|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
"First tri becomes a du" Cathy's Story
I raced Sandman on VA Beach Sept 19, 2004. Hurricane Ivan had made its way up the east coast the weekend of the race, but it was predicted to go way inland, so I assumed conditions at the beach would be fine for the race. I was surprised when we drove through heavy rain all the way there. Yet when we arrived the evening before, the ocean still looked calm, so I had my hopes up. The wind, however, was really picking up.
What I didn't know was that Ivan had taken a 90 degree turn to the right and came right over us and back out into the Atlantic. I watched the waves start to pick up and listened to the wind roar before finally going to bed. I wondered how bad it was going to be, but in my head, I still thought the weather was going to get better (my kids dominated the tv with Nickelodeon).
I hardly slept! Taking my family turned out to be a con rather than a pro. They were sniping at each other (hubby included) at night, clingy, etc. So we all got to bed too late and then I kept waking up every hour on the hour from nerves and also to listen to the wind. At one point I peeked out the hotel window at the surf and it looked pretty fierce. I hadn't been nervous about the swim, but I was beginning to be. But having lived and swam much of 10 years in Florida, I wasn't too concerned about the safety of it.
I headed to the transition area at 5:30 am after getting my bike off my car. I was thankful the rain had stopped, but the wind was amazing. I checked my bike in and chatted with a few other women in my transition area. From them I learned the swim was cancelled. I was hugely disappointed as I had joined a masters program a few weeks earlier to improve my swimming (getting up at 4:30 am twice a week!) and was really looking forward to seeing how I did in the swim portion. But on the other hand, I was relieved because it did look pretty nasty. Oh, it was cold too - about 60* with 22mph winds.
So they switched it - a 3.1 mile run followed by a 14 mile bike, followed by a 1/4 mile dash to the finish. Not what I had bricked for! The race director suggested running barefoot to the finish to save time in transition, so that's what I did. For the first time in my life, I couldn't wait for the run to start just so I could get warm.
I ran a pretty good race doing just under an 8 minute miles for the first half (with the wind), but once we reached the turnaround, the WIND, my gawd, the WIND!! In your face making you feel like slow motion movements. I had to consciously tell my feet to take shorter faster steps (never trained in those conditions - it just made sense). Whew! That was rough! I placed pretty well in my age group on the run, though.
The bike did not go as well as I had anticipated. I slipped getting my cleats in because in my rush, I didn't mount my bike like I normally do (duh!). I didn't fall, but I did straddle the bar. Ouch. Finally got going and was doing pretty well. A few people dropped out of the race because they were afraid of biking in that wind - it swirled around you when you were between buildings on the beach and really tried to knock you around. My heavier hybrid may have actually been an advantage there. I did actually pass a few people. Til we turned around for the last half back - then I got blown away by the folks on lighter bikes. Kind of annoying, but I decided I was doing the best I could. I followed a woman in my group the last mile and decided not to push myself to pass her so let her remain about a block in front of me. I managed to slam on my brakes right before the dismount line and get off, passing her up since she slowed down gradually. Forgot to take my helmet off, so removed it as I made my dash to the finish. I crossed 1 second before the woman I didn't pass til dismount. Woohoo! I averaged 17 mph, which is not great, but better than the speed I train at.
All in all, I feel I completed a good race. Still bummed about the swim, but I've stuck with the 5 am masters program - I realize I am slower than most and need to improve. Race conditions could have only been worse if it had been raining, so I figure that was quite a first race to do! I'm still eager to try more next year - I may even think of going Olympic distance (no way I'm doing an IM tho).
|
|||
| Triathlon Training Marathon Training Health and Fitness | |||
 |