I could also name this post "So much biking I wanted to break up with Triathlon", or "Ever Changing Terrain, Tennessee must hate its roads because they're terrible". With the road conditions aside, this course was rough. There was a lot of climbing, which was fine, but there were a lot more flats and twisty-turny shenanigans than I remembered driving when we checked out the course. So let's get this started:
Packet Pick-up/Expo:
Rev3 has a lot of cool things to look at, but they are way over priced and not that spectacular in the long run. I did almost buy a pair of bike shoes but they only had 4 pairs there and they were all too big for me, sooo no bike shoes. The goodie bag left much to be desired, and it's kind of disappointing since they're trying to compete with the Ironman brand and cost the same. They are a lot more efficient in getting you your items and making the pick up process nice and smooth. The volunteers are all really awesome and nice as well, that's a big bonus.
Race Day:
Nice pre race photo
Swim:
Hopping like penguins into the river.
We had to swim upstream in the Tennessee River for about a quarter to a third of a mile, I didn't really notice a current so it wasn't that bad. Then we turned down stream for the rest of our swim and had to jump like penguins onto a low dock and attempt to run up the ramp. The swim was uneventful outside of I thought a guy died about 500 yards into the race. I saw him floating as I was swimming past and I actually stopped to check on him because his face was barely above water, but when I checked on him he was fine just a really bad swimmer and decided to float/swim on his back the whole way. Awkward. It was kind of hard to sight since there were no real landmarks to go off of, but the water wasn't freezing and my new full wetsuit kept me nice and toasty! The whole jumping onto the low dock was mildly entertaining. I fell back into the water twice before the volunteers realized they needed to help push us forward after we jumped up. Oh! And our swim time didn't stop until we were off the dock and almost all the way back to transition, so I was grumpy my swim time said 39 minutes, which is stupid slow, considering I forever trying to get out of the water and head up the transition ramp. Meh.
Post penguin hop onto the dock
Bike:
Finally over the "mount here" line
The temperature was quite chilly, I think mid 50s, by the time we got onto our bikes. I brought arm warmers and debated about putting them on, but I wasn't so cold that I was going to miserable without them. I decided to save time and just go without them and after the first 5 miles of the bike I was plenty warm and didn't need them. My hands were really cold, but the rest of me was fine. Now, holy climbing. I can climb really well, I like climbing, and I kind of wish the entire thing was climbing because I would win :P. There were a lot of rough roads getting us to the first climb, and those were less than stellar to navigate when you're still getting feeling in your body. There was one unfortunate soul who decided to start walking her bike up the hills about a quarter mile up the first hill. I was joking with a guy who was also riding a Felt B16 (my bike), about how if we combined our powers we would be completely unstoppable. I zoomed past him going up hills, but he decimated me going down hill and on flats. That's pretty much how the entire race went for all 56 miles. People would fly past me on downhills and flats, then come to almost a complete stop on hills which is where I would catch them and pass them again. Rinse and repeat the whole bike portion of the race. There was one hill at the very end of the bike (incredibly rude) that was more like a wall than a hill. It was only about 20-30 yards long but it felt as if it was straight up. The Police officer who was directing traffic for us was doing her best to coax and cheer us up this hill because we were all dying. There were a lot of weird sounds coming from people as we grunted and groaned heading back into T2.
Showing Red my timing chip because he couldn't find me on the course at all, so he thought I lost it.
Run:
Coming into the finish!
Umm...death. That's pretty much how I felt for the first 4 miles of the run. I knew I was mildly dehydrated from the bike because even though I drank 2 bottles of my water/skratch mix, the roads were hard to navigate and drink properly so I was in a mini-hole. I was also in a nutritional hole because the hills required a lot more energy than I originally planned for, so I ate all of my nutrition, including my back up, and was still out. But it was ok. I plodded along the first few miles and as the water, ice, gels, and coke migrated into my system to cool me down and fuel me I started to feel much better. My shins still did this weird crampy thing where they didn't want to cooperate and my feet were slapping the pavement something fierce, but after walking the first aid station they started to get better. My legs felt a lot better when I would walk each aid station instead of try to push through each one. The run course was really pretty, we ran through their green way system of bike paths and into a neighborhood for Sequoyah park (sp) where there are some very fancy houses and beautiful cottage looking houses. The volunteers were all really nice in the run, but they were a little confused. They had loads of ice bags just hanging out at their stations, so I assumed I could ask for some ice and they would be like "oh sure! We already have a few cups of ice waiting", that wasn't the case but they were quick to fill a cup for me so it worked out in the end. One poor guy didn't realize that I didn't want to eat the ice and about had a heart attack when I started pouring it down my shirt and down my shorts. That is the fastest and most effective way to cool off when you're over heating. I've done it for nearly every tri I've raced in the last 2 years and I am positive it is why my runs are stronger as I go instead of getting worse as I go. By mile 5/6 I was feeling MUCH better and was more worried about getting the guy in front of me who CLEARLY didn't want to be chicked than I was in the beginning of the race. In the beginning of the run I sincerely debated about stopping and go "nope, I quit", but my body was on autopilot and I'm stubborn, so I kept going. I started chasing this guy who didn't mind if other guys passed him, but whenever I would catch up to him he would start going faster only to have to walk after a little ways. Fortunately for me I was feeling better as the run went on and I eventually passed him and he couldn't keep up.
I ended up 4th in my age group with a 6:31 for a 70.3. To put this into perspective, in Muncie last year I ended up 17th with a 5:45 for the same distance but a flat course. I need to work on my flat speed and cornering, but I'm getting there. It was quite annoying to look down and see that I was going 23mph on a flat road and not gain on ANYONE. It's only May and my main half is in July (Muncie) and my BIG race is in September. We'll see how everything goes!
Back to my rest day then I get going again tomorrow! :D
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