(no subject)
RCT 2012
Pre-race: I had a King "Suite" at La Quinta reserved for Friday night which is approximately 1,125 square feet of temporary living space (I'm exaggerating just a bit). I had a living room with purple sofa bed, desk with 2 chairs, and TV on top of a dresser. In the bedroom (behind a door!), I had a very nice king bed, another TV, closet, dresser and fridge/microwave/coffeemaker. I'd brought a combination of My Fit Foods and homemade meals for this weekend and really needed the fridge. Then I had a bathroom (behind another door) as well!! Only problem was, the fridge was completely frosted over and wasn't cooling, let alone freezing. Thank goodness for the old-fashioned method of soft-sided cooler and hotel ice machines which can dump ice cubes into "laundry" bags..slept pretty okay Friday, although I didn't get to bed till after 1am.
Saturday after breakfast and my 300 yd swim, 6.25 mile bike and 1 mile run the maintenance person came up just after noon and installed a fridge/microwave combo in my living room. Because I had complained about the non-freezing fridge in my bedroom, not to mention the low-frequency buzz it made all night long (even my Mack's earplugs couldn't drown it out). He told me the fridge in my bedroom had been there since 1996! no wonder it was frosted over!! I exchanged texts with @Shaayla about meeting for dinner just as I arrived at packet pickup. Somehow, I ended up with size Medium DeFeet socks. I look forward to my River Cities socks. One year I messed up and ordered XL and ended up giving them to Rob Zielinski. This year, somehow, I ordered/received M, which is a men's 6-8 shoe. WRONG!! I wear Men's size 10 shoes... (which is, I believe size LARGE) I was advised to bring them to volunteer tent on race morning to see if I could exchange for Large.
Ran into Jimmy Harper at packet pickup after I'd gotten my packet. Hadn't seen Jimmy in some time, but we chatted for a good long while as he went through the line. He was uncertain whether he'd actually race due to knee issues. But he said to tell everyone Hi from him in case he didn't make it to the race. I met Shayla for dinner at Monjuni's (now on Airline instead of Benton Rd) at 5:30. Good move, just like in 2010 when Katherine Mudge and I went there. We beat the crowd! I'd actually brought what I meant to eat for pre-race dinner and it was in my hotel fridge, but having dinner with a friend seemed like a better idea! My dinner was a house dinner salad and one Monjuni's meatball (with a glass of chianti). She ordered a sweet(cake) for dessert and I had a few bites, so maybe that is the secret weapon..
After dinner, I got all the gear in order, watched a bit of Olympics, posted a few things to FB, had one more glass of red wine, a small cup of decaf and read some (more on that later). At 9:00pm I swallowed a temazepam and a l-theanine. People in my hotel were still coming and going to the pool (which was right outside my "living room"), banging doors, etc. But about 9:30, I started feeling like "hey, it's ok if I turn out the lights and try to sleep". So I did. I think I fell asleep before 10:00.
I believe, with the chemical help mentioned above, I might have actually gotten 6 hours of sleep. Of course I woke long before the 5am wakeup call, but I made peace with the fact that I'd probably not get any more sleep after I woke up. Pumped up Buzz's tires, and got all my stuff into my car..
I'd already begged the hotel staff to make some fruit available before their 'official' breakfast at 6:30, but at 5:50, they hadn't done ANYTHING in the "Free Breakfast" area, so I got Eeisha (sp? for some reason, this particular hotel had two people with this name, but different spellings?) to fetch me 2 bananas from the secret room... BTW, I was using the time on the microwave in my room as "Current time" and it said 5:50 am when I nuked my b-fast. When I looked at my watch, it said 6:01 am...CRAP!!! too late!! I meant to leave NLT 6:00am. Microwaved my race day (Made and transported from Home) breakfast and wrapped it in a towel, brought coffee from the one-cuppa-maker in my McDonald's cup and headed out to race site. Parking sucked (probably since I was 10 min behind.) I obeyed the parking volunteers and went probably 1/2 mile further down to another "parking field" that I'd never seen before. I'd parked along the road on the right before, but they weren't doing that this year. Somehow, only the Jeep immediately behind me ended up parking in the "Far Lot" by me, the 20 people behind them apparently finegaled their way into the first parking field... GRR
I'd pumped up Buzz's tires at the hotel before I left, so after eating my breakfast in my car, I put on front tire, grabbed all stuff for the yellow RCT 2005 bag and proceeded to carry my bike on my shoulder to the asphalt. I didn't want any stickerburs in my tires..
