(no subject)
KERRVILLE HALF IRON 2014 - MY FIRST DNF
The goal race for 2013 is Ironman Florida in November. I had never raced the entire Texas Tri Series before. I had never raced Kerrville before. So since Kerrville was the perfect timing for a pre-Ironman-Half-Iron training day, I figured I might as well race the series.
That plan ended with the first race in the series, The Rookie. The day before the race I finally accepted that my Plantar Fasciitis was real and I should not race. I couldn't even volunteer on race day since time standing on my feet would be just as bad as racing. So I was out of the series for both racing and for participation.
As my foot healed, I then volunteered at Lake Pflugerville, raced Couples, Jack's Generic Sprint, and TriRock Olympic, and had only Kerrville to go. I needed to volunteer for a shift-and-a-half at Kerrville to make up for missing Rookie and I'd be back in the series, at least for participation. And then race Kerrville.
PRE-RACE
The fun began on Thursday before the race. Jeff offered to take my bike to Jack & Adams to pick up my rental race wheels for me, since his office is closer than mine. It's easier to put a bike in my car than in his, so we swapped cars for the day. When he left work to run this errand, the car was gone. His office did not recognize it as a car that belonged so they towed it. With my bike in the back. They immediately realized their mistake ("Oh I should have recognized the 140.6 sticker"), gave him a ride to pick it up, and paid to reclaim it. Then he called me to tell me the funny story. Hahahaha I was not amused. But by the time he told me he was on his way to get the race wheels so I had all this upset and nowhere to put it.
On Friday morning I paid one last visit to Performance Wellness to take care of my newly sore knee from my newly imperfect bike fit. Jonathan gave me a cool KT taping to support my knee with Tribal Tattoo patterned tape. I told myself that this was a training day for IMFL and if my knee started hurting I would quit. (Cue foreshadowing music...)
We arrived in Kerrville just in time to drive the bike course and report in for volunteer shift #1 - Packet Pickup. We drew the easy shift - not too many people checking in that early in the weekend. We had a delightful time visiting with those who did and our fellow volunteers June & Vic.
We went to dinner that night with Betsy & David at Grape Juice, site of the welcome mixer. We didn't wait for the mixer, we ate in the restaurant before the mixer started, then went to the party. Good move to eat first. There was buffet party food, but I liked what I ordered off the menu better. We stayed for a few rounds of giveaways, won nothing, and went back to the hotel.
On Saturday was the sprint distance race. I enjoyed a lazy breakfast while waiting for the beginning of the bike course to clear and then did my tuneup workout - 30 minute ride and 15 minute run with pickups. This equated to 3 out and backs on the bike along the first part of the bike course which I could do without interfering with the ongoing race. And then I ran out and back the same route, with a detour to preview the swim start and finish.
Then I drove over to the finish line to cheer and wait for my volunteer half shift to begin - the Kids K. Another very easy volunteer duty with cute kids. I picked Jeff up at the hotel and met AmyMattBetsyDavidKarenRyan for lunch at a lovely place called Rails Cafe.
Back to hotel. Jeff napped after his epic hilly ride. I organized my gear bags, showered, and tagged along with AmyMattKarenRyan to T2 which was 2 miles away to drop off Bike-To-Run bag. This race was different than any I had done before, with T1 and T2 in two different places. So you had to check your bike in to T1 and your bag of stuff you'd need for the run to T2.
Back to hotel. Walked bike over to T1. Decided to have low-key take-out Italian with AmyMattKarenRyanBetsyDavid instead of the giant Trizones gathering. I know everyone had fun, but it seemed like more excitement than I wanted that night. We had a delightful dinner on the hotel courtyard patio until the wind picked up and the storms were gathering, at which point we all retreated to our rooms to watch the rain. The forecast was for the rain to continue throughout the night and all day on race day. It is what it is and it's the same for everyone, so I wasn't worrying. It was 6:30pm and I was completely ready for the next day. So relaxing. Watched TV, played on the iPad, and eventually turned the light out and went to sleep.
RACE DAY
Woke up and checked weather and not only was it not raining, but the forecast showed zero chance of rain! The storms blew through and cleared out and left perfect race weather - cloudy and 60-70's all day long.
