Patriot Half

I first thought about doing this race two years ago.  Last year the race was canceled due to a hurricane.  I was eager to do this race since I’ve swam on the course 4 times, ridden part of the bike route 4 times, even ran some of the route and the complete route once.  I was ready to get this race started!

The night before the race I was told the swim course had been reversed from downriver to upriver.  I’m not a great swimmer and this increased my nervousness from near zero to ten in 2.5 seconds.  It also killed my sleep for the night.

The next day I got an email from the only other person I knew was doing the race, PJ, that the swim course was back down river.  It turned out that the swim course was nothing like the course online.  It was like a shark fin.  It started on the beach and angled across and upriver about 3/4 of the way across the river.  It then went downriver for about a tenth of a mile before heading back at an angle to shore.  PJ, an ace swimmer, did the swim in 28 minutes… I didn’t.

The Swim, 1.2 miles

As I stood in the water looking out at the buoy, my first thought was, “Holy crap, I can barely see the turning buoy!”  My group was the last group starting, not sure how I got in that group, but I was glad I wouldn’t be in front of any other waves.  I started as far upriver as I could so I could get a head start on the angled course.  Before the race, my friend Sarah (Ironman finisher) told me not to think of the finish, to only think of the next goal.  My goals in the swim were to make it from buoy to buoy and to keep swimming.  By the time I reached the first buoy, I realized I was downriver from it.  I had to swim upriver to get around the buoy.  The current was much stronger than I thought it would be.  I think the farther out I got, the stronger it was.

I changed my plan from the vague ‘aim upriver’ to aiming for one of the many safety boats.  The boat I aimed for would put me upriver of the next buoy.  Of course, that’s only if the boat didn’t move, which it did.  By the time I got to the second buoy, I was downriver of it too.

I’m really not sure how many buoys there were out on the water, but I know there were yellow and orange buoys.  I was really pushing to see a yellow buoy because the yellow buoy meant it was time to turn downriver and swim with the current.  After some long amount of time I finally reached the yellow buoy.  I did a quick doggie paddle to see where I was going and saw there was another orange buoy to swim too.  I yelled, “Are you kidding me?”  Apparently, the yellow buoy only meant I was going to swim across the river and no longer upriver.  It didn’t mean I was going to turn downriver.

I ducked back in the water and started swimming again.  I would site every 3 strokes and just kept swimming.  When I finally got to the orange buoy, I asked the kayak guy if I would be allowed to finally turn down river and he said yes.  I was so excited to be swimming downriver.  I figured I could almost glide in the water and I would move a lot.  It wasn’t as fast as I hoped, but I was making progress.

A funny thing was that at this point in the swim, I wasn’t last.  It was really crazy to not be last.  I thought about that while I swam because really, what else are you going to think about?  Apparently, I thought too much because the guy behind me passed me right before the turn to shore.

At some point the kayaker yelled at me to turn to shore.  He said swim towards the sun.  I was like, ok, I think I can see that.  I couldn’t see a buoy anywhere, so I had to go with what he said.  I put my head down and swam.  Some time later he hollered that I wasn’t aiming for the right spot.  I told him I couldn’t see anything.  All I could see was the big yellow thing in the sky.  I tried to swim upriver of the sun, hoping to see the finish, or a buoy or something and eventually I did.  I kept swimming to a point upriver of the finish, knowing the current would push me where I needed to go. Yet at two points I had to tell the surfer safety guy, and the boat safety guy, that I knew where I was going.  They kept telling me I was swimming to the wrong beach.  It’s not fun to argue while you are swimming, yet I had to do it twice.  I just wanted to yell at these people to leave me alone.

As I said before, I had swam this area before.  I know that before you get to the beach, a lot before, you can walk.  All I was doing was trying to find that place where I could stand up and walk the rest of the way in.  I kept swimming and swimming and looking for a familiar sign that I knew meant I could walk.  When I finally got close enough to where I thought I could stand, a boat guy came up to me and said, “You know you can stand up right?”  NO, I DIDN”T KNOW I COULD STAND UP!!!  I stood up and the water was mid thigh.  Apparently, I could have stood for a while. 