My rack was on the upper far left, so I found a proper spot, left Buzz, went (With my too-small socks) to the New Balance tent and got body-marked because I hadn't received A. Sunglasses or B. Body Marking Temporary Tattoos. nice volunteer lady who had seen me Saturday gave me sunglasses and had the young lady trade me Large socks for the Mediums I had in my hand..went back to transition and made sure all was in order.
Pre race: I took a banana (procured from hotel) and my 12 oz bottle of water with me out of transition along with swim cap and goggles to the picnic table area. Found Shayla and had a quick chat. Found picnic table to hang out with fellow Athena and her charge, an age-grouper who didn't want to start with AG, she wanted her Athena buddy right there with her and was willing to take the time penalty to swim with her mentor. Final Pre-Race bathroom visit at 8:10. Ate banana about 8:15 and washed down with water (and, well, hack'd up phlegm into nearby trash can -- sorry, reality when you suffer from allergies) I'd forgotten (once again) that I'd entered Athena category. Who knows why.. it worked at Marble Falls... I'll never win anything at RCT.. But these Athena-buddy ladies had a magic formula gogglewipe. They loaned them to me for sloppy seconds to de-fog my goggles. OMG. It worked. I have never had a clearer swim.
Swim: 880 yds: 30:28
the usual - out to far triangle buoy, turn right, swim to next triangle buoy turn right, to shore/finish. Despite the fact that I'm not a particularly good/fast swimmer, I really enjoyed this swim. I did ZERO breaststroke, one of the advantages of being in the DFL wave. No competition, and nobody to run into you. In honor of the Olympics, I spent about 20 min Sat evening re-reading Sheila Taormina's book "Call the Suit". The information and drills she taught us during the swim clinic became clear once again. I tried to channel her "high elbow during the catch/pull" with nearly every stroke and for once, I really felt it. I may not have gone much faster, but I was happy with my progress, did not freak out, panic, or swallow water. I sighted after taking 20 strokes, because the water was like glass, no chop whatsoever, and every time I sighted, I was right on course. Slow, but steady.
T1: 3:31
I really thought I was last out of the swim (because a kayaker was constantly to my right whenever I'd breathe), but apparently there were 2 or 3 others behind me. Jogged up the astro turf to transition and squirted sand off my feet from the water bottle on my bike cage, downed a strawberry-banana power gel and more water from bottle. I always forget how far it is to the actual mount line at this race. Even if you run up from the swim (as I did), it still takes a bit of time to get up the little incline to mount line. And when you're in the DFL wave, at the beginning of the bike you have to deal with lots of fast people who are FINISHING the bike, who may be veering nto your lane as they finish.
Bike: 18.2 miles: 58:27
Compared to Austin, this is flat. There was one "false incline" that I wasn't dealing with particularly well, but in the end it didn't matter. I've been racing at RiverCities since 2005 and my overarching goal has always been to get my bike split under one hour. I watched my splits as I rolled past the mile markers... mile 9, I was at 29:54... cuttin' it close... I tried to average 20-21 mph after that. As I approached dismount, two other gals were in front of me, one about 50 feet directly in front (who successfully dismounted and continued upright into T2), the other, about 10 feet diagonally to the right. Well the one on the right stopped and promptly fell over TO THE LEFT (directly in front of me) just before I stopped. This affected my momentum/balance a little but I did not fall and thought "Sucks to be you" as I ran around her with my Buzz and hit the lap time as I crossed the mat and looked at my watch, I realized I'd finally done it. I did the air-fist-pump thing - woo hoo!! I did it!! Took 6 tries, but I finally got my River Cities bike split under an hour!!!!! I did feel a little sluggish at times so maybe I was under-fueled. Maybe a few more calories pre-race would help. But overall, I am happy with this segment (I was first in this category for the bike!!)
T2: 3:22
As I came back into transition, the volunteer told me that although my rack position was on the row next to run out, I was REQUIRED to run with my bike all the way around the center part of transition and back up to my rack before being allowed onto the run to "make it fair to others". Really? didn't I already make up for that by running further into transition to my rack from the swim? but I didn't argue with the nice volunteer and the other gals were doing what he said, so I didn't want to get a penalty. I looked at my watch - more than a minute was spent looping around running in bike shoes to get to my rack space.
