I stepped into the porta potty to change from my wet kit into warm, dry street clothes. I immediately thought "I DID IT!"
HUH? Of course I did it. What's so surprising about doing a sprint AquaBike. I've done harder and longer courses than this. I realized that it wasn't that I had done it. It was that it wasn't HORRIBLE.
I had a lot of dread going into this race. There was a lot of noise going into this race. Grumpy broke his ankle and couldn't act as support. Not only was he NOT going to be able to go with me, I had to make sure every one was fed before I left the house at 4:30am. I had to drive myself (and look out for the dead deer in my lane on the highway). I had to find parking. I had to make sure my tires were pumped to the proper level. NONE of it terribly hard... just stuff I don't usually have to think about... noise. I was able to block out most of the noise but, still the emotional aspect was still brewing, pushed down underneath.
I'm doing all sprint AquaBike races this year and I'm absolutely loving the training. This race was 600 yards of swimming and 10 miles of bike. Keep in mind that from swim to T1 was a 1/4 mile run. The race was held in Half Moon Bay. If you've never swam in the northern California ocean, it's a treat. Water temperatures were expected to be 50-55F. Last year, my feet hurt just doing the warm up.
Although the water temperature this year was noticeably warmer, I'd forgotten an extra swim cap. I worried that I'd get vertigo from the cold water. I was so worried about it, I delayed getting in to do my warm up. BIG mistake. Although my face hurt during my brief warm up, I felt no freeze pain the whole race. I was however - SUPER SLOW. Ok. Add that to the notebook - remember extra cap & DO YOUR DAMN WARM UP.
Since the run from the beach to T1 was long, they had an area for our shoes. They also had a wading pool with warm water. I headed from the beach to my shoes but, waited to put them on until after I did a quick foot dunk in the pool. While this was nice, I think I could have done with out it. This was my first time riding without socks and I was concerned I might get frost bite. Ok. Add that to the notebook - don't bother with the pool & shoes were good for that long of run.
As soon as I got to transition, I saw most of the bikes were gone. I was completely unfocused. I usually practice in/out of transition including scripting what I'm taking off and putting on. I hadn't done this. I got to my bike and put my shoes on catching the inner part of the wetsuit sleeve on the Velcro of one of my shoes. I almost fell flat on my face. A good 5 seconds and I realized I needed to first take off the wetsuit and THEN put my shoes on. Ok. Add that to the notebook - PRACTICE YOUR TRANSITION SCRIPT!!!
My wave was the last possible wave of the day. They had 5-6 Olympic waves and then 3 Sprint waves. As I went to mount my bike, the volunteers had me move over at which point some one from behind almost took me out. Finally on the bike now, I got the hell out of there. Coach had said to ride at threshold and I knew I could do that for 10 miles. Although there was a slight headwind, I spent the first 3 miles yelling "ON YOUR LEFT" and passing people like they were standing still. I made a slow turn at the turnaround but, it was safer given the traffic that was there. The next 5-6 miles were a mixture of trying to pass groups of people, dodging cars that were dodging racers riding 2-3 across, and keeping focused. I made the turn off the highway and just kept up the pressure. I passed a woman who was in my age group but, I didn't know if she was in my division. Next, I passed a 27 year old guy. Not my division but, I'm racing the clock dude. I passed several more riders. Then 27 year old passed me back. We were a couple of turns away from T2 and he was slowing down... I kept the pressure up. I even TOLD him he had to keep racing as I passed him again. Ok. Add that to the notebook - Probably could use a clinic on bike handling to take corners faster but, GREAT WORK ON KEEPING FOCUSED ALL THE WAY THROUGH.
Although my race was done upon entering T2, I still needed to go through the finish shoot to collect my medal. I did a quick transition and darted over. It was REALLY weird. I am so unaccustomed to being one of the first people to finish. I kind of liked it yet, I felt a bit embarrassed.
I ended up making the podium for AquaBike. I was the second overall Sprint AquaBike and the second woman. Oh, the first male AquaBiker? That was the 27 year old I passed at the very end. I beat him by 27 seconds. I'm ok with this for the first race of the season. I have some things that need work but, the big stuff is there. Looking forward to my next race in a couple of weeks.
You know what? Not only was this NOT horrible... I had an absolute blast (which is the whole reason I do this).
