I went into this triathlon with more realistic expectations than I probably had 2 months ago, thanks to some early season single sport races. This was a good thing – it softened the blow of realizing how much speed I’ve lost and how not competitive I am at the moment! This was my first triathlon since last June and followed a year struggling to figure out some health issues, get healthy and learn how to stay healthy. I lost a lot of fitness and what feels like all my speed, but I know this is the first step to getting it back!
The good news to all this is that the only thing stressing me out on race morning was just how cold I was going to be on the first few miles of the bike. I was not really nervous, but I was excited just to get the ol’ race legs (and arms!) moving again.
It had rained pretty much all night the night before the race, and we woke up to cloudy skies. The big discussion topic in transition (at least near me) was what clothes, if any, to put on before the bike! The sun started to peak out and things got a lot cheerier. And it wasn’t raining, which was amazing!
The swim was an ocean swim starting at Cowell Beach. I’m not sure what the official water temperature was, but there is no way it was above the low 50s. We’d gotten in several days before and knew what we were up against, but now we had to stay in a lot longer. A little wind added some nice mini waves, which just enhanced my ability to swallow seawater.
I had fantasies during the first lap of the two-lap swim that we would come out of the water and the race officials would say “we’ve decided that you only have to do one lap”! But that did not happen. I made it through both laps with frozen hands, lips and feet. As I started running toward transition, I lost my balance and fell over in the sand. It must have looked hilarious. “Who is the drunk triathlete?” I, of course, just started laughing. What a way to kick off the race season!
T1 was painfully slow – my hands (and brain) weren’t yet working. But I managed to drag on my gloves, a light jacket, shoes and helmet (ever tried to buckle a helmet with frozen hands?) and get on my bike. Not graceful or fast, but pedaling. The first few miles of the race were on pavement as we rode from the boardwalk to Walker Ranch. It took about that long for my legs to feel like they were not blocks of ice and I was ready to start climbing when we hit the trails.
This was a great bike course, in my opinion. It had a mix of climbing, some fun downhill single track sections, some fast double track. At one point you felt like you were in the arid hills near Denver, and then you were suddenly in the middle of what felt like a rain forest. It was cool.
I felt good on the bike – thank goodness – I felt like I was pushing well and consistently. Who knows how being “out of the running” affects my psyche and ability to push as hard as normal, but I felt like I was racing, and that’s what is important. I was, however, not close enough to any of the faster women to catch them or even try, so it was a little lonely. I did seem to be surrounded by nice guys who wanted to know how much further we had left to go (I had a bike computer). That’s an indication of where I was in the field 
.
I came off the bike a little worried about what was to come on the run. I’ve been fighting chronic Achilles problems, and while I have an amazing Physical Therapist who is helping me heal them (permanently, at least that’s the plan), they aren’t near 100%. I felt surprisingly good. Every part of my legs above my Achilles felt good, and even my Achilles were not nearly as bad as they have been. They definitely cut my stride short, but I’m not sure how much harder my heart could have run anyhow, so it worked out ok.
It is hard for me not to be able to rock the run – that’s usually my saving grace. I had one woman in my sight, but when she saw me I could see her pace pick up and there was no way I had that in me, so I had to let her go (argh). About a mile from the finish I heard a runner behind me and looked back to see Kathy (Tank), my teammate, running hard. She looked great, I was jealous but proud of her! I tried to hang on but it wasn’t there, so I watched her distance herself. YEA KATHY!!! I nearly got caught by Maya too (another EPC teammate who would have been ahead of me if she hadn’t just taken up mountain biking 2 months ago! – hey, if you have to get passed, at least get passed by your own teammates)!
I was not sure how I would feel after this race, but I felt great. I felt like it was my first step to my comeback. I didn’t take the field by storm and I was way off the pace I’ll need to find again to be competitive. But I felt good, I had fun, my teammates were there, and it was a great day. And that’s what matters!
Also, because I aged up this year (now I’m in the 40-44 age group), I was lucky and managed to pick up a spot to Maui (you never know where the fast people will be, but today, I was in the lucky group)!
So overall, a great day and a good result. Stay tuned for more (and hopefully improved) race updates as the season progresses!
