This weekend was the Playtri Festival in Irving, TX. I spend Saturday afternoon volunteering at the ITU pro races. It was pretty cool to watch draft legal racing. I got to stand on the side of the road and yell into a bull horn, "U-turn ahead!" It may not have been the most glamorous job, but I was happy to be there and watch the bikes go by.
Today I completed my first Olympic distance race of the season. Honestly, I've been pretty busy and had a million other things on my mind, so I didn't feel like I had mentally prepared myself for this race as much as I would have liked. I didn't write out a race plan, and didn't really give much thought to it until a day or two before the race.
My stomach wasn't prepared to handle the amount of food I needed this morning for my pre-race breakfast. I choked down what I could. Luckily, it settled just before it was time to race. I managed to get a little pre-race swim in. Last year the water was like swimming in a dirty hot bath. This year it didn't seem as bad.
I began my 1500 meter swim without too much trouble. There were several turns on the swim, and after a while I got kind of lost. I didn't really know where I was on the course or where the next buoy was. It really didn't bother me too much. I just followed the other swimmers that seemed to be moving in the same general direction as I was. I did feel someone on my feet, and I found out later that it was my friend Sabrina. She said I was swimming a zig-zag....I'm sure I was. My swim didn't feel stellar, yet it didn't feel awful. When I came out of the water I looked for the race clock so I could figure out how long I was out there. My math skills become a little fuzzy when I race because I thought my swim time was around 37 minutes, but it was actually 33 minutes.
I headed out on my bike and quickly noticed that my legs were feeling very fresh. I wasn't sure if my quads had the 24 miles of biking and the six miles of running I had left on this race in them. For the first time outside of the swim, the thought of DNFing crossed my mind. I didn't want to DNF, but I didn't know if my legs were going to cooperate. Throughout the 2 loop bike course I saw lots of fellow NTMers that gave me the encouragement I needed. I manged to average 18.8 mph on the bike...not too bad for me, but I think I could do better on that course.
I wasn't looking forward to the run. There is not a lick of shade out there, and I just remembered how much the heat hurt me last year. This year wasn't as bad. There was just enough cloud coverage for most of the run. The run course was a two loop course with a lot of running up and down the same road. It was a great way to see everyone several times. After about a mile and a half, my legs settled in and I was feeling pretty good. I did have a little cramping and tightness in my hip and butt, but it wasn't too bad. The last half mile I started to feel nauseous. I did everything I could to NOT throw-up. The streets were lined with spectators and I didn't want to be the chick puking in front of everyone. I turned the last corner and made it to the finish line without embarrassment. I even heard the announcer call out my name. I still felt like I could throw up. I kept my head down and volunteers put cold water on my neck. My friend Jim was there and he brought me a wet towel. He told me I needed to wipe the sh** off my shoe because I was kicking ass out there! I joined my other NTM friends and was feeling better. Everyone seemed to have had a great race. Several of my friends even finished top 3 in their age group. I finished in 2:54...a PR for me!
I went to one of the tents after the race and got some work done by one of the chiropractors. Those people were saints for being there and volunteering to work on dirty athletes. By the end of the race we are covered in sweet, salt, dirty canal water, sticky sports drinks, sun block, and God knows what else. It's a dirty sport.
A big shout-out goes out to Playtri for pulling off a great weekend of racing. The staff and volunteers were awesome! I can't wait to go back next year.
I know you're not supposed to try anything new on race day, but I did. The day before the race I bought a new sweat band. I didn't have a chance to try it out before hand. It's a Quantum Cool head band. It's very thin and comfortable. It fit nicely under my bike helmet and visor. It stayed in place and it kept the salty sweat out of my eye. This is my new favorite accessory.
"Life is simple. Triathlon. Swim. Bike. Run. Eat. Sleep." Unbekannt
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