Waterman's Olympic Relay - Picking Myself Up Again

This wasn’t the post-Covid comeback season I thought it would be, be closed out the year on a positive note. I had trained hard for Musselman, only to end up participating as a cheerleader. Originally wanted to train up for that distance again this year because of all the hard work I’d put into it this spring. The fact is though, jumping back on that bike wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. One day on a winery outing (cause the best ideas come together over wine!), I tossed around the idea of Waterman’s triathlon as a relay…. Long course. Kelly kind of looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Interested but not sure if her goals aligned with running a half marathon. She’d think about it. Still, I hadn’t been back outside on the bike - on the trainer and once on the W&OD trail - but not on the roads. What was I thinking I would be able to ramp back up to 56 miles if I couldn’t get any real training rides in. Went back to Kelly with the idea of Olympic distance and she was enthusiastically in!

I decided to go to a team ride in nokesville. Time to get back in the saddle (pun intended)  my plan was to join up with the beginners in a no-drop easy pace ride. 26 miles. We set out and immediately I felt the anxiety building. I figured as I kept going, the encouru would eventually ease up. Except it went the other direction.  I dropped from my 2nd position spot and was now the last of our little group. The panic set in as cars were wizzing by us… coach Ed came and retrieved me after only 6 miles  suddenly I’m unsure of even Olympic distance  But I was committed. I’m grateful I had signed up for a relay because if it were only for myself, I might have backed out… and I feel like nobody would have questioned me.

Still confining most of my rides to the trainer, I checked in with Laura who had recently gotten herself a new bike and was up for some training rides. Outside! We stayed in and around Herndon, biking from our neighborhood and exploring the area…. On roads, with traffic. It’s not quite the same as open country roads, but it was a start.

Race morning. The nerves are there. I made my iced tea and Kelly, Sweeney and I set out from our rental house to the race site. Easy check-in, xena racked (new bike replacement is still on Covid back order), and made our way over to the team z tent. I grabbed a banana which would later prove to be not enough, but there wasn’t much I felt like eating. Socializing with the team, wetsuit and all the other things…. Somehow in that hour(ish) I heard about 500(ish) various bike crash stories. Awesome, thanks for sharing.

We all made our way over to the swim start. It was a time trial start vs wave start. Took my ginger pills and albuteral tab (instead of inhaler - works better for me). Lined myself up, made my way to the dock, gave my race number to the official and jumped in.  Cold!  It didn’t take me long to settle into a rhythm. The water was choppy! It would soon become apparent that I spent way too much time focusing on the bike and not too much time in the pool. Slower than I would have liked, but I was moving along. Along the final stretch of the first of 1.75 loops I felt a sting on my arm… jellyfish!  They were everywhere!  I can’t recall if I’ve ever been stung by a jellyfish before, but if so, it was nothing like this. The damn thing must have attached itself to my arm and hung out for a bit. Ouch!

I felt my Garmin alert twice, which is set to go off every 500 yards. For a 1500m swim I should be over 2/3 done. Except I wasn’t. I had at least half a loop to go. I’m not sure if the course was measured long, or if I was swimming way off course…. But based on my log map, I held a pretty good line to the buoys. Finally on the last stretch, I made my way to the finish. How long can I stretch this out so I don’t have to get on that bike?  Not long enough, soon it was time to climb up the ladder for T1. Heading up the dock I passed Sweeney and Kelly cheering…. It was time.

Socks on. Bike shoes on. Helmet on. Sunglasses on - not cycling sunglasses since I failed to replace those. I glanced around but there was nothing left to do. It was showtime.

Heading out of transition Kelly was there telling me to just stay calm. It took me a few extra seconds to get clipped in, but was then able to settle down a bit. I gave myself permission to settle into a low gear, who cares how long this takes. Easy does it. I glanced down at my Garmin and not even a mile had elapsed. Breathe. Luckily the shoulders were wide and the traffic was light, though my hands and wrists started hurting a lot from my tight grip on the handlebars. I caught myself holding my breath every time I heard an approaching car (or in some cases a cyclist with noisy disc wheels). But I was doing it.

The Olympic distance separated from long course at mile 13 and once I made that turn I was pretty confident I would make it. The “hill” that I had been nervous about was nothing; maybe I had some muscle memory from all my hard work earlier in the season…. Though to put it in perspective, the net elevation gain over the 25 miles was X, so pretty flat overall.

A few women who had passed me in the first 15 or so miles were all still within sight. I felt that if I could keep it that way, I wasn’t as alone out there on the roads (which if you think about is kind of silly because they were well out of earshot). Then we turned into the headwind. OMG the headwind. My hands and wrists hurt. My arm was stinging from the jellyfish sting. I will also point out the last time i rode in a tri-suit (i.e. minimally padded bike shorts) was Nov 2019. Those last 10 miles were so hard, but now I knew this was going to happen. Barring a mechanical issue, I was going to be OK. In fact, that realization pumped me up to really pick it up in the last 5 miles. I ended up passing all 5 of the ones who I’d been eyeing.

