Canby Gator Grinder Triathlon - Race Report

[Susan Otcenas]

First Triathlon of the Season
Canby Gator Grinder Sprint Triathlon 5/9/2009

When I began my weight loss journey 6 months ago, I set myself several goals. The first was to lose 35 pounds by 5/9/2009. Check! The second was to run (without walking) a 10K in March 2009. Check! The third was to complete the Canby Gator Grinder Triathlon in a better time than my previous 3 showings at this event.

Since December, I've trained really diligently for triathlon.
*3 swim workouts a week, including private coaching and a 10-week group class.
*3 run workouts a week, including speed and tempo work
*1 bike workout a week (sadly, no time mid-week to really get out there for any length of time, so cycling was limited to the weekends)
*an occasional strength, core or flexibility workout, as time permitted

The Gator Grinder is a local event in it's 5th year. The race consists of a 500 yard swim (10 laps in a 25 yd pool), a 12 mile bike ride (4 flat miles, 7 hilly miles, 1 flat mile @ end) and a 3 mile run (flat). I've done alot of triathlons over the years (my first in 1996) and this ranks up there among my favorites. The volunteers are outstanding, the organizers are so incredibly friendly and supportive, and the participants genuinely care about one another.

Over the years, I've discovered that my biggest competitor is the space between my ears. Despite all my hard work this year, I went into race day with a fair amount of butterflies, all revolving around the swim. I am NOT a swimmer. It's the one event that actually scares me. I psych myself out, worrying about getting enough air, worrying about swallowing water, worrying about getting kicked in the face. All sorts of worries. Even though this event is in a POOL, I still spend time fretting about the swim. It's really held me back in the past. 2 years ago, I actually stood up in my lane mid-swim and just stopped. It took me a good 5 seconds to get my head back down and start swimming again. I can't describe the relief I felt when I exited the water that year.

Hence, the swim lessons and lots of 5:30am swim workouts. All designed to not only make me a better, more efficient swimmer, but also to make the demons in my head quiet down. I thought I was doing pretty well with this until 5 days before the race. We received our heat assignments and I knew something was wrong. They had placed me in the wrong heat (I'd requested a 10:45-paced lane, and was put in a 12:00-paced lane). I called the race organizers and they were able to move me to a 10:00-paced lane due to a last-minute dropout. I felt like Goldilocks "This heat to toooooo slow... This heat is tooooooo fast...." I wanted Goldilocks' "just right" heat! All the old swim demons reared their ugly heads again. The pressure of being in a too-fast lane was really freaking me out.

Race day arrives and Jeff & I rise @ 5:30. Breakfast of the same food I eat everyday - oatmeal, grapefruit, yogurt, coffee, water. Out the door at 6:15 and at the venue @ 7:00. I set up my bike (scoring a coveted end spot on the rack), and carefully lay out my transition area. I'm very particular about my pre-race planning and setting up transition. Everything has a place and is set up to be moved through quickly. I get my body markings - number 99.

At 7:30 I cheer for my co-worker Edna in the very first heat, and at 8:00 I cheer for Jeff in heat 2. I eat a banana. I take an Imodium. I change into my racesuit (Desoto Forrza Tri Suit http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodDE_WFTT9_0.html ). My heat doesn't begin until 9:15, so I have several heats to wait through - cheering several other friends and co-workers through their swims.

Finally, 9:12, the previous heat is finished. I pop into the water, adjust my cap and goggles and have time for one warm-up lap. I'm in a lane with 3 other swimmers. I'm swimmer 2 in the lane. I let swimmers 3 & 4 know that I'm in a faster-than-expected heat, and tell them I will likely allow them to pass after a few laps. Our gun times are spaced 5 seconds apart and we're off! I hit my watch to start the Chrono. I swim two laps, then let swimmers 3 & 4 pass. After that, I find my rhythm and just swim, carefully counting laps, and praticing all the techniques I've been taught by my coaches. I'm feeling very good, staying on the feet of the swimmer in front of me, getting some draft. My breathing is steady - Take THAT, you silly demons! Ha!

The event has volunteer lap counters at the opposite end of the pool. When you hit the opposite wall at 9.5 laps, they put a kickboard in the water, so that you know you just need to complete the lap and get out. I finish my
9th lap and begin my 10th and hear an uproar. I glance up, but assume its just the crowd cheering for a swimmer exiting the water (it's a boisterous crowd!). Turns out, they were shouting at me and the gal I was drafting, trying to tell us we were done. Halfway down the lane, the lap counter bopped me on the back with the soft rescue floatie thingy, and tells me I'm done. I tell him NO, I know I'm not done (as does the gal in front of me, who is on the same lap) and we complete the 10th lap. I exit the water, glance at the clock,and see 10:05. THAT makes sense for me, for 10 laps, based on my swim workouts. If I'd done one less lap, my swim time would have been 9 minutes - no way no how would that be correct. I'm asolutely certain (even now) I'm right.

