FirmMan Triathlon - Half-Iron Distance June 8, 2008

After running my first half marathon in Feb. 2008, at Hyannis, I got the bright idea that I could handle a half ironman triathlon. After discussion with Jackie and Tink, who got me to focus on my upcoming work and vacation schedule to see what events would fit, I opted for a relay entry to this triathlon, which would be an inaugral race for FIRM (the local race company). Jackie signed on as the swimmer, Bob as the cyclist, and me as the runner. Tink, in Austin, became my long-distance online coach and worked up a thorough training plan to get me through a variety of races during the summer, but with an early emphasis on the half-mary in this event. Tink rocks! Team Three Lead Feet became our official registered name.

Back in late February and early March, Jackie and I focused on the predicted water temp. for an open water swim in early June; little did we suspect we'd be hit by the first heat wave of the season at this time! Our New England brains are permanently set for cold, wet springs, and that's not what happened this year.

I ran my last long run - 14 miles out of a scheduled 15 - 2 weeks before the race. I learned during that run that I was not getting enough nutrition in. Taking in just 100 calories per hour led to me bonking at mile 12 - I could barely get my legs to move, much less run. Conditions during that run were around 80, sunny, breezy, and dry - my only real heat training for the season. Coach suggested, given my weight, that I try 200 calories per hour during the race. I'd had oral surgery 10 days prior, but I'd recovered enough that I wouldn't consider that part of the bonk factor.

The local meteorologists started predicting record highs, including a 4-day heat wave (3+ days of 90 degrees or more), a week before the race. In NE, we take the forecasts with a grain of salt because they change so frequently. This time they were right. Lovely. Bring it on!

Bob and I drove out to the race site on Saturday morning to pick up the race packet and walk around the expo and transition area. It was close to 90 by the time we got there - no problems picking up the packet. We could see transition being set up in a field up the hill - no shade - then walked down to the YMCA camp lake where I walked out on the dock and stuck my foot in. It was cool, but no shooting pains. I called Jackie on her cellphone to report, but she was shopping at the time. No worries - I'd catch up with her later. Bob spent some time talking to the guys from the bike support shop. While he's a very experienced cyclist (averages 100 - 150 miles per weekend during the season and rides charity events) this would be his first-ever race. He was a little nervous about procedures for the bottle exchange, chip exchange, nutrition during his ride and other details. Quad Multisport folks put him right at ease. We went home to divvy up the race essentials and shwag for the three of us: shirts, socks (love 'em!!), endurolytes, gels, other supplements, and the all important chip, bike number, and run/bib number.

Bob went out for an easy spin as directed by his coach, Drew (who, as it turns out is the official coach for Quad Multisport's racing team; small world! we only found that out at the race expo). I went to work for the afternoon and considered it a small portion of heat training. The retail areas of Russell's aren't air conditioned, and I was on the floor in the flower shop for the afternoon. It was hot. I focused on hydrating like crazy - getting in approx. 100 oz. of water for the whole day and chanting (in my head) "heat and humidity are my friends" as learned from my friend Mia on the WW Tri-ers' Thread. Luckily no customer overheard me. Fellow staffers and friends who knew I'd be running the next day took every opportunity to question my sanity about running in Sunday's predicted heat and kept wishing me luck...they were also kind enough to report every thermometer change they heard ("I hear 94 for tomorrow", "I hear 98", "I hear 100") - they were all very kind and worried about me. I think by this time, I had succeeded in moving myself into the zone of "it'll be what it'll be" and just continued to focus on hydrating, as suggested by John T., one of our employees who runs Boston every year.

After work, I went home and packed up my stuff, (weird to pack for a tri when you're part of a relay team - hard to lighten up - first experience with that), then reviewed what Bob was taking. We put the bike number on his bike, and loaded it into his SUV, along with his helmet and pump. We decided to go out for an early pasta dinner, then home to sleep. Set the alarm for 4:30, as our plan was to meet Jackie in the parking lot at 6 a.m. and walk to the transition area. We have central A/C in the house, so that helped to get a good (short) night's sleep before race day.

Sunday a.m. I'm up at 4:15 before the alarm and downstairs and dressed in a flash. Flipped the coffee maker on for Bob - I can't drink coffee before a run or a race. Made myself an open-faced peanut butter and banana sandwich on Ezekiel bread toast - yum. Started drinking water too, but not at the rate I'd been chugging it down on Saturday. Though my leg of the race would be last, I was already mindful of pit stops and estimating at what time during the morning I should be eating more. I reviewed my checklist and made sure we'd packed everything on the list, and we were out the door at 5:30. We got 200 feet down the road, and I yelled "turn back!". Just in the nick of time, I remembered I'd left Jackie's bag, *with the TIMING CHIP and NUMBERS in it* sitting on the kitchen floor. DOH! Grabbed the bag, and we were off again without further incident or traffic.

