I am Different Now

I Am Different Now
July 20, 2014

In my previous post, I explained that I am pretty happy about my World Triathlon results in Chicago.  Out of the 25 women entered in the race in my age group, nine didn't show up.  Of the sixteen who completed the race, I was:

Swim:  4th
Bike:  7th
Run:  15th
Overall:  10th

I am pretty proud.  Mostly, I am am proud that I had the courage to show up.  But I'm also proud of all the hard work that I've done and the results of that hard work.  I know that I could not have done it without all the people who supported me along the way - my sons, my husband, my coach.

Prior to this race, I had no idea if I had any aptitude for triathlons.  When you're the only one in your age group in the local triathlons, it's hard to judge if you're any good.  I'd come in dead last overall but earn first in my age group.  It was so confusing.  Should I be disappointed because I was last overall or exuberant because I was first in my age group?  I knew that being first in my age group was something to be proud of even if I were the only one.  It meant that I had the courage to show up while others stayed home.  But, I always wished there were others in my age group so I could feel good about 1) showing up, and 2) racing faster than someone else.   I tried to not think about where I placed, and instead focus on my personal improvement (pace).  But, since the courses change with every race and the distance markers are often set in the wrong places, I really couldn't use pace as a measure of my improvement.  I just had no idea how I was doing.


My placements in Chicago helped me understand that I not only have the courage to show up at the start line, I also have some skill (at least in swim and bike).

I feel different now.  I no longer think of myself as the heavy person who is trying to finish the race.  I am now an athlete competing.  I am no longer playing at triathlon.  I am now an athlete in training.  I have muscles that I can flex in the mirror.  I can swim, bike and run for miles and keep up with others.  I used to be the person who couldn't get through the turnstiles at the airport.  Now I am an athlete.  I am tearing up as I write this.  The change is deep.   I am no longer me.  I am someone new.  

It's like waking up one day and discovering that you're a different person.  I like the new person - but it's kind of strange to find myself so changed.  

On the other hand, there are people in my life now who never knew me the way I used to be.  I tell them that I used to weigh 160 pounds more and they just don't seem to be able to comprehend that the person they know has not always been the way I am now.  It's like waking up one day with a new identity.  Very strange.  Good, but strange.

ITU World Triathlon Chicago: OPEN Sprint Race

ITU World Triathlon Chicago - Conquering Fears
June 29, 2014

I DID IT!

Participants in my age group:  16
Swim - 4th
Bike - 7th
Run - 15th

First, let me explain how I ended up entering this event.  So, several month's ago, I received an email saying that I had qualified for the USAT (USA Triathlon) Age Group National Championship in Milwaukee in July.  In my age group, it's not hard to qualify since there are so few competitors.  I thought it would be fun to go to a national event.  I checked the 2013 times and based on those times, I would come in second-to-last so I registered!  Then, ITU (International Triathlon Union) announced that one of the triathlons in the World Triathon Series would be in Chicago.  I figured Chicago would be a good dress rehearsal for USA Nationals in Milwaukee so I registered for that too.

Please keep in mind that I am still a beginner in triathlon.  It's just that at age 60, I don't know if I'll ever have these kinds of opportunities again, so I'm going for it.  It will be ok if I come in last.

CONQUERING FEARS:   I think one of the things that I like the most about doing triathlons is having to conquer my fears.  In some crazy way, it makes me feel alive.  Doing an international race with 4,000 competitors from 49 states and 31 countries is a bit intimidating.  How would I find my bike in transition?  In addition, in this race, I was doing a LOT of firsts:

• Transition:  The transition was 1/4 of a mile from the swim exit.  Could I run that far in my bare feat?  Would I be able to find my bike in the acres and acres of 4,000 bikes?

• Wave swim start:  150 competitors in each wave would tread water and then start all together on the gun.  Would people swim over me?  

• Ramp swim exit:  The exit from the swim was a temporary ramp that swimmers would have to climb to get out of the lake.  Would I be able to climb it?

•  Wetsuit:  A week before the race the race organizers sent everyone an email to suggest that we all bring wetsuits.  The water temp was 62 degrees!  Would I get claustrophobic and panic?  Would I be able to raise my arms?

• Underground bike route:  About 2/3 of the bike was underground on Lower Wacker Drive - racing between cement pillars holding up Upper Wacker Drive.  Would I hit the wall?  

• Looped bike route:  ITU loops it's bike and run routes so spectators can see racers pass multiple times.  There would be 150 bikes in each mile of road.  That's a LOT of bikes!  Would someone hit me?

PRE-RACE JITTERS:    The morning before the race, I lost it.  I mean tears and everything.  I was so scared.  During check-in, I told one of the ITU officials that I was a beginner and asked a question.  He responded, "This is a pretty ambitious race for a beginner, isn't it?"  Everywhere we went, everyone had a t-shirt on from an Ironman event that they had completed.  I felt like I was entirely out of my league.  I seriously considered going home.  My husband was helpful in getting me calmed down.  

