Another whack at it

Last Sunday was my final triathlon of the season.  My half iron race.  The 70.3 mile race.  The race I have trained 6 months for.

It’s four days later and the only reason I am writing this down is so I can remember that it takes four days for the stiffness and soreness to release its grip.   If you are reading this next year Mary, know that once Thursday hits you’ll feel fine and YES you were stiff after the race this year, it’s not because you’re not in good enough shape…it’s just a long ass race!

So enough of that, let’s get to it, where were we?  Oh yeah…the race.

Jen picked me up around 5:15 am so we could drive out together.  She was doing the sprint race, along with Nathan and a few other friends and was kind enough to hang around until my sorry ass crossed the finish line.  Needless to say, we thought we were leaving early enough but once we got there, the clock started ticking.  We had to park a ways away, then we needed to get body marked, then we needed to get our timing chip and THEN we could go set up our transition areas.

This is all fine and dandy if you have an hour, but when the lines are a hundred people deep and moving slowly, the 40 minutes that we left ourselves quickly turned into 15 once all was said and done.  There was no time to check or double check, I placed things in their correct location, put on sun screen, swallowed my electrolyte pills, ate my last bit of Cliff Bar, grabbed my wet suit and headed toward the port-o-potty.

My nerves started kicking up at the start line.  Looking down the sea of orange buoys…it looked so so so  far away, but the gun went off and off we went.  The swim went well.  About three quarters of the way through I started to get a cramp in my calf, which I found odd because I had not had any problems with cramping in training all season.

Out of the water and onto the beach I hear Erika screaming her brains out and see her on the side of the beach with her littles and her camera in hand.  Up the hill to my first transition, I couldn’t get the zipper down but once I got to my bike down it came, off went the suit and onto the bike I went.  I decided this time to put my shoes on my bike instead of putting my biking shoes on inside the transition area.  I ended up saving myself 2 minutes on that one transition alone…thanks for the idea Courtney!

The bike course had changed since last year.  The killer hill was replaced by several smaller rolling hills that caught up with you around mile 40.  Which is close to the time I decided I should try peeing on my bike.  Stop judging me…I know…it’s gross, but I had to go and it’s not like I pooped myself.

So trying to pee while you are biking 20 miles an hour is difficult.  It’s not natural.  You SHOULD be sitting in a small quiet room relaxing, reading or in some sort of deep thought.  It’s that relaxing part that wasn’t happening.  I would look around to make sure no one was behind me, then I would try to relax and try to will myself to pee.  I was trying so hard to get it to come out, but it was stubborn and didn’t want to.

Then I remembered an email Courtney sent me the day before on peeing during races.  You could simply pee in your transiton area while you are changing into your running shoes or you could pee on your bike standing up.

So yet again I looked back, stood up and willed the pee to come.  It came, so I sat down and it immediately stopped.  So I stood up again, it started again and I sat down…stopped.  I came to the realization I had to stay standing up to get this job done.  Still no one behind me, I let it all go.

Where does it go you ask?  I was afraid it was going to go on my water bottle, no, it drips down your leg and then pools in your bike shoes that are filled with Gold Bond powder to soak up the moisture, creating a lovely paste between your toes.  But thank GOD I at least didn’t have to go to the bathroom anymore.

With 5 miles left in my ride, my legs started to cramp up.  Thoughts of last years cramping entered my mind.  I simply told myself it was going to be alright, just stay calm, just stay calm.  I couldn’t tell if it was due to the fact that I had run out of water (in the whirl of the morning I forgot to add a second water bottle to my bike) or was it my new nutrition plan or was it the electrolyte pills…too many…too few?

Then my quads started cramping.  I again stood up, trying this time to stretch every part of my legs before I got off to run.  I undid my bike shoes, scooted my feet out and ran my bike back up to it’s home, again, so much faster leaving those bike shoes attached to your bike.  I heard my kids, Adam and my parents yelling as I went by.

On with the shoes, hat and race belt and off I went.  My quads were still cramping but they weren’t seizing up.  I just kept telling myself to keep running…slow and steady wins the race, slow and steady wins the race.  I know, what a stupid thing to say, but all I wanted to do was make forward progress at a steady pace.  I wanted 9 minute miles, which would be a major improvement over last year.

I knew I would see my family and friends at the turn around point and there they were.  As always, cheering and yelling.  They looked hot, the kids were a little wilted. I made the turn around and Jen ran with me for a little bit, I got to tell her all about my peeing experience and all the other things I had been thinking about for the last four hours by myself.

Around mile 8 I started day dreaming about being done, the massage I was going to get, the food I was going to eat, I could actually feel my pace slow down in enjoyment of the finish line.  So I shook those thoughts off and ran on.  Then down the road on his bike came Fast Matt.  We talked for a bit, I told him about my legs and he offered up some supplies, encouragement, mile marker information and then asked me when I was going to empty the tank.

EMPTY THE TANK?  That was a complicated question.  How far did I have, how far could I push and how fast could I push it until I just fell over in a pile of body parts never to move again.  I realized during this season that “emptying the tank” really scares me.  I don’t have the knowledge, trust or confidence in myself that allows me to put it so far out there that my body is on the brink yet pushing as hard as it can.  So, I play it safe.  So I waited.

And waited.  I waited until I had 1 1/2 miles left in the run and then I pushed it (and yes, I could have started earlier).

I finished strong.  I felt good.  It was…a great race.

My goal was to finish in 5 hours and 30 minutes, I smashed it and finished in 5 hours and 14 minutes.  Taking a whopping 30 minutes off my time from last year.  I placed 5th in my age group and 21st overall the ladies.

Thanks to all of you for your support, love, encouragement and tolerance of my obsession.

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