We entered the Rockport Shoe parking lot about 5:55 a.m., just as Jackie called my cellphone to direct us to her parking place. Gave Jackie the bag, and upon hearing how I'd nearly left the chip, she immediately fastened it around her ankle. We all unloaded our gear bags and Bob's bike, and set out down the hill, walking a little more than 1/4 mile to Camp Lowe, the race site.

Found our transition spot with no problem and there was plenty of room for relay teams to spread out their stuff. I think I already mentioned that this is the inaugural race for the event, so participation was reasonable but not high - about 200 athletes. Mooseman, a better known and more established Half-Iron race in NH was going on the same day (and TriTurtle from the WW thread was participating there), so we were guessing that might be another reason for the smaller than expected turnout. We walked through the expo and down to the water so Jackie could warm up. That's when we realized an annoying flaw of the race...NO PORTAPOTTIES!! Zip, nada, none. There were bathrooms in the Y-camp building, but there was already a line in the ladies' room for three stalls, only two of which worked...throughout the day. Ah well...being on a relay team was an advantage in that regard since it was much easier to "go" when the bulk of the athletes were in the pond or out on the bike. But STILL! Note to self: send email to Wendy at FIRM, one of the race directors, to register this comment for next year; I'm sure I won't be the only one.

Bob surveyed the beach scene while the swimmers, including Jackie, got into wet suits and warmed up. Jackie reported that the water felt pretty good - cool, but not as cold as she anticipated. As is typical at most FIRM races, start time came and went, then Bill, Wendy's dad, and race director walked out on the dock and started announcing the race rules, including the swimmers exiting the water after their first loop, running through the inflated gate, re-entering the pond and swimming their second loop before crossing the timing mat. At 7:13, the first wave began, then 5 minutes later, Jackie's wave went off and the race by Three Lead Feet was underway! Once Jackie rounded the first buoy, Bob wanted to head back up to transition to prepare for riding. I walked him back towards the field and gave him a crash course on the location of the timing mat he had to cross to begin, reminding him he couldn't mount his bike 'til he was over the mat and once enroute, no drafting. It was so nice and cool in the shade by the pond, we were a little startled by how hot it was already before 7:30 a.m. I went back to the water and stood with Sue, a friend of Jackie's who was the runner for another relay team. We discussed nutrition for the run, took pictures, and cheered on the swimmers as they approached the gate for the run to the second swim loop. Less than 15 minutes passed when we saw Jackie coming out of the water; she jogged around and through the gate, then I think I captured her high elbow as she started her strokes back out to the buoys. 31 minutes after she started, Jackie crossed the finish mat and ran towards T1. I followed, but couldn't block the path of swimmers and cyclists, so I angled out into the field and was able to zoom in on Bob with my camera as he trotted down the hill toward the bike start. My watch read 7:48 a.m.

Now came the longest waiting period in the relay. Bob was estimating his time to be between 3 - 3:15 hours, so Jackie and I whiled the time away exploring the expo, filling our water bottles, (big free spring water tank from one of the race vendors-yay!) reading through the latest Runner's World, talking to her friend Sue about hydration and nutrition, using the bathrooms as needed, and finally looking for the run start mat and the finish line which only went up a little before 10 a.m.! Sheesh - but parts of this race did seem a tad dis-organized. We spent a good portion of the time down by the lake in the shade. With a good breeze coming off the water, it was actually cool in that location. Quite another story out in the sun - the temp rose to 89 by 10. I ate a Z-bar at 9, then started backing off the water intake. My stomach started feeling a little queasy between 9:30 and 10, and I guessed that might mean I needed electrolytes because of all the hydrating, so I took 2 endurolytes and ate a package of sport beans, and the queasiness went away; must've been right. Around 10:30 we started hanging out in the shaded pavilion in between transition and the expo. The first cyclists were beginning to come in. I had a feeling that despite the heat, Bob would be back right on target with his shortest time estimate, due to the adrenaline of this being his first race. There are a couple of reasonably long hills in the 2-loop course, and I knew he'd be chomping at the bit to reach them and zoom past anyone in front of him. He loves hills. I took the chance on one last pit stop, and sure enough, less than 10 minutes later, there he was dismounting and crossing the mat just before 11 a.m. 3:02 was the official bike time for the hot 56-miles - with an avg. of over 18 mph - awesome job, Bob! Now it was my turn. I had everything on - hydration belt with gatorade/water mix in the bottle, 4 hammergels tucked into my pockets and race belt, extra enduralytes, and a running hat. Jackie snagged the chip off Bob's ankle as he ran into the transition area, slapped it around my ankle and yelled "get moving" or something like that as I snapped one photo of Bob returning, tossed him the camera and headed across the field to the start mat. Crossed the mat, grabbed a cup of water right there and poured it over me, and I was off.