I texted my coach about my fears and the race official who told me I was in over my head.  My coach responded, "You should have told that race official that he was small minded!  Don't let others hold you down or restrict you from doing what you set out to do . . .   If I didn't think you could do this, I wouldn't have trained you for this race.  We have accomplished everything that we have set out to at this point.  This will be no different."  From that point forward, I kept repeating his words in my head over and over and over, "If I didn't think you could do this, I wouldn't have trained you for this race."  That reminded me that I was not in this alone.  My coach also had a part to play in this and he believed in me and felt I was ready.  That helped SO, SO much.

CONFIDENCE:  This was the first time that I had a chance to race against other women my age.  Nine of the women in my age group who registered for the race must have been no-shows because there were only results for 16 women.  I was 10th overall, 4th in the swim, 8th in the bike, and 15th in the run.  A year ago, I consistently came in dead last.  In this race, I beat 37.5% of my age group and 31.2% of all women.  I am improving and I'm pleased with the amount of improvement in one year.  It is also so, so nice to finally know where I stand in my age group.  I feel like tackling this race was HUGE step in my journey.  I have a LOT to learn.  But I belong here.

	RANK	Faster Than	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	TOTAL
ITU TIMES			18:03	6:36	37:47	5:10	46:48	1:54:21I
ITU PACE			2:24		19:74		15:04
PLACE (Overall)	603 /759	21.5%
PLACE (Women)	238 / 341	31.2%	164	211	164	218	319
PLACE (Age Gr)	10 / 16	38.5%	4	11	8	10	10

Chicago World Triathlon + Race Report

ITU World Triathlon Chicago - Race Report
June 29, 2014

PRIOR TO RACE

Didn't sleep well in the hotel Friday night which probably accounted for a lot of my nerves and self-doubts on Saturday morning.  Also didn't deal well mentally with all the things that UTI didn't have well-thought-out prior to the race.  I like to be able to visualize the entire race.  However, that was impossible to do because 1) ITU was making changes until the last minute, 2) different ITU people gave different information, and 3) ITU's logistical plan was just flawed in several places.  It made everything chaotic. 

For example, they did not have a plan for getting sprint athletes from check-in to the swim start without crossing the road on which Olympic bike was in progress.  They finally told us all to hike across a field to another road.  Example 2:  Packet pick-up told everyone that clear transition bags would be available at transition.  Transition folks told everyone they were available at packet pick-up.  Example 3:  On Saturday, an ITU person told us that the swim course had been changed (not true).  Example 4:  On Sunday morning, they were still talking about possible changes in the wave start times.  Crazy.

Normally, in the days prior to the race, I am thinking about my race plan.  This week, I spend all my mental energy just trying to figure out where I was supposed to be.

On Saturday, we had planned to go to the women pro's race just for the swim start.  But . . . once there, ITU would not let us cross the road back to our hotel.  We ended up sitting in the heat for a couple of hours.  I was in the heat for another couple of hours racking my bike and exploring the swim start.  I was exhausted by the end of the day.

PRE-RACE NUTRITION - SUNDAY MORNING

I don't think I did this right.  My race was at 12:10.  Since I planned to leave the hotel at 9:30 (because of the expected ITU chaos), I ate breakfast at 7:30.  At 11:00, it occurred to me that I probably should eat again since the race was at 12:10.  But, I was already at the swim start and didn't have anything to eat.  I finally found a banana and ate half of it along with energy chews (about 275 calories).

HEAT

Prior to the swim, they announced that they had upgraded the race to a yellow and told everyone to be careful about hydrating.  The high was 88 with 78% humidity.

SWIM

Fun, fun, fun.  Followed the plan.  My pace according to my Garmin watch was greatly improved.

2.06 / 100 m  -  First half

1:53 / 100 m  - Second half  (included the ramp climb and about 10 feet of run. 

I was majorly aggressive in the water.  I started in the back, away from the peer.  Had I understood that it was going to be a gun start, I would have tried to move up.  I probably swam and extra 20 feet.  On the first breath, I inhaled water.  So grateful that I have experience in water.  It did not freak me out.  So . . . this girl was doing breaststroke in front of me with a hard, wide kick.  I was so irritated with her and had the biggest urge to grab her ankle and pull her back.  I didn't.  Instead, I purposefully bumped into her leg so maybe she'd kick a little narrower, but she didn't.  Her feet were like weapons.   I could not get past her so I ended up swimming wide.  I found a swimmer who was my pace and started drafting.  That was way cool.  Never felt that before.  Then, as we came to the last buoy, there were two people ahead of me with about eight inches between them.  I'm not sure what came over me, but I thought, "Ok, I'm swimming in that space."  I didn't exactly put my elbows out, but I made sure they were firmly set and I swam through them.  It was almost like some kind of primal fight thing.  I loved it.  At any rate, I ended up at the ramp first and they both had to wait for me.  Ha.  I am just so pleased to have 1) raced in a wetsuit, and 2) swam through people. 

