Well, crazy hit an all time new level about a month ago when on a whim, I decided to sign up for the Niantic Bay Triathlon, which is this Sunday. THIS Sunday! I'm not sure quite what I was thinking taking this on just a few weeks before the wedding. I can tell you I certainly haven't had time to train properly for it that's for sure. For those who aren't familiar, a triathlon is a multi-discipline event that involves swimming, biking and running. For this triathlon I will have to swim a half mile in the Niantic Bay, bike 12 miles and then run 3.5 miles. The run, at least on its own, will be easy, I could do it in my sleep. But add 12.5 miles of swimming and biking as a prefix and I'm not quite as confident. The good news is I have a lot of support behind me and once I get settled into the race, I think I'll be fine. I know I'll be able to finish it because I don't quit anything. Hopefully the worst thing that will happen is I swallow a little salt water, haha. I'll be sure to post an update after Sunday.
I have two things going for me in my weakest two events: my swim coach (for the day) dad and my completely custom designed and handmade bike from James. I'm a lucky girl. Check out some pictures below:
My custom road bike (and baby Summit) designed, handmade and painted by James
Swim lesson from dad in Lake Pocotopaug. Like my sweet wetsuit?
My custom road bike (and baby Summit) designed, handmade and painted by James
James tuning my bike up this week for the race and me after the New Haven 20K a few years ago
Since I'm sharing pictures, here's a few of James' road bike - I love that color!
Update: I finished. However, there's quite a story to behind it, suffice it to say I finished 485 out of 495 competitors. Wowza, that's a doozie. I'm laughing about it now, but not so much earlier today. Live and learn. I'll post pictures and a recap...as soon as I have the energy.
Okay, so I promised a recap. Here we go. The race was, well...interesting. Let's start from the beginning. James and I got to the race at about 6:15 am and I went and got "body marked". They basically tattoo you with your race number on both calves and on your right bicep. I am still trying to get it off. I set up my bike and running gear in the transition zone and then James and I walked over to the swim start which was about a half mile away on another beach. I said goodbye to James, who was going to watch the race from the top of a bluff and made my way down to the start. There were over 500 people in the triathlon so the beach and the water was buzzing with activity. The race started in five waves, which were determined by age and gender. I was in the second wave and had to wear a bright pink swim cap (which went nicely with my $20 child's size Ocean State Job Lot wetsuit). As I stood anxiously on the beach waiting to get underway, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was one of my coworkers Joel who had come down to see the race! I was really surprised to see him out of bed so early in the day. Thanks for coming out Joel, I wanna see you in the wetsuit next year!
Finally the race started. It was a mad dash into the water. Because it was low tide, we had to run a bit in the water before we could start swimming which really got my heart pumping. The swim was pure chaos. I totally underestimated how hard it was going to be to swim in the open ocean. There were choppy waves, strong currents, an incoming tide and lots of swinging arms and legs to deal with. I got kicked in the face and the stomach. I swallowed several mouthfuls of water and at one point thought I might throw up. It was not easy. The entire time I just kept thinking, are we there yet? and what the heck was I thinking? Finally...the shore came into sight and I was off and running toward the transition area to grab my bike.
