Saturday was a beautiful day for a triathlon in Santa Fe. I did my packet pick-up in Albuquerque on Thursday night, and then Friday night attended the mandatory pre-race meeting in Santa Fe. Both the run and the bike courses were changed since the previous year, and the race director wanted to make sure we were all quite aware of the rules and the course. There are so many great challenges to the City of Santa Fe Triathlon that I have no choice but keep it on my race calendar, PLUS it is a wonderfully organized and supported race. This year was no exception to either the rule of challenges or support. The C of SF Tri always starts at 6:30, and transition opens at 5 AM, so I decided to go to dinner early and head to bed so I could be up get up at 4 AM. I am, as you know if you follow my RR, pretty obsessive if I have the chance to grab "my" spots in an open racking situation. My preference is to be near the exit for the bike portion of the race. This means that I am willing to dismount my bike and run into transition with my bike shoes clopping along. In this particular race it also put me in a good spot to be able to run out and down the LONG sidewalk down to the swimming pool entrance. Yes, I give transition location a lot of thought. Now for the blow by blow details of my most excellent adventure in Santa Fe.
I got to bed by 9, and then woke up about 2:30. I refused to get up, but I was just so excited about the race that I could not go back to sleep. It is a reverse sprint, so that means we run first (my favorite) and the first mile is mostly downhill. I love running downhill because the advantage gravity gives me is worth the stress on the knees. I also have way better transition times in reverse sprint triathlons, so I was running things through in my mind. I did doze off for about half an hour and then got up at 3:45 and was out of the hotel by 4:15, dressed and ready to go. I drove through McDonalds, where I chatted with the nicest fellow who was quite cheerful for that early in the morning, and got a sugar free/fat free iced latte and a cheese free egg McMuffin. Just a hint, if you get your egg McMuffin without cheese, you save about 75 calories of not so great cheeze (we spell it with a "z" because I don't think it is real cheese) and they have to make it fresh. I toss half of the muffin away and have the perfect prerace breakfast. I got to the parking area about 4:40 and loaded up my stuff and unloaded my bike. I carried my bike to the road and there were already about 10 bikes (other obsessive compulsive triathletes) in transition, but fortunately no throwdowns were necessary since none of them were in "my" spot. I got set up, and went in to get body marking done, got my timing chip, and then found an outlet to use my nebulizer for a breathing treatment for my asthma.
Back up to transition, borrowed a bike pump from the super nice bike mechanics and aired up my tires. Chatted with a few folks, and then went for a pre-race bike ride warm-up. Oh, the altitude was killer. It did not take much to get the heart pumping and the lungs working. There is not a lot of oxygen in the air in Santa Fe, compared to our elevation in Fort Sumner. I was really gasping for air. One of the challenges I like to embrace, hence one of the reasons I sign up for this race. At 6:15 they closed transition and we all moved out to the road where the wonderful City of Santa Fe Police had closed off Rodeo Road so we could run down it unimpeded. I ADORED the support in this race. They are just so great about keeping us safe. Yes, the bike course is open to vehicle traffic, but they have uniformed officers at every main intersection managing the traffic. There are over 100 volunteers, it is terrific. At 6:30, we take off, and I am running well. The downhill is being good to me, I am keeping up with a group of people, and it feels good. A little asthma problem, but I am working with it and am postponing the use of my break through inhaler. We are about 3/4 of a mile into the run, when a woman in the group I am running with, falls and breaks her ankle. She is running, and she just falls and breaks her ankle. Amazingly, she does not cry, we just wave the police down and they call the ambulance and take her away (found out later she probably did break her ankle). She is brave and she tells her friend to finish the race, so we all just leave her with the police and then we run on. Yes, we triathletes are driven. Our companion is down for the count, and we murmur in sympathy, and proceed to run our race. At least we summoned aid and made sure a responsible party was there to watch her. I wait until the turn around and then use my inhaler and then finish the run ahead of probably ten folks, just guessing. It was just the luck of the draw, but in my particular bike rack, I ended up being the first person back from the run. I can tell you that has NEVER happened to me before, and it was fun to be the first one back from the run. Now, drum roll, my run was 40 minutes! Yes, that is only 2 minutes off my personal best at Jay Benson in May, and that is despite the altitude in Santa Fe. This time was also FIVE minutes better than last year.