T1

I came out of the water with lots of leg energy.  Immediately started running the .25 mile to transition at a 90 cadence.  I think a lot of people gained on me here since my run is so weak.  Transition went well.  No problem getting my wetsuit down during the run or off in T1. 

BIKE

My speed according to Garmin was:

1st Half:    Speed 18.18    Cadence:  88     Heart rate:  145 (z4)    

2nd Hal:    Speed 18.42    Cadence:  85     Heart rate:  147 (z4)    

A lot of us were running to the mount line at the same time.  Everyone stopped at the line.  I knew that I could run past the line, so I did and then mounted on the run (kind of like a flying squirrel but I used the pedal).  I passed several people there.  The bike was a blast.  I loved passing people - especially young athletic-looking men in long aerodynamic helmets!  Ha!  I learned that everyone would turn wide on the turnarounds so I did a tight turn and passed several people on each turnaround.  One person crashed in the underground.  I had to swerve around the ambulance and saw her being put in the back in a stretcher.  I hope she is ok.  My bike computer had no satellite underground and it was too dark to read so I had no idea what cadence or speed I was going.  I was just seriously having so much fun.  I did the fast spin and stretch prior to what I think may have been close to a legitimate flying squirrel dismount.  I had dreaded the 8 miles of underground, but it was cool down there which was a total blessing. 

T2

I felt great off the bike and immediately began running with head up and a good cadence.  Felt great!  Like the swim, it was a long, long run.

RUN

Split	Distance	PACE	HR	Cadence	Stride
1	0.5	13:44	148 (z3)	190	0.62
2	0.5	13:38	151 (z4)	192	0.61
3	0.5	13:54	152 (z4)	190	0.61
4	0.5	14:06	154 (z4)	188	0.61
5	0.5	14:08	155 (z5)	184	0.62
6	0.5	14:22	155 (z5)	178	0.63
7	0.39	14:08	160 (z5)	170	0.66

The run started out fine.  But as soon as I hit the city street, it was HOT.  I mean sweltering HOT.  My cadence was between 90-95, but my steps must have been baby steps because I was slow and then slower.  I hated running around Buckingham fountain (which took about 10 minutes) because the granite bricks just radiated heat.  They brought in a big fan that sprayed mist, but every time I went by, someone was literally stopped in front of it which blocked it from reaching the rest of us.  I kept trying to go faster in the second half, but just got so hot.  I ate a gel at 2 miles, thinking maybe my lack of eating prior to the race was making me so slow.  I thought I'd go faster at 2 1/2 miles.   No go.  Then I thought I would go faster at the last turn into the hot Buckingham fountain.  No go. 

I did go faster down the finish chute (about 100 meters).  After crossing the finish line, I remember thinking that I was walking bow-legged and bent over - which I thought was a little strange.  Three men came up to see if I needed help.  I asked for water.  There was no water!  The water was another 100 meters away!  One man took me under the arm and said he would walk me to the water.  I told him I would be fine.  He was kind enough to hear the pride in my tone, and let me go.  I spent a long time bent over with my elbows on the banana table in the shade.  The ice water and banana didn't seem to help.  Finally, I put ice down my back and drank iced Gatorade and that helped a lot.  My heart seemed fine (e.g. slowed down).  I was just sooooo HOT. 

HYDRATION

I hydrated well on Saturday and Sunday morning - all the way up to jumping into the lake.  During the bike I drank once at the half-way point - and again as I ran into T2.  I drank about 12 oz all together during the bike and T1.  In the run, I filled my water bottle (straps to my hand) at the aid stations and then drank every block.  In total, I drank about 24 oz during the run.

CONFIDENCE:

So nine of the women in my age group who registered for the race must have been no shows because there were only results for 16 women.  I was 10th overall, 4th in the swim, 8th in the bike, and 15th in the run.  A year ago, I consistently came in dead last.  In this race, I beat 37.5% of my age group and 31.2% of all women.  I am improving and I'm pleased with the amount of improvement in one year.  It is also so, so nice to finally know where I stand in my age group.  I feel like tackling this race was HUGE step in my journey.  I have a LOT to learn.  But I belong here.

	RANK	Faster Than	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	TOTAL
ITU TIMES			18:03	6:36	37:47	5:10	46:48	1:54:21I
ITU PACE			2:24		19:74		15:04
PLACE (Overall)	603 /759	21.5%
PLACE (Women)	238 / 341	31.2%	164	211	164	218	319
PLACE (Age Gr)	10 / 16	38.5%	4	11	8	10	10