The Big Event: The Triathlon

I'm nearly a week past the event that brought about this blog and the challenge to myself to be "faster by forty" -- which indeed I am!

Here are some highlights (and low lights) of the triathlon:

Writing "40" on the race application was a bit . . . startling.  I've never had to reveal THAT age in writing before.  I've never BEEN that age!  What's the number "40" supposed to mean, anyway?  . . .   I wrote it.  Solidly.  Purposefully.  Expectantly.

Race day weather was unlike any training day.  It was COLD.  And WINDY!  With a high of 59 and strong winds, I was totally confused about what to wear.  I went with my leggings, and kept on only one of two jackets that I arrived to the race with.

My nephew was the bomb at the swim!  This was his first race, and he came out of the water in second place for the mixed relay.  Tough act to follow.  I didn't follow.  But I still gave it my best.

I hopped on the bike and pedaled those 18 miles for all I was worth.  With the wind, on some open downhill stretches I noticed I was having to really pedal hard against the wind.  (I thought the downhills was where you catch your breath slightly.  Not so for us on the bike!)  I passed one person.  Lots of people passed me.

Some people sound like they're dying when they bike.  There were a few who passed me that I thought I might be doing CPR on at some point.  Is it helpful to grunt and groan with every breath you take?  I didn't think so.  It was not fun to listen to.  Ha!

I was greatly inspired by several participants.  Two different teams took two different people through the race.  They pulled them in a raft through the water, pulled them in a cart behind a bike, pushed them in a cart through the run.  The participants never would have done something like this on their own as they were nearly paralyzed.  I couldn't help but tear up as I watched the heroics of their teammates, and watched them receive a medal for distinction at the end of the race.  One of the participants was absolutely beaming.  I'm quite sure that one of the teammates was someone who has won this race year after year.  Maybe the thrill of taking First Place was finally over.  That is inspiring as well.

Another participant I watched was an amputee.  As I stood in line at the porta potties before the race, I watched him take off the rubber covering for his stump, lube it up, and prepare it for the race.  That is something that no one else has to contend with.  Everyone else worries about chaffing in other areas of their body, but not a stump leg!  Then I watched him use crutches to get down to the water.  He left the crutches on the bank where they would be quickly retrieved as he exited the lake.  I don't recall seeing him again after this, but he definitely left me with quite an impression on not giving up.

I felt mostly good throughout the race, although I never felt I could have gone faster.  I gave it my all.  I wasn't scared, which I had anticipated being.  I just kept steadily going.  I talked myself up a few hills (in my head, not out loud, thank you), gave and received encouragement from other bikers, and in general just had a fabulous time.

Upon dismounting from the bike at transition, I wasn't sure if my legs would hold me up.  Really!  I felt like the biggest klutz, running on steely legs.  I felt like I looked like a spectacle.  ;)  Laura took the chip off my ankle (because I didn't want to bend over at this point), and she was quickly lost in the hoopla as I walked off my wildly unpredictable muscles in my legs.

My time was as good as I'd hoped for:  1:17:09.  I'd anticipated finishing between 1:10 and 1:30.  I was content with my time.  The mph average was 14 something.  Slow, but faster than I'd started out at.

Laura, too, did better than she'd expected.  We were all surprised to see her coming in when she did.  I think she would even say she enjoyed the experience as well.  :)

My calendar already has next year's date written in.  Hopefully "faster by forty" will continue on.

Pre-Race Day

Tomorrow is the day!

While it is not the day I had originally intended it to be, I'm still glad to be involved in the triathlon nonetheless.

Husband has helped in adjusting my bike a couple of times:  new tubes and tires, raised the seat, rearranged the handlebars, adjusted and tweaked the gears.  I've tried it all out, and I think I might actually use all the gears tomorrow, as opposed to just the few I'd originally figured out.  Yay!  Maybe I'll get brave and gain a little speed on the downhills.  :)  Anyway, I feel as ready as I can be, considering all the wimping out I did during the year.  And while not a biker by any means, I think I will survive the race.

I'm hoping to complete the 18 miles in under 1 1/2 hours.  Sounds so SLOW!  But right now I'm happy with just DOING it.

The weather is supposed to be in the 50's, which is so much colder than I am used to from any training time.  I don't know how this will play into the race, besides searing my throat more than would normally happen.  There's supposed to be a head-wind on the way back, too.  Ugh.

My friend and runner teammate is enroute to our house from the Carolina's, and my nephew-swimmer teammate will arrive at the race site in the morning.  Yay!  Can't wait to experience the day!

So, signing off for now, knowing that I will indeed be

Faster By Forty!

:)

Pondering Biking

All kinds of thoughts go through my head when I ride my bike, more-so perhaps today since I actually rode it instead of the stationary bike at the gym.  In no order, here they are:

No wonder bikers wear sunglasses.  I spent the last two miles or so with a gnat crawling around in my lower eyelid.  Felt lovely.  I need to dig out some lenses from a dark corner.  No doubt they'll be covered in scratches.  (I hate wearing anything "extra".)

I imagine what I would do if I was hit from behind on a car.  Crumple into a ball?  Fillet my body open as I skid across the pavement?  Snap my spinal column?  I very much feel my vulnerability as I wobble along on that skinny frame of a bike.

And how about a dog?  Thankfully they were behind fences or totally disinterested in a 39-year-old slow-poke, but what if a dog flew at my bike, blasting full-force into it?  It's woman versus dog, and I don't like that.

How do people manage to drink anything while biking?  My gears are between my legs, and changing those gears is enough to land me in trouble, let alone getting out that water bottle for some rehydration!

