Race Day - Z Race Report

Here's the race report I sent out to my Team Z teammates. I'll write a more detailed one, with pictures, later.

Coach Ed said there’s no crying in triathlon. I beg to differ.

Transition opened pretty early – 5am. I haven’t been sleeping much for the past 3 weeks and the night before the race was no exception. I was up around 1am and slept off and on until the alarm went off at 4. We headed to transition and I got set up. Just a few slots down was a woman from DC Tri named Toby. It was good to see someone else from the area (especially since I never ran into Alden).

Once I was done setting up transition, I pulled on my wetsuit and started the walk down to the beach. It was about half a mile, so we needed to give ourselves some time to get down there. I didn’t get in to do a warm-up swim since they were asking people to get out of the water shortly after we got there. They played the National Anthem and got the race started with the guys.

Four waves later, it was my turn to get in the water. Head in the water, cold shock to the face, repeat. Eventually, my face got used to the water and I was able to settle in. This was probably the easiest swim course I’ve ever done – a huge rectangle. Sighting was easy. The only thing that was a bit freaky was when the ocean went from light reflecting off the bottom to darkness under you. I mean, who in their right mind swims that far out?! Oh wait, we’re triathletes… there is no “right mind”.  The swim back in was fast (yay current!), and before I knew it, I was back on shore.

The hike back to transition was long – just under half a mile. I got myself ready for the bike and headed out. The first half of the course trended uphill and I was really glad we drove it 2 days before hand. The bottle handoffs were new to me and I’m kind of deficient at pouring water into my Profile Design without stopping, so I stopped and did what I needed to at each aid station. At the mile 20 check-point, I noticed that the timing mat didn’t beep when I went over it. I made a mental note of it and kept going. At some point on the ride, I saw the Toby (DC Tri) on the side of the road with the bike mechanics. When I went over the mile 38 check-point, I realized I didn’t beep again, so I knew something was up with my timing chip. Miles 40-45 held some really rough road. I was so glad to be through that. Mentally, I knew it was smoother sailing “home” after that. I heard a “GO TEAM Z” come from a side road, and it was Toby, putting on a shirt and calling her race. Turns out her tire had shredded. I felt bad for her. I got over I-95 and knew it was downhill from there back to the beach.

Transition went pretty smoothly, though I made the mistake of sitting to put on my socks since I was tipping over while trying to do it standing. I got up, put on a smile, and headed out for the run. There was a kid standing on the balcony screaming “Keep running, you’re awesome, we support you, the entire town supports you” over and over. It was great! Around .6 miles, both knees started bothering me to the point that it hurt to run, but it was ok to walk. So, I ran what I could and walked what I needed to. The Eastern Trail was nice and flat (think W&OD with crushed gravel and fewer overpasses). The volunteers along the route were amazing. I managed to catch up to a lady from Long Island and walked/ran most of the last half of the run with her. It was nice to have company. As I approached the finish line, I could knew I had to run in what I could (my knees were feeling ok at this point). The clock read ‘0’, apparently they were having some technical issues at the line.

As I came up the shoot, I started thinking of all of the times that so many people encouraged me; pushed me to do swims, rides, and runs; and supported me through the journey to get to THIS finish line – even when I doubted myself. But this day, I had no doubt at all on the course. It was a beautiful day for a swim, bike, and walk/run; I couldn’t have asked for better. I started to choke up. As I crossed the line, the volunteers were fantastic as I let the tears come out. Talia, the “first lady of Z” introduced herself. I was so happy to have a fellow Z connection there to share the moment with me.

Rev3 Maine was awesome – it was everything I NEEDED it to be. Yes, my timing chip battery died and no, I don’t have an official time because of that, but you know… if that’s the worst thing that happened all day, I’m happy with it. I can’t wait for Williamsburg next year… and who knows, maybe I’ll make the trip back to Maine next year. 

The day before

This past 2 weeks has been crazy. Not all in a good way, not all in a bad way. About 2 weeks ago, I came down with a cold. FOR REAL?! Thankfully, it wasn't horrible, and I've managed to recover to almost 100% (I'm still sniffling a little, but it's nothing too bad).

Jon's grandma has fallen ill, and we're just praying that she feels better. She's 90 and basically has said that whatever happens, happens. No news is good news, so we're praying for no news (at least while we're on this trip).

We traveled to Springfield, MA on Wednesday to see my family. I was so excited to finally be able to meet my two youngest cousins, see my aunt and uncle, and visit with my grandparents.

On Thursday, we traveled to Old Orchard Beach, ME, where we promptly discovered that I screwed up the reservations and we didn't have a place to stay! So... we headed to Portland, ME for the night and stayed on the waterfront. It was beautiful! We took a cruise around Casco Bay to check out the lighthouses and forts. We also saw some seals. After that, we met one of Jon's 2nd cousins for dinner. It was awesome. We had dinner at The Grill Room. Fantastic! Great company never hurts :)

Friday, we went back to OOB to drive the bike course, check in, and explore the area a little. After driving the bike course and mentally noting 2 hills that are going to be not fun, we checked into our hotel. The key didn't open the door (seriously, who uses real keys for hotel doors anymore?!) - and we found out there's a second door. The doors are apparently keyed differently. Ah well. We got everything in the room and set out for lunch. We went to Amatos. It's a pretty tasty sandwich & pizza place. We decided to go ahead and do packet pickup, as well as some shopping for "gear". Jon seriously spoils me at these races. I got a car magnet, cycling jersey, 2 running shirts, and a sweatshirt. Jon got himself a cowbell. For dinner, we headed back to Portland to meet up with Jon's 2nd cousins again. Dinner was at Flatbread. It was super good! All local and organic items in their dishes. Yum!