Last mile!! I was so ready to be off the bike, not because it was an awful ride but because I couldn’t really say “I did it” until I was back in transition. Got to the dismount line and Kelly was right there. I have never been so happy to see her and have her take that timing chip from me. She was off and I was done! Hooray!

Sweeney met up with me and we wandered over to the team Z tent for some medical ointment for the sting. It was still stinging and in fact seemed like it was getting worse… maybe because now that my race was over I was concentrating on it more. Then it was cheer time. We walked over to the impromptu team cheering area with our cowbells.

Kelly was fast!  She came around well before expected as we cheered her into her second lap, and equally as fast heading into the finish 3 miles later.  We all met up at the finish line for some “after” photos and collected our medals. We joined Joann and Dan out for lunch and back to the rental house for a couple days of laughs and shenanigan.  So happy to have done this race, and as part of a relay team!

The Aftermath

 Sunday, June 27:

I woke up and started to assess the situation.  Bruises were starting to form pretty much everywhere.  Joann showed up pretty early with donuts and a ton of medical supplies.  We started cleaning out all of the wounds - there were a LOT.  I feel like I'm mostly covered in bandages.

Linda and Chris (recovering from his own bike crash a month earlier) from Team Z came over that evening and brought food and treats - so nice!!

Monday, June 28:

My discharge instructions told me to visit my primary doctor as a follow up, and while Dr. Lee was not in the office, one of his associates was able to see me same day.  No new information.  I am to clean out all of my wounds several times per day.  What a tedious and obnoxious process, and I was going through so many medical supplies.  Bruising looked pretty bad.

Travis and Jasmine came over with a bunch of food that my office had brought in for what should have been a "good luck at Mussleman tri" potluck for me.  Nice to hang out with them for a few hours.

Tuesday, June 29:

Last year, while I was goofing around with my nephew, I managed to hurt my knee.  I'd had several ortho doctors check me out (mostly because I didn't care for the diagnosis of osteonecrosis; an incidental finding), and the one I really liked asked me to come back for a 6-month follow-up.  Unfortunately, that doctor had left the practice, and I'd been meaning to cancel the appointment, but hadn't... I decided to keep it and get my bones checked out.  What a quack - as soon as this new doctor saw all my bandages and heard the word "accident" he saw dollar signs.  He didn't listen to anything I had to say, didn't examine me at all. He asked to see the road rash... huh?  I'm asking about my hip, knee and leg... what an awful, awful experience.

Then, since I had a bruise on the side of my face, I visited my dentist to make sure there was no damage. Sure enough, one of my crowns was loose and he had to fix it.

So sick of doctors.

That night, I noticed a rash starting to form on my back and right hip.  I texted Joann, thinking it must be an infection.  I survived the Ford Explorer but mersa was gonna take me out.  She told me to watch it for a day or so, and we'd reassess later.  Fine...

Left hip was the point of impact.  If you look close you can see the imprint of the SUV's grill.

Wednesday, June 30:

Rest day, finally!  Except not so much rest as starting to collect all of the initial documentation the lawyer is requesting.  It took the whole day.  I was at the computer all the way up until Travis and Brandon showed up with Thai food for dinner.  Exhausted!!

Friday, July 2:

OK, yea, so remember that rash I had noticed?  Now it was perfectly obvious to me, I was dying of mersa.  Of course I waited until 9pm to decide this, but I promptly drove myself to urgent care.  I explained my situation, and he took a look.... "Well this isn't mersa.  It looks to me like poison ivy."  And suddenly I had flashes of memory of all the paramedics and passers-by on the side of the road talking about me lying in a bunch of poison ivy.  D'oh!

The doctor also took the opportunity to check out the rest of my wounds.  Turns out the puncture on my leg is severely infected.  He sent me home with a round of fairly strong antibiotics, special ointment, and firm instructions not to participate in Musselman in any fashion (it had crossed my mind to do the swim).

Trust me, this is the PG version of the poison ivy... No pics from when it got really bad!

Tuesday, July 5:

Return to work with my seat cushion since my hip was still not interested in being seated.  

The poison ivy patches were looking pretty ugly, and I was all bandaged up (and re-bandaged several times thanks to Jason and Travis).  You could say I was a walking hot mess.  

Thursday, July 7:

New ortho!  Joann referred me to her ortho surgeon who took a much closer look at my knee.... and in the process, discovered a hematoma on the outside of my leg.  More meds and a scheduled PRP injection - highly recommend over cortisone!

Hematoma on my leg - didn't even know that was a thing!

Friday, July 9 - Wednesday, July 

Road trip!  Dan picked me up from the office and we started the drive to New York.  Even though I wasn't racing, we were still making the journey to Musselman.  Met up with Mere and Andre and checked in with Team Z.  We were about to walk less than 1/4 mile to get to ~mile 50 of the bike course, so easy to cheer.  Otherwise, it was exactly the relaxing weekend with friends that I needed.

Lots more follow-up visits and knee injection and all the legal stuff was still lingering, but life was going to start looking more normal.

