Steelhead 70.3 Race Report 2006

STEELHEAD TRIATHLON
AUGUST 5, 2006

This race sort of snuck up on me. It was over a month since my last race, which would normally mean I’d be completely nervous, however, the rest of my life has been so hectic, and I hardly had time to worry about Steelhead.

We arrived the afternoon before the race with just enough time to pick up my packet and do a little expo shopping before the first course talk. Kristin and I spent a few hours together that afternoon and it seemed she was much more calm this day than the weeks leading up to the race…this was good. After the course talk, we hopped in the lake to test out the water. It seemed too warm for me, but they already told us wetsuits would be allowed. Then we took a short bike ride, just to make sure everything was working properly before we racked the bikes for the evening.

The hotel was a dump, but does it really matter? As long as it’s clean and QUIET, I’m fine. And being close to the race site wasn’t so bad, either! After a quick, excellent dinner with some friends at Schu’s, we headed back to the hotel where I meticulously laid everything out for the next morning.

What should have been a solid 9 hours of sleep turned into stressful worrying about oversleeping! I was up at least once an hour looking at the clock. Why do I do this before EVERY SINGLE race? Well, 4:30 came around quickly, but I wasn’t sleeping much anyway, so let’s get the show on the road! I noticed it was rather warm out for this time in the morning and I thought we would be in for a really hot day. This comes back to bite me later.

Everything moved along quickly and I was in transition setting up by 5:15. The only problem was, the girl next to me on the rack (who was supposed to rack REALLY close to me) hadn’t shown up yet. I was afraid to walk away because I knew when she would come in to set up her bike, my stuff was going to get trashed. I set up my stuff, walked from swim in to my bike, to bike out and from bike in back to my bike. Easy. I saw many, many people I knew and found it hard to focus. As much as I love racing with my friends, I sometimes get caught up in chatter and forget what I’m really there to do: RACE. I looked for Russ, who I promised to give some salt tablets, but I never found him. It’s time to go get on the shuttle…girl next to me hasn’t shown up. Oh well, I thought, I can just hope for the best!

The shuttle to the swim start was very quiet. I talked to the young guy from Colorado sitting next to me and was happy we were about to get things started. The time went quickly as I had to get in line for the rest room, get my wetsuit on, find my husband and get on the pier for my wave. There was little time to worry about the race.

I’m not a big fan of jumping off the pier. Sure, it’s different, but I’m always afraid the person/people behind me are going to jump on me. And what if my goggles fall off? And what if I jump on someone else? Well, all that didn’t matter much as the gun went off, I jumped in, and it went pretty smoothly. Within 200 yards, I knew there was some stiff competition out there. I knew I was not in the lead. I knew there were at least 3-4 women ahead of me, maybe more. OK, just chill, find someone to draft off of and conserve for the rest of the race. It’s not an Ironman, but this is still a really long race. A fast swim doesn’t really buy you much.

I got hit a few times, but found a good draft and stuck with it for about the whole second half of the swim. The run from the swim to T1 was BRUTAL! Running uphill in sand is just painful on the quads. I was so happy to reach the boardwalk. I passed several men, just walking to T1, probably trying to catch their breath. I got to my bike, the girl who was supposed to rack right next to me was a no show! Sweet! I made what I felt was a pretty quick transition and off I went!

My game plan for the bike was to give it maybe 80%. Stay in the heart rate zone 3. Don’t make it hurt. Conserve for the run. Ride comfortably. I even had a goal time I was shooting for. There were LOTS of pack riding and LOTS of drafting and I didn’t see one official. Women I would jockey back and forth with would finally pass me…because they’d be drafting of a couple of guys. HEY, I thought, ANYONE CAN DRAFT AND PASS ME, YOU CHEATERS!!! How frustrating! It was tempting to jump on the back wheel of these people, but you know, I didn’t want to be a cheater. What’s the point??

The bike was great. Steelhead is really a nice course, with a mostly flat bike on roads that are so smooth, you wonder how come the roads here in Illinois are so crappy. As I neared the end of the bike, I was right on my goal time. I was happy, headed in for a very quick T2, heard my husband yell some encouraging words to me, and I was off on the run.

The beginning of the run felt slow. But the runs always feel that way for me, and I was pleasantly surprised when I got to mile 1 and I realized I wasn’t all that slow!! It’s a mind game, these races, and I need to remind myself of that some times. But as the run went on, the miles got slower…and slower…and I was reduced to a walk around mile 10. What had started out as a great day became miserable and felt like torture. Though I never felt like quitting, I felt like the end was never going to come. I became dizzy and nauseous and my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. And it wasn’t that hot. In fact, I remember earlier in the run thinking about how PERFECT the temperature was.

In looking back, that perfect temperature was my enemy. I thought it was going to be so hot, I loaded myself up on the salt tablets. The truth is, I probably OD’d on them. I didn’t know there was such a thing, but there is. And how I felt toward the end of that run verifies that little fact. I kept making little “deals” with myself. OK, run to that next guard rail…or you can run to the next aid station. Why do I DO THIS TO MYSELF, I thought.

I saw many friends on the out and back run and they looked great. I knew it was just a matter of time before most of them caught me…and several of them did. But I finished. With my 3rd slowest ever half ironman time. Am I happy about it? No. Am I angry? No. It is what it is. I can’t change it. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful course and I was able to finish injury-free. All I can do is focus on doing better next time…yeah, next time!