I looked down at my watch after I stood up and realized I had been swimming for 1:33!  I couldn’t believe it, swimming for over an hour and a half?  I actually impressed myself.  I didn’t know I could swim for that long.  I thought my time was around an hour.  Then I realized that they had a cutoff on the swim of 1:20.  I was tired and dejected.  To swim for that long and not be allowed to finish would really suck.  I walked up to transition and asked if I was DQed and was told that I wasn’t, that I could keep racing.  I was excited with the news and picked up my pace to my bike.  I later heard that they extended the time because the current was so strong.

I quickly moved to my bike and put on my helmet.  I decided to wear socks for the race and trying to put them on along with my shoes, was a chore.  I was still swaying from the swim and my arms were tired too, so it took me longer than normal to get them on.

The Ride, 56 miles

Shortly after I got on the bike, I ate a GU and a cookie.  I was hungry and needed energy.  I was thirsty too, but hadn’t had any cramping issues during the swim like I had at Xterra.  (I drank more the day before this race than I think I ever had.)  The first several miles were slow going as I was eating, and getting my legs moving.

At mile 9 going out, I saw the first place biker coming back.  At this point he was 38 miles in front of me.  Initially, I doubted I would see any other bikers on the course.  I knew there was one person just ahead of me out of transition, but at 7 miles I hadn’t seen anyone.  Seeing the first place guy actually lifted my spirits.  It’s nice to know others are out there and it’s not just you.

At mile 10, I finally passed my first rider.  At mile 12, I finally started to feel good.  It was at that point that the swim effects had finally worn off.

After only managing 15 mph for the first few miles, I was able to settle down and start some 18 and 19 mph sections.  After each of the 3 water stops I had a surge of energy.  I guess it was simply from having seen an actual human on the course.  This isn’t the place to ride if you want to be cheered on, there was no one out there.  After the second water stop the road was smooth.  It was one of those roads where it was oily on one side.  I stayed on that section and my speed climbed up to 22 mph.  I passed 3 people on the stretch and I’m sure they were wondering how I was managing to go that fast.  I passed 14 people total on the ride.

With a couple miles left to go, I finally ran out of water.  I had one cookie left to eat so I ate that and washed it down with the last of my electrolyte drink.  I figured it wouldn’t be that big a deal since there were 16 water stops along the 13.1 mile run course!  More on that in a minute….

USAT, the group that sanctions these events, is really big on handing out penalties for a variety of things.  One of their big concerns is rider trash, GU’s, water bottles, food wrappers, etc.  I made sure I didn’t drop anything on the ride and I only saw a few things from other riders.  I did start to wonder if the race was sponsored by Bud Light from the number of cans and bottles I saw in the ditches along the course.

Coming into the transition I took my right foot out of my shoe and put my foot on my shoe to keep pedaling.  When I tried to do the same with my left foot, my shoe fell off my bike.  I had to stop and go back and get it – I didn’t want a penalty for leaving equipment behind.  As I turned around, I saw 3 riders coming.  I really didn’t want to be passed on the bike, so I grabbed my shoe and started pedaling again.  I had the shoe in my left hand, a shoeless foot on the pedal and tried to do a fast dismount at the line.  It didn’t look great, but I wasn’t passed and I didn’t fall, so it go the job done.

My ride time was 3:11.  Not too bad considering how slow I started.

Heading into transition I felt ok.  I grabbed my gear and headed out on the run quickly.  So fast in fact that I was the fastest transition in my category!

The Run, 13.1 miles

At the start of the run I felt good.  I felt like my hydration plan had worked well and that there wasn’t too much wrong with me.  During the ride I started to chafe where my calf touched my tri suit, but that wasn’t going to bother my ride at all.  

The run course was pretty lame.  It started with a short out and back, followed by a lollipop-ish run.  You did two loops on the lollipop, and an out-and-back on the stick of the lollipop.  It was fun once, and killer the second loop.

Amazingly, my first mile was an 8:26.  My friend Sarah had started her Ironman run strong and my thought for her then was for her to slow down, I figured I ought to do the same.  I felt great though, so it was hard to back off.  A half mile into the second mile, I decided to try and slide my sock under the ankle chip strap.  In only a little while running, I knew I was going to have bad chaffing from that strap.  I stopped for about a minute and adjusted it as best I could.  When I started running, I realized I messed up.  My race was based on never stopping and this break, while short, screwed that up.  I managed to run for another 1.5 miles without stopping, but the damage was done.  I no longer felt as good as I had when I started, and my mind knew I was allowing breaks.  Once you break the seal…