Built Ford Tough

Saturday, June 26:

It was a typical early Saturday as I headed out to Riley’s Lock (in MD, north of the city, along the Potomac) for my last big training day before Musselman. The majority of the team was in Williamsburg for the other mid-season “A” race, so at first this was to be an unsupported ride - no sags, no sign-in sheets, etc, etc.  Luckily enough people showed interest that we had a few volunteers agree to come support.

Many of those doing this ride were doing a brick workout. The 70.3 distance folks were doing 3 hour ride + 1 hour run.  For Debbie, who I'd been training with much of the last few months, this meant 40 miles on the bike. I was training for aquabike though (no run) so I felt it made more sense for me to do a longer ride vs a brick and grabbed the 50 mile cue sheet. Debbie and I set out together and over the first 20 miles had conversations about our personal achievements so far this season. I was especially proud of myself for getting up a series of steep hills earlier in this ride. We came to a rest stop where sag, Lynisa, was hanging out. The 40 and 50 mile routes diverged within the next mile, so Debbie and I said goodbye and I was on my own.

There was another hill that I remembered from previous years riding this same route.  It was only a mile or so after I parted ways with Debbie. And I made it up so easy! I felt this was going to be a good ride. I was still smiling to myself as I felt a weird “bump” on my back tire. It felt as though I was tubing on a river and another tube bumped into mine. What was that??!!  I had this odd sense of floating or being in the air…. But that’s it.

I was suddenly lying on the side of the road, on my right side, facing back the direction I had come.  What had happened?  I kinda screamed out, but it wasn’t a scream like I was startled or even in pain. It was a confusion scream, scared scream, not sure what to do scream.  I felt what I could with my hands and found a huge hole ripped out of my shorts.  I didn’t see anybody around. How did I end up here?  And then a voice… “are you ok?” The voice was coming from behind me. I knew enough not to move and try to look, nor could I formulate any words. So I “screamed” again. Then a woman was standing over me. I heard her call 911… “I hit a cyclist”

“Joann?” … “I’ve been hit by a car” …. Literally the hardest conversation I’ve ever had, after I’d asked the lady to call her. Several passers-by had stopped at this point, looking me over, holding a towel up to my elbow. Joann was on speaker (the woman was holding the phone), and the strangers let her know what hospital was closest. She would meet me there. Then I was able to scroll to Debbie’s number. Somebody on the team should know what happened. As I was on the call, Lynisa pulled up. She knelt beside me telling me ambulance was on its way, that she would make sure all the things were taken care of. I was worried about my bike and how that would get back to me. Somebody commented that I wouldn’t be using that again…. No silly, not today, obvi… but I’m going to want that back!  I now know that the person meant my bike was no longer ridable, frame cut in pieces. I stopped my Garmin.

I heard sirens. It sounded like a lot. Suddenly there were so many paramedics standing over me. Discussing how to get me on the backboard (I had landed on an incline next to the road). Discussing which came first, C-collar or taking off my helmet. Also, somebody wanted to take my helmet.  Lynisa reminded them I was likely still attached to the bike.  I still didn’t know what was wrong with me. I had heard the strangers gasping but nobody said a word. So many things going on, so many conversations, such chaos.

I’m in the ambulance. It was weird being kept so still with the backboard and c-collar. I could only see the roof of the ambulance.  The EMT with me hooked me up to a couple machines and took some stats. She talked me through everything she was doing. I had a lot of questions, not about me, but the process and how things work. “Category B”, “Trauma Level 2”, “ETA 18 minutes”, “Suburban” were all things she was calling into the radio. Wow, 18 minutes! Wait, what does “suburban” mean? I asked… it’s where we were going. Wait. Not shady grove? Umm, can you call my friend? I asked her what the various noises meant. We only put on sirens when there was traffic around. Loud echo-y sirens were when we went under and overpass. Weird beeping noises meant that we were pulling into the hospital.

Trauma surgeons everywhere. Everybody shouting and yelling commands. Nobody talking directly to me. They expected the worst. I asked the nurse if she really had to cut off my favorite jersey - can I try to shimmy out? No, it has to go. Everything has to go. X-rays. Scans. I was cold.  A surgeon asked if I needed pain medication.. no, I was ok. I didn’t feel anything (not in a way that I couldn’t wiggle my toes, but I was numb). He told me I would change my mind and to let him know when I do. CT scan. As they are wheeling me out of trauma bay, I hear the radio for the next arrival. “ETA 7 minutes, GSW to the chest, through and through.” Wow. I was their easy case.

Trauma patient Quattro Forty. Cyclist vs SUV. That’s all anybody knew me as when the wheeled me into a corner (which turned out to be a room, but what the hell did I know, I was still positioned to only look up). This meant that neither Joann nor Lynisa could get any information because the hospital did not know me by my name.  I was there for awhile. I could hear talking, but they were to other patients, other nurses and doctors.  I was there for a long time.  