Staying at the host hotel made for a very different pre-race routine. Instead of waking up at 4am and driving to some far away start, I set my alarm for 5:15 only so I could eat my breakfast at the proper pre-race time. The race began at 7:30 and was a 5 minute walk from my hotel room. I decided to walk over to get body marked and set up my transition area and then go back to the room. Connie Farris was my cheerful body marker. I perplexed her when I wouldn't let her mark my quads because they would be completely covered by my compression shorts. Pumped up tires, positioned helmet, sunglasses, bike shoes, socks, and that's it!. Back to the room to kill time and don race kit and wetsuit and take care of last minute potty needs. It was weird having so much time to fill and nothing to fill it with.
I had borrowed Amy's sleeveless wetsuit, since she was borrowing Karen's. She doesn't like her wetsuit because the neck is choky. I wore it once before at a Barton Springs swim last season and didn't remember it being that bad. It wasn't cold enough to need my full sleeved suit, so I tried hers on. It was choky but I wore it anyway. It wasn't new on race day if I'd worn it once before over a year ago, right?
Walked back to T1, dropped off my bottles, dropped off my dry clothes bag, and walked down to the water's edge where I found Amy & Matt! Lots of nervous excitement around. National Anthem. Then they called for the Open wave and the F40+ - my wave! Primo wave! Yay! Race time! My wave started only 2 minutes after the Open wave, so as soon as that wave left they hustled us into the water. This involved an uncomfortably steep ramp. The water was nice - warmer than the air.
Treaded water for not very long and then the horn sounded and it was time to swim. It was a large wave, with every woman 40 and over. But it spread out pretty quickly so no uncomfortable contact. I did take a glancing blow to the goggles but not hard enough to even break the seal. The thing I noticed immediately was how choky the wetsuit was. I had to breathe every other stroke for a while rather than ever three like I usually do. I eventually settled in but the first 15 minutes was uncomfortable and I was mentally kicking myself for trying it. (Physically kicking myself while swimming would have been counter-productive) The sleeveless part was perfect though. 1.2 miles is a long way and I got kind of bored. I started counting to 20. Except I counted until I could sight and I can only sight after breathing to the right so really I was counting to 22, then sighting, then starting over. It passed the time. There had been pre-race whining about men starting after women and having to swim through slower swimmers, so I was particularly interested to see how many men were so inconvenienced. I didn't get passed by a red cap from the next wave until I was almost to the third turn buoy near the dam. I counted 3 red caps total that passed me. And just before I made it to the swim finish. 2 blue caps converged on either side of me and crowded me out. I punched them both. Jerks. I cautioned the strong and overzealous volunteer not to pull my shoulder out of the socket when helping me up the uncomfortably steep ramp. I can't remember who my wetsuit strippers were but I know they were friends. Ran up up up the hill to the grassy T1. Stood at my bike and ... did what triathletes do. Peed. Nobody can tell. You're dripping wet anyway. Put on socks, shoes, sunglasses, helmet, and ran the 10 steps from my rack to bike out. Primo rack position! Yay! Nancy was ahead of me. Vickie was behind me. Across the mount line and down the street I had ridden three times the day before.
First the course goes through town and then it begins the first of two loops, heading out the main highway out of town. Wide shoulder. Tail wind. I was easily averaging over 20mph on this part without pushing hard. I was purposely not pushing hard, hoping to baby my knee while I could. I stayed to the right and let the fast guys from the later waves whoosh on past me. When we turned off the main highway onto the parallel country roads it got harder. Chipseal. Headwind. A few hills. At the 40 minute mark I ate a couple of bites of Bonk Breaker. I had one Apple Pie flavor and one PB&J in a baggie. Which would I get? Apple Pie. I was hoping for PB&J. Oh well. I timed my eating badly, as the low water crossing and short booger of a hill was immediately after that so I was gasping for air and choking down dry Bonk Breaker while climbing the hill.
Vickie passed me soon after. There was one little turn off to a very short out and back. Based on that I gleaned that Nancy was only about 3 minutes ahead of me. And then I felt the first twinge of my knee. It had only been an hour! I should have been able to go at least 90 minutes without pain, as I had the prior weekend! Maybe it will go away. But no. It got worse. I had envisioned this scenario, and if the knee hurt I said I would quit. IMFL is the prize. Keep your eye on the prize. I spent the rest of the loop debating with myself if I had to quit or not. Maybe I could get to the tailwindy part and recover and suck it up for the headwindy part again. I knew the right answer was to quit. And then Karen caught up to me and rode with me for a minute and encouraged my decision to quit. She said she didn't think she was going to run. We've both got bigger things to come in November, she said. She came along at just the right time to reinforce my decision.
