I woke up Sunday morning still unsure of whether or not I'd race the sprint. OK I knew I wouldn't "race" it, the question was whether I'd "participate". I hurt. My right knee didn't want to fully extend. The soles of my feet were sore. My rib muscles were tired. My back muscles threatened to spasm. Yet I was awake, able to move, and in the least wanted to be there to see everyone else's race. So I bee-kini'd up and headed out the door with the group.
At the site, I was moving slowly and unfocused but able to cobble together a TA set up. I kept forgetting things--I was wearing my visor and slide shoes right up to swim time -- but knowing this was just for fun it didn't bother me. Thankfully the temps weren't cold, but it certainly was cool enough to give a little shiver in the tiny clothings!
SWIM: 750m I chose to wear the wetsuit mostly for safety reasons, if I got tired and needed to stop the suit would help keep me up in the water and let me rest. I started nearer the back of the field figuring that since I'm not out to compete I'd just stay out of everyone's way. Big mistake. I ended up with all the new swimmers who couldn't hold a line or keep a steady pace. I would have been safer further up field. But I love seeing the newbies--that was me just a few years ago!!-- so I stayed patient and was careful to not run anyone over. While I was having fun, this was serious for them :) To my surprise, I was able to swim just fine with little pain or fatigue. It was refreshing even! Many swimmers were instead walking or running, but with my tired legs and ankle I chose to swim the entire way and didn't have any problems with hitting the bottom of the lake.
T1: I skipped the wetsuit strippers this time, again to keep muscles and injuries from being yanked and also because I wanted the warm suit on as long as possible! I pulled on my bumblebee socks and took off. I'm Sexy And I Know It played while I was in T1!
BIKE: 14 miles. Brrrrrrrr now the cool air was all over me with nothing but knee high socks to shield my skin. I was surprised to find that I wasn't dead last and that I was able to hold a fair pace on the bike. Again, my being at the back was a dangerous place to be, just like they can't swim straight or steady new bikers can't ride straight or steady either. They'll learn, so again I just stayed careful and patient. It was a two loop course along the lake. I was looking for my friends and their costumes but didn't have much luck. My legs tired out fast but the only pain was in my poor butt. Not chafing really, more of just every bump causing ouch-ouch-ouch.
T2: I think my Wild Ones song played in T2 :)
RUN: 3.1 miles. I tried to run slowly but my right knee wasn't having any of it. Sharp pain on the outside when it flexed with weight. But walking was perfectly fine, so I did that. I knew I'd be walking the run, but for some reason it still bothered me to do it. I tried a few times to run, to test if getting warmed up more improved anything but it didn't. I was surprised to see toga-guy from yesterday on the course, as well as a few others who recognized me from yesterday. Damn they have endurance volunteers at this event too! Walk, walk, walk, carrying my Nuun water with me to keep working on hydration. At the club tent, I danced a bit to I'm Sexy And I Know It, celebrated a bit, than ran it in for a good finish. Here a few volunteers recognized me again :) The bee costume makes it easy for that :)
Up to now, I was incredibly happy with how the entire weekend went. I'd hit my goals, I'd accomplished so much, and I'd managed the 140.6 through high and low points. So what follows next is like icing on the icing of the cake.
TH told me after the sprint that JP said I'd podium'd Saturday. My response was "git the hell out", and so we headed to the results board to check. Maybe she meant TT, or another Tracy? Nope, sure enough, I was listed as 3/6 in my AG!!!!!
HOLY SHIT I PODIUMED IN AN IRON RACE!!!!!!!!!!
GIT THE HELL OUT!!!!!
Oh boy, now that meant I needed to stay for the awards ceremony. Hope DH is OK with it! We retrieved the bikes, dropped them at the truck, and looked up the schedule for awards--11am, only 40 mins away so yes we could stick around for it. Oh and heck yeah I was wearing my bee-kini on the podium! Along with my sprint race finishers medal so everyone could see that I raced that as well ;) And as if the day wasn't great enough already, I found that I'd bumped to 2nd place in my AG. Things got even better when on the drive home I realized that the 3/6 listed in the results wasn't the whole story, there was really 11 peeps in my AG. Yahoo!
Thank you DH for letting me stay, cuz this podium was likely the high point of tri career to date and being able to accept it was a dizzy-ingly wonderful experience!
On the drive home, I was tired and sore but high on the weekend. Poor DH did all the driving, I owe him HUGE for this too. By the time we hit Joplin, my leg muscles started to spasm and ache and walking was a painful thing for my right knee, which didn't want to extend straight at all now.
Long drive home....long weekend...and I expect a long recovery :)
But keep in mind that my 50K is just 3 weeks away, so I can't quit now!
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