A police officer came in to talk about the case.  I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me that the police were called also. The lady who had hit me stayed on scene.  I am thankful she stayed.  There wasn’t much for the cop to say. He had looked at my clothing, noted the clear weather (not a cloud in sight), had talked to the woman and also Lynisa.  He told me there was a good bit of damage on the Ford Explorer that hit me.  I had been rear-ended so there wasn’t much I could contribute. The driver never saw me, never hit her brakes and struck me at about 45mph.  He gave me the report and left.

So much time passed.  I was getting uncomfortable.  No, I was starting to hurt.  Everything hurt.  Finally a nurse came in and I asked her to reposition my shoulder.  She cleaned out some glass from the wound. I also got those pain meds. The nurse didn’t know anything else though and they couldn’t remove the backboard yet. She did loosen the c-collar. I asked her if she could go find Joann and update her.  She tried, but no luck, she couldn’t find Joann. I was confused. I raised my arm up to try to see what time it was… my Garmin was gone!  I was worried I would be late to meet the crew for Dan’s birthday drinks. I was worried about how I would make it home to feed the dogs before meeting my friends.  I asked the nurse to hold the room phone up to my ear and dial Joann’s number. No answer.

Finally, finally, finally, they could remove the backboard. To everyone’s surprise, there were no major injuries.  There were some deep cuts and contusions, but nothing too serious.  How can that be?!  One fracture appeared in the scans, so I was to wait to talk to the doctor about that. I was starving but afraid to eat or drink because how would I be able to use the bathroom on a broken ankle. It didn’t feel broken though?  Oh but also… I was naked, draped only in the bed sheets.  How was that going to work for leaving the hospital?  I was now able to use the phone myself and called Joann again. Voicemail. In the middle of my message, somebody brought a bag of my belongings. I had my phone and my Garmin back!  Holy hell it was after 2pm!  I called Heidi and she answered. Lynisa (who Joann had recognized cause of her Team Z shirt) and they went to retrieve my car and get my bike loaded up. Heidi and Joann were en route to my house to drop off my car and they would feed my pups. I told them my status and that I expected to be able to leave once I spoke with the ortho doctor.

I had to be told explicitly that I could not participate in the Cicada Swim the next morning - the 1.7 mile open water event in National Harbor.  I texted Dani with the bad news.  I think I left out the part about the accident?  Joann sent me a photo of my broken bike which I forwarded out to some friends and family, with an "oh by the way, the reason my bike is broken...."

Coach Ed called me.  He asked if I was still planning to do Musselman in 2 weeks.  My answer wasn't "no."

An hour later Joann showed up with clothes for me. I had gotten out of bed by now (wearing paper scrubs) and was able to use the bathroom and get a snack. Still no ortho doc. Joann and I started looking at all the cuts and scrapes. “No major injuries” does NOT mean unscathed. Everything still hurt. Joann helped clean me up and get me out of my paper outfit and into my sundress. Still no ortho doc. We waited another hour for him to show up and spend 2 min explaining that the fracture was actually old and unrelated. I was free to go. Seems anti-climatic... like all that and now I can just walk out of the hospital?  

Joann got the car and we met up with Heidi for dinner ( I was STARVING - not much breakfast and I hadn't gotten through most of my bike nutrition... and scared to eat/drink anything since I couldn't get up for bathroom).   Then Joann drove me home. I spent the next few hours catching up with some folks on the phone and then crashed.  So many mixed emotions of being scared, and angry, and confused... but definitely thankful because I know it could have been so much worse.

Thankful for all the visitors, food deliveries and gift cards, flowers, and all the get-well messages!

Atlanta Half Marathon

I was very proud of myself this winter for getting in my long runs almost every week leading up to the half marathon.  The exceptions were weekend trips to see my brother and skiing.

I flew into Atlanta on Friday afternoon and Chris picked me up.  We spent the afternoon lounging, drinking wine and catching up on his front porch.  I love front porches!  Romeo got home and we went to dinner.  Fun evening with two good friends.  

Saturday was a busy day!  We met up with my cousin who lives in Atlanta (Chris made me drive!), ran a few errands, packet pickup, and lunch to meet Lisa (from BT) who also lives in Atlanta and was doing the race.  Then, back at the house, I got my stuff all ready for the race before dinner with Chris, Romeo and one of their friends, and then off to bed!

Chris had offered to get up early and drive me to the race start, but I told him to sleep in since the race was only a short uber ride away.  I made some iced tea, ate a little breakfast and headed to the race start.  It was chilly and I'm glad I borrowed Chris' long sleeve shirt and Romeo's gloves -thanks guys!  I walked around, stretched a little and the mandatory port-o-potty stop.  When I got to the starting corral, I ran into Lisa.  We chit chatted and made our way up to the start line to begin the race... still dark!

I started out doing 30/90 intervals (same as Laura and I have been training) but my head just wasn't in it.
It seemed to take forever to get to the first mile marker, then the second.  There are more hills in Atlanta that I had imagined.  I heard some bells behind me as I passed the first water stop and I turned to look.  It was the race sweepers!  Mind you, I am nowhere near the end of the race, and I am well within the pace required to make the time limit.  They caught up to me and told them I had the option of keeping up with them, or else moving to the sidewalk.  What??  I was literally right next to the 3:15 pace leaders (race limit was 3:30).  I told them thanks for the info just as my watch beeped indicating my run interval, so I left them.

