5:15 Awake. Check the facebooks! Official water temp... 82.5 degrees; wetsuit illegal swim.
5:30 Efficiency. Suit up, pre-race picture, eat the cereals, squeeze in a quick PRP, check the packed bags
5:50 Embark. Out the door to find a cab to race day!
5:52 Wait. My bib is still in the envelope. Run back to the house; return with bib.
5:53 Check. J, are you sure you have everything? Can't find his bib. No worries! Run back to the house; do not return with bib. So where is it?
5:55 Ah. Return to house for a thorough search. Unpack the bags, look through everything, think about where it could be.
6:07 Panic. Makeshift bib with a sharpie and the back of the bike number sticker. 6:09 Whew. JOS finds it under the couch.
6:12 Sketch. Hail a cab, 14th and Constitution please! The fare box is broken and the driver fiddles with it, swerving, stopping at green lights. Eh, fare should be about $6. That's fine - we just need to get there.
6:19 Excitement. Follow the gradient of athletes toward the transition area! Music setting the mood, the announcer appealing for a pair of goggles, extra water bottle, extra mid-race fuel. Offerings would surface within seconds. What a community! In the meantime, set up the towels and shoes, helmet, get body markings, and just soak in the excitement.
7:00 Spirit. "O'er the laaand of the freeeeeeee... and the home, of the brave." Following the cheers and moral, the first wave of elite athletes entered the water. And here we were. Slightly chilly with the air temperature, but warming with the rising sun. Chatting with J, chatting it up with fellow triathletes, some first timers, some experienced 6-time Nations Tri participants. The elite group finish their swim. Nerves and butterflies.
8:15 AH. Into the roped area, moving closer to the start of my chip timed-start.
And here we finally are!! Tri tri tri again :).
Swim: Open water swimming is disorienting. The Potomac was a warm, muddy brown. I swallowed some water every now and then. Just kick and pull toward the next buoy. Pass all the color caps I can, get kicked a few times in the sea of bodies. Had no idea how fast I was going, just kind of swimming along in the general direction of the buoys. And finally, the 1400 marker, and the end of the 1.5k happened. Jog to the transition area, dry off my feet a little, put on the shoes, stuff some gels into my pants, and off I run with my bike! Oh wait, half way through the transition area, I realize I forgot my helmet. Still a little disoriented in the post-swimming haze, I leave my bike against a pole and run back for my helmet. Ah, finally on at the start of the bike portion!
Bike: fantastic and felt really good! I didn't have a gage of how long I would be able to last pushing, since I hadn't really ever biked more than ~8 miles pushing at a time, on the way up to work from Georgetown. So.. 25 would be fun! But I pushed and passed, and averaged 18.6mph on the 40k! Drank some water now and then, had to slow down in the middle because of an accident - ambulance and blood and nasty head wound. Apparently the guy had been recklessly passing and was on the other side of the road, causing a head-on collision with a woman. She was mostly fine, though, fixed her bike, and continued onward. Saw my cheering squad, waved and said hi at the whitehurst intersection. Altogether quite fun :). Passing decked-out athletes with all their fancy gear was pretty fun. And then it was time to slow down and transition into the run. Racked my bike, and started out on the 10k.
Run: I suspected it would be a slow one. Had a bit of a stitch on my right side, but went at a steady pace. Not really racing.. just going for finishing strong now. Passed Jon (with a major cramping time) around the Washington monument and cheered him on. At mile 2? Really had to pee. Stopped at the portopotties for a bit of relief. And boy, it was fantastic! In that time though, I probably lost about 10 places. Mostly was holding on and finishing. Was quite tired by this point, and feeling quite warm. Quads starting to feel the cramping at some point, so I took some gatorade electrolytes and felt better (whewww). So yep, the run was nothing to write home about. This is the leg where I can improve the most, with training. I kicked it in, at the finish line. And that was it. Triathlon checked off my list of things to have done :).
Found J afterwards. Walked around, got our timing sheets. Bike/walked back home, showered, napped, and treated us three to a delicious Brazilian BBQ at Fogo de Chao. Excellence cannot not describe. Mmmm! Omnom.
A pretty fantastically awesome possum experience all in all. Will definitely do this again.
1 comments:
Isn't it 2012??
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