Colonial Beach Sprint Tri

You know that saying, never try anything new on race day?  Well I defied that like a champ!  I went to the Bike Lane on Thursday for a bike fit -- I have had my bike for a number of years now, and I've never been super uncomfortable, but who knows, maybe I could enjoy it more.  And sure enough, I walked out of there with new shoes, new cleats, adjusted seat and adjusted aerobars... and no time to get in a ride to try it all out before the race.  oops!  And then, a coworker gave me a homemade sports drink to try, which I promised to do, and I threw that on the bike without trying first... more on that mistake later.

I haven't had specific time goals for a race in awhile, but I decided to make some for this race:

Swim ~ 17 min  (that would be slightly faster than my Kinetic relay time)
Bike ~ 1 hour (14mph is doable!)
Run ~ 40-45 min (ugh.. the dreaded run)

OK, so I made my way down to Cindy's house at the most inconvenient traffic hour of 5pm on a Friday afternoon.  An hour and a half later, I arrived and it was great to catch up.  I hadn't seen Cindy for months, so we chatted over dinner and wine and then went to bed early(ish) in anticipation of my 4:45 alarm.

The morning at Cindy's was uneventful as I got my race outfit on, put ice in my water bottle and headed out for the race.  I decided to ignore the light that kept flashing at me on my dashboard as my GPS sent me through the back roads of La Plata, MD (interesting that it had me turn off 301 only to get right back on it about 20 min later).  Taking the back roads at that hour of the morning meant several close encounters with wildlife, and soon I was worried that all the braking would cause me to be late for check-in; I hadn't planned on an hour drive from Cindy's house that morning.  Luckily though, as soon as I crossed over the bridge back into Virginia's Northern Neck, I began seeing more bikes on cars.  A good sign!

I grabbed my race packet with plenty of time to spare and proceeded into transition to set up my area.  It took me a few minutes to figure out the numbering system and where to rack my bike [cause numeric is often difficult to figure out], carefully set up my gear and went to the body marking station.  Simple as pie, and I start making my way over to the Team Z tent as I hear the announcer over the loud speakers, "transition will close at 6:30 ... race will begin in 30 minutes ... you will need to have your bib number in order to receive your timing chip ... blah blah blah" -- oh crap!  timing chip!  how oh how did I forget that I might need a timing chip?!  Back into transition for my race bib, over to the timing chip table, and return the bib to its place in my helmet resting on my bike.  Phew.  That would've been a terrible mistake!

Finally over at the Team Z area, I found Annette.  Annette is one of the reasons I signed up for the race.  We were in the same starting class for Team Z back in March, and is the first person that I met on the team when we showed up at Providence for our first swim practice.  This was to be her first ever triathlon, so it was nice to be there to support her.

Then I met Trish.  I have a feeling Trish and I will get to know each other pretty well over the next 18 months, as we are both scheduled to attend the team training weekend at Ironman Maryland this year, will be staying in the same house, volunteering at the race and << gasp >> perhaps signing up for next year's event?!?!?!

weird that they write your number on both thigh in addition to the usual arm/calf

A few of us head down to the beach - and of course we are the jackasses not paying attention, chatting, and suddenly realize they have started playing the national anthem.  Time for the main event!  With a quick "good luck" cheer to Annette, I made my way into the water with Trish, and before we knew it we were off.  We had watched the wave before us swim and get carried by the current to the right (were supposed to go on the left of the buoys), and knew we had to aim left.  It was a rough first leg, and once again, I think that first turn buoy was moving!  In the opposite direction!  I got around it and settled into my stroke.  I was feeling good, but had no idea of my pace in relation to my 17 minute goal.  As I'm passing the next sighting buoy, I realize I am significantly wide of it.  I tried to correct that, but still passed that next turn buoy with plenty of room to spare, and continued to drift wider and was even further away from the next sighting buoy [the sighting buoys are placed midway between each turn buoy].  Oh well, just focus on the finish area and I'll be fine.  The beach was really rocky which was tough to walk on with bare feet.  I looked at my watch and saw it had been 20 minutes.  Oh well, so much for that.  Official time 20:30, which did not make my goal, but is similar to my time at Kinetic sprint which was a much calmer - and wetsuit friendly - swim, so I can't really be too disappointed that I actually improved!

yeah, so.. that should be a triangle.. with straight lines.. whoops.