It was super stressful trying to stay ahead of them with the constant sound of bells in my ears.  I asked the 3:15 pace leaders to confirm the time limit again, and they reiterated 3:30 and that they were also shocked the sweepers were so close.  I found the energy to pull ahead by a bit, looking forward to mile 9 where I knew Chris and Romeo would be out cheering.  The miles seemed to really creep by and I started to get some weird hot spots on my feet.  But for now, I got far enough ahead of the sweepers that I couldn't even see them when I turned around.

Finally I found myself entering Piedmount Park, approaching mile 9, and sure enough there were Chris and Romeo cheering along all the runners.  Of course I stopped for a selfie, and Chris walked with me for a bit.  By this point the hot spots on my feet had altered my run/walk intervals, but I was still running whenever I could.

It was really a struggle to get to the finish line.  By around mile 10 my intervals went out the window and I was walking the entire time.  I felt like I finally understood how people's legs can just give out towards the end of a race. It hurt every time my foot hit the ground, and those final 2-3 miles were miserable.  Finally, the finish line!  I collected my medal, some food and water, and tried to look around for a good place to sit.  Chris had been following my location online and immediately called and offered to pick me up. Yes!!

I could barely walk to an accessible area for Chris to pick me up where streets weren't closed.  When we got back, it was hard to get out of the car.... Hard to walk into the house.... hard to take a shower... etc, etc.   Finally clean, I sat down to breakfast. Romeo had made french toast with banana fosters topping, eggs, fruit and of course a couple ciders.   Yum!  And by 1pm we were on our way to the airport.  Of course I got a middle seat b/c I was too cheap to pay to select a seat. All the walking and waiting and people movers (in Dulles) and waiting for Lyft (which canceled on me 3 times).... ugh!  I got a ride to dog daycare and picked up my pups (leaving my car there was the best idea I had in a long time) and finally got home.  Luckily the dogs were wiped out from playing and we all napped in my bed until it was time for actual bedtime.  Half marathon in state #13 is in the books, but I do wish I'd had more fun time with Chris.  Next time...

MiamiMan Aquabike

First time doing back-to-back races!  I was awake early (in part due to terrible temperature control in our rental house), and hit the road back down to the race site.  This is the race I've been focusing my training on most of the year, ramping myself up to longer rides for the first time since Ironman.  

I felt ready but was super anxious about cutoff times.  Like super anxious, kind of like I was for Ironman.  I knew I had a good chance of qualifying for Worlds since there weren't even 16 people signed up on my age group, but in order to qualify, I'd have to finish within time limit.  

I met up with Laura, who was doing the Olympic distance, not the half (long course).  Had breakfast at the team Z tent.  Set up my transition area.  Anxious to get started.

The swim was about double what I did the day before.  We'd start at the same spot, do the same loop, but then get out and re-enter the water and do the same loop over again, finishing at the same spot we started the 2nd loop.  The current wasn't quite as bad, and I was able to settle into a good pace.  0:52:44 for the 1.2 mile swim.  Not my best, but I'm good with it, esp considering I'd done a race the day before.  

Off on the dreaded bike.  I wasn't nervous about the distance, only my pace.  I got a good start, but knew better than to be too optimistic.  Winds change all the time and it affects my speed drastically.  I decided to take what I could get as it comes, and tried to push it as much as possible while I seemed to have a tailwind, but still saving something in the legs for later.  The course was a lollipop course, about 10 miles out, and then 2 loops of 15 (or close enough for a total of 56 miles).  The point is, the cutoff time I was most concerned about was to start that 2nd loop before they closed the course.  So far, so good.

Amazingly, I was still doing OK, and waiting for that headwind to hit me, which it did.  There is a long stretch in the middle of that lollipop loop and it wasn't super exciting scenery, but I was excited that I was ahead of my predicted pace and was feeling better about that cutoff time.  Sure enough, I was not even close to missing the time when I made the left turn to start that loop again.  Phew.  Such a load off to know that I made it and now, no matter what, I would finish.  I still needed to finish within the time frame allotted, but I wasn't super worried about that.  

Soon I found myself in that long stretch again, just kept plugging away.  Then, I started smelling smoke.  As I continued on, the smell intensified and soon I was breathing it in.  There were no emergency vehicles or anything so it must have been a controlled fire somewhere, but it sure was making it hard to see and breath.  I pushed a little harder to get past that section, and soon enough I made the right turn, back on the stick of the lollipop on my way back to transition.  OMG, the headwind though!!  These last few miles were going to kill me, a sentiment that seemed to be shared with all of the other cyclists I was leap-frogging back and forth.  

Finally, I made the turn into the park and knew I was in the final mile.  3:48:16 total.  So funny to think about how anxious I'd been about cutoff times - this was close to a PR for this distance for me.  In fact, I was so much faster than I had anticipated, my friends missed my finish!  They were there for some post-race photos though before we got Xena ready for her ride back to VA (in the Team Z truck), and headed out to lunch, football and rest.

