BIKE 5hrs and 85 miles of headwinds!
I'll be upfront and say first off that I'm writing this on July 8th, 10 days after the event. (I thought it was much longer than 10 days!). I'm usually pretty prompt about writing these up. I also usually finish my events, and I'm excited to report in with what happened. Not so much here.
I drove up to the site Friday after a half day at work and a few hurried hours preparing meals and packing. My initial plan was to camp, so I needed to have all foods ready and iced. I took way too long doing this and didn't get out of town until 4:30. By the time I reached Bloomington, I'd driven through rain and was tired. More rain was south of town with uncertainty as to whether it would hit the campsite. DH and I both agreed that setting up a brand new tent in the near-dark with possible rain wasn't a great idea. So I drove the extra 45 mins to my parents. Arrived late, went to bed late and tired.
Next morning followed to plan: brekkie, coffee, leave to arrive at site by 7am for checkin and practice swim. Fellow Club member VW was already there, he reported no rain overnight. Oh well.
It was 79.5F in the water and low-mid 70's air temp. This isn't normally cold, but I was! Although there were some winds, the water was mostly calm and waves weren't a problem. But shivering was. The WU swim from 8-830 was a shock to me, I didn't expect to feel cold, have trouble swimming straight, finding motivation, and sighting buoys. The WU was OK and I was calm, but totally lacking in desire. I tried eating more to see if it perked me up. Nope.
All along I've been comforting myself with the thought that I could bail at 1 loop if the lack of wetsuit was causing distress. Suddenly it wasn't so much a comfort, but a plan. During the 30 mins on the beach for the safety talk and prep, my whole body was shivering. Crazy! I had my towel around me and VW offered a sweatshirt. Another swimmer suggested more donuts. I was unhappy and already wanting to quit.
I staged to the back of the pack to avoid crowding and to stay calm. Immediately I repeated the problem I had in the WU: I was sighting the wrong buoy! It was a counter clockwise, long rectangular course. Instead of swimming to buoy #1 to my right I kept turning towards buoy #2 on the left. A lifeguard would whistle and signal that I needed to alter course. This happened repeatedly, all through the swim.
Halfway around the rectangle I could see the bright lime green finish buoys to my far left. So enticing to just quit now.... but I kept going, finding multiple cold spots in the water that contributed to my misery. I was still swimming left into the rectangle. Other swimmers were way to my right! I'd ask a lifeguard where the next buoy was, because I couldn't see it! I was so far off course the next boat or lifeguard blocked my view. This was frustrating and taken alone is not a reason I would quit. I just laughed it off and kept going.
But every time I stopped, it was a dead stop in the water. My hips dropped and I'd tread water a few moments. I did this a LOT. By the time I'd reached buoy #3, I'd already decided to stop after 1 loop. By buoy #4 I hated myself for even attempting this. As 2-loop finishers passed me, I climbed out at 63-freaking-minutes and waited for VW to finish. I must have looked awful to the finish line crew, they walked me up the hill and came back periodically to check on me.
I'll also be clear about this: I have NO REGRETS as to my decision to quit. There's NO reason to burn out on a training event. There's NO reason to endanger myself in a lake. I made the right call and have zero regrets. I regret only the facts below that contributed, because removing any one of them might have made all the difference for me:
WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!
1. I got cold. Low body fat means cold. I have no cold tolerance right now, even for air conditioning.
2. I was tired. I raced Cutting Edge just days before, had lots of travel time in the past day, and this was my 3rd weekend trip out of town in June.
3. I was distracted by the lack of wetsuit, and reverted to all bad habits of swim form. My mind can only do one thing at a time, apparently.
4. As I found out on Monday, I had decaf coffee for brekkie!! I can't discount the role this played in my lack of motivation.
NOW WHAT?!?!?!?!
1. I need to practice OWS without a suit to master the distraction problem.
2. I need to try a rash guard or long sleeve shirt for warmth, and look into cold adaptation methods. Because I ain't gonna gain enough body fat before MiTi to make a difference
3. I need to take better care of myself and balance my schedule better.
Due to this weekend, and the stress that travel had on me, I've decided to NOT do AG Nationals two weeks before MiTi. I just can't handle the stress.
And now for the bike ride! The plan was 5 hours and 90-95 miles. I didn't get started until 11:20, 80 mins after I climbed out of the swim. There was a strong 18mph headwind out of the south and my route had early south/north sections followed by a mostly west/east course. I felt much better by the time my ride started and didn't think much bad about the swim. I followed the Evergreen Tri arrows to about 20 miles then headed out. The roads were in great condition, the cars quite polite, and other cyclists as always a joy to see. My energy wasn't great, but I was chugging along and enjoying it.
I made a route modification once I realized that I'd hit over 2.5 hours and 40 miles. Instead of a loop, I turned around and re-traced my outbound route, snipping off a wonderfully hilly loop to save time. This worked great, my plan was 5 hours and I finished at 5:01.
No brick run for me. The plan called for a 50 mins run, ah, NO. Save it for tomorrow. Get home and get rested.
I spent a lot of time in my head on this day. All through the swim, bike, and drive home. And in the drive home I heard Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead Or Alive. Fits perfect, aside from mentioning a song about being dead in a DNF swim post!!
And times when you're alone, all you do is think.
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