Run: 3.11 miles: 40:58
Aside from the goal of "Finishing" and the secondary "Bike split under an hour", I wanted my run to be somewhere near 40 min. I had a really hard run workout Wed and didn't know if it would affect race day. The course was slightly different from in years past in that there was no "Trail running" component and no 100 yds of running in the sand at the finish line. I kind of liked that part. But since we didn't have a real picture of where mile 2 was, it was kind of hard to pace. Strangely, I did not have any kind of digestive issues whatsoever. And the sun had been kept at bay for most of the race! The run was really pretty nice. IF I had to change one thing: since I had no cramping or digestive issues, don't stop to walk. Keep on running.
Final time: 2:16:48
hugged fabulous volunteer in the finish chute. I know they must have thought me a real pain on packet pickup day (I somehow got the wrong size socks-AGAIN!!) but as someone who volunteers more than I race, I convinced them I wasn't a princess. I said to her, "I'd hug you but I'm all sweaty" and she positioned herself so that my body marking would not stain her clothing and gave me a big hug.Love love LOVE those volunteers!!
What limited my ability to perform better on the run? Totally mental. I had none of the usual physical challenges (upset stomach, sore hip flexor -- well, maybe a twinge... or breathing issues.) But during that last mile I remembered I had more than 300 miles to drive back home and I think it slowed me down a bit thinking about that, and the fact that this is my last race of the 2012 season...Walking back to my car with Buzz (After about 3 beers), another guy, also sporting a 2005 RCT tri-bag, asked how it went and we talked about years past, etc. I told him it was my "Best" RCT yet because I'd finally broken the 1 hour bike split.And then I remembered why I like doing this race. Everyone is so friendly and helpful, and it was such a beautiful day. Even among 1,100 (or however many finishers) people, I found quite a few folks who love it as much as I do. It was like visiting an old friend.
I'd go back next year, I think, if at least one other person I know will be racing.It should be the year of Wheeled Luggage...
Pre-race: I had a King "Suite" at La Quinta reserved for Friday night which is approximately 1,125 square feet of temporary living space (I'm exaggerating just a bit). I had a living room with purple sofa bed, desk with 2 chairs, and TV on top of a dresser. In the bedroom (behind a door!), I had a very nice king bed, another TV, closet, dresser and fridge/microwave/coffeemaker. I'd brought a combination of My Fit Foods and homemade meals for this weekend and really needed the fridge. Then I had a bathroom (behind another door) as well!! Only problem was, the fridge was completely frosted over and wasn't cooling, let alone freezing. Thank goodness for the old-fashioned method of soft-sided cooler and hotel ice machines which can dump ice cubes into "laundry" bags..slept pretty okay Friday, although I didn't get to bed till after 1am.
Saturday after breakfast and my 300 yd swim, 6.25 mile bike and 1 mile run the maintenance person came up just after noon and installed a fridge/microwave combo in my living room. Because I had complained about the non-freezing fridge in my bedroom, not to mention the low-frequency buzz it made all night long (even my Mack's earplugs couldn't drown it out). He told me the fridge in my bedroom had been there since 1996! no wonder it was frosted over!! I exchanged texts with @Shaayla about meeting for dinner just as I arrived at packet pickup. Somehow, I ended up with size Medium DeFeet socks. I look forward to my River Cities socks. One year I messed up and ordered XL and ended up giving them to Rob Zielinski. This year, somehow, I ordered/received M, which is a men's 6-8 shoe. WRONG!! I wear Men's size 10 shoes... (which is, I believe size LARGE) I was advised to bring them to volunteer tent on race morning to see if I could exchange for Large.
Ran into Jimmy Harper at packet pickup after I'd gotten my packet. Hadn't seen Jimmy in some time, but we chatted for a good long while as he went through the line. He was uncertain whether he'd actually race due to knee issues. But he said to tell everyone Hi from him in case he didn't make it to the race. I met Shayla for dinner at Monjuni's (now on Airline instead of Benton Rd) at 5:30. Good move, just like in 2010 when Katherine Mudge and I went there. We beat the crowd! I'd actually brought what I meant to eat for pre-race dinner and it was in my hotel fridge, but having dinner with a friend seemed like a better idea! My dinner was a house dinner salad and one Monjuni's meatball (with a glass of chianti). She ordered a sweet(cake) for dessert and I had a few bites, so maybe that is the secret weapon..