What's with the toe and foot cramps?  First it was my left 4th toe, and it crawled up into my foot.  I had no choice but to ride it out.  Awhile later, it was my right foot's toe.  I guess this is all about learning how to perform with any kind of "glitch".  (I feel like I've had my fair share in the few times I've ridden, so I consider myself well-prepared if not in shape.)

It's a lot windier on the road than on the bike at the gym!

My sis says I have runner's legs, not biker's.  She's right.  Ha!

. . .

Today's ride went better than I expected in some ways.  We rode the same route as when my tire exploded, and I felt SO much better today than I did on that first ride!  And we went 10 miles further today, which really felt good!  My time wasn't as good as it is when I ride at the gym, but we were dealing with some good hills.  I am not comfortable with all the gear shifting yet, so when we went down hills, I ended up coasting rather than yanking the gears around.  But I felt like I could have continued on indefinitely.  Yes, my legs got tired on some of the long hills, but I didn't feel like I was going to die.  So, today for the first time, I'm starting to think I might actually survive the biking portion of the triathlon.  Yay!

Sis

Tonight I caught a ride over to my sis's house.  She invited me to stay for supper, but I really wanted (really, I did) to get out and take a run before supper.  On a whim, I invited her to come along with me. Totally surprising me, she agreed, and volunteered her kids to come along as well!  Unprepared to run right then, I borrowed Sis's exercise clothes, down to the shoes and socks, and we headed out.

We last ran together on our high school's track team in the late '80's.  Whoa.  As we started out together tonight, I commented about not being what we used to be.  Sis was the #1 girl on the team, and after she graduated, I took her place.  My mile pace record was 7:10, as I recall; her's was 7:11.  I didn't realize this till tonight.  Sis, however, had a mean long-distance pace that I could never maintain back then.

The evening was beautiful.  We headed out to a nearby park, where the road was relatively flat and deserted, and ran, strung out along the perimeter of the park, Sis's daughter riding her scooter between us all and happily chatting away till we'd drag her out of the road when a car happened along.  It was a lovely time.

So glad I have a sis I can run with again, all these years later.

He Still Thinks I Look Good

Me:  What time do you think you will be @ wellness ctr to get me?
Husband:  R u hoping for earlier or later?
Me:  Doesn't matter.  Just want to know if I should bother or not.
Husband:  Please bother!  I'll come join you in my Pathfinder clothes if I have to.
Me:  Deal.

Ten sweaty, painfully spun miles later, with Husband by my side in his dress shoes, dress pants, and undershirt, I climbed off the bike.  Clearly, I was taxed.  Clearly, it was not as easy as it used to be.

"It's strange," he said.  Without a word, I knew we were both pondering the memory of me doing the entire triathlon (with apparent ease) seventeen  years ago.  "You look just the same."  He seemed puzzled by this.

Thanks, Babe.  You made my night.

And thanks for helping me endure.

I am hopeful that someday I might honestly enjoy this.  Right now I honestly enjoy the idea of the good I know I am doing for my body and that's about it.

Runnin' in the Rain

A run in the rain today.  It felt good.

The driveway did not feel good at the end.  (But it sure makes a fun sledding luge in the winter, so I really shouldn't complain.)

Tragic Comedy

Yes, it was one of "those" workouts.  Likely it will never happen again, which is a good thing.

This afternoon was my first time on a road bike in a long time.  Husband and I planned to ride for an hour.  Knowing he is so much faster than me, and in better shape than me, I took off at a decent (for me) pace.  Read: never be able to maintain for an hour.  Not to fear.  I wouldn't have to.

Heading down our road, I was very aware of my thigh muscles within less than half a mile from the start.  They didn't feel good, you know?  We turned onto a slightly less busy side road.  Husband warned me to slow down.  But I didn't want to slow HIM down, so I panted through the slight rise in the hill.

We turned right onto another road.  A hill loomed.  I cranked down my gears.  The hill grew as I climbed it.  I desperately reached down to change to the lowest gear only to discover I was already in it.  Ach!  I muscled my way to the top while husband said, "See you at the top" or some such thing and effortlessly flew on past.  Totally out of breath by the time I crested the hill, I allowed myself to coast a bit.

Repeat the last paragraph several times.

Turn right at the next road.

Down a slight hill, I raised my gear and took off.  Rounding a nice corner, I suddenly heard and felt a loud explosion somewhere right by me.  It made me jump, which didn't help me steer my newly-acquired flat-tired bike very well.  I had instant visions of filleting one side of my body open on the road as I clung to the handle bars for all I was worth.  I had no clue which tire was flat, but somehow had the presence of mind to not slam on the brakes (Thanks, Driver's Ed class.  Does this apply to bikes as well as cars?).   Holding that bike on the road till I finally slowed down enough to hop off was not fun.  But when I did stop, I was more than relieved to realize I hadn't crashed, and had survived my first flat tire!

We pulled the bikes off the road.  Husband opened his supply bag that was supposed to hold a spare tube, and discovered there was none.  We were nearly five miles from home.  After weighing our options, Husband escorted me to a nearby church yard, where I spent the next nearly hour wandering through an old cemetery reading tombstone dates and getting eaten by mosquitoes.  It was interesting and at least my thighs were not screaming at me.

Meanwhile, Husband was having a bit of trouble on the home front.  He had taken a key with him, but discovered it was not the key to the house.  Read:  grave frustration.

Suffice it to say that he did make it back to me, and I did get a lovely car ride home, and I did not have to ride my bike up the 50% grade driveway that we have.  (That last part of the sentence was especially nice, although mildly exaggerated.)

Next time, we will ride with a spare tire and the correct house key.  Lesson learned.

* * *

I am doing only the bike portion of the triathlon.  Feel free to send encouraging thoughts.

* * *

I've talked my nephew into swimming, and another friend is running.  Yay for friends and family!