At mile 4, I decided to run Galloway.  I would walk the first minute of every mile and then run the rest.  I did this until mile 8 and it worked ok.  At mile 8, I decided to make it 2 minutes.  The whole time I’m running, I’m seeing water stops.  I guess they were at most 1 mile apart and as little as .75 miles apart.  I decided early on that drinking at every stop would be bad.  I only drank when I felt I needed something and I didn’t eat anything of theirs, instead relied on my Shot Blocs.  At mile 10 something happened and I felt nauseous.  I don’t know if it was from drinking Heed (a sports drink I never drink and really don’t like) or lack of food or what.  I had to spit out my last Shot Bloc and walk for two miles.  I thought for sure I was going to vomit.  It wasn’t a good feeling.  By the time I felt good enough to run, my body was hurting so bad I couldn’t do much.

After feeling surprisingly good coming out of the water, and in good spirits after the ride, the end of the run was really rough.  Up until mile 7, I was on pace for a sub 2 hour half marathon.  Until mile 11, I was on pace for a sub 7 hour Half Ironman.  Miles 11 and 12 really hurt and I changed my goal to finishing and not anything based on time.

My last mile was run/walk.  I did as best I could with what I had left and dragged into the finish.  My run time was 2:34:03.  It was my slowest ever half marathon, but I really didn’t care.  I was just glad to be done.

My total time was 7:28:12.  I spent almost a full work day doing this race.  That’s just crazy.

It was a tough race and I’ve already been asked when I plan on doing another one.  I think I’ll wait until I am a better swimmer.  I don’t need to be super fast, but maybe twice as fast would be nice.

Before the race I talked to my friend Ben about borrowing his energy for my race.  I’d like to thank him, Becky, Gonyo, Bobby, Laura, Megan, Sarah, and Jessica for allowing me to steal a little mental juice.  Every time I focused on your strength, I was able to put forth more effort.  I also want to thank Carrie and Alex.  I didn’t try to steal your strength, but you helped bring me home.

Xterra East Coast Championship, take 2

Over the weekend I competed in my first open water river triathlon.  I’ve done an off-road tri that took place in a lake, but this and that were two completely different things.

Before I get to the race, I should tell you what happened before I even got to the race.

I was cleaning up/tuning my bike the day before the race.  I cleaned the chain, checked the tires, and gave the bike a nice shine.  As I was taking off the rear wheel, my derailleur came off.  My first thought was, “What the heck?”  It turns out that the bolt holding my derailleur hanger onto the frame was sheered off.  I did what anyone would do in this circumstance and panicked.  My fears were soon allayed with a call to Gonyo.  He told me how to fix it and it was fixed in only a couple minutes.

Earlier that day I went to pick up my packet.  I had to show an ID and my USAT card.  I pulled out my card and it expired on 5/31/2009.  They wouldn’t believe that I had renewed, so I had to pay the $10 daily fee and try to find my card at home.  Apparently, USAT had sent me 2 cards that expired on 5/31/2009 and none that expired 5/31/2010.  After 15 minutes of searching (USATriathlon.org website sucks), I found how to print my temporary card (had to use Google to find it).  I showed this the next day and got my money back.

I also managed to grab the wrong number.

On to race day.

It was a really nice day for a race.  It was cool in the shade and still nice in the sun.  I hung out with Susan and her friends before the race started.  We watched as the fastest swimmers in the Sport Group took off and were quickly pushed downriver.  These being the fast swimmers, they adjusted and made quick work of the swim.  Shortly after that, Susan’s group took off.  I couldn’t tell which one was her, but they all looked good.  In 7 minutes the first Sport swimmer was back.  Sport did ½k swim while my group (full) did 1k swim.

I was paying careful attention to any swimmer that was slow, or visibly having difficulties.  I’m not a good swimmer and I know that.  I’ve only been swimming for 3 years and don’t swim often enough.  I saw at least one person quit during the swim and I saw 6 or so others holding onto kayaks.

Before I knew it, the pros in my group left.  They were fast.  Seemingly only moments later the announcer said there was 30 seconds for my wave to start.  I guess I should have been closer to the water because when they said that I had to hurry over to start.  Because I was rushed, I didn’t get to rethink what I was getting ready to do and back out.  On my way there I slipped and fell in the mud, as I did that my wave started.  Here I am rushing to start and I fall and the next wave is trying to get out of my way so I can start late, what a goof!