Ahhh, the bike. This is where the whole race fell to pieces. Let me be clear though, it had nothing to do with James' most excellent craftsmenship, it was all about my tires. To really tell the story, I have to go back to the night before the race. I will be the first to admit I am naive when it comes to bike maintenance. I've never, ever had a problem with my bike on a ride, and if I did, I always had James there to fix it. So, needless to say, I didn't have a clue what to do if I ran into trouble on the ride. I mentioned this to James and he agreed that we should have a quick lesson on how to fix a flat tire on the road just in case - not that we thought it would actually happen - but just in case. So there we were at 10 pm the night before the race, in our dimly light barn, fixing a flat tire. I took it all in and stored it somewhere in the back of my mind, totally thinking I'd never really need to use it (I told you I was naive). So fast forward again to race day. I had just grabbed my bike from the transition area and as soon as I got on it I realized there was something really wrong with it. Because I've never had mechanical trouble before, I couldn't tell exactly what the problem was or how serious it was so I just kept riding (idiot). I had made it a good mile before I reluctantly decided to stop (this meant losing time!) and check it out. Just before I pulled off the road, however I heard a really loud "poof!". Yup, that was my inner tube exploding. Awesome. Frazzled, I pulled off the road and gathered my thoughts and my nerves and tried to dust off the memories from the bike 101 lesson night before. It took me a lot longer than it should have to remove and replace the wheel, tire and tube, but after a struggle I managed to get the new tube in and the wheel back on my bike. At this point, all I had left to do was inflate the tube. James had given me a CO2 cartridge to use to fill the tube. The way these things work is you screw in the cartridge to an intermediate inflator which then gets attached to the nozzle on your inner tube. There is a valve on the inflator that MUST be closed tightly before you screw the CO2 cartridge into it or else...well, or else the whole thing will blow up in your face and you'll be stuck on the side of the road a mile away from help with a dead flat tire. Can you see where this is going? Yup. That was me. I had already lost a good ten or more minutes struggling to change out my tube and now I was stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire. I had no choice but to walk my bike (in my slippery bike shoes!) all the way back to the start of the race. This took another twenty minutes. By the time I got my tire inflated and got back on the road, I was DEAD LAST! As you can imagine, this was not easy for me to take. There was even a moment when I was sitting on the side of the road with a crippled bike that I considered quitting. It passed quickly because like I said before, I don't quit anything. But to say the whole thing sucked is a complete understatement. So I rode. Hard. I don't think I've ever ridden my bike so hard in my whole life. I managed to pass a few people along the way. By the time I got to the run my legs were shaking from my exhausting ordeal on the bike, but I ran as hard as I could and just tried to enjoy the rest of the race. In the end, I only beat ten people. But I finished. And I learned a lot from the whole thing. One, don't underestimate a triathlon. Two, always carry a bike pump on your bike. Three, never give up. One thing's for sure...I'll be back.
Before the race, still feeling confident
The Results - Kinda funny, especially if you look at my bike time!
Okay, so I promised a recap. Here we go. The race was, well...interesting. Let's start from the beginning. James and I got to the race at about 6:15 am and I went and got "body marked". They basically tattoo you with your race number on both calves and on your right bicep. I am still trying to get it off. I set up my bike and running gear in the transition zone and then James and I walked over to the swim start which was about a half mile away on another beach. I said goodbye to James, who was going to watch the race from the top of a bluff and made my way down to the start. There were over 500 people in the triathlon so the beach and the water was buzzing with activity. The race started in five waves, which were determined by age and gender. I was in the second wave and had to wear a bright pink swim cap (which went nicely with my $20 child's size Ocean State Job Lot wetsuit). As I stood anxiously on the beach waiting to get underway, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was one of my coworkers Joel who had come down to see the race! I was really surprised to see him out of bed so early in the day. Thanks for coming out Joel, I wanna see you in the wetsuit next year!
Finally the race started. It was a mad dash into the water. Because it was low tide, we had to run a bit in the water before we could start swimming which really got my heart pumping. The swim was pure chaos. I totally underestimated how hard it was going to be to swim in the open ocean. There were choppy waves, strong currents, an incoming tide and lots of swinging arms and legs to deal with. I got kicked in the face and the stomach. I swallowed several mouthfuls of water and at one point thought I might throw up. It was not easy. The entire time I just kept thinking, are we there yet? and what the heck was I thinking? Finally...the shore came into sight and I was off and running toward the transition area to grab my bike.
