The Carmel Sprint Triathlon is the 1st Triathlon of the Indianapolis Racing Season. The race is a 400 meter pool swim, 10 mile bike ride, and 3.1 mile run around Carmel High School.
First let me set the stage. Mentally, I have not been training for a sprint triathlon. In fact, mentally I have been training for this race that seems really far away. And, I've been focusing on distance. And, last week I only managed to get 1 training day in on Monday before the race on Sunday...oopsie! Cue mental brain fart...I forgot to make sure my bike was in working order the day before the race... and, I forgot that I felt the gear shift pop the last time I road my bike. Add in a beautiful day with winds gusting up to 30 miles/hour.
I awoke at 5 a.m. (awoke seems like a funny term, because I never really sleep before races and this was no exception). I pulled on my tri suit, twisted my hair into my usual double french braids I always sport for race day, loaded my bike onto my car and began my trek to the Upper Penninsula also known as "Carmel" by those who live in downtown Indianapolis.
When I arrived at the highschool to set up transition at 6:30 a.m., it was so dark I could have used a head lamp. After unloading my gear from the car (I could seriously post a second blog entry on my packing rituals) I trudged to transition and began unpacking and arranging my gear. I won't get into the fact that some people are obsessive about transition and arranging their gear. 4 races in I have not developed an obsession with transition arrangement, but I can feel it coming.
When transition closed I headed indoors with the my TNT team and began the waiting and defensive peeing (hey, no one wants to stop and pee mid race!). Although you could warm up in the pool, given that the race did not begin until 9 (and it was closer to 10 by the time that I started) I was not interested in freezing my keister off for 2.5 hours. Hence the waiting and defensive peeing.
I was actually thrilled when the race finally started. I really didn't have a strategy other than to finish in the least amount of time possible.
Swim: My swim went well other than passing a breast stroker who clearly incorrectly seeded himself (amateur hour anyone??) and having to pass a guy who cut me off despite being slower than me. All in, I give the swim a thumbs up. Official race time: 9:23.
Transition 1: Transition 1 went relatively smoothly...everything seemed to be soaking wet, but I felt like transition went well as I donned my helmet, wedged socks onto wet feet, clipped on my bike shoes, etc. Getting out of transition with your bike was a bit of a haul from a course perspective. Official race time: 2:55 (ouch...I used to be more efficient at this)
Bike: The bike was an utter disaster. Remember I set the stage for you above. The first half of the course (at least) was up-hill in terrible wind...and remember that pop I mentioned...well, my bike would not switch gears. 2 miles in I was off my bike trying to adjust the rear brake and figure out what was wrong with my bike. I got back on, I finished, but I was really sore and not a happy camper. I should also mention that the bike course was really technical with lots of turns and lane changes...in short, it was super tough. Official race time: 41:41 (ouch...just 13.7 miles/hour).
Transition 2: Transition 2 actually went smoother than Transition 1. Things were less wet, and I was extremely thankful to be off my malfunctioning bike. I threw my helmet down (noticing half of my race gear strewn across transition from the wind) and exchanged my bike shoes for my newtons and clipped on my race belt. I was ready, only to realize I didn't know where the run start was...after yelling to a volunteer I learned it was directly opposite the bike course (weird). Official race time: 2:59 (ouch...perhaps I need to become more obsessed with transition).
Run: Well, what can I say? The first 1/4 mile was straight up hill...broke my heart...especially after my awful bike experience. I walked a little and started running, but I had a bad attitude after the bike. I was thirsty, and tired and no water stops in sight (there was 1 water stop the entire race at mile 1.5 of the run course). The run was not my best effort, but I completed it. Official race time: 35:23 (although you may think this is slow (and although I am capable of running a bit faster) this time was actually not horrible for me).
And it was after all of this that I thought to myself "What were you thinking signing up for a 70.3?"
I'm still pondering that lapse in judgment. But, alas, I've signed-up...and so, I will train and I will conquer 70.3 even if it isn't pretty...because I signed-up to raise money to fight blood cancers...and fighting blood cancer is more important than any lapse in judgment.
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