Dear All,
First, I had a great time at the Dirty Tri in Alb. on the campus of Albuquerque Academy this last Sunday. I must share the details with you because that is part of how I cement it firmly in my memory <grin>
I went to Alb. on Saturday to do my packet pick-up. As has become my pre-triathlon experience, I went to a movie in the afternoon. This time I saw the new Pixar animated film, "Up" on Stephen's recommendation. It was a great movie. I ran a few errands, got a pedicure (it is important to have good toe grooming when in a triathlon) and got to bed about 9 that evening.
If you remember the Dexter drama, I slept poorly and was up way too early. This time I slept magnificently and didn't wake up until 5:30. I had a quick AchieveOne (protein drink) and got ready. I'd already asked for a delayed check out since I needed to get back to the hotel and shower prior to the flight to DC. Once I was fully "geared out" I headed to McDonald's for an egg McMuffin with no cheese. I pitched half of the muffin and ate the egg and ham. I had my trusty map, so I headed off to the campus of Alb. Academy.
I do have to tell you that the pre-race email scared me a bit. In the email, the director said that the trail would not be extremely well marked and that it was our job to familiarize ourselves with the route; they expected locating the trail to be part of the race challenge! Now, I've NEVER done any trail riding besides riding my bike on the ditch banks, and that meant "finding the trail" was a pretty intimidating message. There was a map in my packet, but I had no compass or ability to commit it to memory, so I stuffed it in my bike shirt.
Once I was at the Academy, I parked and set up my transition area. I got a nice spot on the end of the row. I was incredibly early. It was just 6:30 and the hard start was not until 8. This gave me tons of time to walk around and get more nervous. I think smarter athletes had a clue about how to stretch and warm up. I spotted some of "those folks" and was a copy cat. I also drank a lot of decaf coffee and went to the bathroom twice; you never no when you might need to go to the bathroom and there might not be a bathroom available!
At 7:30 we had the pre-race orientation. It was at that point that I realized that the race was not in the traditional order (swim, bike, run) or in a reverse order (run, bike, swim) but was instead a bike, run, swim. They announced that in this race we would have a Le Mans style start. This meant that we took our bikes and put them in a dirt area and then we all lined up 50 yards away. At 8 AM promptly they blew the whistle and we all dashed 50 yards to get on our bikes. I think the idea is you leap into the saddle and peddle away. Since I've never practiced "leaping into the bike saddle" I thought it wise to mount as I usually do and just get on the bike carefully and pedal away.
A smart friend, who's done lots of mountain and trail riding, told me to leave my bike shoes at home. Boy, was he right! I wore my trail shoes (New Balance trail running shoes) and I am so thankful. I am used to riding with the bike shoes, so that means each pedal stroke has more ooomph because the upstroke counts too. Using the tennis shoes I lost this bit of advantage and that threw me off (training note, do this BEFORE the next trail ride). I was in the back 1/4 of the pack, and as the 7.4 mile trail continued I fell further back, but not so far that I could not see the riders in front of me most of the time. That was good since I was a bit worried about getting lost.
The trail was mostly single track with some double track. I now know what that means: single track is like a cow path in a pasture and double track is like when pick-ups drive in a pasture. The organizers said this was not a technical trail at all. I have to say I was scared enough on several occasions that I was grateful I'd gone to the bathroom before the race. There were a couple of places where you could really pick up speed, but the trail was pretty sandy (or you could tell it was going to get sandy), so I had to be very careful. I had to get off and run my bike through five or six really sandy arroyos. At first I felt like I was being a bad participant, but after the race I found that most of the major competitors did the same because it was faster. Silly me, I did it because I didn't have the skills/strength to pedal through the sand! On one part of the trail I REALLY freaked out. I was headed down an incline and noticed that if I lost my bearings at the bottom of the incline I would tumble down into a rocky arroyo with lots of cactus. Of course I immediately began to focus on, "I will not fall, I will not fall, I will not fall" and I am so glad the positive thinking proved true. On one of the arroyo crossings I came across a woman who had a HARD fall. I stopped to help her, but she just wanted to stay down. She had slipped in the sand and really took a tumble. Her leg already had a double fist sized bruise on her upper thigh. She opted to wait for the "sweeper" crews coming around. I told the next trail monitor about her and they were going to get her some help.
After about 55 minutes I made it back to the transition area, and then off with the bike gear and on for the walk. I did not have any run in me, but I noticed there were lots of people walking the route. The best I've done in the past was 45 minutes for 3.1 miles. This time it took me 55 minutes to walk the trail. At one point, I thought, "You've got to be kidding." They had the route go through an arroyo and it entailed climbing across some boulders and debris from the last flood. It all looked pretty precarious to me, so I got down and crawled across it. I was also quite vigilant about snakes. It was a good, cool, overcast day and so there was not heat issue like I faced in Dexter.
Back to the transition area, and off with the bike gear, on with the swim cap and goggles. As I went in to the pool, they announced my arrival (last one in the pool) and announced that I'd lost 230 pounds. Everyone was clapping and cheering. They lined up at the pool and cheered me each lap a I finished. I would love to say I am an elegant swimmer, but I am not. I was so worn out that all I could do was the back stroke for the 400 meters. I was the very last person to finish the triathlon, and there was lots of cheering and clapping. Maybe they were just glad it was done, but I really think they were glad I was able to finish.
Packed up my gear, and headed to Subway for a whole wheat and turkey sandwich. Yum, I love Subway. Then I went to the hotel, got a shower, and then packed up my stuff. I also headed to Walgreens to get some Tylenol since I was pretty sore. Then it was off to the airport and fly to Washington, DC. I got to DC about 11:30 DC time and then off to the hotel. It was a good day.
I would like to brag and tell you I was fifth in my age group, and that is a true statement. There were a couple of folks who DNF (Did not Finish) or DNS (Did not start) in my age group, but I was the last person who finished. It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes. The fastest folks finished in less than an hour, to give you some perspective. The person who was second to last finished twenty minutes before me.
I think I feel a bit bad about being the last one. I would like to NOT be the last one, but this is only my third triathlon and I guess I just have to be patient. I am extremely happy to be finishing the triathlons, and that I am able to do them. I do want to become more competitive though.
So what is next? Well, I've signed up for the Durango 100 bike rally. This will be at the end of July and I will bike 50 miles from Durango down to Farmington. The REALLY committed folks will bike BACK to Durango, but not me. Right now the most I've riden is 26 miles, but I've got time to build up before the race at the end of July. After that, I will do the Socorro Chili Harvest Triathlon the first Saturday of August in Socorro, NM. I've got a number of friends who are doing that one, and this will be the first one where I've had anyone I knew participating. I did meet a friend's son after the Dirty Tri this weekend, so that was nice.
Thank you for the encouragement and interest in the adventures of Patricia the Triathlete. I guess I can call myself that now since I seem to be in this as a lifestyle. In one of my triathlon training books it says that 80% of those who do triathlons are first time participants and will never do another one. That makes me one of the weird 20% that keep paying for the fun of the event and the competition.
Thankfully,
Patricia
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