MiamiMan Aquathlon

 As soon as I stepped off the plane in Miami and was blasted with an incredible heat and humidity, I questioned my decision to a) race, and b) race 2 events in 2 days. Yikes!

Easy rental car retrieval and made my way to the rental house. I was on my own for the day as Dan was stuck in … Chicago? Charlotte? Point being, he was having a hell of a travel day and Chris wasn’t due to arrive until late. I got myself settled, did a grocer run, and found a place for a mani/pedi… cause who doesn’t get a pedicure the night before a race!  Then it was time for the team dinner and drinks and then back to the house to wait up for Chris. When he arrived we spent a couple hours catching up before heading to bed. Sounded like Dan would not arrive until the middle of the night.

The aquathlon race start was not until mid-morning, so no super early alarm clocks.  Chris opted to go with me and we made the relatively long drive to the race site (this was semi-on purpose so that we were closer to things we wanted to do after the races).  We checked in at the Team Z tent, met up with Laura and her family.  The aquathlon transition is very different from a triathlon transition with the most notable difference being the lack of bikes and racks.  Instead, we had buckets where we put everything we need.  Run shoes and socks.  Race belt.  Visor.  It felt like I was missing a ton of things, but it was the lack of all things related to biking.  I was set.  

We headed down to the water and were assured by many people (we kept asking; can't have too many sources of information) that the lake had been swept that morning and there were no alligators.  Still nervous... in the way that I wasn't really scared, but also it was south Florida and we were getting in a lake.  We hung around and took some photos and then it was time to get on with it.  

1000K swim, and I had to keep telling myself that this was race day #1 of 2 and I needed to pace accordingly.  I felt good in the water, feeling only seaweed on my skin (no wetsuits).  The water was warm but had a pretty decent current.  Chris actually caught a video of the buoys moving!  We basically did a loop of the perimeter of the lake, and I do think the current changed midway through the swim, not in our favor.  I settled into my stroke and just kept pushing through, knowing I would have the same swim, plus a little more the next day.  27:18 for the 1188.6 yards (per Garmin, so I overshot the course a bit). 

Got out of the water and ran to my transition area.  I was pretty quick putting socks on my wet feet (luckily most of the sand had come off), and then shoes, race belt, visor, and I was off.  I jogged some.  I walked some when I needed to.  Laura caught up with me with about a mile left to go, and we pep talked each other into keeping it up.  The goal was to qualify for Worlds, or at least know we did our best and didn't slack off.  It was cool finishing up with Laura after a full summer of training together.  0:44:14 for the 5K.

I knew I was on the cusp, and it would all depend on who was aging out (moving to the next age-group) and who was aging in (from the previous age-group).  As it turned out, I came in 23rd of the people who would be in my age group for 2020, so it will be a waiting game as only 16 get into the race.

Chris and I ate lunch and got all of my stuff ready for the bigger race (long distance aquabike) the next day.  I'd sent my bike down on the Team Z trailer, and unfortunately, Coach Ed had been in an accident.  Only a couple bikes were impacted, but Ed had us all go for a little test ride just to be sure.  Everything seemed fine, so I checked Xena in for the night.  Chris and I made our way back to the house and hung out with Dan (arrived sometime during the night) and Joann (arrived that morning during the race).  It's another race night, so no huge celebrations yet!

Kinetic Sprint Aquathlon

I love the later start time of the Kinetic sprint races!  A 9:16 wave start means that I can make it a day trip without waking up super super early.  So I did exactly that.  I had dropped the dogs at daycare on Saturday... they were very high energy and I was very low tolerance, so I used the quiet time to get some chores done and relax.  I started the keto diet earlier in the week and was suddenly second guessing my decision to start such a new [and drastic] diet so close to a race.... but I felt pretty OK.  I packed my bags (thanks to Laura for posting a social media pick of her outfit... it reminded me of my race belt and visor that I would have forgotten otherwise!!) and headed to bed early, ready for the 5am alarm.

That's not my bike!  My transition areas is the two small white bags, and that's it!

I slept pretty well, and while 5am is a little earlier than normal for me (dogs get me up 5:30 everyday), excitement for the race got me moving.  I grabbed my pre-packed breakfast and snacks from the refrigerator and packed them.  It's challenging to plan ahead for keto.  I hit the road and had no issues getting down to Lake Anna.  It rained off and on, but was OK when I pulled into the park.  Still, I took my umbrella as I made my way over to the Team Z tent.  The parking lot was pretty empty, and coach Ed commented that he predicted it would be a quiet race day given the weather.  I made my way over to registration and then met up with Laura to set up transition.  Most minimal transition I've ever had.  It seemed really weird to only have two small bags sitting on the ground:  one contained my socks and shoes, and the other a long sleeved shirt, race belt and visor.

When I heard that the water temp was 74 degrees, my first thought was to go without my wetsuit.  I don't hate the wetsuit, but.... one less thing.  As time went along though, hanging out with teammates, somehow I went from 100% sure I didn't want the wetsuit... to 80/20... to 50/50... and then the determination that I would wear it.  I can't even recall my reasoning.  So, on went the wetsuit, remembering to generously apply the tri-slide on my neck.  Time to walk down to the beach.  A few of us walked into the water to test it out - warm!

