Saturday, August 19, 2006

Tri4Fun #2 Race Report

Well , the fun began at 4:45 when I woke up. I slept in! I had some coffee, checked my blog and waited for Tracy to arrive and she did so, promptly at 5:30 am. We parked on the road than rode our bikes to the transition area, weaving through cars and people. The weather was cooler this morning with more overcast than when we were here last in June for Tri4Fun #1.

After racking our bikes we registered and got marked ......1079 felt like a good solid bib number.
We set up near a huge Weeping Willow and for good measure I attached a bright yellow scarf to a branch of a smaller tree next to it. All I had to do was look at the Willow tree and then I could sight the scarf directly in front of it....a few feet from our bikes. A few other folks benefitted from that bright scarf too!

The Swim

Standing on the beach, I was surprised that I didn't feel nervous, not like last time. Today I was more confident, like I wasn't myself..... I'm not generally a calm person, not a Nervous Nelly necessarily but I'm usually more amped. This morning looking out on the lake, I noticed a little tully fog off in the distance and I was completely at ease....the lazy fog seemed to have a calming affect on me. Fear was replaced with confidence and I was ready for the task at hand.

We headed out with the last wave and I settled into a nice freestyle stroke. Rounded the first buoy and got a few more yards before I started to tire. I just rolled over and backfloated for a bit, my breathing was a little out of control so I switched to breaststroke for awhile......I then alternated between free and breast the rest of the way. Because I was freestyling more and my sighting isn't so good I got off track a little and needed a little verbal cueing to get back in line. The water felt really good, not too cold at all. As I exited the water I looked at my watch and I shaved a minute off my swim! 14:00 minutes woohoo!

T1
Spotted the Willow tree, tracked the scarf and I was at my transition area instantly. I think I was there for about 2 minutes then I was off on the bike.

The Bike

Clipped in and ready to ride. The hill when you first exit the park was a mere bump in the rode! Once on the main drag I made up for lost time gradually passing folks along the way. There was alot of gravel in spots, construction and detours galore. A couple of us had to stop as the police managed the traffic. Yeah, I had to come to a COMPLETE STOP and WAIT for what felt like forever. The officer was nice and thanked us for our patience......dang this was gonna cost me..or so I thought! There were a few crashes and folks seemed to be bottlenecking quite alot due to the detours.
The gears were dropping like crazy as I sped along the flats, I picked a rabbit and followed her a good while. When we got the only real hill on the course I got up out of my seat and jammed up the hill, my rabbit was impressed, as I could hear her say to a fellow cyclist, "man, she's so strong on the hills"........Needless to say, I was grinning ear to ear like a big o' dork! It was all good cruising into.....

T2
I got to my transition area without delay and to my surprise (haha) the place was a mess! As I looked around I began to realize that my right shoe was missing! No shit! They were both there when I set up and now it wasn't. I looked around a little more than spotted a right shoe ...another similiar looking Asic...Tracy had come and gone already and I suspected she was the culprit! A woman standing near by seemed more nervous about it than me and watched me as I began to pull on the "surprise shoe" she asked me "your gonna wear it?" I abrubtly replied " If the shoe fits!" Incredibly enough it did! Can you believe my luck! Dicking around for my shoe apparently gave my legs a little rest cuz when I started to run I didn't have the usual jello legs...to be honest , I was a little worried about this because I hadn't done any real tough bricks in preparation for this race. Taking it slow it was time for ........

The Run

It's all about the run baby. I was tired (the only nutrition I had was a GO LEAN energy bar 2 hours earlier) the cooler temps this time around were a welcomed relief. I had meant to Gu in T2 but got distracted looking for my shoe! I was slow and steady and paced myself pretty well I thought, having had a better sense of the route this time around. Again I picked a rabbit and kept her within sight. I never hydrated during the run and passed her once while she did, she then caught up and passed me again. I hung back and let her enjoy her short lived victory. As we approached the last 1/4 mile or so I picked up my pace and passed her for a strong finish. Crowds love it when you finish strong, there were lots hoots and hollers. Yeah, I'm a ham!

Total Time 01:27:00.........the same as last time!

In all of the excitement I lost track of time. I'm not sure how long the ride or run took but in the end despite the delay in T2 and during the traffic copping I ended up with the same time as before! If it weren't for those delays I mighta shaved off more time!

Tracy got back before me, cuz when I got back to the transition area her stuff was there but she wasn't . I found her at the finish line still looking for me! Kinda like when Mia missed me coming in from the bike the last time. We returned to our gear and she glanced down and commented, " Hey, I've got those same shoes".....I then said, "No, we've got the same shoes.", she hadn't realized the mishap, until that point!! Cracking up ensued........After I took pictures of our mismatched shoes, we turned in our bib stubs and hung out for the raffle.....I got a Snickers Marathon Bar from a kid who didn't want his and some lip balm from the Team In Training tent.

I'm so glad I found this sport! I'm starting to make new friends and getting comfortable with my competitive side. I'm definitely making progress in the lake and I told Tracy I'd go for a swim in the bay as she prepares for the Mermaid Tri in Santa Cruz in a month.

Coming Up Next: Redwood Regional Park 20K next Sunday.

It's a wonderful life indeed!