RR: Tri for Real, Sacramento - long
Yesterday I did the Tri for Real olympic length triathlon in Herald, Ca, south of Sac.
The plan was, since I had to work a day shift Saturday, to work, then come home and walk and feed the dogs and then head down to Sac. It's about a 2 hour drive. I was going to check into the hotel and then get a nice dinner. Well... I woke up with my period Saturday morning. feh That meant I'd be in full flow for the race.:mad: Then I came home to a mess. One of the dogs had diarrhea. So I spent 30 minutes steaming the carpet before I could take them out. After I fed them I stayed with them for a while to make sure they'd be OK. Needless to say, I didn't get out as planned. Dinner was Taco Bell on the road since I was starved.
The morning of the race went fine. TBF does a nice job of organizing it's races. I got registered and staked out my transition area without any problems. I'd done this race 2 years ago. It was HOT and I got dehydrated. So this year I brought extra water. On the bike I had an aero bottle, a bottle of sports drink, and another bottle of water. I debated a couple of times taking that second bottle of water, but as it turned out, it was a good idea. I also had my Amphipod belt with 4 bottles of sports drink and water for the run.
The swim was disappointing. I thought I was prepared. For some reason, though, I couldn't get my breathing going right. I usually bilateral breathe. But I ended up having to breathe every second stroke. Once I settled into that, it went OK. I think I was 3rd from the last out of the water. (But I am in the last wave.)
T1 went fine. There are 3 speed bumps as you come out of the park. My aero bottle ejected on the first one. Luckily, a boy watching the race ran out and snagged it for me. It wouldn't have been easy to put it back on, so I asked him to hold it for me until after the race. I was very glad I had that second water bottle. The rest of the ride went well, although my breathing still felt funny. It's a rolling course on a good road. They do a very nice job of keeping cars under control.
At T2 some doofus had racked their bike in my spot. So I moved his/her bike over enough to rack mine, put on my water belt and race belt and shuffled out. By now it was pretty warm, although not nearly as hot as 2 years ago. My breathing felt better, but not up to par. So I just went at the speed I could. I figured I'd run until I couldn't and then I'd walk. The run is on fire roads and hard packed trails, with a small bit on the road. There are water stations about every mile, with very enthusiastic volunteers manning them. I drank what I'd brought and splashed water on myself from the water stations. That helped a lot. I was able to run the whole way much to my surprise.
I don't know my official time. It isn't up yet. But I think I finished just under 3 hours. It's slower than I wanted, but I think my period was messing with my breathing and my energy. So, overall I'm happy.