The aquathlon was in the final wave along with the novice athletes, aquabike and relays, quite the mix!  I found a spot towards the outside and was ready to go when they sounded the horn.  I walked in until the people in front of me started swimming, and I dove right in.  I felt good despite only having been in the pool twice so far this year (oops!).  I had to swim around a few people in the beginning and avoid some breast stroke kicks, but overall didn't feel too crowded.  I did get kicked once in the wrist... not hard, but enough to make me nervous my garmin had stopped (luckily it hadn't).  I was slower than I would have liked, but that goes with the territory when I didn't put in the pool time.

When I packed my bag, I couldn't find any ear plugs, but figured with only a 750m swim, I'd be OK. I'd completely forgotten about the ginger pills I usually take before OWS.  These omissions became painfully obvious as I came out of the water and made my way into transition.  I had that intense dizzy and light-headed feeling so I took my time.  I saw Laura and waved as she made her way out to the run.  I got my wetsuit off and my shoes on and slowly made my way to the run start, thankful there was a water station within the first 100 yards.

Still not feeling 100%, I gave myself permission to walk the first mile which was almost entirely uphill.  To be honest, it was a struggle, but as I neared the top, the dizziness went away.  It was definitely misting, but the rain wasn't too bad and I was comfortable.  I hadn't even bothered to put on my long sleeved shirt.  The run course was deserted.  I had seen one woman in front of me, but since I was walking, she'd separated from me pretty quickly.  I was surprised that Laura was the next person I saw on the out-and-back, after she'd made the turn around.  We high-fived and I realized I was half done with the run.  My 2nd mile was definitely faster than my first and I was feeling good.  The woman I had seen earlier was the only other runner I saw until the fast triathletes started catching up to me (and passing, obvi).

With about a mile left in the run, I was getting hungry.  I was pleased that my energy levels hadn't felt depleted due to the keto diet, and I am thinking the hunger I felt was because I hadn't eaten enough calories, not necessarily lack of carbs.  My last mile, which was mostly downhill, went pretty fast and soon I was coming out of the woods at the water and to the finish line!

I collected my medal, water and hand towel and made my way back to the Team Z tent.  It started raining pretty hard as I was getting my stuff out of transition.  Luckily I had brought a dry towel and clothes to change into for the drive home.  My keto diet didn't allow me to eat any of the Team Z food, so after an "after" photo with Laura and hanging out for a bit, I started making my way home.  I did have some good snacks in the car which tided me over for the long (traffic and rain-wise) drive home.  I picked up the dogs from daycare, took a shower, made some dinner and relaxed.  Glad to be back in race season!

Oh, and apparently I got an award!  3rd place Masters Female Overall! 
(don't ask how many people there were....)

Escape from Alcatraz

Alarms went off extra early for Dani and me... Race Day!!  Race morning is a bunch of weird logistics.  Walk to shuttle.  Shuttle to transition.  Bus to pier.  Ferry to Alcatraz.  It was still dark when we got to transition and didn't spend too much time setting things up - after all, I wasn't biking so I didn't even have that much to do!  I decided to head to the bathroom once before putting on my wetsuit and the strap of my garmin broke - uh oh.  I searched around unsuccessfully for some duct tape and wasn't sure what else to do so joined Dani on the bus to the pier.  I did not want to lose my garmin!  As I was putting on the various parts of my swim ensemble, I realized that I could pull the neoprene sleeve down over my wrist and that would hopefully secure the watch.  Hopefully.  Time for the ferry.  It was an hour from the time the boat pulled away from the dock until the time we'd be jumping into the water.  Luckily time passed fairly quickly.  I turned on my garmin while keeping it tucked under the wetsuit, but it never found a gps signal.  I am not sure if that's from being inside the ferry, or being under the wetsuit material or both.  I heard from several others that they were having trouble finding the gps also. 

Then... it was time to jump!  There was absolutely zero time to second guess yourself as you stepped to the edge of the boat.  In no time at all I found myself dropping 6 feet into the San Francisco bay again, only this time I was getting tossed around... a lot.  I remembered the tips from my practice swim and only spotted the towers for a few minutes before shifting my focus to the piers.  I kept slamming into people and people kept slamming into me.  I suppose it was normal given how many people were doing this swim, but in the wide open bay, how was I on top of people so much?  It really started annoying me.  It also occurred to me that my watch had not buzzed at all alerting me of my laps - did I remember to hit start?  Was it still attached to me? 