Today, we got up to do the practice swim. It was good to be in my wetsuit (which miraculously still fits... seriously, I need to lose some weight!) and get in the water. Haven't really done that since May. The ocean's about 65 degrees, so it's still chilly, but once you get used to it, it's actually comfortable. The water is surprisingly clear - which is awesome and freaky all at the same time!

After the swim, we walked around a bit, then headed to lunch (back to Amatos) and to get my bike ready. The bike had to be checked into transition today, so we were going to take care of that, listen to the pro-talk, and then stay for the athlete meeting. After doing all of that (so around 2pm), we headed back to the hotel and took a dip in the pool to chill out for a bit. Around 4:30, we headed back to South Portland for dinner at Olive Garden (carbs = good). We were a bit surprised by the 30 min wait at 5pm... so different than where we're from! Dinner waits don't really start until about 6pm or so. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for an early night of packing my transition bag and Jon's support bag. Should be in bed by 9!

I can't believe that the race starts in less than 12 hours!

Uuuupppppdate

This week has been a quiet week. I went to TNT on Monday and Wednesday. I'm keeping it super light right now - it's TAPER TIME! I'm a week and 2 days from the race. AHHHHH! I haven't done much of anything else, though I really need to.

I likely have a double ear infection. I'm headed to the dr today to see if they can do something for me because it hurts!

Update to the update: it's not a double ear infection... in fact, my ears are clean. Definitely draining into my throat and my lymph nodes are definitely swollen. The dr said it's likely the start to a viral infection. BOOOOO. He was laughing at me because he's never seen someone so disappointed that it wasn't an ear infection. That can be treated, a viral infection can't be! Crap... fight it body, fight it!

Needed this tonight

I needed to read this tonight as there's under two weeks to this race. Getting there and really working on the mental prep after this past weekend's ride.

TNT went well today - lighter weights, a few other ladies showed up, good times!

I broke :(

Today, I found out what it takes to break me. Not physically, but mentally. We did a 50 mile ride with some fellow Zers on a route I've heard stories of, but never done. It turns out a category 5 hill, with an 11% grade is enough to mentally do me in. I felt really good until that hill.

Taylorstown is the first category 5 hill I've ever climbed and to do it on the tri bike was just tough. I stopped half way up the hill, managed to calm down (breathing), got back on my bike, and had to stop again a few minutes later. I was just hyperventilating and couldn't slow down my breathing. I had let the hill get into my head. UGH.

While stopped on the T-town hill and between hyperventilating and with tears trying to come, I said to Jon (who lovingly stopped with me), "What if Maine's like this? What if I just can't do it?"He managed to talk me down and convinced me to walk the rest of the hill instead of worrying about getting back on it.

Paul came back to check on me (and Jon) and rode back up next to us walking the hill. He also helped me up the next Category 5 - Stumptown. I think he was worried about the mindf*** that was Taylortown, so he literally stayed right next to me. At one point, he put his hand on my back and helped push me up the hill. That freaked me out a bit because I generally don't like to ride that close to people, but it was nice knowing that someone had my back (figuratively and literally!).

I need to get my head out of where it went. Even now, typing this out, I want to cry. I'll probably do it at some point today.

Tracy and I after Taylorstown - aka "stupid hill"

I also learned that I need to call Infinit and get the whey protein removed from my mix. My tummy was NOT happy today. 

Hopefully this weekend has shaken out the crap before the race. 

YIKES!

Have 9 more days really passed?! Crap. The count down to Half Rev3 Maine is getting ever so close. 15 days. Where did this past year go? How did it get here so quickly?!

That all being said...

1) I haven't weighed myself since Aug 1. At this point, it's actually kind of nice to not be thinking about it.

2) Workouts have been, eh. I went to swim both days this week and I'm really glad I have. We've got LONG swim workouts these days. Yesterday, I swam 2300 yards in about 54 minutes. There were a couple of rest breaks in there that I really didn't need, but everyone else in my lane was taking, so I took.

3) I had a 10 mile run scheduled for this morning, until nasty amounts of rain and thunderstorms derailed those plans. I'll try to get it in this weekend instead. I'm more bummed because I was supposed to meet a friend to do it with me.

4) We've got a 50 mile bike ride planned for tomorrow. I'm hoping it's not pouring down rain for that one. If so, I'm putting my bike on the trainer and watching a couple of movies or something.

5) The bike goes back to the shop next week to get a tune up, pre-race. Need to figure out how to get my other set of wheels (off my roadie) to ME. Really, I just need a case for them so they're not hanging out in the car. We'll see.

6) I'm progressing with my studies pretty well. 5 more chapters and then restudying the stuff I've gotten wrong on the quizzes, watching the review videos, and all of that kind of stuff begins. I'm aiming to take the certification exam mid-September. I bought a couple of apps, one for the muscles and one for the skeleton to help me learn both of those. They'll be good for the car ride to/from ME since Jon's not much of a talker in the car while he's driving.

Body Fat/Weigh in

Tuesday, I did my cycle workout. I ended up on the spin bike because I was being too lazy about putting my bike on the trainer. It was a good workout.

Today was body fat and weigh ins at TNT. Wooo hooo! I know, I'm a bit weird about this. Most people hate it. I actually really like it. Whatever it is, it is... but I kind of like knowing where I am. Anyhow, since the last weigh in, I've gained 3 lbs (I'm up to 138) and have lost 1.2% of body fat and am now down to 17.4%. So that 3 lbs I've gained? All muscle. I need to dig out a picture of me at 133 from 2006 or so and me at 138 today. Such a difference.

I did another 30 min walk/run after TNT today. 2.63 miles total. Not great, but it's all good. Tis what it tis.