Rock Hall International Tri

1500m Swim ~ 24.5mi Bike ~ 10K Run

It has been years - literally years - since I have completed a triathlon.  Last one was Florida 70.3 back in May of 2011 with Deb, and even that had an asterisk accompanying it!! Before that there was the fiasco called Nations Triathlon... so the last completed triathlon I have done was in early summer of 2010, the Charlottesville Sprint Tri.  Geez.

Holy crap, I don't even know how I call myself a triathlete anymore.  And with all my injuries that I've had in the past year, is it even realistic to think that this would be a complete triathlon?  [The plan is to walk the run portion]

I did all of my race prep in the week leading up to this event, including learning how to change a flat tire!  Finally!  During that exercise, I realized my front tire was starting to shred, so I also replaced both tires and had the bike shop put my clip pedals back on [I'd had to switch to cage pedals post-surgery b/c my foot was too swollen for my cycling shoes].  Then, I hopped into the kitchen and made myself some Apple Pie Bites for my nutrition during the bike.  DELICIOUS.

OK, so Friday night arrives and I set my alarm for 3:30am in preparation for my 4:15am pick up.  Holy crap that is early!  I'd looked for hotels at the race site, but there was really nothing around.  Luckily, someone else who also lives in Fairfax sent an email to the Team Z yahoo group looking to carpool - perfect!  Wake up, pump up my tires, make iced tea and grab a banana, I was ready.  Matthew, arrived promptly at 4:15 and we were off to pick up another Z'er, Tamara, and then headed out to Rock Hall, MD. 

This might be the earliest I've ever had to get up for a race?

The race site and transition area were small-ish.  We did packet pickup, visited the port-o-johns [sidebar: I was wearing my new one-piece Team Z tri-suit which, btw, makes using the port-o-johns an entirely different experience], and set up transition area.  It had been so long, I was seriously afraid I was forgetting something major.. bike on the rack, helmet resting on aerobars with gloves, sunglasses and race belt inside.. cycling shoes laid out with socks individually in each, running shoes by themselves.. what else?  That can't be it?  I remember my first few races when I had everything including the kitchen sink in transition..

One of the nice things about being part of the team is the big team area that is set up.  I left my transition spot and was able to store my tri-bag in the Team Z "villiage", where I could also apply sunblock, put on the wetsuit (it fit better this time!), and hang out with fellow racers.  We even had someone collect all our flip flops after the walk to the swim start... otherwise I would've had to walk the 1/4 mile barefoot or else just abandon them. 

I know I said this in my Kinetic race report, but everyone is just so nice!  Mostly Team Z, but other triathletes as well..  at the swim start, I stuck up conversations with a girl who seemed super nervous about the race (it was her first tri!) -- how does the course work, where do we turn, are the buoys on our left or right.. so we talked for a bit and then it was time to jump into the water.  A cold shock at first, but then realized just how nice the water temperature was.  Before we knew it, the horn sounded and we were off.  I always get that initial panic of "oh crap, what have I just gotten myself into?!" as we set off toward the first buoy.

The swim course was 2 loops, which I kind of hate.  Immediately my goggles started fogging up and I stopped to rinse them up.  Then I got to a stretch and thought they were fogging up again, but it turned out the sun was so bright and in my eyes that I just couldn't see anything.  I had no idea if I was swimming toward the next buoy or in a completely opposite direction.  That was the worst segment and unfortunately with the loops, I'd have to do it again.  After that though, I finally started settling into my stroke.  I'd made it to the 2nd loop without being lapped by the one wave that went in before me, so that's a plus.  Soon I was on that final stretch and heading into the finish.  42:14 for the swim, which is slow for me; need to work on that.  Time to start thinking about the bike.

It was a rather long walk from the water to transition.. I managed to get my wetsuit half off, pulled off the goggles and cap and stated running.. ouch!  My foot hurt a lot, more than it had in a long time.. but there were cameras, including Val from Team Z, taking team shots, so I had to suck it up and run on the bad foot for the photos!  Transition was a long 5:47 minutes trying to get that dang wetsuit off and putting on all my bike accessories.  Whatever, it's not like I'm in the running for a podium spot!

Heading out of transition, ready to get it done!

