Boo, Yeah, YEAH, YEAHHH!

The alarm went off at 4:30 yesterday morning dragging Jake and my weary hind ends out of our very warm bed. It would have been really nice to sleep some more, especially for Jake since he has just gotten back to G-wood after being gone 19 of the past 21 days. Yuck. But who could stay in bed when it is Clemson Triathlon Day? That would just be foolishness!

I was super excited to do this triathlon since they give out really cool shirts....hehehehe, no not really but maybe a little, but because we get to hang out with our really fun triathlon friend that lives by Clemson ("Crazy T" we will call her. She will love that.) and we had heard that this race course was pretty fun.

Crazy T is actually a very mild mannered, calm on the outside, well adjusted, mother of two cute little kids...who could be the second most competitive person I know. There is a switch that flips in her head at the beginning of a race and she gets super competitive. She would try to win anything she signed up for..or anything I sign up for. She was one of the folks we met in Asheville at our first triathlon last year and now we drag each other on fun adventures and try to beat one another at races. I kick the poop out of her on the bike, then she passes me on the run to beat me at the tail end of the race usually. AAARRGGHH. Crazy T is an awesome runner but develops the craziest wheeze you have ever heard in your life when she is running. I can hear her catching me from about 50 feet back. I always feel like she maybe dying and need CPR, but then she passes me. Harumph. We have been on a number of ridiculous undertakings together: she was the person behind me on the bike during my run in with Buddy (see last post) and the person who kept me from drowning during the wetsuit incident. She and Jake take turns talking me out of quitting triathlon right before each race, when I always think it may actually be a better idea if I sit in the car or go pick up breakfast for everyone and meet them at the finish instead of actually competing myself. Crazy T only has time to train over her lunch time and a little on the weekends and still manages to be pretty dang good.

Anyway, the reason she is getting so much explanation is that T is the only reason I finished the Clemson triathlon. My open water swimming (lake) is not good. I am not exaggerating. See prior post about wetsuit as an example. During my pre-race freak out, she and Jake were telling me I would be fine, etc but left out the fact that it would be the furthest open water swim I had ever done (350 meters longer)...or the longest swim of ANY sort I have ever done. T and I are in the same wave so we get to stand on the beach and watch Jake go together. During that time we are watching people get hauled back to shore by the kayaks when they decide they cannot complete the swim (so they quit the swim and forfeit the rest of the race). T starts talking about how that is ridiculous and weak minded it is to quit, and how she would brutally pummel and quit being friends with anyone she knew that ever quit during the swim (I know I am exaggerating, but that is what my mind heard).

BOO-So we waded out into the opaque water and started our swim. T has been working on hers and is super fast in the water now. Pretty soon I had lost her and was on my own. I was doing okay, maybe a little anxious but keeping it together when I got run over by another swimmer. It was not enjoyable and I swallowed a bunch of lake water and did the choking thing, and then I freaked out a little. I was at least 200 meters straight off of the shore and seriously thinking about getting one of those guys in the kayak to come and drag me back in when T's verbal beach berating started ringing in my water filled ears. I decided that I could get help if I needed it, but if I was wanting to ride my bike (my favorite part) I would need to finish the damn swim. So, it ended up that I breast stroked most of the swim with my head out of the water and goggles on my forehead, occasionally throwing some freestyle in when I didn't feel like I was drowning and feeling about a millisecond away from quitting. I have never been happier to feel ankle deep mud in my life when I hit the shore. Primary problem with my swimming trainwreck is that swimming the breast stroke with your head out of water (not to mention the breast stroke) is not fast and uses up your legs big time, which makes the rest of the race a lot harder. My bike and run would be twice as hard as if I had managed to swim a consistent, efficient freestyle the whole way. Amazingly enough, I beat some of the people that were in my wave (20 minutes for 750 m swim with uphill run at the end). Holy crap. In retrospect, I can't decide if I gave up or overcame. I feel like I let my mind get the best of me, but I was definitely NOT prepared for the swim from a training perspective anyway so maybe I overcame a little too...Let's call it a wash.

Yeah- Now I have to fly on the bike because I am determined to make up time. I about keeled over on the bike several times initially trying to get myself back together. My heart rate was really high, my legs were screaming, and there were a couple really nasty hills right off of the bat. I pulled it together, caught a bunch of people and finally was enjoying the scenery by the end. I never caught T though. So I knew she was going to beat me this one. Yuck. I biked the 11 miles in 36 minutes (not bad) and was ready for the run.

YEAH-The run is usually the worst for me when we are doing pool swims. However, since I tried to drown in the lake I decided the run was no longer my worst activity! The run was nasty because it was downhill initially (which was nice) but then had a SICK uphill to get to the entrance to a trail we ran on. I was not looking at my watch at all after the swim figuring it was going to make me nuts the whole time if I knew how far off pace I had gotten so I just ran as hard as I could. My major goal this year was to get under 30 minutes in the 5K, but with the swim, having to mash it out on the bike to catch up, and nasty run, I figured that was over for this particular tri as well. The race actually was fun. I ended up in a back and forth with another girl I usually compete with from my division. I had beaten her out of placing several times and she was tired of it, so she kept passing me. We chit chatted for a minute before the final time she passed me, and she was talking about how she thought she and I were in it for 2nd and 3rd in our division. I had already decided there would be no way I was placing at this one and would be lucky just to finish...so all the sudden I got a little excited. I didn't know if I would have the gas left in my legs to pass her back at the end, so I just kept her close. I also got passed by another g-wood resident who I see at a lot of tri events. She is 53 but in great shape, and we go back and forth as well beating one another, so I had quite a bit going on at this point! I decided I probably can't catch my g-wood pal, but I am going to get the other girl. I waited until we got within 50 yards of the finish, turned on what was left, passed my division competition and almost caught my g-wood competition. My g-wood friend is great. She immediately starts yelling at me about how I could have caught her if I had tried a little harder. It was funny.

YEAH!- So I ended up getting second in my division again! Better yet, Jake was checking all of the actual times and saw that I ran under 30 minutes for my 5K! Yeah, hurrah! Pretty cool considering how not well the day started out! I guess I would consider it overcoming in the swim as I really had to get past my mind in the bike and run with way higher effforts and heartrates that I am used to and was able to achieve a couple cool things. The first place girl in my division (who is at all the races I am) beat my by 5 minutes...that's a lot, but we will see as the season goes on. Big thanks to my friend for guilting me into finishing the swim...weird motivation, probably not what they tell you to do in a book, but it worked well enough!