I had 2 pace timetables to check throughout the course from Tink - one for 2:27 and the second for 2:30, based on my training and time trials. I could tell in the first mile (long incline in direct sun) that I was going to have to throw any idea of a PR out of my head and just experiment with run/walk intervals to find one I could maintain and finish the race in good form before the 3 p.m. cutoff. I tried 2:30/1:00 first, and my heartrate zoomed over 200. By the time the first water station appeared (in between miles 1 and 2), I settled into a 1:00/1:00 interval cycle and managed to smile at the photographer stationed there. Water tasted and felt awesome, and the photographer yelled after me "Nice smile...but it's early yet!". Gee, thanks. Between mile 3 and 4, the first returning racers appeared, and I cheered them on, ate my first hammergel, and continued on. The course went through two residential neighborhoods then spilled out onto the main route, a marked state road with little shade, some traffic, and way too many potholes and areas of cracked pavement. Oh yeah, I already mentioned it was hot. I got into a zone in my head of counting off my paces, a kind of rhythmic chant, but it was accurate enough to signal when to drink from my bottle, and it give me an internal clock notice of approaching water stops. Chatted a bit with runners that I passed and who passed me (many more of those - HA!), but everyone that I saw was also taking walk breaks and many of them appeared longer than mine, so I didn't feel like a total wimp. The first time I asked a returning runner how far the turnaround was, the answer was "a couple of miles, but there's lots of food!" - frustrating, but it gave me a goal...once I made it to the turnaround, *I* could start telling runners on their way out, how far the turnaround was. Slightly sick humor I know, but it worked for me.

The turnaround was in a residential neighborhood which gave relief to the monotonous highway (concrete factory for scenery anyone?) - more runners in one place than the rest of the route, which, for some reason, lifted my spirits. Misery loves knowing you're not alone out there? I ate another hammergel, took extra gels from the table, drank heed and washed down more enduralytes, poured water over me, and checked my watch - 1:24 at the half. Not as fast as I wanted, but not as horrible as I was expecting. Actually feeling refreshed, I headed back, continuing my 1:1 pace. Miles 7 - 10, I see-sawed back and forth with a couple of runners. One said he had come from Arkansas and wondered aloud if we (in New England) were used to this heat. I told him, no, it was the first heat wave of the season and I certainly hadn't had any occasion for heat training in the same temps and humidity prior to this race. Another runner was one I had passed around mile 5, then he caught up and said he was trying to pace off of anyone who seemed to have a steady pace close to his own - that made me feel stronger. I was also getting to fulfill my goal now, answering outbound runners about the distance to the turnaround and cheering them on. Saw Jackie's friend Sue about this time too, and realized just what a lead Bob had given me with his fast bike segment - I started hoping I wasn't blowing it. Then, sooner than I expected, I could see Jackie, waiting to run me back in - awesome! She was patient with my walk breaks, but did her part in urging me towards any available shade and pushing me to pick up the pace the last mile. She did it so well, that I almost managed a sprint to the finish line - at least I had the energy to really run and punch my arms up - 2:48 on my watch, and 6:26 for the team! Like I said, no PR, but very respectable, given the heat (mid 90's as I found out after the run).

Overall, we were all pleased with the end result. We came in 6th out of a total of 14 relay teams - nice! And I've learned a ton about paying attention to pacing and nutrition throughout my training, thanks to Coach Tink! Really appreciate Jackie and Bob as my teammates - this was fun! Maybe next year, I'll attempt a half-ironman solo. No commitments or anything though...:-)

Appleman Triathlon

Littleton, MA

July 22, 2007

Webster Lake - 2007


I've done this race twice now, and raced in this location 3 times. My first triathlon was here, Danskin Webster Lake in 2005. I posted the following report first on the WWTri-ers thread right after the race, which took place on the same day as Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Iron-Leopard Bonnie's, first IM! I wrote the following quickly so I could follow along her journey with the rest of the Tri-ers.



Arrived about 6:35 a.m. and got my packet (#95) and got body marked. Got my bearings since they switched the transition area from last year - found Jackie in the row just behind me and directly across - yay! We set up then took a walk down to the beach - first bathroom visit. Jogged back to transition area and put on wetsuits then headed back to the beach, approx. 7:45 at this point. It was turning into a cloudless, brilliant day - still a little cool. Jackie headed for the water; me, one more pit stop. Turned around and saw my friends Jean & Steve on the beach, there to cheer me on - a very cool surprise! Chatted a few minutes then got in the water to warm up - it was pretty obvious they were running a little late - weather brought out a lot of race day registrants.