I finally start swimming and I notice immediately the current is strong.  It’s much stronger than the last time I swam in the river, over a year ago.  I’m supposed to swim to the eastern tip (downriver) of Belle Isle.  When I get in the water, I start swimming for the western tip (upriver), knowing that the current will drag me back.  This worked for all of the other swimmers, but since I am so damn slow, it didn’t work for me.  About halfway to the island between the shore and Belle Isle, I had to rest.  I was exhausted, worn out, beat down, (add your favorite synonyms here).   I found a kayaker close by and grab onto the kayak.  James was his name, and we were fast friends.  He tells me he will keep me in place, but won’t advance me since he doesn’t want me to be DQed.  After 4 minutes I start swimming again.

I would repeat this cycle many times.  Swim my ass off, take for a break, swim my ass off, take for a break…

As I was watching the swimmers in front of me, I saw them taking rest breaks just off the island where they could stand.  I was really trying to aim for these rest areas.  Unfortunately, I was too far downriver from them.  There was another group behind me and they started passing me very quickly, even the slow ones.  I watched where the slow ones stood up and I aimed for those places.  After what seemed like hours, I made it to a place I could stand up just downriver from the island.  This is where I first thought about quitting the race.

I was almost halfway to Belle Isle and I was worn out.  I had a large section of water in front of me and honestly didn’t think I could make it.  I thought about the people on shore looking at this goof getting passed by all of the swimmers that started after him.  I thought about my wife looking on and I just couldn’t quit.

I jumped back in the water and swam hard.  I guess I swam for 10 minutes before I needed another rest on the kayaks.  After 2 minutes of rest I swam for another 8 minutes or so, more tired than the last break.  As I rested on the kayaks I seriously considered quitting.  Twice I said, “Eff it…”, but I didn’t add the second part, “I Quit”.  I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t say those words.  That’s not me, I’m stubborn and I don’t quit.  I really wanted to quit, but I wouldn’t let myself say those words.

Around this time the guy whose kayak I was hanging onto told me I need to stop swimming towards the dam and swim towards the buoy.  I gave him the no-sh#! look.   That’s what I had been trying to do!  

I started swimming again and a mega-super swimmer volunteer guy (Jason) came out to meet me.  He is a really good swimmer and with flippers and hand fins, he really was a fish.  I took another break and Jason told me to follow him.  He said I was almost out of the current and he would point me the rest of the way.  I did just what he said.  I think he was doing the side stroke and I’m barely able to keep my head up following him.  Finally he says, you can stand up here.

Never have I heard a better thing in my life!  I stood up downriver of the buoy.  All I had to do was walk up to the buoy and swim a little around it.  I kept swimming upriver around the buoy and it was a lot easier.  Then Jason said I could just keep walking because it was shallow.  He didn’t have to tell me twice. I walked the last 200 feet to shore.

Once on Belle Isle you are supposed to run (I walked) up to the pedestrian bridge and then swim back across the river.  When I got back to the water’s edge the Kayakers there told me to keep walking upriver as far as I could before swimming back.  Just as I was getting ready to swim again, my right calf started cramping.  At this point I was 36 minutes into my race and hadn’t had anything to drink and was dehydrated.  When I told James my calf was cramping he said something, and because of the water in my ears and my swim cap, I thought he said I was done.  I started to get upset because at this point I really wanted to finish the swim.  I did the hard part, they can’t make me stop!  Luckily he didn’t say that. So after I stretched I prepared to swim again.

There used to be a lower bridge across the James River under the Lee Bridge.  The piers are all that’s left of that bridge.  Between the first few piers the current is fast.  Directly beside them the current is super fast yet behind them it’s calm in the eddy.

From pier to pier I swam my ass off.  Jumping into the water and swimming at a 45 degree upriver angle, I still wasn’t able to hold my ground.  Each time when I arrived in the eddy, I had to swim back to the pier.  Once on the pier I would move around to the upriver side of it to jump back in the water.  All through this section my legs were cramping.  It really sucked, but I couldn’t stop, I had to keep moving.

Once I reached the third pier, the one with the tree growing out of it, I was told I could just swim directly to the shore and with the current’s help, get to the finish.  James said I could even breaststroke the rest of the way back.  And that’s what I did.  I did the breaststroke and a relaxed freestyle and cruised back across the river.  I still wanted to take breaks, but I didn’t and just kept swimming.  