In transition, I decided that since my bike shoes were brand new, I should put socks on, so I took an extra minute there, but still got out with a decent-enough time under 4 minutes, especially considering the loooong walk from the bikes to the road and mount line.  As I'm making the trek, I'm thinking back to the interesting sound my bike was making that morning as I walked it into the race.  I'm wondering how this is gonna go... got on the bike and clipped the new shoes and cleats in with no problem.  Off I go!  I really wanted to do 14 mph for this ride, and was relieved that it was a pretty flat course.  Unfortunately, the only nutrition I had on the bike was the sports drink my coworker made for me - my coworker, that is, who is not an endurance athlete.  I took one sip and didn't care for it at all.  I do have a fairly strong stomach, so I could *tolerate* it, but I just did not like it.  I forced myself to drink most of it, but didn't get though the bottle, so not great.  There were a few sections that we passed where I got super cold, like goose bumps cold.  I wondered if that was a sign of my lack of nutrition or even heat exhaustion?  I pressed on though, and other than one long section of rough road, the course was nice.  Not completely flat, and there was one downhill with a turn at the bottom.  It was here that I realized my right brake wasn't working.  Wonderful.  That, combined with the horrid noise that sounded when I was in certain gears just reiterates the fact that I should've tested it out after the bike fit.  Next time.  I was off to the finish, and knew that I was coming in under an hour!  Woot!  56:30 was the official time, for 14.8 miles per hour.

look at that final push on the last lap which was even a slight uphill at the end!

There's not really much to say about the "run" portion.  I pretty much walked the whole thing.  Sure, I could whine about the heat (and yes, it was HOT), or how much my foot hurt (which it did, but anyone who knows me knows that I can push through pain.. it's how I managed to run Ragnar Relay the night before surgery), but the fact is, I need to run more.  I need for the weather to cool down so I can get out and run (treadmill is out of the question b/c it's too hard on my foot).  I was absolutely craving water by this point and I knew that meant I was probably dehydrated.  Luckily they had a few water stops on the course.  I was thankful this was only a 5K and not a 10K and just kept inching my way forward until it was finally time to cross the finish line and have my timing chip removed.  Happy to be done, I grabbed a powerade and made my way back to the Team Z tents.  I didn't have any kind appetite for any food, but I stayed and socialized for awhile until it was time to make the drive back home.

I forgot to get a photo at the race site, but did take a post-race selfie as I stopped for gas on my way home.  Disappointed that I was too late for Chick-Fil-A breakfast, I made it home in about an hour and a half [without that dashboard light yelling at me again] and quickly showered and got myself ready for my family reunion.  It was awesome to see so many family (about 100 Stewarts and Masons!!), and we enjoyed a long [hot] game of kickball, some cornhole, and good food... though I still didn't have much of an any appetite and only ate a small plate to accompany my 4 ciders.  Not great nutrition choices for someone who was already pretty dehydrated.  I did force myself to eat some pasta salad when I got home, because I knew there was no way I was going to get through my scheduled bike ride the next morning without something in my stomach.

I sported compression socks at my family reunion picnic in prep for my next day ride

Andrea and I met at 7 Sunday morning for a 30 mile ride in Gainesville.  Definitely dehydrated and sore from the day before, I did much better than I thought.  My legs did decide to quit on my on the last set of rollers, so I sent Andrea ahead since she was planning to do a small brick run, and took a much needed break.  I did find a way to finish strong and was pleased with my effort for the most part.

After a quick nap, it was off to Sunday Funday with Sweeney and to watch the world cup final, and then rush home to join Jon for an evening concert at Wolf Trap to see Jennifer Nettles.  A super jam packed weekend all around, leaving me absolutely exhausted, but so great catching up with friends and family, good workouts, good music.  Now for some sleep....