About 8:15 they gathered everyone out of the water for instructions and the national anthem. As we walked out Jackie and I reviewed Tink's wetsuit removal advice. On the beach, they took a vote for the direction of the swim. Lots of people yelling "clockwise" including Jackie, as counterclockwise we'd be swimming into the sun. Somehow counterclockwise won anyway, (with Jackie commenting "idiots! oh well.."), and we were off in the first wave (elites, women over 40 & men over 50). I seem to have conquered my OW swimming issues! Despite plenty of kicks, shoves, and run-ins, I never stopped and was out of the water in approx. 15 minutes, maybe less (didn't look at my watch 'til halfway to T1) Dropped the wetsuit, and could hardly believe that Jackie was heading out on the bike - I've never caught up with her in T1 before! Not to worry, that was the last I saw of her 'til the end of the bike. Reasonably fast T1 except for putting on socks - it warmed up enough that there was no need for the jacket, Tink. Off I went. Psyched that I appeared to be in the middle of the pack for the first time!

Bike was delightful - so nice after practicing two loops of it last weekend. I passed a few people, including one woman in my age group on the hills, and had the same time as last week, about 47:30. Waved and cheered for Jackie as she headed out on the run, then reached the bike-in and T2. My friends were right there snapping pics! Changed shoes and headed out on the run. Kept to a nice 3:1 run/walk interval with at least 1 minute of each run at faster pace than usual. Jackie was there at the bridge advising me how they'd changed the finish from last year, then told me "it's time to sprint" (lol - coach Jackie!) I sprinted to the finish line and definitely stepped on the mat (more in a minute on that). Jean took my picture, then handed me a bouquet - how cool! A moment to focus and grab a water, then remembered to hit the watch - it said 1:38 something. Nothing to subtract since we were in the first wave.

















Finally got to check my splits, and I wasn't there! Fluke? Downloads not done yet? 10 minutes later, still not there. The race director was calling people over if they didn't appear on the lists - seems they were having trouble with their timing mat and some chips were also a problem. She found my swim and bike splits, but couldn't find the run. I told her what my watch said, my age group, and that it took my approx. 30 seconds before I stopped my watch. She said, "I'm putting you in at 1:37:34" - Okay!! Last year, in the rain, I did this race at 2:00:20 - need I say I'm happy?

Musselman Triathlon, "Mini-Mussel", Geneva, NY 7-16-06

The online Tri-ers' group designated the Musselman (half IM & sprint) as the 2006 group tri event nearly a year ago in 2005. I committed and signed on in February, 2005. I was excited to be training for an event with Jackie and Karis again and to know that we'd be meeting up with more of the board's participants who I only knew from online conversations. It had been a very rough winter, January into April, with the deaths of my sister and my colleague Melissa at work. Throwing myself into training became a way to work out (literally) the grief and to honor their memories. My sister was so proud of me, Allie, Susan & Lisa (my daughter and hers') completing our first tri at Danskin Webster in 2005 even though she couldn't attend because of her chemo treatments...and Melissa, so brave and forward thinking, still walking for miles, through the Jimmy Fund Walk and beyond, though the bone marrow transplants did not work...lots of reflection.

Fast forward to July 14, Friday

Danskin Disney and Webster Lake are behind me - I know I can deal with the threat of alligators and the reality of pouring rain. The forecast for the Musselman weekend is for triple-H weather in the 90's. After all the rain, I decided it's got to be better in the sunshine despite the heat. My goals are to have fun, increase my speed on the bike, and if possible, come in under 2 hours.

Karis arrived around 9:30 a.m. We packed up the SUV and Bob loaded our 3 bikes onto the rack and we were off! A brilliant and hot day! Once we crossed the MA/NY state line and passed Albany, we opted to drive the quieter (and slower) Rte. 20. Very scenic and Karis regaled us with stories and lots of info since she's a Cornell alum. Karis is a fantastic travelling companion! We made it to Geneva around 4:30 p.m., found the campus and the Barn and got our keys to our dorm rooms since we were staying in the Athletes' Village. Rooms were very clean and air conditioned! Jackie called to say that she and her kids were still on the road and that Elizabeth (ER) was about an hour behind her.

I contacted Bonnie to let her know that we were in and that I had additional goodies (hand towels and sparkly ponytail holders) to add to her bags. After cleaning up a little, we drove to the Hampton Inn and met up with the whole crew. Lots of intros, hugs, and goody bag hand-offs - the reality of putting faces and voices to names! I think I was just standing there with a big goofy grin on my face. So much fun! It was great to meet everyone in person. We divided up into vehicles - T and Jason rode with us - and all headed to the Crow's Nest for dinner. The highlight of dinner was the comraderie. Jackie and her children, Wyatt and Rachel, arrived soon after us. She was followed a little later by ER, and finally Tink arrived (just after the mosquitoes began attacking).

After dinner, we went back to the dorms and caught some of the Tour footage. Turned in and slept well. Fairly amusing to be in a dorm room more than 30 years after graduating...and sharing a bathroom down the hall.

Saturday, July 15

It was raining when we awoke - what's up with that?? It wasn't in the forecast. We met up with Karis, Jackie, Wyatt, and Rachel and walked to the pancake breakfast, a few blocks away. Good pancakes and bacon and large cups of coffee. ER met up with us, then headed out to test her computer with internet access after breakfast. We walked back and decided that while it was still drizzly would be a good time to drive the bike course. Bob drove and we all navigated around the sprint route and enough of the half-iron route that Bob would be able to find his way when he rode later that day. Our general consensus was that the sprint route was primarily flat with a couple of long low-grade rises; not hilly. Yay! I started psyching myself to push on the bike leg.

