I got up at 5:45am and immediately felt reassured because my knee definitely felt better this morning than it did last night...still sore, but not as much acute pain. I ate an eglish muffin with peanut butter and a package of instant oatmeal with a banana in it. I am still having to force myself to eat this early...just not hungry. ...but I know I have to get the nutrition in with enough time to digest before the swim. I also drank about a half cup of black tea, and then made a warm electrolyte drink.
As I arrived at Frenchman's Bar, Glen announced the gun would be going off at 8:00am sharp, so we all hurried to set up our transitions, get into our wetsuits, and get into the water to warm up. Glen and I decided that I would just play the run by ear depending on how my leg felt after the bike....I had every intention of taking it easy.
The start was announced and into the water we ran. Within four minutes my cap floated off and I had to stop and tread water to get it back on. That, of course, put me out of breath and once again began a series of frustrating events on the swim. I feel like I am being put to the test on my hardest event...my cap came off two more times, and the last time it happened Glen shouted to me to just forget about it and throw it behind me. Little did he understand (given that he has no hair!) what that would actually mean for me. I might as well have been swimming with my eyes closed .... every time I took a breath my hair would cover my eyes and mouth. I had to wipe it off my eyes to sight....and at one point I was clearly swimming out toward the middle of the river! What a fiasco!
I finally made it to the cones (all I can say is thank god I didn't have to swim like that for a mile!), and for whatever reason I was still the fifth person out of the water....I keep thinking that if I could just get my @#$% together on these swims I could actually do pretty well. But that is for another day apparently....
My transition was alright...I am really surprised at how tired I feel coming out of the swim as I struggle out of my wetsuit and run up the beach. As a runner, its just plain weird to be so winded as I run 100 yards but it obviously has to do with the exertion of the swim. I do think I have a lot of opportunity to do this transition more quickly, but I made it onto the bike and out of the parking lot without crashing into any poles this time around....still shaky at first, but upright. It took me a good five minutes to catch my breath and start to get into a groove, and I felt super tired for the first 5 miles or so. But, I pushed it really hard because my knee was feeling alright, and I began to feel much better at about mile 7. Drinking was hard today...I didn't feel thirsty and I was breathing so hard it was tough to make it happen. I didn't eat anything at all on the bike. I averaged 20.5 mph today, and that felt really good....I finished strong and transitioned fast into my running gear.
As I took off for the run, I was surprised that my knee didn't bother me more...it was tender but not throbbing or aching. So, I started out tentatively but built speed as I realized I could. I was able to maintain a nice long stride and focused on pumping my arms to help me out. I knew I couldn't catch Andy, but everyone kept telling me I could catch Craig. What I really wanted to do was to catch up to him and then finish with him...I really had no need to beat him and thought it would be powerful way for both of us to finish...I guess it felt important to me to make a statement that this is more than just a competition between us, and I wanted to be supportive to him. I did catch him with about 1/2 mile to go, and we ran together until the last 100 yards or so. At the end, he told me to go ahead bc it was obvious I wasn't running as hard as I could (which was fine with me) but I got the sense it was what he wanted. I felt really strong as I finished.
Whew...a triathlete at last! Today we put it all together for the first and last time before our race. I cant believe two weeks from now we will be racing in Pacific Grove. I am excited, nervous, and everything in between. But now I get to enjoy Taper!
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