After dinner, I got all the gear in order, watched a bit of Olympics, posted a few things to FB, had one more glass of red wine, a small cup of decaf and read some (more on that later). At 9:00pm I swallowed a temazepam and a l-theanine. People in my hotel were still coming and going to the pool (which was right outside my "living room"), banging doors, etc. But about 9:30, I started feeling like "hey, it's ok if I turn out the lights and try to sleep". So I did. I think I fell asleep before 10:00.
I believe, with the chemical help mentioned above, I might have actually gotten 6 hours of sleep. Of course I woke long before the 5am wakeup call, but I made peace with the fact that I'd probably not get any more sleep after I woke up. Pumped up Buzz's tires, and got all my stuff into my car..
I'd already begged the hotel staff to make some fruit available before their 'official' breakfast at 6:30, but at 5:50, they hadn't done ANYTHING in the "Free Breakfast" area, so I got Eeisha (sp? for some reason, this particular hotel had two people with this name, but different spellings?) to fetch me 2 bananas from the secret room... BTW, I was using the time on the microwave in my room as "Current time" and it said 5:50 am when I nuked my b-fast. When I looked at my watch, it said 6:01 am...CRAP!!! too late!! I meant to leave NLT 6:00am. Microwaved my race day (Made and transported from Home) breakfast and wrapped it in a towel, brought coffee from the one-cuppa-maker in my McDonald's cup and headed out to race site. Parking sucked (probably since I was 10 min behind.) I obeyed the parking volunteers and went probably 1/2 mile further down to another "parking field" that I'd never seen before. I'd parked along the road on the right before, but they weren't doing that this year. Somehow, only the Jeep immediately behind me ended up parking in the "Far Lot" by me, the 20 people behind them apparently finegaled their way into the first parking field... GRR
I'd pumped up Buzz's tires at the hotel before I left, so after eating my breakfast in my car, I put on front tire, grabbed all stuff for the yellow RCT 2005 bag and proceeded to carry my bike on my shoulder to the asphalt. I didn't want any stickerburs in my tires..
My rack was on the upper far left, so I found a proper spot, left Buzz, went (With my too-small socks) to the New Balance tent and got body-marked because I hadn't received A. Sunglasses or B. Body Marking Temporary Tattoos. nice volunteer lady who had seen me Saturday gave me sunglasses and had the young lady trade me Large socks for the Mediums I had in my hand..went back to transition and made sure all was in order.
Pre race: I took a banana (procured from hotel) and my 12 oz bottle of water with me out of transition along with swim cap and goggles to the picnic table area. Found Shayla and had a quick chat. Found picnic table to hang out with fellow Athena and her charge, an age-grouper who didn't want to start with AG, she wanted her Athena buddy right there with her and was willing to take the time penalty to swim with her mentor. Final Pre-Race bathroom visit at 8:10. Ate banana about 8:15 and washed down with water (and, well, hack'd up phlegm into nearby trash can -- sorry, reality when you suffer from allergies) I'd forgotten (once again) that I'd entered Athena category. Who knows why.. it worked at Marble Falls... I'll never win anything at RCT.. But these Athena-buddy ladies had a magic formula gogglewipe. They loaned them to me for sloppy seconds to de-fog my goggles. OMG. It worked. I have never had a clearer swim.
Swim: 880 yds: 30:28
the usual - out to far triangle buoy, turn right, swim to next triangle buoy turn right, to shore/finish. Despite the fact that I'm not a particularly good/fast swimmer, I really enjoyed this swim. I did ZERO breaststroke, one of the advantages of being in the DFL wave. No competition, and nobody to run into you. In honor of the Olympics, I spent about 20 min Sat evening re-reading Sheila Taormina's book "Call the Suit". The information and drills she taught us during the swim clinic became clear once again. I tried to channel her "high elbow during the catch/pull" with nearly every stroke and for once, I really felt it. I may not have gone much faster, but I was happy with my progress, did not freak out, panic, or swallow water. I sighted after taking 20 strokes, because the water was like glass, no chop whatsoever, and every time I sighted, I was right on course. Slow, but steady.