At one point somebody passed me perpendicular on their way to Japan.  I paused to yell at them but by the time I got my bearings in the middle of all the waves, the person was too far away to hear me.  The good news for them is that there were a ton of boats out there.  In fact, Dani reported that the race directors didn't feel they had enough watercraft support given the conditions (small watercraft advisory and 2 foot swells, which I didn't find out until later) and had solicited the help of a bunch of fisherman who happened to be out.  I kept going, still getting tossed around pretty good.  I realized that I was probably more than a football field away from that rocky shoreline.  I tried with all my might to adjust my course but was no match for the current.  I overshot the finish by about 20-30 yards and rather than try to swim upstream, I got out on the beach and ran back up to the finish.  I was not alone as there were a bunch of people running up the beach.  45 minutes for the official race time.  My garmin was indeed still on my wrist, and the timer was going, but the gps signal never picked up. 

There was a half mile "run" to transition from the swim exit.  I chose to skip the gear bag that we had been allowed to store at the swim exit in favor of walking in my neoprene booties.  I had thought I would jog part of this but the booties just didn't provide very much padding on the cement.  I walked up until we got to the edge of Marina Green where transition was located and was able to run the last portion that was on grass.  I yelled to Lucy who was ready with her bike.  She asked someone to take a quick picture of us and she was off!  I grabbed some water and stood there for awhile to cheer in case Tommy or Dani as behind me.  As luck would have it, I got to cheer for both of them as they came in from the swim and headed out on their bike.  I took off my wetsuit, got my run gear together, had a couple snacks and generously applied anti-chaffing cream.  Luckily the chaffing wasn't much worse than I'd started off with.

T1 - out of the water and Lucy is about to head out on the bike

Lucy had predicted her time to be about 2 hours, but I wisely got ready much earlier - good thing too since it only took Lucy about 80 min to return to transition. I grabbed the timing chip from Lucy and headed off on the run.  There were crowds lining the streets for the first half mile so I jogged.  It was getting warmer and I knew this was going to be a challenging course, so I slowed to a walk as the crowds thinned and I headed towards Golden Gate Bridge.  It was a slight downhill and I was a little worried how it would feel on the out and back course going uphill for the last mile or so.  At least I'd be almost done.  I trudged along, walking some, jogging some, and then we turned a corner and I saw a staircase.  A steep staircase.  I knew there was going to be a staircase and I recalled the documentation saying that it was narrow and not to try to pass people.  I didn't want to be a hindrance for the people behind me so I made sure to keep going as fast as I could and no breaks.  I got to the top and the run course continued to go uphill.  Then more uphill.  And more uphill.  Geez!  I was at about 3 or 3.5 miles now and glanced up to see Tommy coming the other direction.  I'd somehow missed him coming back through transition on the bike - he must have done really well on that bike course!  I yelled at him and he looked absolutely drained! 

What goes up must go down, right?  The downhill finally arrived.  We went down and down and down and I ran the whole thing.  May as well take advantage of gravity!  The course popped us out on the beach and I made my way close to the water edge where the sand was harder.  I grabbed some water or electrolytes or whatever they handed me at the turn around, which was also in pretty deep sand, and headed back down the beach.  There were piles of sand in my shoes now! 

And then.... the dreaded sand ladder.... There was a timing mat at the bottom and a timing mat at the top and I know that it took me 6 minutes and 23 seconds to painfully drag myself up, using every bit of the cable that I could to pull myself along.  Finally at the top, the course continued uphill.  I recognized this part of the course as where I'd seen Tommy when I was going the other direction.  No wonder he looked so drained!  I'm sure I looked near death.

Sand ladder!  Photo taken from race facebook page.

I was walking along and got to talking to some other racers.  I jogged when I could and honestly I jogged a lot more than I thought I would, especially after how grueling the course had been so far.  There was another staircase, some very steep downhill sections that I considered getting on my butt and scooting down, and back on that long gradual uphill that signified the final couple miles.  It was getting pretty hot but the knowledge that I'd soon be done kept me going.  Lucy and I had discussed crossing the finish line together, and she was waiting for me with about a third of a mile to go.  To be honest, I hadn't planned on running the final third of a mile but the excitement was too much and I just kept going!  We ran down the finishers chute and high-fived as the announcer called our name - so much fun!

We got some water and made our way into the bleachers to cheer for Dani.  She had passed me going the opposite direction when I had about 2-3 miles left.  We didn't want to risk going back to transition and missing her.  It was really cool watching people finish and we cheered for every person.  Once Dani crossed the line we started the tasks of cleaning up our transition areas, dropping off Lucy and Dani's bikes, and most importantly taking pictures!  We escaped!  There was no nap for us as we headed back to the hotel for lunch, shower, drinks and then to meet up with Lucy and Paula for a celebration dinner. 

Oh yea... that's me... climbed onto the dump truck :)

I was exhausted as we finally turned in for the night, and I dreaded the extra early alarm I'd set for my 5:20am flight back home.  The flight change required a layover in Chicago and I was lucky that all my flights ended up on-time.  Jon picked me up from National airport and we proceeded directly into DC for game 4.  We had such a good time watching that win, it was nearly midnight when Jon finally dropped me off at home.  We'd made plans to get together with some friends to go to the viewing party for game 5....... and to fast forward a few days......... we won!!  The Caps won the Stanley Cup!!  What a week!!  #ALLCAPS  #ALLOURS  #WEBELIEVE  #THECUPISOURS