Federal Way Tri

[dex]

We PNW tri novices must be gluttons for punishment, because we turned out to do it again today. Well, Salsabike and I were doing it for the second time and Jocelyn was doing her first. I'll let them talk about their races. (I will say that indications are that we may all be a wee bit addicted.)

I was once again slooow. But, I'm ok with that.

I came out of the water with a splitting headache, and *really* dawdled in transition (upwards of 8 minutes if I read my watch correctly) in hopes that it would dull a bit before I got on the bike. It didn't. Eventually I talked myself into riding, but it took quite a bit of mumbling to myself to get there. (The spectators near my transition spot must have thought I was a crazy person.)

The bike ride was actually really pretty. But also much with the rolling hilly things. My front derailleur worked this time, so the hills didn't feel quite as evil as they could have...amazing how much easier it is to go uphill when you can actually shift into your little ring. Of course, I was so preoccupied with my headache that I wasn't paying attention to the rest of my body. At one point I started feeling really queasy, and then realized it was because my heart rate had shot up to 189. Eep! (I iz smrt.)

I walked almost the entire run again. My knee only started getting cranky toward the very end, and I think that was mostly because of the amount of downhill (which also meant plenty of uphill, but that doesn't seem to bother my knee as much) we'd covered on the course. I was just tired and cranky because of my headache. I sort of spontaneously broke into a run on the approach to the finish, but I think that was mostly because I realized that there was water (and fruit, and bagels, and time to sit down) at the end. Hah!

And now a pic of the three of us at the end with our finisher's medals around our necks. (Pay no attention to whatever weird thing it is my hair is trying to do. It had a mind of its own today.)

[Urlea]

Way to stay strong through some tough circumstances!!! Good job! I hope you were still able to enjoy it despite them.

Here's to a happy recovery!

[Tri Girl]

Congrats, Dex, on a great race. In my opinion, it doesn't matter how you make it to the finish line (or if you make it at all). Just getting out there and starting is more than most. I'm very excited for you!
Sorry about the headache. Nothing is worse than when your head is killing you, especially when you have to exercise through it.

Great job!!!

[salsabike]

The venue for this one is a beautiful little park. Wish we'd taken pictures of it, but the above pic is all we have. No accompanying spouses or friends with cameras this time. Teigyr, do you have any pics of Steel Lake Park from doing this tri last year?

It was REALLY nice. Smaller than Danskin--maybe 800 women? The lake is small so it was pretty calm, and not reams of seaweed like Lake Washington (which in certain places smells like a long-neglected fridge vegetable bin)---it was a delight to swim in. And we WANTED to swim this morning--because the water temp, at 69, was probably 10 or more degrees warmer than the air. The promised sunny day didn't break out till about 1 pm, long after we were done. Just the kind of weather I like for a ride, actually. But at 6 am, it was COLD out.

And that's another discovery for this newbie---I love and hate that tris start so early. Getting up at 4:30 am is not my favorite thing to do; but on the other hand I get to be home by noon and have a whole day to feel happily idiotic.

So...the swim seemed a little easier this time. Oddly, I had more other bodies near me than at Danskin, but it still seemed easier. After the Danskin, Mary Meyer and I talked about breathing, and she said, hey, everyone's out of breath when they swim, even me. Somehow knowing that helped this time, and I think I didn't take side-stroke breathing breaks nearly as often. I just assumed I'd feel kind of out of breath and kept on trucking. This swim was the usual 750 m instead of the 733 at the Danskin.

Bike---beautiful rolling hills and a really fun ride, but more work than the Danskin, which aside from the one short steep S hill and a couple of rollers, is pretty flat.

I also walked--have never run, have still-healing stress fracture. Would like to run the runs next year!! Walking is nice but...not to state the insanely obvious...it's SLOW.

Teigyr said this was her favorite of the four local tris she's done, and it sure is a really nice one.

Ditto on the burgeoning addiction. And I won't speak for jocelynlf, but she had such a GLEAM in her eye afterwards.

[NbyNW]

Yup, I had tons of fun, and our results are up now!

Going into today, I was slightly concerned about my right ankle -- I had a mild sprain about two weeks ago, and I've been resting it. I had a little neoprene ankle sleeve from my days of playing ultimate on fields with lots of divots, so I wore that during the bike and run and had no problems.

Oh, and I was worried about T1, since a week ago I had a dream that I just couldn't put it together . . . and boy did that come true!

So my times went like this:

swim 24:12
T1 11:20 (more about that in a sec)
bike 50:54
T2 3:26
run 44:28
Total 2:14:19
37/46 in age group
257/327 overall

Swim felt tougher than I expected. I felt like I was getting out of breath faster than I expected. Not sure if it was the temperature, the ibuprofen I took last night (for PMS), or the fact that I think I may be 20 lbs. too big for my wetsuit. I found myself using backstroke more than I planned to catch my breath. Never stopped moving forward, though, and the folks in kayaks were indispensible in helping me to stay on course. Hard to sight while doing backstroke. But easy to swim between two kayaks.

I expected my swim time to be a bit longer. It came out to about the same time it's been taking me in pool practice, but I really felt like I was struggling today.

T1: bare feet on pebbly asphalt = not fun. I guess I have to toughen my feet up. I took my timing chip off to avoid losing it in my wetsuit as the suit was coming off, and then I FORGOT TO PUT IT BACK ON, and I realized this as I approached the timing mat. Naturally, my transition spot was about as far from the mat as it could be.

At least I only went back to my mat once, instead of the three times I dreamed about last week.

Bike course was beautiful. Salsa and I scouted it out the day before and got lost several times, but had no such worries today, as the the course was well-marked and there were plenty of volunteers out to alert us to turns and cheer us going up hills.

I'm having difficulty believing my run time. I felt good coming off the bike, legs kinda wanted to run, ankle felt good, so I told myself I'd run the downhills and flats and walk the uphills. About halfway through I felt a twinge in my back, so I was walking even more. I'm not sure how that equals an 11-minute mile. Not that I'm complaining. I'll take it!

All in all a pretty great experience. The volunteers and residents of Federal Way were very hospitable, the organizers kept everyone safe, and it was really nice to get a free chiro adjustment at the finish. Apparently my sacrum was a bit "high" on the right side.

Yeah, I could really get into doing this.

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement these last few months! I'm so glad I didn't wait until next year to do this.

[Wahine]

Wow!! I didn't realize that it was this weekend. You ladies did fantastic. I'm so impressed with you. And special kudos to Jocelyn for her first tri ever!!!!!! Yippeeeeeeeee.