T1: 3:31
I really thought I was last out of the swim (because a kayaker was constantly to my right whenever I'd breathe), but apparently there were 2 or 3 others behind me. Jogged up the astro turf to transition and squirted sand off my feet from the water bottle on my bike cage, downed a strawberry-banana power gel and more water from bottle. I always forget how far it is to the actual mount line at this race. Even if you run up from the swim (as I did), it still takes a bit of time to get up the little incline to mount line. And when you're in the DFL wave, at the beginning of the bike you have to deal with lots of fast people who are FINISHING the bike, who may be veering nto your lane as they finish.
Bike: 18.2 miles: 58:27
Compared to Austin, this is flat. There was one "false incline" that I wasn't dealing with particularly well, but in the end it didn't matter. I've been racing at RiverCities since 2005 and my overarching goal has always been to get my bike split under one hour. I watched my splits as I rolled past the mile markers... mile 9, I was at 29:54... cuttin' it close... I tried to average 20-21 mph after that. As I approached dismount, two other gals were in front of me, one about 50 feet directly in front (who successfully dismounted and continued upright into T2), the other, about 10 feet diagonally to the right. Well the one on the right stopped and promptly fell over TO THE LEFT (directly in front of me) just before I stopped. This affected my momentum/balance a little but I did not fall and thought "Sucks to be you" as I ran around her with my Buzz and hit the lap time as I crossed the mat and looked at my watch, I realized I'd finally done it. I did the air-fist-pump thing - woo hoo!! I did it!! Took 6 tries, but I finally got my River Cities bike split under an hour!!!!! I did feel a little sluggish at times so maybe I was under-fueled. Maybe a few more calories pre-race would help. But overall, I am happy with this segment (I was first in this category for the bike!!)
T2: 3:22
As I came back into transition, the volunteer told me that although my rack position was on the row next to run out, I was REQUIRED to run with my bike all the way around the center part of transition and back up to my rack before being allowed onto the run to "make it fair to others". Really? didn't I already make up for that by running further into transition to my rack from the swim? but I didn't argue with the nice volunteer and the other gals were doing what he said, so I didn't want to get a penalty. I looked at my watch - more than a minute was spent looping around running in bike shoes to get to my rack space.
Run: 3.11 miles: 40:58
Aside from the goal of "Finishing" and the secondary "Bike split under an hour", I wanted my run to be somewhere near 40 min. I had a really hard run workout Wed and didn't know if it would affect race day. The course was slightly different from in years past in that there was no "Trail running" component and no 100 yds of running in the sand at the finish line. I kind of liked that part. But since we didn't have a real picture of where mile 2 was, it was kind of hard to pace. Strangely, I did not have any kind of digestive issues whatsoever. And the sun had been kept at bay for most of the race! The run was really pretty nice. IF I had to change one thing: since I had no cramping or digestive issues, don't stop to walk. Keep on running.
Final time: 2:16:48
hugged fabulous volunteer in the finish chute. I know they must have thought me a real pain on packet pickup day (I somehow got the wrong size socks-AGAIN!!) but as someone who volunteers more than I race, I convinced them I wasn't a princess. I said to her, "I'd hug you but I'm all sweaty" and she positioned herself so that my body marking would not stain her clothing and gave me a big hug.Love love LOVE those volunteers!!
What limited my ability to perform better on the run? Totally mental. I had none of the usual physical challenges (upset stomach, sore hip flexor -- well, maybe a twinge... or breathing issues.) But during that last mile I remembered I had more than 300 miles to drive back home and I think it slowed me down a bit thinking about that, and the fact that this is my last race of the 2012 season...Walking back to my car with Buzz (After about 3 beers), another guy, also sporting a 2005 RCT tri-bag, asked how it went and we talked about years past, etc. I told him it was my "Best" RCT yet because I'd finally broken the 1 hour bike split.And then I remembered why I like doing this race. Everyone is so friendly and helpful, and it was such a beautiful day. Even among 1,100 (or however many finishers) people, I found quite a few folks who love it as much as I do. It was like visiting an old friend.
I'd go back next year, I think, if at least one other person I know will be racing.It should be the year of Wheeled Luggage...