Off on the bike, and I am cruising. I love the bike and I love passing people. I REALLY love passing people going up hill. It is so sweet, so satisfying to push, and push and pass someone going uphill. The route was primarily uphill going out, and into the wind, but I am pretty devil-may-care and just flew back in my biggest gears and crushed the return trip. I did remember to drink plenty on the bike because I did not want a repeat of last year's dehydration episode. I'd had plenty to drink on the run, and finished about 10 ounces on the bike. The bike time included both the run into transition and the run down to the swim, both transitions, and it was 55:53. This time was 13:43 faster than last year. YEAH, baby, you read that correctly......THIRTEEN minutes and 43 seconds faster than last year. My swim was laughable, as always, at 16:30. This time was two minutes and nine seconds faster than last year. I used my rescue inhaler as I ran down the LOOOONG sidewalk to the swimming pool. I was finishing the 5th of 8 laps, when I knew I was in some breathing trouble. I switched to the backstroke and tried to ease the tightness, but my lungs were being unforgiving and unyielding. I finished and got out with an overall time that put me in 6th place for the Athenas. Last year my total time was 2:13:33 and this year my total time was 1:53:13. This means I cut 20:23 off this race. I will take that any day.
Once I got out of the water I asked a volunteer to go up and get my red nebulizer bag so I could do a breathing treatment. Actually, my asthma made me more whisper it, but I got the message across. They were good enough to go get it for me, and then got me set up by an outlet so I could use my machine. The paramedics came to check on me, but I assured them that I knew what I was doing to care for myself. Of course I had to sign forms for everyone, including the lifeguard that they had offered to help me and that I was stubborn and willful and did not want to go to the hospital. Actually, the paramedics agreed with me that I was fine, but they still had to get me to sign the form that says they offered.
So after the race it was off to Starbucks for a fat free frappe, and I got a bonus free oatmeal (they'd made an extra and it was just my lucky day) and then to the hotel for a shower. Then off to Sam's for groceries and then a small Schlotzsky's on wheat (celebration meal) to eat on the road. While I was driving I was thinking about many things. I was really happy about how well the race went, and I was also embarrassed/frustrated/angry about the struggles with my asthma. While I was in the pool I was pretty angry at my asthma, like it was my enemy. On the way home I started thinking that maybe I needed to change my perspective. My asthma is part of who I am, like my eye color. I did do the things I know I need to do to care for my asthma. I did a breathing treatment prior to the race. I took the inhaler with me. I used it. I had the machine and meds available since I know that this has been a very bad year for asthma. It has been a long time since I pretended I didn't have asthma, so maybe I should not be so angry when it flares up. Frankly, my asthma is not keeping me from doing things I like to do. I may not be doing them as fast or as fluidly as I wish, and it has been inconvenient to have asthma flare up, but I can work with that. I do keep hanging on to the information the pulmonary specialist shared years ago; asthma has a six year cycle and that consists of 2 good years, 2 bad years and 2 years that can go either way. This is one of the two bad year and maybe it will end soon and I will move on to one of the good years :-) My change of attitude or perspective toward my asthma is not fully fleshed out, but I know I need to be prayerful about this and be open to looking at this challenge differently.
Next up, Dam It Man at Elephant Butte on Sunday the 24th. Prior to that, I have Diva Night at Sports Systems on Thursday the 21st at 6 PM. That brings it own challenges since I have to be a "Fastanistia" in my sportswear for that event. I did get to pick out the outfits, and they are really cute and they are things I would really wear to run, bike or do triathlons in, so I feel good in them.
Merrily Training Along,
Patricia
Patricia, you're making awesome strides! Keep up the great effort. You're a racing fool! I like your idea on changing your perspective with regard to your Asthma. You're a smart cookie. :)
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