I came ashore and was exhausted.  There was a volunteer there just for me.  She helped me find my flip-flops – not too hard because they were the only ones left.  I put them on and turned and saw Carrie and Alex.  I’ve never been happier to see them in my life.  I walked over and gave them both a good James River kiss.  I have to admit that I got a little emotional at this point.  Seeing them after what I had been through made me get ‘something’ in my eyes.  It was a physically and emotionally draining event.

That swim was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.  It was supposed to be a 1k swim, I know I swam a lot longer than that.  My swim time was 54 minutes by my watch (official time includes running back to transition).  Oh yeah, I was last in the swim.

Carrie told me that she was worried about me.  She had looked and my bike was THE ONLY BIKE IN TRANSITION!!!  How crazy is that?  By the time I got to my bike there were Sport riders coming in and I had to run my bike around them to get out of the transition area.  I ran into Dave “The Big Kahuna” in transition.  He was directing me out on the bike.  Into his walkie he said, “The last rider is coming out, get the sweeper to follow him.” I turned around and said to him, “Tell your sweeper I’m going to drop his ass.”  He looked surprised, then laughed.

Because of my cramping during the swim I had to take it easy initially on the bike so I could take in fluids to prevent more cramping.  From the start I was able to ride strong, but I couldn’t push it.  As I got off the pedestrian bridge, I saw Cass and Brad; they seemed surprised to see me.  When I saw Jessica on Belle Isle it looked like she was relieved to see me.  Apparently, everyone was wondering where I was.

I stopped at the water stop at Reedy Creek.  My water bottle was still frozen and I needed something more.  Another rider dropped his water bottle there so they gave that to me.  I finished that bottle after I entered Forest Hill Park (after about 1.5 miles) then I started to open it up on the bike.

I cleared Reedy Creek in both directions and that was cool.  My sister, her husband and my nephew were all volunteers and cheered me on as I went through.  Wow, can Kris yell!

I got up to the 42nd street parking lot and turned left as usual and then realized that the route was changed.  I turned around and saw some woman running towards me.  After a moment I realized it was Sarah.  She stayed with me for a minute giving support and then I passed Dave, her bf, and sped up.  I was feeling really strong on the bike at this point.

I floated through Forest Hill and didn’t have any difficulties.  It was a better ride than normal.  It’s possible that’s because I had a fully attached rear derailleur, but who knows.

Coming back out of Forest Hill my sister was once again yelling like a cat lady.  She calmed down enough for me to hand off that empty extra water bottle.  Through the tunnel I saw my nephew and brother in law and the upcoming rock face out of the creek.  I wanted to make sure my nephew saw me clear that rock face so I sped up a lot and shot right up it.  I hope he was impressed.

At 22nd street bridge I saw Snider.  He had a few words of encouragement as I passed by.  I think he said there were riders just ahead of me.  I rode down the stairs and saw Ben at the bottom.  I told him I was last and he said I was kicking butt.

I passed my first rider just after 42nd street Bridge.  After that I passed another 9 riders.

When I got back to transition I saw The Big Kahuna again and said, “I told you I was going to drop your sweeper.”  He looked at his watch and then at me again.

Susan was there to greet me as I came off the bike.  She slapped me five and cheered me on.  In the transition area the winners of my race were already packing up there gear, it was depressing.  Then I heard Susan again and she helped me focus and got me back out of transition and onto my run.

The run was uneventful.  I was able to keep a strong pace and ran everything but the hills.  I passed back by Snider and he seemed to think I looked better this time around.  I passed by Ben and told him I wasn’t last anymore and he laughed.

When I saw Jessica for the last time I’m Belle Isle, I told her I was walking the hills.  She replied, “Yeah, walking the hills!”

I passed a few folks on the run, for the most part, there weren’t a lot of runners left on the course.

This was my hardest ever race because of the swim.  The rest of the race was actually pretty good.  My tri suit was awesome and kept me cool the whole time.  I got a little chaffing from the zipper, but it wasn’t bad.  My white shoulders and back didn’t do as well and I have the burns to prove it.  In fact, my upper arms are burned except for where my number was, so you can still see my number on my arms.  My arms are sore from swimming, and my feet from all the rocks in the river and that snuck into my shoes.  My right knee is sore – I don’t know why – and my Achilles is still bothering me.

During my swim, I was sitting on a pier, catching my breath before I started out again.  I had an audience of 3 or 4 kayakers around me.  I told them this is going to be one of those things that I will look back on and will be really proud of accomplishing and I couldn’t wait to look back on it.  Now I look back and I am really proud that I did it.

