First Triathlon!

Wow! That is all that I can say. I am just now getting my head around the fact that I am now a triatlete.

In November I saw the Wildflower practice race on the schedule and it scared the Hell out of me. I could barely swim more than 10 meters at a time, and swimming 1.2 miles seemed like an insurmountable challenge to me. I am all about taking on a big challenge, and I am known for biting off more than I can chew and just swallowing it whole (figuratively and literally). However, I had some serious doubts that I would be able to pull this off by March.

Since March I have put in lots of morning and lunch time swims and gotten coaching from several sources. Basically, I worked hard. I got better and better and hit different milestones along the way. I do have to admit that life got in the way of swimming over the past month and I haven't done a lot of it. I am a bit ashamed of it, but I did a little shuffling and have found ways to give swimming the attention that it deserves.

Anyway, here is the run-down of the weekend: Kathryn and I worked stuff out and were going to ride down with Nate and Michelle, but it turned out that they didn't have a bike rack for our tri-bikes. I couldn't let my baby (Robin, not Kathryn) ride in the back of a truck unsupported, so we decided to drive separately. That worked out for the best because there is no way all of our stuff would have fit in 1 truck anyway.

We had planned to come down on Thursday after work, but then I decided to come Friday morning instead. Kathryn was really looking forward to going on Thursday night, so I decided to take one for the team and head down after a bike ride on Thursday. That bike ride took almost an hour extra because of all the problems I kept finding and fixing on my bike. I am glad I found them on the pre-ride and not in the race. It did put us on the road a lot later than planned though. We made it to camp a little after 11 even with an IHOP stop. I was exhausted, and we tiptoed into the RV to avoid waking anyone.

I slept terribly. I was freezing and there was a lot of noise and I only got a little sleep despite taking sleeping pills. I was uber-grumpy the next morning and needed a lot of alone time. I know that added stress to other people as well. I was supposed to pre-drive the course with Nate, but instead I took more sleeping pills and took a nap. That helped a lot. The rest of Sat was spent getting myself and other's equipment ready, hanging out a little, and eating. People are making fun of my dinner. I am eating dried fruit and nuts. I need to get "cleaned out" and I also want some dense calories in me from a natural source.

Sunday morning we are woken up to bagpipes on a boom-box. Dave is walking around the campsite using it to wake people up. HE took special interest in our camper circling several times while Kathryn giggled like a kindergartener that just said her first bad word. We all get up and I feel pretty good. I slept well and I start the process.

My nutrition plan from the night before works like a champ. Use your imagination. I drink a large amount of bloody mary mix to get in a lot of electrolytes, and eat an assortment of foods. We pack up and head to set up transition.

When we get out of the car I am shocked by how cold it is. My hands hurt with gloves on. I am seriously considering not starting because of the cold. I know my bike ride is going to be miserable since I am just wearing a tri-suit. I decide that I will wear gloves and that I will race.

I get everything set up pretty well and put on my wetsuit. I head down the rocky descent to the dock and get ready to swim. I just in the water with everyone else and it doesn't feel as cold as some of the water we have been in. After waiting an eternity we finally start. I pass a bunch of swimmers, but that doesn't last long. I need to be able to swim like I do in the first 100 for the entire race. Training! Anyway, I settle into a slow swim but I am pushing myself a little and I feel good. We get to the turn-around sooner than I expected. I feel good, though it is obvious I haven't been swimming enough. I get passed by the French weirdo from the South Bay team. He is about 60 with the biggest goggles I have ever seen. He looks like Jacques Cousteau.

I get back to the dock and I am not the last one out, which makes me a little happy. I follow my plan and run up the hill and across the parking lot while stripping the wetsuit. My time in transition is WICKED fast - less than a minute. I leave on the tri-suit and put on my helmet, sunglasses, shoes, and gloves. I jump on the bike and haul ass. I welcome the hills to warm me up some and I am catching and passing some of the fastest swimmers already. I FLY down the downhill and then it hits.

I have debated how to tell this story for a while. I decided to just be open about it. I was frostbitten about 15 years ago while running in Michigan in sub-zero weather. I won't dance around it - my penis was severely frostbitten. It was so bad when it happened that I passed out from the pain.

Fast forward - I am flying downhill in wet, thin clothing with temps in the 40's with a crazy cold wind-chill. I had planned on being cold in my hands, feet, and face and had accepted that. Moby, on the other hand, was not a consideration. On a 1-10 pain scale it was a 10. It felt like I had a blowtorch to my wedding tackle. I stopped pedaling, then pulled over, and eventually was balled up on the side of the road. The pain got worse and worse and I was not functional. I admit, I was balling. Not from the pain, but from the prospect of not finishing for the first time in my life. I decide to wait it out on the side of the road for as long as it took.

The Tri-Cal girl comes by in her truck to pick me up. I refuse telling her I don't want to quit. She tells me that if I go back to transition that it will be like a really long T1. I decide that is acceptable. I go back there and get in my own truck and put the heat on max. Dan gives me his coat and Dave orders me to "rub on it a little". After a long wait I get to the point where it doesn't hurt that bad and I am able to continue. Dan gives me a washcloth to use as a wind screen and I stuff it down my suit.

I take off with Dave and leave my timing equipment behind. I am out of contention at this point. I have a nice ride with Dave for the first 20 miles. We talk about all kinds of things and enjoy the area. We get to the first rest stop and he stops to talk to folks and do coach-like things. We hang out for 15 minutes or so and I learn that I am in danger of missing the first time cut-off, so I take off and race to the 30 mile checkpoint. I am fired up at this point and absolutely blazing fast.

I keep going past the checkpoint and I am feeling great and riding hard. I decide that I want to catch Kathryn who has a huge lead and so I keep pushing. I am not killing myself, but I am going fast and loving it. I only make one stop for water and even pee on the bike to save time.

I find out that Kathryn was told that I might have quit due to hypothermia. I HAVE to catch her at this point so she doesn't think I am a quitter. Anyway, I catch her with a few miles left after having a great ride up and down Nasty Grade. I find out that she had needed me and had been looking for me. She called me a "punk butt" which is Kathryn-ese for "glad to see you are OK". I keep going and finish the bike feeling awesome and I wait for her in transition.

We do the run together. I am way far behind the leaders and I decided it would be nice to support her and run with her instead of by myself. We run/walk/hike. I feel spectacular the whole time and really enjoyed the course. She is hurting. Carbo Pro is not her friend. She keeps going though and we make the best of it. By this point common courtesy is out the window and body functions are out in the open. Good bonding stuff.

We get to Lynch, which is a steep downhill for a mile or so leading to the finish. It hits me that I am about to finish my first triathlon, and she is going to do her first half on a course that bested her a couple years before. I get a little emotional and I become thankful that I am able to finish side by side with my best friend. I love that she was able to be there with me when I finished something so important to me, and vice versa.

We finish together, and then go about talking to people, eating, taking ice baths in the cold lake and eventually heading back for dinner and all kinds of craziness that night.

It was a great experience for me and I am happy that I was forced to take a step back and "train" the course instead of "race" it. I got to have fun and share an experience that I will never forget. I got to look at myself in incredible pain and know that there is no way that I won't finish my Ironman. I am super confident and super happy. I am 1/2 Iron.

Side note: I am incredibly happy that Carolyn "won". She is such a great team-mate and I am proud to be on the same team with her. A sadder note: my close friend and team-mate Nate had a serious injury and was forced to pull out. I hated to see that and I have my fingers crossed that it is a temporary setback and the he recovers fast.