Belated Race Report - From September 20, 2009

Just last month, I did the Burnet TRI Hard Challenge at Inks Lake in Burnet, TX. Last year, I had a blast at this triathlon camping the night before with a few of my favorite racing buddies. This year, we were unable to secure a camping spot and thus had to stay at a local bed and breakfast. The B&B was nice, albiet a bit creepy as we were the only ones staying there. The restuarants in Burnet were empty and much of the historic downtown was deserted and blighted. It was quite sad. To make matters worse, after the tri as we were leaving the B&B, the B&B owner's female bulldog attacked and bit our mini schnauzer several times, drawing blood in a few places. He recovered and I took care of his cuts in the following weeks, but needless to say it was a pretty traumatic trip. Hence, this update is quite late.

PRE-RACE:
I planned to train through this race, and so I did a long run on Saturday morning with my favorite running buddies. The run was tough for me, I felt very tired until about 5 miles in. This 5 mile-feel-better rule happens to me sporadically when I've been training hard. I usually take rest and I feel better on the next long one when this happens. I had the tri on Sunday, though, so rest really wasn't an option. We got to Burnet, took a visit to Inks Lake to pick up our packets and check out the water. The water was like glass, and it was nice and cool. Inks Lake, in my opinion, is one of the best lakes to stage a triathlon swim. It remains to be one of my favorite lakes in which to compete. The out and back course is easy to navigate because the water is fairly flat and the temperature is cool but not too cold. If only Decker Lake would be so cool and easy to navigate.

Anyway, so we get in to the B&B and then proceed to try to find a relatively healthy place to eat in Burnet, TX. The small town offered Tex-Mex, a southern buffet, and Tex-Mex. We went for the southern buffet, as we figured it would be better for finding carbs and easier on the tummy. That restuarant was an experience all its own, and for the first time in my life I found myself being a tad bit picky. Usually I eat everything, but I took it easy at this buffet. My stomach thanked me for it later.

Sleep was hard to come by the night before the tri, and I woke up before the alarm. I was plauged with premonition-type dreams of flat tires and bike maintence issues. That morning, we warmed up oatmeal in the B&B's kitchen and ate quickly. Then we drove off toward Inks Lake. I did not carefully inspect my bike before loading it, and I realized that my back tire was flat. I'm no stranger to flats, and so I attempted to change it, only to find that my brakes were rubbing. I solicted help from a fellow triathlete and went on my way prepping transition. Somehow, I knew that my bike issues would not be few on that day. I turned out to be right.

THE RACE:
The swim went smooth. Smooth as glass. I loved and enjoyed every second. I came up to transition, took some water and got on my bike. Not 5 miles into the bike course, I hear a disheartening "PSSSSSSSSH" of my bake tire deflating. I stop and begin to change it. I blew through my first CO2 cartridge and was working on the second. I began to have thoughts of stopping. I figured my bike split was shot. Then Liz bikes up and offers moral support and help. I get rolling and somehow I find it in me to try to pass everyone that passed me while I was messing with my back tire for 15 minutes. It was a fun game I played and I really felt like I pushed the rest of the bike harder than I ever had in a tri as a result of that flat. My time, of course, does not reflect that, but I know it and that is what matters. I keep focusing on the mantra "You are an athlete that doesn't give up" and it worked well. I was very excited for the run, although my legs were more tired than they normally are going into it. I sped through like only a fast girl can and was only passed once. The guy that passed me was doing more training, he had already finished. I hung with him for a while, and we chatted. He said I was "baking it on the run" and I told him about the tire issue and how I channeled Chrissie Wellington. He said nice job and then dropped me. I ran behind him, keeping him in sight for the second half of the 5K and ended up with a great run split.

Overall the tri was a success because I went from wanting to quit to finding strength in myself and my athlecticism. I ended up still placing 2nd in my age group, though we did not wait around for awards because I figured I was out of the running. The post-race baked potato was the BOMB and I thank the wonderful folks at the Burnet Chamber of Commerce for putting on yet another small, local, extremely fun race.


Current book I'm reading: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Me? A future Ironman... AND a Rookie? Yes sir-ee!

This Sunday I will be competing in Jack and Adam's Rookie Triathlon!

http://www.therookietri.com/

And I have been pondering the question, after 4 or 5 triathlons and duathalons, am I still a Rookie?

When do you go from Newbie (or my preferred spelling Noobie) to Rookie to Amateur to Experienced to Age Grouper to Pro? Where am I in the grand scheme of things in the triathlon world? After about about 5 minutes of pondering, I'm going to say that yes, I'm probably still a Rookie.

As a Rookie though you are always learning. As a Rookie you are always improving. As a Rookie you are always asking the right (perhaps crazy) questions and finding answers. How could that be bad? Heck, I'm a Rookie Future Ironman, and honestly I'm so excited about that. Rookie-Future-Ironman. Could that be the new name of my blog? No, I don't think it's catchy enough.