For all of you who use me in this sentence, “If Scott can ______ then I know I can do it,” please feel free to add this event to your list.

Thanks to all the volunteers and supporters out there for the race (in order that I saw them): Carrie, Alex, Cass, Brad, Jessica, Ben, Pete, Kristin, Sarah, Dave, Michael, Snider and Susan.  And thanks to James and Rob the kayakers and Jason the Fish for getting me through the swim.  And a special thanks to Xterra for coming back to Richmond!  To me as a competitor, the race was of the same caliber it’s always been.  Awesome job again!

I wanted to post my results, but Xterra completely hosed them up.

I think my swim time was 1:00:42.  The second slowest swimmer took 34 minutes.  By the time I finished they had blocked off the entrance for swimmers back into the transition area.  So I ran across the exit to the run, instead of the entrance into the swim.  They marked that time as my bike time instead of my swim time.  I have no transition times and my run time was 2:54.  My bike was actually around 1:32:00.  I probably had 10 minutes total in the two transitions so my run was around 1:11:00.

Double Du, National Off-Road Duathlon and National On-Road Duathlon In One Weekend

The Challenge:

Complete the long course Off-Road Duathlon Saturday and come back Sunday and complete the long course On-Road Duathlon.

Day One:

I always tell people, don’t do anything new the night before a race.  So, what do I do?  I do something new, I go out and drink grape juice the night before and the morning of my Off-Road race.  The results were disastrous and race was almost bagged before it started.  After some help from modern day medicine, I was able to cowboy-up and compete.

It was hottttttttttttt!

The race start was all in one wave.  It was a mob start with people flying past me like it was 50 degrees outside.  I went slow, knowing full well I would pass some of these folks again.  We had a lot of shade running across the pedestrian bridge and on Belle Isle.  I didn’t have any water with me and that really sucked.  I was down on water already because of a rough morning and I was getting worse.  On the run, I passed 8 people who started out too fast and faded.

Finishing the run I saw Susan cheering me on.  She was a welcome site after a tough run.  Coming into transition all I could think about was my water.  My camelback was half full (another rule, bring more than you think you will need), but it was still cold.  My water bottle with my electrolyte was warm and not quite tasty anymore.  I started out fast and drank too much too quickly and felt nauseous.

A goal I set for myself was to ride the 22nd st. stairs.  I chickened out of riding the chicane at the top and ran the first flight.  After that, I rode the rest of the way down.  It’s MUCH faster riding than running.  On the gravel road I didn’t see anyone.  I know I was slow on the run, but there wasn’t anyone in sight.  I didn’t see anyone until I got back on the trail.

After 42nd st. bridge I was surprised to see Becky and Jessica.  Apparently, Jessica was volunteering and Becky was just yelling loudly.  Another great pick-me upper right when I needed it.  Now if I could only find another biker…

I did manage to find and pass a couple people eventually, but clearly, I was in the back after my run.  As I came through the tunnel I saw Carrie, Alex and my sister.  They cheered me on so loud they made Alex cry.  I decided to interpret his crying as ‘cheering’ and thanked him as I passed.

Through Forest Hill Park I passed several folks, I had passed 12 riders when I got a flat.  I ride tubeless upfront and I hit something on the concrete wall/step up and my Stans gunk was all dried up.  I tried riding slower, hoping to make it to my family before I changed the tire, but I started getting too loose in the turns and had to fix it.  The change went smooth until I screwed up my CO2 and had to wait to get one from another passing rider.  After that, I sped back up, but my original gusto was lost.

Most of the people I passed earlier passed me during my flat and for the rest of the ride I only caught and passed a few of them.

Coming back into transition I was dreading having to run again.  I was torn between catching some people and taking it easy for Sunday.  I ended up trying to run fast then faded.  I ran over a mile to start and then walked and ran.  I kept that up until the pedestrian bridge.

I was walking across the pedestrian bridge when I started feeling woozy.  I thought back to that lady at the Monument Ave 10k a couple years ago that stumbled around until she fell to the ground.  As I was thinking that, I noticed other people were wobbling too.  Then I realized the bridge was moving and that it wasn’t me.  I was worried for a minute there.