Bob dropped us off at the Barn for packet pickup and he headed back to get ready to ride - the sun was beginning to come out and it was getting warm. Enjoyed the expo - a tasting bar for Clif gel flavors, breaks on tri-gear and clothing. We went back to the dorms, unloaded packets and purchases, then reconvened for a short drive to Wegmans. An awesome supermarket, just as described on the Musselman website. I picked up bagels, small peanut butter containers, water, and oatmeal raisin cookies. We also had a good time "grazing" through the store which had lots of tempting samples. That reminded us that we needed lunch, so we went to Friendly's across the street.
Wendy and Cuz'n T. had called earlier when they went to swim. We didn't hear about their experiences with the shallow water and dead fish before we decided to test out the lake ourselves. It was a very hot, long walk from the free parking lot down to the park/transition area. Wyatt counted over 45 dead fish as we walked along tomorrow's run path. We reached the roped off swim area and got into the water. The good thing was that the water was warm. The bad things: very shallow and another huge dead fish, right in front of the lifeguard's chair! A 10-minute wade with a few practice strokes was about all I could deal with. We met up with Mia and her family at the playground and she drove us a good part of the way back so we had less of a walk to the car. We had at least seen all three routes for the sprint which helped the comfort level a lot; now each of us had to prepare herself for the heat to come - that would be our unknown.

We all cleaned up, met up with Bob - back from riding the 56-mile half IM bike route - and went to the pasta dinner. That's when we heard that JM's back was out again and that Tink and Carol were working on her and wouldn't make it to dinner. Food and being in the company of the Tri-ers' group was awesome, (we were introduced by the race director and stood up to identify our group), but there was no air conditioning in what appeared to be a brand new college building. Yikes! We were all psyched when Rachel, Jackie's daughter, found one of the hidden stickers on the bottom of her chair, entitling her to be a finalist for the door prize: a Blue Seventy wetsuit. And she won it for her mom! Very exciting.
Unfortunately we couldn't hear Jeff Mallett, the cartoonist/triathlete featured speaker, very well; no matter, I love the shirt that we received in our race packets. After dinner, folks broke off into several groups. Bob drove me, Karis, & Jackie (and Rachel and Wyatt) to the transition area to rack our bikes. Then we decided to meet at Jackie's car at 6:15 a.m. and ride to the race in the morning and headed our separate ways to pack up, relax, and sleep.

All my tri-gear was packed in a large backpack. I went through everything again, pulling out clothes, HRM, bike shoes, running shoes, energy bars, race number, extra contact lenses, etc., then replacing everything in its place so I would remember where it was - my own little pre-tri ritual since I'm paranoid that I'll forget something. Mixed up bottles of gatorade and water, and placed my wetsuit next to the backpack in its large zip-loc bag with handles. Attached my helmet to the backpack with bungee cords for carrying ease (who needs an expensive tri-bag? LOL!) Also discovered the light under the student desk in the room and plugged it in so I wouldn't have to wake Bob with the overhead flourescent when I got up before daylight. Off to sleep before 11 p.m.

Race Day, Sunday, July 16

Slept well for 5 hours, then started checking my watch and drowsing every 15 minutes 'til about 4:45 a.m. Got up by 5, padded down to the bathroom to wash up, put in contacts, back to the room to dress. Started hydrating with a goal of 24 - 32 oz. of water before getting to the race site. Ate an activia yogurt and a quarter of a bagel with peanut butter - that's worked for my other tri's (both sprints) this season, so, not changing a good thing. I had allowed an hour for all preparation and headed out the door at 6:05 a.m. after making sure Bob knew where to look for us when he rode down on his bike.

Found Karis and ER waiting by Jackie's car in the parking lot. We glanced up the hill and here came Jackie, Wyatt, and Rachel. Loaded our gear, and put Wyatt's bike on the rack for his first tri in the afternoon. We headed out, down to Seneca Lake Park, and were waved into the athletes' parking area - easy identification with the white bracelets we had been wearing since packet pickup. Unloaded everything and walked toward transition. Perfect timing for set-up, body marking, & standing in line for a porta-jon. Karis and I were a bit put-out when we discovered that others had moved our bikes farther down our respective racks in the sprint area - the nerve of some people! Oh well, our racks were pretty close to the bike-out so it wasn't worth getting too aggravated. Tink arrived and it really hit me that I'd actually be racing at Musselman, an event we began talking about 12 months before - we were here and this was real! The national anthem was played and we headed over to the swim staging area to watch our half-IMers take off at 7 a.m. I've never seen triathlon swim distances, other than a sprint, marked out in the water - I felt very proud as the WWFC Tri-ers moved out and began their swim.

