VikingMan Aqua Bike Race Recap

It was fun! 

Pat did a great job of providing status during the race via Facebook so you already know the outcome (go to my facebook page if you missed his play-by-play).  So, this blog will focus more on what I was thinking at various times during the race.

PRE-RACE 

I was up at 5:00 A.M. to eat breakfast, get dressed and do some final organization.  We headed over to set up transition about 5:30.  It took me a while to set up my transition.  Even though I was only doing the swim/bike, I laid out my transition area like I would for any other triathlon.  I also had a few additional items (shirt and arm warmers) that I could decide to wear/not wear based on how cold I was when I got done swimming.  Today was also a day to think about nutrition and I spent quite a bit of time deciding how much food to put in my bike bag, what I wanted to eat/drink when I got out of the swim before heading out on the bike, and whether I wanted all my bottles to be Heed (electrolyte drink), or if I wanted one of them to be water (decided on all Heed).  We got on the shuttle and got to the swim start about 6:45.  I went for about an 8 minute run to warm up a bit and help calm my nerves.

I put on my wetsuit and then found a place out of the wind to sit down.  Pat had a blanket and covered me up which helped me stay much warmer this year (last year I was a popsickle before even starting the race).  It’s chilly and windy at the start of this race.

All the ladies are cold.  Men just started, we are getting ready to go.

The race started about 10 minutes late – the timing guys were late getting there.  Women usually start 5 minutes after the men but, since the race started late we were started 1 minute after the men.  This meant virtually no time to warm up in the water.  I got in the water and they were counting down – 30 seconds.  I quickly ducked my head, made sure my goggles weren’t leaking and then we were off.

Water was warmer than the air

Where am I?

  
SWIM

The swim felt hard.  I had trouble figuring out what to sight on.  They don’t use big, orange buoys and it’s impossible to see the swim exit, so I didn’t sight on anything and followed the people in front of me.  At one point I saw a bunch of people on shore so I figured I was getting close to the finish and started heading toward those people.  When I got closer I realized it was all the racers for the Sprint Triathlon (they started 30 minutes after us) so I headed back out a ways to get into the current again and finally could see the actual finish.  I really never felt comfortable with this swim and never got into a rhythm.  When I got out of the water and saw 35 minutes on my watch I was shocked, surprised and happy!  That’s a pretty awesome time for me.

 I could have done better though – need to work on my sighting and just focusing on the moment.  I have been working on the focus and staying present during practice but, it didn’t work for me during the race.  My mind was all over the place: why is that kayak there?  Am I last?  Am I too far out in the river?  Oh, there’s another yellow cap – I’m not last, I wonder how many people are behind me.  What should I sight on?  Yuk, that slimy grass is tangled in my fingers.  Yuk, that slimy grass is stuck in my goggles.  Yuk, I just got river water in my mouth.

Never once did I think about my swim form – BAD, BAD, BAD!!!  If I had been focusing on my form all that other stuff would have melted away and I think I would have been much more comfortable in the water.

Me - coming in (head down, closest)

Almost done

 

T1 (SWIM TO BIKE TRANSITION)

After exiting the water, it’s about a minute run to cross the timing mats and get to transition.  This race has wetsuit strippers which is really handy.  The way it works is you have your wetsuit unzipped and off the top half of your body, then lay down and they pull it off your bottom half.  It’s much faster having someone do this for you, then trying to get it off yourself so I really appreciated this help.  Then I was up and running to my bike.   When I got to my bike, I quickly ate the food I set out but, forgot to drink anything – not a big deal but, it’s not what I planned.  I looked at my shirt and decided I didn’t need it so I put on my helmet, sunglasses and gloves.  Then I started shivering, looked at my shirt again but, it won’t fit over my helmet (and I didn’t want to take the helmet off) so I grabbed the arm warmers.  Again, I didn’t plan this right.  I already had my gloves on and didn’t want to take the time to take them off, so I struggled getting the arm warmers on over my gloves.  I also forgot to put any powder in the warmers so they didn’t slide on very well.  I use powder in my gloves, socks and shoes to help get these items on since my skin is still wet from the swim.  It really helps if I remember to actually use it!  ARGH!  You’d think this was my first triathlon.  Anyway, all this indecision and extra choices really made my transition slow.  4 minutes and change… AWFUL!

35:?? Swim time! :)

 

BIKE

This bike course is 4 laps with a tail to the start of the first lap and from the end of the last lap. 

Lap 1 – I was cold.  I couldn’t feel my feet/toes and I was really glad I had the arm warmers.  I struggled to get going - my legs felt heavy and tired, and they wouldn’t turnover as fast as I wanted them to.  There wasn’t any wind which was really nice and unusual! 

Lap 2 – Legs warmed up and things were going great.  About half way through lap 2 I noticed the wind picking up.  Wind has always been one weather condition that I seriously do not like!  But, this year with all my IM training I just learned to ignore weather conditions (mostly).  If it’s windy, so what, if it’s cold- so what, if it’s raining/going to rain – so what.  I have to get my workouts in and have ridden in all sorts of weather this year.  So when the wind picked up, I didn’t panic – I just put my head down and kept pushing.  I was surprised though, that when riding into the wind that I was able to keep my speed up around 17 mph. 

Lap 3 – Still windy.   But, the nice thing with this course is you get a tailwind for half the lap and I was able to cruise along around 20-26 mph, and then when heading into the wind I still kept my speed around 17-19 mph.  I was really excited by this!! :)

Lap 4 – I looked at my watch and saw 2:22 for the bike time.  I thought to myself “I have a chance to get under 3 hours on this bike”.   Knowing I wasn’t going to run, I decided to push as hard as I could and try to break 3 hours.  It was fun/hard/exciting/tiring!  I didn’t quite make it but, I’m really happy with the effort!  And – the really great thing is that even though my legs were tired when I finished, I really felt like I could run.  So I learned a little something – which is that I can probably push a little harder than I usually do – I don’t need to save quite as much as I think I do.

Bike Distance: 56.7 miles Time: 3:03:33 Avg Speed: 18.7 mph!!!

Pat - grab those please (my arm warmers being discarded and I don't think I said please) - Thanks P!

NO RUN

When I got to transition I racked my bike, took off my helmet and gloves, and then put on my running shoes.  It felt weird to not head out of transition to run after the bike - I really, really, really, really wanted to go run! :)  Overall, I had a great day.  I learned some things, gained some more experience and had fun! 

Next up – probably the 3 Rivers Century Ride next Saturday.  I say “probably” because I haven’t registered yet.  This will be my longest bike ride and a good way to get in 100 miles since it will be supported.   It’s also time to ramp up the running – let’s see if the pelvis will hold up!