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!