A little final down-time and they began announcing that transition would close at 7:30. 15 minutes for final prep, body glide and donning the wetsuit. Tink, Karis, Jackie and I walk over to the staging area and listen to the sprint swim instructions - out to the one big buoy, a counter-clockwise u-turn and back in to the beach. Bob rides up, finds us, and snaps pictures. ER is there with Rachel, she gives her mom a big hug, and takes more pictures. We climb down the huge wooden steps and wade out to the start - this was our only warm-up. And then, at 8:08 we were off!


I'm a slow, but steady swimmer - still get a little freaked by stuff in open water, but mainly try to stay clear of other swimmers because I don't like getting kicked. Started out strong with the wave, but mid-way to the buoy I realized just how choppy the water had become and could hear many people around me actually calling for help! A little unnerving, but I pressed on using a combination of freestyle, breastroke and a little backstroke as the wind and the choppiness was interfering with my breathing. Rounded the buoy and noticed that the wind and current were now helping - yay! Karis was next to me at this point and we swam down towards the finish, had to stand too far out and run in because it was so shallow. Remembered to unzip my suit and pull it down around my waist as I ran. Watch said 12:30 at the point where I stood. Ran up the little hill toward transition, heard my name called, raised my arms towards the voice and Bob snapped my picture.

Wet suit came off fairly easily (thank you Tink and Puddy for all the tips on body glide and water into the suit and practicing!), decided to ride with no socks, slight panic looking for my second glove, then headed out on the bike. Around 4 minutes in transition, but it felt smooth considering it was my first wetsuit event.

Nasty cloth covering the grass that led to the road out of the park, but once on the road it was smooth sailing. Bob rode out to the first turn a little ahead of me, saw I was doing fine and took off to watch the other racers. I loved the bike route. It was hot, breezy, had a slight rise to the road, but mostly flat. I concentrated on my cadence, kept it quick and as uniform as possible, shifting often - whenever needed. I stayed in my middle chain ring and retrospectively should've moved into my upper ring - note to self, you really can push yourself into your upper chain ring; you know that now - next time just do it. Spoke to everyone I passed and gave out encouragement - got the same from all people on the route - very supportive folks at Musselman! Bob was waiting at the end, but nearly missed me - I surprised him, returning in under an hour with an avg. speed of 15.5 mph. That was a huge gain for me since my previous avg. was about 14 or a little under! I think I was really grinning at that point - I had achieved 2 out of my 3 goals.

Ran the bike in - I knew Jackie and Tink were ahead of me, but maybe not quite as far ahead as Jackie had been at Webster Lake. Got socks and running shoes on quickly, grabbed my hand-held bottle with gatorade and water (I had been drinking on the bike too but now I could really feel the heat) and headed through transition to the run start. Saw Cuz'n T's Jason, got a cup of water from volunteers and poured it over my head. Started jogging, but quickly realized I would need to run and walk early rather than later to conserve some energy for the finish. Settled into a 2-minute run/1 min. walk routine which worked well to keep my heart rate from zooming out of control. Got close to the first mile and saw first Jackie, then Tink and cheered each of them as they ran through their 3rd mile, heading for the finish. Got water from ER and my picture taken as I got past mile 1. The loop in the second mile had no shade at all and I traded encouragements and ran for a while with a guy who was going about the same pace 'til mile 2. More water, this time from Rachel, and headed back to the park, now with shady spots. I could see half IMers heading out on the run, but none had come in yet. Two women in my age group passed me and I tried to pick up my pace just a little, but I was still needing the walk breaks. Then the finish was in sight - I ran all the way through. My watch said 1:56 and the official clock said 2:04...what the..! When I caught up with Jackie, she reminded me that I needed to subtract 8 minutes since our wave began at 8:08, so 1:56 was correct! Doh! I made my 3rd goal and broke under 2 hours! Very suprising in the heat!

After the Race

Drank lots of water from the cool Musselman bottles provided at the race finish, ate Wegman's pasta, salad, & garlic bread, drank juice and had ice cream. The first race I've been to that provided more than fruit and some cookies as post-race replenishment. You can see it's not hard to impress me. Then there was a blur of activity going on: Jackie, Karis, and I went to the chiropractic tent for adjustments and that certainly helped my neck and shoulders which had gotten tight. Bob and Tink went back out on their bikes to watch for our half IM-ers. We continued to stay posted on others' whereabouts in the race from Jason, Preston, Theresa's family, and ER. The first half-IM racers, male and female, came in around 4 - 4.5 hours after the race started - man those people were flying in the heat! I saw Mia and Carol coming down the finish line. Karis and I kept Rachel busy with ice cream while Jackie prepared Wyatt for his race. ER called with updates when our racers made it to her water stop and also to check on Jackie (from MI) who had to drop out of the run because of her back pain - bummer! Bob called when he returned to the dorm (another nice feature of staying in the athletes' village: they said we could leave whenever we wanted on Sunday and use the facilities for a shower - no time restrictions, which was awesome). He said he'd be coming down to pick up Karis and me since we had a long drive back to the Boston area. So, to make this long story a tad shorter, we didn't get to see Wyatt race (he took 3rd place overall in the kids' race - terrific!), we saw Theresa running on her way back to the park and finish line, showered, loaded the car, and started the drive back on the NY Thruway.

