600m swim, 22 mile bike, 4 mile run
I have to start with the night before the race, because, well, that might be the beginning of the end. It's at least the beginning... because I say so (and I don't have a good witty way of beginning this)
Inthe 24 hours leading up to a race, I like to 'lock down' the few things I have control over. Eat right, stay hydrated, get some sleep. It's a pretty simple 3 point plan that has never failed me... when I stick to the plan.
But the night before the race was a fireworks show (for 'Kenmore Days', our little town event), so instead of getting sleep, I was up too late with my wife and kid. But as always, best fireworks of the year. I think it was worth it, and missing an hour of sleep wouldn't be my downfall.
Of course, to get a good seat for fireworks, you have to set up the lawnchairs early... and it's awfully boring to just sit there for 90 minutes waiting for dark. So we got ice cream. Probably not the ideal pre-race dinner. but my cookies and cream shake was delicious, and that alone would not be my downfall.
And since I was going to be out watching fireworks in an area without clean restrooms, I kind of ditched the hydration plan, because I didn't want to subject myself to a porta-potty. Once again, this alone would not be my downfall.
But all together... that is a whole lot of stupid.
Woke up a little before 6 am and got dressed. I had all my clothes laid out, and packed my bag of stuff the night before. Threw the bike on the car and was out the door by 6:15. Quick stop at the gas station to fill my tires (on the bike), and grabbed a coffee and a bagel for the half hour drive to the event.
I can't tell you the last time I ate a bagel... which is why eating one before the first tri of the season, the second tri of my life, made zero sense. Really, I was not using a single brain cell in my approach to the race day.
No problems getting marked and set up in transition... pretty uneventful. Until they announced 15 minutes to start, and I realized I hadn't eaten some energy gel yet. So of course, I take a big slug of Hammer gel right then... giving it zero time to settle or digest or do anything productive.
I squeezed into my wetsuit - it was my first time swimming in it. I knew it was snug, as I had tried it on before, but it was REALLY snug after being on for 5 minutes. The neck felt too tight, the torso was tight and I didn't feel like I could take a deep breath... and I wasn't even in the water yet!!!
With all this mess going on pre-race... I swear, I did not panic. I still felt confident that it would all be OK. I was wrong.
The swim was in Green Lake, so named because it has all the clarity of split pea soup. (I assume that is houw it got it's name) While I never felt 'panic' in the water, it only took about 50 meters before I was out of breath. Not hyperventalating, but like I had a burp stuck in my guts. I couldn't take a big breath in. The combination of poor nutrition choices, and the tightness of the wetsuit throwing me off, I just couldn't breathe! But it wasn't freaking me out, it just meant I would be breaststroking the entire rest of the swim. VERY slow. Chiptimed at 16:14...
Once I got out of the water, I started taking off the wetsuit, getting the top half off immediately. But I still couldn't breathe. I could barely jog, and I wondered if this is what asthmatics feel like. Other than moving slow TO transition, I had no issues IN transition. Removing the wetsuit was easily half my T1 time, but I was out of the on the bike in 1:24. Flying mount on the bike... because I'm cool
Still... could not breathe. I tried pushing through. I tried to burp, I tried to throw up, I even tried to fart... but I just couldn't get rid of the pressure in my guts. The bike was... interesting. It was hilly enough that I couldn't really get settled into the aerobars, and spent most of the time on the hoods. Biking in a race is SO much more fun and intersting than training rides. I love having people to pass, and I even love when people pass me! I laugh when I get passed by a $5,000 bike that took 10 miles to catch up to me. Good for them! I think given my equipment and lack of training, I do pretty well on the bike.
Nothing too exciting on the bike, other than that we had 4 sets of railroad tracks to cross (or 2 sets to cross two times each). A guy in front of me lost a water bottle when he hit the tracks, and I executed a nifty little bunny hop right over his bottle. He told me I was awesome... finished the bike in just under 1:12, or averaging 18.4 mph.
But still, just in PAIN in my guts. No matter how much I tried to relax, or slow down my pace, I was till more out of breath than a whore on dollar night.
T2 went very smooth, and the only reason I wasn't 'super fast' is they were screaming loudly to 'WALK IN THE TRANSITION AREA!!!' Still, threw up a 0:37 T2 time... in the top 10 overall
Not that it matters, because all I did on the run was get passed. I admittingly was taking it easy to not injure my Achilles more, but the gut pains were slowing me down even more than I wanted. Within 100 yards of the run, I was FINALLY releaving some of the pressure by 'vurping' up something... tasted mostly like coffee... very bitter coffee. This continued for 3 miles. I was tired, and pretty mentally defeated (and quite dehydrated from all the 'vurping'). When I was done launching bitter coffee-like bile, I STILL couldn't breath. Horrible, pitiful run. 37:33 for 4 miles (9:24 per mile).
Final time: 2:07:27 Acceptable, but easily should've been under 2 hours. I really need to stick to the nutrition plan pre-race, and I still need to work on my swimming (and get some wetsuit practice in). The biking is coming around, and the run will be fine once I heal up a little more. It was a fun race, and I can see being at least 10 minutes faster next year!
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