Off to transition. The rack is still mostly full, but lots of other swimmers from that heat are still there. My pre-planning pays off and I get out of there very quickly. I run to the mount line, and take off... At which point I discover that despite the effort to set my transition area up carefully, I'd made a totally rookie mistake: My computer was not registering! I'd obviously forgotten to test-spin the wheel after taking it out of my truck. Oh well. I get to practice the "perceived exertion" method for the event.

The 1st 4 flat miles go by quickly. I'm passed by one guy from my heat, then I slowly start picking off people from the heat that started 20 minutes before mine. The bike is my BEST event, and I make the most of it by powering up the hills, using other riders as rabbits to chase, and cornering and descending with all my skills. Up the road I see an orange and black OSU jersey up ahead, and realize it's my friend Steve, who is riding his bike as part of a relay team. For 6-7 miles, I sloooooowly gain on him, but we make it back to
transition with him still about 25 yards ahead of me. I shout to him, thanking him for making me work so hard!

I speed though transition, wasting some time tying my shoes (one of these days I'll start using some speed laces) and head out for the run. As I cross the timing mats, I glance at my watch and see 53:00. HOLY CRAP! Having not had a functioning computer on the bike, I'd not been paying attention to my elapsed time. At 53:00, I was several minutes ahead of my hoped-for results. I quickly realized that if I made my goal of running 10 minute miles, that I would exceed both my expected results and my "stretch" goal for the event. Nonetheless, I tried to put that out of my mind and just jog.

The first mile is always the hardest. My legs need to transition from something they are good at, to something they don't really do well, ie. run. Plus, I was having a few stomach cramps, and had to concentrate on really tightening my abdominals to minimize the stomach cramps. A few good burps fixed the stomach cramps by mile marker 1, and they didn't trouble me again. :-) I continued along, using some other runners to pace off of, or try to "catch". At mile 2, I allowed myself another look at my watch and sure
enough, I'm on pace to exceed my stretch goal. I picked up the pace just a little bit, concentrating on form, and ran towards the school where the finish line was located. As I came around the the last corner on the school track, I gave it everything I had and sprinted for the finish line. I hit my watch to stop it and realized I had done it. 1:23:20 by my watch. I nearly started crying, not quite believing I had accomplished more than what I'd set out to do. Jeff, most of my friends and co-workers, and my swim coach were all at the finish line, cheering for me. It was such an emotional high!

We stood around the finish line for about 1/2 hour, waiting for 2 others still out on the course (people in later swim heats) and then hit the showers and headed for the post-race BBQ we'd prepared.

Results were soon posted, and I was warned by a friend that I needed to check mine. My time was listed as 2:18:00 !!! Oh NO! Investigation revealed that they had my swim time listed as taking an hour and 5 minutes. After appealing to race organizers they got it fixed in time for the awards ceremony.

I ended up as the 18th woman overall, and 3rd of 13 in my age group. But, far more important to me was the improvement I made over previous years' results. In 2008, I did only the bike leg as a relay, so here's a comparison from 2007.

2009 Total 1:23:17 Swim 10:11 T1 1:41 Bike 39:26 T2 1:38 Run 30:20
2007 Total 1:40:23 Swim 12:14 T1 3:39 Bike 43:37 T2 1:45 Run 39:08
Diff: Total (17:06) Swim (2:03)T1(1:58)Bike (4:11)T2 (:07)Run (8:48)

My stretch goal was 1:25:00. I'm just thrilled!

Next up are the Blue Lake Sprint Triathlon on June 13th (1/2 mile open water swim, further testing my swim demons) and the Pacific Crest Olympic Triathlon the last weekend in June (.9 mile open water swim - more demons to conquer). I've not done an Olympic since 2003 and am really looking forward to doing one again.

Susan

[Jones]

Well done! Great race report and further motivation for me to continue to lose weight.

[tribogota]

WOW! great job! Really impressive to go beyond the stretch goal and overcome the swim demons!

[divingbiker]

Great job, Susan!

[SheFly]

Congrats! So glad you got the officials to changed the results as well. That is a great job, and a big improvement over 2007. Thanks for the great report!

SheFly

[michelem]

Woo hoo! Great job, Susan!

[Veronica]

Most excellent!

Veronica