race report - marquee tri

22:59 for 750m / 3:00 / 55:11 for 14 mi / 4:38 / 49:11 for 5k = 2:14:59

this was my first tri of the season, and a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision to even race. dave's long since planned to do it, but i was on the fence. saturday afternoon, a whole hour prior to bike dropoff close, i decided to do it.

inside transition saturday

i'd been dreading the event, to be completely honest. the real reason i decided to do it was because i didn't want to sit there and watch dave race for hours. we're in a weird spot with our former coach/team, and things can get uncomfortable. which happened anyway on race morning, but at least i didn't have to endure it for long because i had to get in the water.

dave's wave went off a full hour ahead of mine - he was doing the oly. so we decided to go in separate cars. it's a bit of a pain in the ass when you still have a pup at home who's not quite ready to be left to roam on her own. dave left early, i waited around a bit. worked out well, except that we couldn't drive it together and compare race notes.

on the drive down, my HR was already high. i was excited, but also pretty nervous. first tri of the season, and i'd not been working out for a few weeks. plus i decided against riding ziggy and opted for quincy instead - i haven't been on ziggy since race season last year and the first race of the season was NOT when i thought i'd get him back out.

swim wasn't too bad. i wasn't fast by any means, but i also wasn't wearing a wetsuit. for 750m it takes me longer to get the damn thing on and off than it does to actually swim the race. about halfway through the swim is when i realized "hmmm i haven't seen my bike shoes today...i know i packed them. i know they're here. but yeah, i don't think i UNpacked them." get out of the water, get to T1 and laugh out loud. sure enough. my shoes were still inside my bag. NEVER done that before. i was a bit distracted yelling for teammates and watching out for dave while i was setting up my transition. oh well. i was pleased with my time somewhere in the 20's until i got home and realized that meant i had a 3:03 min/100 time. that's bad. granted, it includes the time to actually cross the timing mats, but still. whatever. i got out there.

bike was fine. i was pleased i only had one loop. didn't really get a good rhythm going. plus, my HR was steady in the 160's the entire ride, whether i pushed it or held back. didn't matter. i ate, i drank, i did what i was supposed to and just tried to forget about it.

T2 was the longest. transition. ever. i couldn't get my socks on. and then when i did, i realized i'd packed the ones with the hole in them. 0 for 2 as far as transition goes for the day. i'd already known it would be a long 5k. i hadn't run in awhile, and it was warming up pretty quickly. i threw my interval out the window and just jogged when i could. i got water and gatorade at every station. it took me until the 1.5 mile mark for my HR to come out of the 160's for the first time all day. that's about when the real interesting stuff started happening too. when i'd run, my HR would stay in the 130's. the minute i stopped to walk, my HR would nosedive into the 110's and i'd get chills and goosebumps all over my body. yeah. that's not good at all. i knew it had to be one of three things: heat, dehydration, or caloric pitfall. just kept going. but more walking.

came to the end and got passed by a 29 year old girl. realized obviously that she wasn't in my age group, but that maybe i had a bit of kick left. so i started a bit of a quicker pace and passed her. came right by the racelab group and only one person recognized me and cheered for me. that was a bit symptomatic and while i should've expected it, it still hurt. i yelled for every single racelabber out on the course that i saw. granted, i wasn't wearing racelab yellow. but to that end, i'll state that i never have. i might've worn the hat before for races, but that didn't seem to make much of a difference. bummer. bummer of an end to that experience.

in all, i'm pleased i got out there. i'm pleased i didn't just sit and watch dave race and roast in the sun. i'm pleased that i got to cheer all my buddies on, especially since it was the first time with a new club for a couple of my former teammates. it made quite a statement to see them in a different kit, but it's to be expected and i cheered for them just as loudly. everyone has to find their way and their place, and i'm so very pleased they have.

race season 2013 has begun...

lucca and his medal

kelty and her first race medal!