Ahhh, the bike. This is where the whole race fell to pieces. Let me be clear though, it had nothing to do with James' most excellent craftsmenship, it was all about my tires. To really tell the story, I have to go back to the night before the race. I will be the first to admit I am naive when it comes to bike maintenance. I've never, ever had a problem with my bike on a ride, and if I did, I always had James there to fix it. So, needless to say, I didn't have a clue what to do if I ran into trouble on the ride. I mentioned this to James and he agreed that we should have a quick lesson on how to fix a flat tire on the road just in case - not that we thought it would actually happen - but just in case. So there we were at 10 pm the night before the race, in our dimly light barn, fixing a flat tire. I took it all in and stored it somewhere in the back of my mind, totally thinking I'd never really need to use it (I told you I was naive). So fast forward again to race day. I had just grabbed my bike from the transition area and as soon as I got on it I realized there was something really wrong with it. Because I've never had mechanical trouble before, I couldn't tell exactly what the problem was or how serious it was so I just kept riding (idiot). I had made it a good mile before I reluctantly decided to stop (this meant losing time!) and check it out. Just before I pulled off the road, however I heard a really loud "poof!". Yup, that was my inner tube exploding. Awesome. Frazzled, I pulled off the road and gathered my thoughts and my nerves and tried to dust off the memories from the bike 101 lesson night before. It took me a lot longer than it should have to remove and replace the wheel, tire and tube, but after a struggle I managed to get the new tube in and the wheel back on my bike. At this point, all I had left to do was inflate the tube. James had given me a CO2 cartridge to use to fill the tube. The way these things work is you screw in the cartridge to an intermediate inflator which then gets attached to the nozzle on your inner tube. There is a valve on the inflator that MUST be closed tightly before you screw the CO2 cartridge into it or else...well, or else the whole thing will blow up in your face and you'll be stuck on the side of the road a mile away from help with a dead flat tire. Can you see where this is going? Yup. That was me. I had already lost a good ten or more minutes struggling to change out my tube and now I was stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire. I had no choice but to walk my bike (in my slippery bike shoes!) all the way back to the start of the race. This took another twenty minutes. By the time I got my tire inflated and got back on the road, I was DEAD LAST! As you can imagine, this was not easy for me to take. There was even a moment when I was sitting on the side of the road with a crippled bike that I considered quitting. It passed quickly because like I said before, I don't quit anything. But to say the whole thing sucked is a complete understatement. So I rode. Hard. I don't think I've ever ridden my bike so hard in my whole life. I managed to pass a few people along the way. By the time I got to the run my legs were shaking from my exhausting ordeal on the bike, but I ran as hard as I could and just tried to enjoy the rest of the race. In the end, I only beat ten people. But I finished. And I learned a lot from the whole thing. One, don't underestimate a triathlon. Two, always carry a bike pump on your bike. Three, never give up. One thing's for sure...I'll be back.
Before the race, still feeling confident
I'm somewhere there in the sea of pink caps
total. chaos.
Transition One: swim to bike
On my way out of Transition One...I had no idea what I was in for at this point
Just so glad to be off my bike! Notice there's no one else around?! Second picture here is the first female finisher
The Results - Kinda funny, especially if you look at my bike time!
Good luck on Sunday!! You'll do just fine fine fine. Still on MV - heading home tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteSP! We were just talking about you here in the office. Hope the Vineyard Vaca is going well and you're feeling rested and relaxed (and recovered from Lyme!). Thanks for the support, Sunday should be exciting! See you soon? How about one of our geocaching Friday's?
ReplyDeleteYou are such a nut! I'm so sad but I'm not going to be able to come up and watch now b/c our skydiving trip got moved to Sunday (long story but basically the computer never registered my reservation, thank god I called to get added on and so the day already had 43 people so instead of going with "we'll try to squeeze you in" I decided to just move it back a day -- another whole day to freak myself out more or pump myself up to just do it, who knows! We'll see!)
ReplyDeleteSo we'll def. have to chat on Sunday night to go over our adventures together!
GOOD LUCK!!!
@ (Nic and Dave) - Just jump! You're not going to regret it, I promise - skydiving is amazing! A little advice (for you and me both) for Sunday - don't overthink it - just DO IT! Can't wait to catch up on Sunday and hear all about it!
ReplyDeleteYou would have done so well if you didn't have all that trouble with your bike!! Your results break down was really good, even your transition times weren't bad! I can't wait to see your result next year!
ReplyDelete