I'm sick! Thanks to my great students who have given me this rotten cold. Ugg. I dare say the 15k race I was going to run in the morning will not come to be, sadly. Nor will I train much at all. I am taking this weekend off to rest apparently and I guess it comes at a good time. I just gave my first exam today in my classes and now have almost 160 to grade.
Ok, now for the real stuff. My race went ok. It wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't bad either. I know that I have tons of room for improvement, so that's good. I would hate to go out and win everything the first time :) (Yeah right!)
Anyway, the distance wasn't an issue. I felt good about that, but the course was challenging. It started early. The alarm went off and I sprang into action around 4:30. By 5:15, Irfan and I were walking to transition in the dark. I laid everything out in the exact order I had mentally prepared the night before. Everything would be ready for me when I came out of the water.
Having things just as I wanted, it was time to trek down to the ferry boats where I would be kidnapped and dropped off on Escape Island in the middle of Biscayne Bay. It was dark as we pushed off the dock aboard a local pirate ship and into the bay. As we neared the island I noticed the song they were playing went something like this, "Jump! Go ahead and jump!" Coincidence, I think not. We were preparing to jump off the boat and swim to the island. A song or two later was "I'll send an S.O.S. to the world I hope that someone gets my...". Yes, they were clever and most around me were oblivious to the irony.
It was time and so I donned my bright pink swim cap with my blue goggles and plunged into the water. It was warm, almost roasty. I swam the 100 or so yards to the island and there I sat waiting and waiting to begin my escape. The swim was suppose to start at 7:30, but 7:30 came and went. It wasn't until somewhere between 8:15 and 8:30 before we finally headed out into the open water.
The swim was a mass start and there were approximately 1000 athletes registered. We had room though to spread out and it wasn't nearly as bad as I had heard or imagined. I had read to breath every stroke in the beginning of an open water swim until your breathing slows and you are comfortable. That was good advice. I occasionally switched sides, but found that breathing on my right wasn't working too well. The chop was right in my face, the sun was beating down on me and my goggles seemed to constantly leak after breathing to the right, so I stayed mostly with the left. I lifted my head every now and again to look ahead and to see my route through the other swimmers. During this time we were swimming mostly against the current and it was hard with the choppiness and so forth. In general I'm a pretty good swimmer, but I was thinking about how easy it would have been for anyone to drown out there, including myself.
At last I rounded the buoy and it was time to head back towards shore. After making the turn I was almost alone for the remaining 700+ yards of the swim. I took the side route out of the main stream of the people and got comfortable and took more strokes between my breaths until finally I was in so much pain. My top had rubbed against my neck to the point of removing the top layer or 2 of skin and it sucked. I began trying to breathe on my right more and only occasionally switched back to my painful left side. The swim seemed long, but I had finally found my rhythm and was feeling good, aside from the chaffing on my neck.
I headed out of the water and into transition. I stopped for a cup of water to rinse that saltiness out of my mouth. Ukk! I hate the taste of salt water! I had left a gu packet open standing in my shoe ready for me to slurp down. It was great. I have discovered my favorite energy gel is CarbBoom apple cinnamon or strawberry kiwi. They both are almost as good as candy! I attempted to be quick in the transition, but I'm slow. This is one of the areas I need to work really hard on.
At last I was off onto my bike :) The road was bumpy and the wind intense which was sometimes good (ie when it was a tail wind) and other times hell. I started off though feeling really good. I felt strong and knew I could have a good day. When I rounded the corner and headed for the first bridge the wind seemed to stop me dead in my tracks. Ok, I didn't stop, but the ride suddenly got really hard. I approached the bridge which is a little smaller than the one I bike over regularly. I got off my seat and peddled to the top passing many others (my local bridge climbing had paid off). As I rounded the top, I got low and cursed the wind for being so strong. There was another bridge a little smaller and then we were beach side with a crosswind. It wasn't bad. For the most part I was holding 18+mph. The turn around came and soon a long uphill entrance to climb back onto I-195W. Now the wind was at my back. I was loving it. After heading down the first bridge I was holding 25+ and then as I passed a few more people going up the second bridge I was flying. With the wind at my back and heading down the bridge, I hit 37 mph! I held tight and enjoyed the speed. Finally it was time to peddle again. I made the turn onto the last road, went about 1-2 miles, turned around, continued past the water stop and headed out for my second lap.
Heading into the wind sucked just as bad, wait it was worse, the second time around. It drizzled off and on which was nice to keep us cool, but made you keenly aware that a few more drops would make the roads slick and that would be nasty. There was already a wreck. I didn't see it happen, but I noticed the two guys not moving off the pavement afterwards. I also saw a few people walking their bikes back, probably problems with their chain. There were also the usual flats. Luckily I escaped with no harm.
I jumped off my bike and took way too long in transition again. I was right on time though. If I had a good run then I could beat the 3 hour mark. I had another gu (I also had taken one on the bike), changed shoes, put on my visor and eventually was off and running, but with much pain. I tried to regulate my breathing, but it didn't seem to help. I thought something was going to fall out of me. At least it felt like someone was going to pull it out of me, whatever "it" was. I kept a steady pace for the first 2 miles, but finally I couldn't hold it. I began walking off and on. I tried to do 5-1 (run 5 minutes, walk 1). After a couple of reps I decided to do 4-1. I felt horrible and was SO hot.
The aid stations made me mad. Either the water OR the gatorade was cold, never both! I always took a cup of each, but by the end I wished I had taken 2 of each. In addition to my pain, the run course wasn't all that easy either. After heading out of transition and down the street a couple of blocks, we headed up over another very long bridge. We were running directly into the wind. On the way back I was so tired, it didn't matter where the wind was, I was walking a lot. After climbing the bridge again, I made the commitment to run the rest of the way. I picked it up and finished strong in 3 hours 12 minutes and 41 seconds, but the run pace was slower than my slow marathon pace.
It wasn't a great race, but it was a good experience and overall, I'm happy with my time. On my next race, I'll try for a flat fast course and push to break that 3 hour mark I so desperately want.
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