All in all, an extremely well-run race, very supportive adminstrators, volunteers, and participants. Loved meeting the WWFC Tri-ers, just wish there had been more time to spend with everyone. The proposal for our next get together is to find more centrally located accommodations so we won't be spread out as we were here. I fulfilled my goals, had a good time, and survived encounters with dead fish and high heat. What could be better?

Webster Lake Triathlon – 6/25/2006 – run by Firm-Racing
Not the Danskin

I had been thinking of signing up for this race for a while then signed up spur of the moment since Jackie, Guin, and I weren’t able to get together in May or June for a training ride of the course. Since I’m familiar with the course, I figured it would be a good test of my skills on my new road bike. After signing up on Tuesday before the race, I spent a lot of time watching the weather reports for race day – it became pretty obvious we’d be in the middle of one of this year’s lingering rain spells for southern New England, which didn’t sound like a lot of fun, but I was committed.

Per Jackie’s suggestion, I packed everything in plastic bags (WalMart had some new humongous Ziplocs that held two pair of shoes!), and brought garbage bags and trunk liner sheets too from work (a garden center). I loaded my bike, pump, and helmet in the car on Sat. night, went over my packing list and added a surfing rashguard shirt just in case for the swim. Watched the radar screen on the weather site for a while trying to convince myself that it looked like the precipitation would stay south of Webster for the morning hours, then set my alarm and went to sleep.

4 a.m., the alarm went off. Snoozed for a few minutes, then came downstairs and immediately turned the computer on to keep up my vigil with the weather radar. No change there: forecast of showers with heavy rain possible, though the animation appeared to show dry spells around the time of the race. Ate breakfast – small yogurt with cereal and a half banana, drank water, filled my water bottle with Gatorade and water, played with my cats, then got dressed: tri shorts, tri top, HR monitor, and slip-on water shoes. Washed up and put my contacts in. Bike shoes, gloves, running shoes & socks were in a zip loc bag. Put some Clif Nectar bars and shot bloks in a smaller plastic bag, a change of clothes were in a plastic bag to stay in the car, other assorted goodies (rashguard shirt, goggles, pins & alligator clips, black marker, small wallet) were in my large backpack. Normally, I’d only carry the backpack, but I was intent on keeping things organized and dry, at least ‘til I needed them, so the weather definitely affected how many items I had to carry. Loaded everything into the car and left the house at 5:30 a.m.

The drive to Webster took just under 45 minutes. It rained through Worcester, then changed to a very light drizzle when I entered the park. Picked up my race packet, drove to the lot in front of the rest rooms, and went to pee. Came back to the car, dug my number out of the packet and added safety pins and alligator clips (thanks, Tink!). Took the bike out of the car, pumped the tires and put the race number around the top bar. Loaded myself up with the backpack and assorted plastic bags, wore the helmet, and walked everything over to transition. It was approximately 6:40 now, and the racks were looking sparse. I set up my area with a trunk liner on the bottom, my bagged items and backpack on top and covered all with another liner. Draped a 3rd liner over my bike and gears. I started to wonder how many registrants might not show. The woman next to me asked if I knew what wave I was in – I had forgotten to ask or look. Went back to registration and found the wave list – all white caps (me) were in wave #1, meaning all men 50+ and all women 40+.

Went back to the transition area and met up with Jackie who was setting up her transition area next to me – we had sequential numbers 80 (Jackie) and 81 (me). Just as we got everything set up, and covered, it started raining again – this time it was heavy and we got soaked even with jackets, caps, and hoods on. Pretty miserable and everyone you saw was showing their mood through their body language – kinda hunched over against the rain and stoically trying to ignore it. We’d all be wet in the lake soon enough, so why be upset? At least it wasn’t cold – around 65 degrees and muggy.

I decided to leave my cell phone, in a Ziploc bag, of course, in my car. When I pushed my electronic key button to unlock the car, it didn’t work. An unexpected rain casualty, so I used my mechanical key and the alarm started going off – yikes! I dropped my phone into the front seat, closed the door and re-locked the car with the key which stopped the alarm. Why hadn’t I kept the stupid key in a Ziploc bag? No time to worry about that now; I ran back to the transition area, put the key in my backpack, covered it over with plastic and headed back to the lake with 10 minutes left before the wave was supposed to go off. I put the annoying thought that I had no clue how to disarm the kill switch in the car out of my mind and headed into the water for a warm-up.

