I have to give you some history about the Milkman from 2009. It was my second triathlon, and it totally kicked my butt. It was my first open water swim, I got disoriented and had to ask a lifeguard to help me figure out how far to the turn around point; I had to get off and walk my bike up a portion of the hill; I fell OFF my bike, knocked myself out briefly, and broke my helmet; and by the time the run began it was over 100 degrees. It took me 2 hours and 56 minutes in 2009. I was out for revenge.........
Stephen (our son) came to visit on Friday the 28th of May. I love having our adult children visit. They are great people, and we all enjoy one another's company a great deal. It was hard to leave on Friday the 4th to drive to Roswell and give up some precious Stephen time, however, the siren song of a triathlon (perhaps the low mooing of the Milkman Triathlon?) was a dulcet tone in my ear. I shaped a meat loaf, made some cookies, and headed off to Roswell at about 3 in the afternoon. I'd checked the weather, and the forecast for Saturday in Dexter was 105. My heart sank a lot, but I was committed to bettering my time this year.
I got to the hotel, checked in, and waited to meet Marcy and Jeffery Oxford. Marcy and I'd been exchanging emails all week long since this was to be her first open water swim. She got a wet suit for the event. I had my triathlon bag packed and had already checked it four times on Thursday night, much to Stephen and Les' amusement. I deliberately forbade myself from bringing it into the hotel room so I could avoid compulsively checking to make sure I had my bike shoes, helmet, gloves, etc. Marcy and Jeffery arrived a little after six, and we went to Cattle Baron's for the salad bar and we had a great visit. Then it was back to the hotel and early into bed for me. Jeffery and Marcy are both taking summer classes, so they did homework and Jeffery worked on switching parts around between two bikes to get the right arrangements.
I woke up before the alarm, about 4:45, got ready, and had my bike loaded back onto the van by 5:30. We loaded up Marcy and Jeffery's bikes and headed off to Dexter, about 20 miles south of Roswell. The weather was lovely and we easily got our packets and set up our transition areas. The Milkman has scheduled transition areas based on your race number, so we were not together but were instead with our waves. In this race, waves were established by age group so I was in wave six of seven, Marcy was in wave 5 and Jeffery was in the first wave (he is a collegiate triathlete after all).
The arrangements at Dexter are great and this was their 26th annual Milkman Triathlon. The first wave left at 8 and each wave left five minutes later. This helped with congestion in the water and everyone lined up by their numbers in the wave groupings. I was #602, and those of us with wet suits were zipped up the back by the person behind. Wet suits were completely optional since the air temperature was 75 and so was the water temperature. I opted to wear mine since I wanted every advantage on the 500 meter swim and the little bit of extra buoyancy sounded great to me. Of course there is a trade off because transition is harder with a wet suit since getting out is about as hard as getting in to the tight neoprene garment and of course you are tired from the swim.
Into the water, and then I did a head up crawl for a few meters until the crowd thinned out and I could flip over and do the back stroke. I know, it is wimpy and lame to do a triathlon using a backstroke, however I can do it with the little practice I get in the water. This summer the Fort Sumner pool is opening, and it is my plan to swim two or three times a week after work so I can develop some skill in the crawl. I stayed close to the divider rope so I would not get off course. I had my heart rate monitor on, and thought I was doing pretty well staying in the 120-135 range for the swim. I was really happy to get out of the water and discover I'd done the 500 meters in 16 minutes. Last year it took me 22 minutes to do the swim portion and when I staggered out I thought about just quitting. Not so this year, I felt good and was able to run to transition and wriggle out of my wet suit in a speedy 4 minutes.
On to the bike. I had cleverly prepared two bottles of G2 with ice in them, and as I left on the bike I noticed there was even a little ice still in there. Next time I should freeze it a little bit. It was pretty toasty as I headed out on the bike, but I was still wet from the water and it felt pretty good to be peddling along. The bike route at Dexter is fairly flat for the first 3.5 miles and then it is a good hilly bit for the last 2.5 to the turn around point. I was pleased to see that I was making decent time and even passed a couple of folks. At the turnaround point they gave us water bottles that were full of chilled H2O. I drank a little, but ended up putting most of it on my head, and torso. It was really pretty toasty. I was pumping it pretty hard on the bike and kept my heart rate in the 145-155 range most of the one hour and five minutes it took me to do the 12.5 miles. I really wanted to do it in under an hour, so that will have to be next year's goal for Dexter.
Back to transition, out of the bike gear and on with the running shoes and ball cap. It was a toasty 100 to 105 as I started the run. Frankly, I had very little run in me at that point. I did jog a little, and I was passed by a cheerful 82 year old man. I really wanted to pace myself on him, but the heat was pretty oppressive. I would jog until my heart rate passed 150, and then walk until it got to 125, then jog again. My version of "rinse and repeat." It took me 55 minutes to do the 3.1 mile run, nine minutes more than my best time on the 5K.
Marcy and Jeffery met me at the finish line and it was lovely to get some cool water. There is a new sports recovery drink out there, Honey Milk, and they were giving icy cold bottles of that as part of the refreshment. I tried the Coffee flavored light Honey Milk and it was terrific. The protein and carbohydrates are great for me as a post-bariatric surgery athlete. Neil, the overall winner (57 minutes for all three events and transition) came up and told me that Marcy had filled him in on my story and he wanted me to know that he found the story inspiring. That meant a lot to me because that is not how I see myself. I continue to see myself as the slow, fat, fake triathlete. Hearing him describe me as something different was a special experience. I am treasuring that conversation.
Overall, my time was 2 hours and 22 minutes. That means I cut 1/6 of the time it took me last year off in this year's competition. I feel great about the improvement and I am so thankful that the Lord is letting me use this new fitness opportunity to do triathlons.
Back to the hotel for showers, then off to Subway for an Albuquerque Turkey on whole wheat. I finished eating, and boy I just crashed for about 1/2 an hour in the car. I was completely worn out and just had to sit there and wait for the food to get my blood sugar up. I looked at my heart rate monitor, and the 2:22 had burned over 1,500 calories (based on the heart rate, age, weight, etc.). Once I got to feeling like I could move, I headed to Sams to get the food for our Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon and the Friday night spaghetti dinner. That took about an hour, and when I left Roswell it was 119 degrees and I was sure glad to be in an air conditioned car :-)
When I got home I shared my blow-by-blow adventures with them. I was not the last place finisher. There were three male DNF (does not finish) guys. Of the people who finished, I came in ahead of one woman and two men. That makes me the fourth from last. I still have lots of room to improve to get out of the bottom ten, but that is a worthy goal.
This Saturday is the Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon. This is our first attempt to host a triathlon in Fort Sumner. It will be out at the lake and I am trying to learn how to be a race director. I am also sure that it is foolish for the race director to try to do the race. I am signing up for that level of foolishness. There is some high pressure to finish the race rapidly. We are starting at 7 AM and I need to be in the car and on the road for town by 9:20 since I need to be announcing the parade at 10 AM. Doreen and Scott are helping me cook the Friday night spaghetti dinner. We are anticipating we will have about 150 to 200 folks for the spaghetti dinner and then we all have to be out at the lake by 5:30 on Saturday morning. The triathlon and the dinner are fund raisers for the school athletic program. We are allowing same day registration, so if you want to give it a shot, show up at 6 on Saturday morning <grin>
Thank you once again for allowing me to share my fitness adventures with you. I really enjoy the community experience that happens at the event and the online sharing that happens when I post my perspectives on the event as well. You are generous to share your time reading my stories.
Patricia
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