Chasing Last Place

I'll save you the suspense.  I wasn't last. 

Backing up, this will be a write up of my first Olympic Triathlon.  Since you know the outcome, you don't have to read further.  Unless, you know, you want to.  Because I was, at one point, last.  And then I wasn't.

When I signed up in January for my half ironman (date: August 25th.  It's coming up really, really, really fast) I belatedly realized that I actually have never done a triathlon longer than a sprint distance (400 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run). 

So I looked around for an Olympic Distance triathlon (1 mile swim, 30 mile bike, 6.2 mile swim) to do.  This one stood out because (a) it was somewhere new (b) there weren't a lot of competitors and (c) it was on a week that both my running buddy and I could do it. 

After we started training I realized that (a) 6 am is a terrible time to start a race (b) July is a terrible month to do a race in the desert and (c) not a lot of competitors = a very bad placing.

I conceded that I would probably be very close to the back.  I want to make it clear that I was not creating some self-fulfilling prophesy or being modest--the women who have signed up for this particular triathlon in years past have consistently had much better swim, bike, and run times than me.  Judging by the course maps and the times, it's a result of being better triathletes.  They probably race a lot during the year and have done these distances multiple times over the course of many years.  One day, I'll get there.

But I wasn't going to get there this year and I was okay with it.  I wanted to just go out, do the best I could, and clock an Olympic Distance Tri before my big Half Ironman (HIM). 

So race day came much quicker than I anticipated.  I was nervous for about a week preceding it.  My wetsuit came last week and I took it out for the first time three days before the race.  I realized that I probably should have bought the wetsuit two months ago because it takes some time to get use to it.  Oh well.  Chalk that up to a lesson learned.

At 4:50 am on Saturday, H. and I left our slumbering families at the cabin we were staying in and drove the 45 minutes to the race.  We definitely didn't leave enough time to get our stuff ready at the transition area and I was really stressed about that.  I also had to run to the car--parked about a quarter of a mile away--3 times.  That's definitely something we'll be changing for the HIM.

I didn't sleep well the night before and I was really nervous about the swim leg of the race particularly.  Swimming is not my strongest discipline and I didn't get a lot (read: none) of open water training.  Another thing we'll be working on for the HIM. 

At 6:30, it was time for the race to start.  The men jumped into the water and they shot the gun off.  Then the women got in the water and waited.  They gave the men a five minute head start and then we were off.  The buoys looked so far away and I knew we were going to have to do the course twice.  But, I felt really good.  I fell into a good rhythm and just kept swimming.  I knew I wasn't going fast but it was what it was and I was able to swim the whole thing freestyle instead of reverting to a different stroke to conserve energy, so that was encouraging.

I exited the water at 45 minutes, which is on par for my usual mile swimming time.  There was some weaving and stuff when you realized that you had overshot the buoy.  But overall, I did what I expected for the swim portion.

I jumped on my bike and headed out for the bike course.  When I was setting up our training, I had us do this nasty portion of road that I thought mimiced what the course would be like for the race.  We rode this road over and over again.  Unfortunately, it wasn't really what the bike course was like.  But, we don't have anything nearby that would have been better, so it's good that at least we did what we did.  The bike portion of the race was really, really hard.  And then you got just enough of a break by riding down to convince yourself it wasn't that bad, and so you did it again.  It was 7.5 miles uphill, then 7.5 miles downhill and then up and down again.  The second time uphill, the wind started to pick up and I was fighting this stupid headwind.  Coming down, it was still blowing right in my face and I didn't pick up as much time as I wanted. 

I knew that I was the last female on the bike because there weren't any other females behind me.  But, I just kept pedaling along.  I counted two males that I was ahead of.  I figured they were going to pass me in the run, but I could gain as much time as possible by pushing myself on the bike.

After I dropped off my bike, I started out on my run.  I was really tired at this point and running was the last thing I wanted to do, but I wasn't going to give up.  Immediately, it just felt like everything was off.  I had rocks in my shoes.  My shoelaces were whipping me in the legs.  I was tired and hungry and hot.  The run was two times around the lake and the entire way I could hear the finish line announcer calling out all the finishers as they crossed.  It was really demoralizing.  Especially when I came around the first time and everyone was cheering for me only to realize that I still had another lap to do.  The two guys passed me on the first loop.  I wondered if anyone would know that I didn't do all two laps.  But I would know, and so I kept plugging along.  I made up little games to play in my head.  The second lap was a little better than the first.  I saw someone in the horizon and made her my goal to catch.  I caught her about a mile before the finish line.  We walked for a little bit and she said this was the hardest Olympic Tri she's ever done and she had done a lot of them.  With a half mile left I said I was going to finish strong and took off.

I crossed the finish line a little before four hours.  It wasn't what I wanted, but I had finished and I know what to work on for the HIM.  I know the competition won't be as fierce there too.  I woke up this morning and thought, "hey, maybe I'll sign up for the Olympic Distance one out here in two weeks," so I must've had some fun, right?