Jackie was already in the lake and swimming around and giving helpful instructions to anyone unfamiliar with Webster Lake. Love Jackie - she is full of energy and fast! Lots of people in wetsuits; I had one on order but it hadn’t arrived, so I wore the rashguard shirt. The water felt pretty warm – surprising because of all the rain – but I was glad I had the shirt on. The race start was held up about 30 minutes while one of the officials drove the bike course for safety reasons – they found a tree down that had to be cleared and they were able to give us information about the downhill just over the CT state line which has very rough pavement and pot holes. Jackie was shivering at this point which had me a little worried. Finally the national anthem then we were off!

I swam steadily, though still not as much freestyle as I would like. I like to avoid as many flailing arms and legs as possible so I’m sighting a lot. I still got hit once and kicked a couple of times, but it didn’t bother me this time. Just kept zeroing in on each buoy, rounding it and heading for the next. Kept telling myself to swim steadily. 23 minutes for the swim – I knew it wasn’t fast, but I refocused myself on my goal: to relax and enjoy the race and finish with no rain-related injuries.

Jog-walked back to transition, found my bike. Noticed the rain had mostly stopped. Nice. Got a dry hand towel out of the plastic bag, dusted off my feet and put on socks and bike shoes, helmet and gloves, all done pretty easily because everything was dry from the plastic wraps – awesome. No porta potties available, so I went over the side behind some trees next to transition and peed. Up, back to the bike, ate one Clif blok, then wheeled the bike to the start. Hopped on, was about to clip in, and realized that the chain was off the front gears onto the bar. Bummer! I got off and was starting to put the chain back on when a couple of guys came from behind and one held the bike while the other rotated the pedals – instantly the chain was back on! Yelled my thanks, and off I went. Lots of volunteers on the route which was very helpful particularly at busy intersections. I started really enjoying the ride despite the occasional drizzle, then started cheering myself on when I reached the first part of Killer Hill – that’s the longest stretch – then a level breather, followed by two more uphills – it was fun and I was passing other riders I came across. At the top of the hill, I was passed by a guy who went racing on towards the downhill. I don’t know if he was familiar with the route, but I was already slowing down in anticipation of the rough road ahead. Halfway down the hill I noticed a volunteer on my left and off to the right was the same guy who had passed me…he was fixing a flat. I continued my cautious descent, got to the 90 degree turn at the bottom and sped up for the rollers on good pavement. The rest of the ride was just fun – I passed everyone I saw in front of me (not that many because I knew I was towards the back of the pack due to my slow swim), then I saw Jackie on the run back to the finish line as I rode the last mile of the bike route and I cheered her as I rode by.

Racked the bike, changed from bike to running shoes, stripped off the gloves and the helmet, swigged some Gatorade and one more Clif blok. Took off for the run, but got a little disoriented where the start was. No timing start pad – so no transition times – oh well. Started the run and had no problems. Walked each water stop, drinking some and dousing myself with the rest – quickly began running again. Got to the turn-around and found Guin’s restaurant; Waterfront Mary’s - now we know where it is – maybe next year! Ran the rest of the way, feeling good but was very glad to cross the finish line. Caught my breath, drank water, ate a granola bar.

Found the results table and looked myself up….thought my eyes were playing tricks on me because I didn’t have my reading glasses…I saw a “3” by my number for my category and a final total time of 2:00:20. Almost identical to my first Webster tri last year. Unbelievable – I hadn’t pushed myself at all because I was so cautious over the rain and wet conditions. Having twisted my ankle a week and a half earlier, and because I’m still wary of my pedals after falling twice last week, I wasn’t about to take any risks. I think there were only 3 females in the 50 – 54 category; maybe there were no-shows because of the weather, but I’ll take it! My first take-home hardware! I made sure to stay for the awards this time. I found Jackie (she finished way before me as I knew she would) and we watched the awards presentation, cheering for people she knew in the area. I won hardware last year in my second tri, but I had no clue that I won ‘til Jackie emailed me, and I left that race before the awards to join my family heading on vacation. I learned the hard way that those who leave races early do not get their hardware or prizes. This time I was psyched!

Aftermath – remember the wet electronic key? It didn’t dry by itself, and my car wouldn’t start because the kill switch prevented it. I had to find my husband (on a bike ride) and tell him to please come to Webster (45 minute drive, remember?) with the spare key so I could turn off the car alarm and start my car and drive home. While waiting, I spoke to a friend who was at home on the computer and he looked up the car alarm company. Lo and behold - a procedure for manually turning off the alarm - I was in business!

Lessons learned: Be as prepared as possible for the elements, the race itself, and anything you can think of that might not go as planned. Here: weather, race start delay, bike chain, no porta potties, and anything electronic. Murphy’s Law will always appear in some form, but pre-planning and training gives you some flexibility. I gained hardware (thanks coach and training!), had friendly support at the race (thanks Jackie!), and thank goodness I had a cellphone!