I had a strong "IHaftaPee" urge, but since I only had a few more miles to go I decided to hold it rather than christen my new saddle. I rolled through town past lots of cheering people. I wasn't sure where to actually quit. I passed the finish line area. No place really to turn off there. The entrance to T2 just past downtown seemed like the right place to stop.
Betsy and David were cheering at that corner. I was the first bike into T2! Do I get a medal for that? I just barely beat the first Quarter Distancer. I didn't know how to DNF, but the T2 volunteer took my chip and told me to hang out or go to the med tent until the dry clothes bags were delivered from T1. I racked my bike in it's spot and made sure to leave enough space for Amy next to me.
And then I decided to run. Running has not yet bothered my knee. There's a perfectly good run course with aid stations and volunteers and adoring fans! The run course was 4 3ish mile loops. Why not try a loop? I took a large bite of leftover Bonk Breaker for the road (mistake), put my Clif Blocks in my pockets, and left transition where I found Mark Cathcart, who had also stopped after one bike loop. He said he would run with me, but he didn't last more than 5 minutes or so before he was hurting. I continued on, trying to stay out of the way of the fast Quarter Distance racers.
The run course was T-shaped, with the start being sort of in the middle of the top of the T and about 3 miles in length. So out and back and left turn and out and HILL and back and HILL and left turn and out and pass by finish line and beer tent and back and REPEAT. I call out the beer tent because the first time through somebody cheerfully said "There's a beer waiting for you!" So I stopped and turned around for it. "Not now!" I wasn't racing so I had time to clown around.
Seriously, I had a blast on this run. I had no time pressure. I hammed it up for the volunteers and for the cheering fans. I cheered for everybody. I felt like I knew about every third person I passed. It was so much fun!
The first loop went well, so I kept on running. The look on people's faces was priceless when they saw me, since I was 2 hours ahead of schedule. I'd let them think I was having a fantastic day for a while, then give up the truth the next time I saw them. After two loops I decided I was going for 4, as long as I felt good. I had a nagging side stitch due to that last chunk of Bonk Breaker. Lesson learned. No Bonk Breakers before running.
I loved the couple sitting in their front yard with a boom box playing runnable music. I harassed the volunteer at the T intersection into More Cowbell each of the 8 times I saw him. There was a mom and 2 kids manning a manhole cover with a foam finger pointer and we exchanged greetings each time I passed. Those were my favorites of the people I didn't know! Oh and the beer tent. Each time I passed I requested beer and they said not yet. And then there were so many people I did know! It's like the whole Austin Triathlete family took a road trip to Kerrville. Fun times.
On the home stretch of the 4th and final loop, Jeff found me. He had finished his ride of the day and had come to cheer me on. He had already seen Betsy so expected me to be somewhat down. But no! I was having a fantastic time! I told him I'd see him at the finish line and kept on going. I debated if I should cross the finish line since I wasn't officially racing, and decided I would. I wouldn't accept a medal, but I wanted a water bottle. And I wanted the icy kiddie pool in the med-tent. I came through just behind Elizabeth Haussler who was finishing her Quarter Distance race. I let her have her moment crossing the tape in triumphant jubilation. And then Big Mouth Logan confusedly announced me, even though I had no timing chip so the computer didn't warn him I was coming. And as soon as I crossed the finish line, a beer appeared! I love those beer tent people, whoever they are. I don't even ever drink beer post-race. But today I celebrated my DNF with icy beer-goodness.
The med tent folks wouldn't let me bring the beer in, so it waited patiently outside while I froze my lower half. I wasn't really hurting, but I wanted to proactively ice the foot and the knee and that was the best way to do it.
Turns out I really like this distance race, and would like for it be officially certified as a thing! And I am the winner of that thing! My times:
1.2 mile Swim - 42:49 (2:13/100m pace). 3rd of out 8 in my age group.
T1 - 2:40 - Also 3rd of 8
29 mile Bike - 1:42:44 - 17mph according to my bike computer
T2 - 1:17 - But not really. I didn't hit my watch when I entered T2, so T2 was really longer and the bike time was really shorter.
Run - 2:09:58 for 12.7 miles at an average pace of 10:15/mile, according to Garmin. The course should have been 13.1, but this is what Garmin gave me.
Total Garmin distance - 42.39 miles
Total Garmin time - 4:32:28
I'm very pleased with those times. I'm proud of myself for knowing when to stop and for salvaging the workout by doing the run. I still may not be an official finisher of the series, since I didn't actually finish this race. But I did what I could do and that will have to be good enough.