals - little practice). And why do they call them clipless pedals when they really are clips? Anyway, I think I scared some of the spectators coming out of the transition area, as I was weaving a bit as I was trying to put on gloves. I heard lots of oohs as I was weaving and pulling on my gloves, which for some reason just made me laugh.)

Fortunately on Easter Sunday, we had ridden the bike course. It is funny, how when I actually know something, it makes it easier for my brain to deal with. The first time I run or bike anything, it always seems harder because I never know when it is going to end, where the challenges lie, or how to prepare myself. So while the course was full of not so fun hills, I knew where they were. That was enough for me to be able to get through the bike ride.

I was happily back to the transition area, hopped off my bike, and was slowly (I emphasize slowly) jogging through the transition area with my bike, when I realized my legs could barely run 20 yards and now I had to run 3 plus miles. Oops.

Will This Ever End?

So I changed shoes and grabbed my visor, and was on my way. Although I grabbed some water heading out of the transition area, I was barely able to swallow any. I felt like a big lump was in my throat. I was not sure if I had to burp or was going to throw-up, all I knew was that I was not going to quit. During the first five minutes of the run, my legs felt like they each weighed about 2 tons, and my calves were starting to cramp. If only I could lift them more than millimeters off the ground. All I could think was that I still had at least 25 minutes to go before this would be over and the slower I ran the more time it would go on. Not exactly true. My other thought was that I could not remember the last time I ran even a mile. Again, stupid, stupid, stupid.

Sadly, unlike the bike course, I had no idea about the lay out of the run course. I did not know where the hills were or where the mileage was - which just screwed with my ever so fragile psyche. I hit the one turn around point, headed back up a hill, down another, and then saw a 1 mile marker. Only one mile to go - finally. Only problem was that it was the bottom of a long, long, long, long, long, long hill, of which I could not see the end. (O.k., maybe it is not really that long, it was probably a 1/2 mile, maybe. But it just felt super long at that moment.) Seriously? Why do people always think it is funny to put hills at the end of things? By this time, the cramps in my calves had not gone away, and were shooting pains up my legs. It did not matter if I ran or walked, it felt the same - so I kept trying to keep "running". (Not sure I could say it was a true run, maybe a shuffle. But can say I was not actually walking.) But I was not alone. There were others struggling up the same hill.

The Finish

Here is Jane coming into the home stretch:

Anyway, I eventually made it up that hill and headed back into the park area. While I could not see the actual finish line, I could hear the crowd, the announcer, and knew I was finally close. So away I went. Funny how you sometimes have that burst of energy when you know you only have to move for another minute or two. So, here I am with a few hundred meters to the finish (and some random guy who started the race ahead of me who I passed going up that long, long hill).

I ended up with what I considered to be not great but not an atrocious time and ended up finished 6th in my division. I survived - which is what I was actually going for.

Here is the "after" picture of Jane and I - lots of smiles because we were done! Jane finished 3rd in her division and took a medal: Yeah Jane!!!! She obviously has not been doing enough drinking. :)

A special thank you to Dave B - who was our official cheerleader and photographer. Although, at some point I think he got bored because I found this picture on my camera: Also - thanks to Murray and his wife for coming out to support us as well!

Jane and I are planning on trying this one again next month. Hopefully some more training and less vacationing will help!