Race Prep:
Wanting to get out of the bitter-cold winter in Iowa, a group of Trihawks and myself packed our bags and bikes and vacationed in Clermont, FL for spring break. We had a solid group of 9 Trihawks making the trip down south. To make things a little less expensive we decided to drive down instead of flying. Although I wasn't too excited to make the drive after checking Google Maps...the 20 hours in the car was well worth it once we got there. The 80 degree weather sure beat the mid30's that Iowa had during that week. Because of the awesome weather we were able to get in some really quality training...and tanning. Normally the week before a race I would be putting my feet up and decreasing my training volume, but staying inside and not enjoying the beautiful weather just wasn't an option. The 20 hour training week left me flat for the race, but I was okay with it. I wasn't expecting to do very well at this race so I figured that I might as well enjoy the nice weather before I had to go back to the snow-covered roads of Iowa.
 |
| Enjoying a beer during our day trip to Coco Beach |
I was actually really impressed with the group that we had once we were down there. Everyone was trying to push the pace on our group rides. Our "easy" days of riding quickly turned into multiple 40+ mile days of people flying off the front and sprinting for glory to the nearest stop light. I was guilty of this from time to time...I mean I couldn't let everyone else have all the fun. These rides really took the power out of my legs on race day and left me feeling pretty flat...although my diet during the week probably didn't help much either. I normally eat pretty healthy and try to limit the amount of sweets/alcohol I consume...but this week was a little different. Eating a lot of ice cream, chips, candy, fried gator tail, and beer & wine isn't normal for me and especially not the week before a race. But being on vacation I didn't care and was okay with straying from the normal diet.
 |
| Fried gator tail |
The day before the race Jack, one of the Trihawks on the trip, confided in me that he loves the song Love On Top by Beyonce (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob7vObnFUJc)...which I luckily a.) love too and b.) had on a cd in my van. So naturally, being dumb college students, we decided that rolling into the parking lot race morning would be the perfect time to jam out to this song. So sure enough race morning comes around...we roll into the parking lot...put the windows down...and BLAST Beyonce. I mean we had to up as load as my van's speakers would go. Quite the way to start race prep. The other triathletes unpacking their bikes and getting their gear ready were giving us many weird looks, but it's whatever. It was out last day in Florida and we were going to enjoy ourself no matter what.
 |
| Dan, Jack, and myself did some serious swim analysis in the pool at our condo |
Race Day:
Like I have said earlier, I felt really flat during the race. Unfortunately, that wasn't the worst of my problems. Combining two of my biggest fears made for a really bad start to my race. I am
absolutely terrified of open bodies of water and alligators, and down in Florida the two go hand in hand. I have NEVER throughout about pulling myself out of a race like I did during this one. About 300 meters into the swim I was freaking out more than I had during any race in the past. I had already peed in my wetsuit prior to the race, so even peeing my pants (or wetsuit) wasn't an option.
 |
| What I was assuming was going to happen to me |
All I could think about was "alligator. theres an alligator near by. you're going to get eaten by an alligator. stay close to people in case of an alligator attack. i hate alligators. i've seen alligators eat animals in one bite on animal planet. please god keep the alligators away from me". I was freaking out hard core. Along with the thoughts of alligators there were huge waves that made the swim really hard. The wind was really blowing causing us to swim through white caps for 20 some minutes. This made breathing really hard and really unpredictable. I would turn my head to breath, expecting there to be air and not water, then a wave would come over me, my head would still be turned but completely under water, and I would suck in a mouth full of water. Needless to say this made for a very difficult swim. Trying to breath but only getting water, I was sucking down one mouth full of water after the next. By the time I was done with the swim, my stomach was completely full of dirty lake water...which I paid for later in the race.
Getting out of the water and onto dry land is my favorite part of every triathlon. This was especially true for this race. The bike portion of this race had many problems of its own. Dropping my chain, not being able to shift, and throwing up twice made for a dreadful ride. I couldn't catch a break with bike issues and a stomach full of lake water came back to bit me. I never felt like I had that "pop" that you want/need during a race. Even with all this, I came off the bike in third position and I really wanted to put together a nice run to catch the leader. Unfortunately, that didn't happen...I mean not even close.
 |
| Letting the cleavage fly |
I felt good for about the first half a mile and then more problems came about. I threw up twice more on the run (yes that's a total of 4 times in one race) and was battling abdominal cramps and blisters the rest of the way home. The run was pancake flat so not being able to preform well was really disappointing. I've never felt that bad during a race...and I hope that it never happens again. Once I crossed the finish line I had to lay down because I thought that I might throw up again. It just wasn't my day in any way, shape, or form. I was beyond happy to be down with this race. It was my first of the season and I hope that I have put the worst behind me and worked out all the kinks for the other races this season.
Somehow I managed to get 5th place in the collegiate division. This was the Florida Collegiate Triathlon Conference Championship Race so placing well even though I had a bad performance gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the races this season!
 |
Trihawks with a random trophy we found two days before the race in a garbage
can curbside by our condo...naturally we had to stop and pick it up. It got us
many weird looks the morning of the race, but by the afternoon people
we're wanting their picture with it. It was a real crowd favorite. |
No comments:
Post a Comment