Knowing that I wasn’t going to pass out, fall off the bridge, and cherish the cold water until I drowned, I kept running.  I alternated running and walking to the finish.  At the finish they called my name and put the coldest towel I’ve ever felt on my back and shoulders.  I thought I was going to pass out right there.  They kept asking me if I was ok, and I kept saying the towel was really cold.

With the race over, I headed home to eat and drink and try to regain the 5lbs I lost during the race.

Day Two:

The On Road portion of my weekend started off on the wrong foot when I realized I left my gels at home.  Luckily, I grabbed a pack of Shot Bloc on the way out the house, so that would be the food for the day.  Then after parking, I left my running water bottle on the top of my car.  This was how I was going to run with to ward off the dehydration demons.  Again I was lucky, as Jessica, the walking champ, went to go grab it for me (I think she walked 6 miles on Sunday).

Before I forget, it was hot before the race started.

I thought the run on Saturday started fast, that was nothing compared to Sunday.  I was alone, with no one in sight in front of me, 1 mile into the course.  I know I was running slower, but seriously, dropped like a rock at 9 minute pace?  I say 9 minute pace, but I wasn’t really sure.  The first mile marker came at 5 minutes into the run (yeah right!), the second at 18 minutes, split the difference ~ 9 min/mile.

The run was hot, like I thought it would be.  There was some shade by the flood wall, and maybe a cool breeze off the river here or there, but mostly just hot.  I was passed by the ladies that started 5 minutes after me before I had gone 3 miles.  I had to keep reminding myself I needed to keep my speed in check and that my goal was simply to finish.

I ended up walking some on the first 10k.  It was towards the end of the run and frankly, I was surprised at how little I walked.

The road ride was nice.  Sure, they start you going up a steep hill, but it’s a short steep hill.  The payoff is a fast and long downhill.  I nailed that hill and passed a few other folks that seemed to be riding their brakes.  Thinking back later, I don’t think I hit my brakes once until I dismounted at the end of the ride.

I saw Carrie and Alex at the bike turn-around.  I yelled ‘Alex’ and he watched me as I rode past.  Each time I circled around I would yell for him and most of the time he would watch me.

Did I say it was hot?

After learning that keeping a cold bottle attached to the bike while you run produces a warm bottle, I decided to freeze a water bottle and an electrolyte bottle.  They were perfect and even slightly frozen when I started the ride.  By the end they were warm though, but still wet.  The hill at Reedy Creek was tough and only got tougher as the day wore on.  On the last climb, my left quad started getting funky.  I backed off my pace on the hills and made it back without cramping.

For the last run… I walked.  I walked into transition and just kept walking.  It’s possible I could have run, but I wanted to finish at this point, getting across that line was my entire goal.  I ended up walking with a guy in my age group for 1.5 miles.  With about a mile to go, I started running.  I ran most of the rest of the way back.  I walked the little hill up from Tredegar St. to above the parking lot and ran in from there.

Becky and Cass greeted me as I ‘ran’ up the hill to the finish.  When I passed them the first time I had been getting ready to walk up that hill, but I couldn’t since they were cheering me on.  This time they gave me a strong boost to the finish and helped get me the rest of the way.

Oh yeah, it was hot!

The post race food and drink was a buffet compared to after the Off-Road race.  For the On-Road we had made-to-order soft tacos, pizza, drinks kept in ICE!  For the Off-Road, we had warm Gatorade, bagels and bananas.  That difference really made me mad.  No cold drinks after a hot race like that was stupid.  After the Off-Road race they told you to come back the next day for the post race party stuff.  How about some pizza on Saturday too?  It was upsetting to experience both and to see how differently the two events are treated.  Clearly the Off-Road event is the red-headed step child.

Numbers

Off Road:

3:39:54, 59/81, 16/17 in age group

1:04:38 10k, 9:28 pace* – 67/81, 16/17

2:08 T1

1:42:32 bike, 9.5 mph – 48/81, 14/17

1:22 T2

49:16 5k, 15:52 pace – 61/81, 14/17

On Road:

3:15:02, 825/885, 72/74 in age group

1:04:48 10k, 10:26 pace* – 844/885, 73/74

2:34 T1

1:25:53 bike, 16.5 – 685/885, 69/74

1:58 T2

39:52 5k, 12:50 pace – 864/885, 73/74

* Note how I took 10 seconds longer on the On-Road 10k, yet my pace was a full minute slower.  The mileage was off on one or the other.

Total mileage: 18 miles running, 37 miles biking