The Rookie Tri this weekend is just a little dip in the water, about 300 meters, then the bike is 11.1 mile over flat terrain and I've heard a few and rolling hills. The run will be fast, so I've heard -- it is flat and short. I will have it in my head that I'm doing a 5K and I'll actually be doing 2 mi. I'm gunna kill it on the run. I am totally stoked. I'll report how I do on Monday!

Oh and I want to mention how cool it is that the slowest swim time will WIN a free swim clinic courtesy of T3. That's neat.

Anyway, wish me luck!

Current book I'm reading: The Wednesday Letters and Superwomen by Jodi Buren

Flats are FUEL *or* Three, no wait FOUR Strikes and You're OUT!

才裝上去氣嘴就破了
Originally uploaded by neqadk.

This past weekend was not a cycling success. It was a failure in many ways and I'm having a hard time getting my head around what exactly happened.

A close friend crashed 20+ miles in out on Decker Lane on Sunday. Thankfully her helmet protected her head and her left hip took the brunt of the fall. She was in and then out of the hospital that afternoon only suffering an ankle sprain, serious road rash and contusions. Not to mention her poor, beat up bike and a dented helmet that needs replacing. Please keep her in your thoughts as she recovers. After the ambulance and fire fighters checked her out, they carted her off to St David's. I, however, still had to ride 20 miles back. And they were a hard 20 miles full of worry and trauma. The moment I got back from my ride, it was off to St. David's to support and be there for my friend. Come to think of it, though, the 20 miles back were not hard physically, though that was the longest distance I've cycled yet, it was more difficult mentally and emotionally.

So now let's talk about why I was riding Sunday at all. As you may know, I was slated and all signed up to ride Pedal Through the Pines 50 miler the day before, Saturday. That's another lot of strikes and failures. Suffice to say that I learned a lot but I'm still incredibly frustrated with the whole experience. Saturday started with me waking up, checking out my bike, and realizing the my front tire was completely flat. "BOO-HISS!" I thought, "Oh, should be quick fix, I'll change it when I get to Bastrop" I thought, and a packed my bike up and drove out to the start of the ride. I was so excited, 50 miles was the magic distance, a half century ride. I really wanted to do it. My buddies had agreed to do it with me. I changed the tire with the help of the same close friend who crashed on Sunday. Easy-peasy, we thought. Then, as we were pumping it up, the tire popped with a loud BANG and it went flat again. Slightly annoyed, I ran off to borrowed a spare tube from a kind soul from Austin Fit, my running group. I looked at my watch, it was only 8:30 AM at that point, plenty of time to change the blow out. My buddy and I worked faster on the second flat. We changed the tire again, together. It went great. All said and done, I got on my gear with 10 minutes to spare until the start of the ride.

I hopped on my awesome ride, happy, excited that we had made it through those difficulties and were still going to be able to ride. As soon as those positive emotions flowed through me, I then hit something, and my back tire blew out. I stopped to look back at it in horror and shock, all without clipping out. I subsequently fell over in exasperation and frustration. Another flat! The THIRD one of the day! 10 minutes before the start of the ride! I started thinking 'Three strikes and you're out' but no, we had to try. I didn't want to give up on the 50 miles ahead of me before even starting. So we somehow scrounged around and decided to use my friend's last spare tube. We changed the tire like pros, only slightly exasperated. As we were pumping it up, my friend pulled off the pump and the stem of the tube popped off. The tire instantly deflated, and so did our hopes of riding on Saturday. We all drove home. I took my little Fizgig over to Jack and Adam's to have them take a look at it. I decided I'd had enough of flats for the day, and I had a professional fix the back tube. I tried to psyche myself up for another 40 mile ride the next day, but my feelings were, quite literally, deflated.

As I was loading up my bike later that evening for the ride the next day, I stopped dead in my tracks in horror. The back tire, that the professional and J & A had JUST FIXED, was FLAT AGAIN. I was livid. I took it immediately to the bike shop, where I knew a few friends were having a triathlon training party. I walked up to the front of the shop, the lights were on. The door was locked. Pitifully, I stood there, staring at my flat back tire. I was about to cry when Desiree Ficker and Jack Murry walk up to the door. Jack said that I just looked too pitiful standing there, he just HAD to re-open the shop for me. He fixed the tire lickety split and I haven't had problems since. I was overjoyed to get the chance to talk with Desiree and that Jack re-opened the shop for me. The day had started to get better. I went outside, saw some friends and drank a very necessary beer to celebrate the fact that I was finally flat free. I decided later with the help of my Ironwoman friend, Moe that these flats can be fuel to get back out there and tear it up (with a lot of extra tubes)! So I've found a positive spin on all of this, I think.

Three flats...no wait, FOUR flats...and you're out. Let's just hope my friend is better soon so we can get out there riding again and really using these flats and these falls as fuel for more great riding. I'll have a great ride soon, I just know it. My injured friend and more friends will be out there soon for the Rosedale Ride on 03/28. We'll be sure to be carrying lots of extra tubes anywhere we can stick them! And awesome, protective helmets, too.

Be careful out there, everyone.