In the car ride, Matthew and Tamera both described this bike course as flat with a few false flats.  Well, the only word they had correct was "false" -- no way this course was flat!  There were hills.. plenty of hills (grant you, my definition of what a hill is may differ from most).  At one point as I'm descending down a slight hill (let's call this a false downhill) there's a lady with an orange flag directing us into a sharp right turn.  As I make the turn she yells "this way and hail!!"  Uhh.. what?  Sky looks clear to me, what the hell is she talking about?  Though hailing a cab at this point doesn't sound like such a bad idea, especially as I'm lowing my gears for the steep hill I was going up.  Who puts the biggest hill of the course right after a sharp turn?!  They should've warned us with a sign or something.  Oh wait.. "turn here and HILL!!!"  D'oh.. that makes better sense.

OK, fine.. it's only 113 feet of gain.. for me, that's hilly!! :-)

Luckily, that hill was the worst of it and after that the course was indeed, fairly flat.  I had one of my apple pie bites, but just wasn't feeling it with the nutrition, though I'd been drinking my Gu Brew pretty steadily.  My performance on the bike wasn't great, and I have only my considerable lack of training to blame for that.  The bike is where I need to focus my energy.  It's where I can make the most gains, especially since my run will never be great.  This ride was really slow for me at 13.8mph.  I didn't have time to be disappointed though, as it was now time to "run" a 10K!

Now, before the race, I'd applied body glide everywhere.. and I do mean everywhere.  Yet, as I'm exiting transition with another woman, who I'd played leap frog with for the last part of the bike, I noticed my arms were really quite chaffed.  She actually asked me if I wanted to turn back and she would lend me some more body glide.  Turn back?  Are you kidding?!  No backwards progress!!!  (though super nice of her to offer that!!)  I hobbled along, noticing about half mile in that blisters were forming on my feet.. ugh.  I walked pretty much the whole first loop.  The first 2 parts of the course were long straight shots, which was the worst parts.  On the first loop there were tons of people yelling "we're almost there!" -- um, no, sorry, I'm only on my first lap..

The reason it looks like I'm running is b/c they had a sign warning us of the photographer :-)

The turn off for the finish or second lap was coming up and every single person was making the right for the last 0.2 miles.  Literally every. single. person.  I was going to be the only person making a left.. do I just go right?  Will anyone notice or even care?  Everyone thinks I'm "almost done" anyway, right?  But my body wouldn't allow it.. if I'm going to do this thing, I'm going to do it right.  I turned left and started my 2nd loop.  Nobody was in front of me.  I glanced around and luckily one other woman had turned left also.  Thank goodness!  She was about 50 feet behind me, where she stayed most of that lap.  Walking was taking forever so I started running(!!).. walk to a cone, run to the next cone, walk to a cone, run to the next cone, slowly making my way down those long stretches.  Then came a small out-and-back where I saw that there were actually a few people behind me, including another Team Z person.  Granted, most of these people passed me, but it felt good knowing that even if I was last, I wasn't last by *too* much. 

2nd loop -- YAY!!

The woman who had been behind me finally caught up to me in the final half mile or so, and we gutted out the rest together, pushing each other to run when we could, knowing the finish line was approaching.  We finally made the turn for that last 0.2 miles, saw Team Z still sitting there and cheering for every single person, and with a high five to Coach Alexis, we ran across that finish line together.  First triathlon in over 3 years completed!!  I collected my medal and a cold towel as they removed my timing chip.  I chatted with my teammate, Maureen, for a minute before Matthew came and told me it was time to go.  I knew he was on a tight schedule and felt bad for making him wait longer for me to finish, so I made my way back to transition to collect my things and it was time for the looooong 2.5 hour drive home.

Oh, and I mentioned my conversation with the first-timer triathlete before the swim start.  Well, she tracked me down in transition area after the race and gave me a big hug, thanking me for being her swim buddy and helping her get over her nerves.  She'd had a great race and was so thankful.. it kinda made my day.  Again, triathletes are just so nice!

I have never been so happy to get home.  I ordered a large pizza (I was starving at this point), jumped in the shower (thank goodness that shower seat is still there!) and settled in on the couch.. then I spent a good evening at Jessie and Pete's house for a BBQ, got a good night sleep (12 hours!!) and spent the next day at a wine festival with Sweeney.  I'd say it was a pretty good weekend!

And now that the weekend is over, it's time to focus on that weak bike...  next up is a 50 mile bike to get ready for Williamsburg.  And interestingly enough, my back doesn't feel terrible after the running.

Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Total
42:14	5:47	1:46:20	2:40	1:37:51	4:14:51