Team Polarflydolls conquers Augusta 70.3, 30 Sep 2012

Augusta 70.3 Race Report

30 September 2012

Team Polarflydolls (Leslie Swim/Bike, Mark Run)

Friday 28 September

We left home shortly after 11am on Friday.  I had noticed the race anxiety levels rising over the last few days, so while Mark was driving, I read through the race course maps, my race plan that I worked on with Coach Shelly, positive messages of support on Facebook, and took a few naps.  We had hoped to stay at the race hotel/site (the Marriott), but when we booked MONTHS ago, it was already full.  So off to the Quality Inn we went, which was about a mile away.  It was okay - as long as we have a clean bed and shower, we're good.  When we arrived, we finally figured out why everyone was looking at us funny on the highway.  Apparently after the oil change last week, the fairing wasn't screwed on all the way and was dragging down the highway all the way to Augusta.  By the time Mark fixed everything up, it was getting late.  We had pizza and went to bed around 9.  I've always found the 2nd night's sleep before a race is the best for me.  Seeing a kid riding a bike with the exact same neon pink huffy-sized tires I saw in my crazy pre-race dream freaked me out a little... then I laughed.  It wasn't my bike - all is good!

Saturday 29 September

We slept until 7:30 and I felt great.  Had some breakfast and then went to the expo and packet pickup.  This is a very well-organized event.  And of course, we love poking around at race expos and seeing the latest gear out there. I had asked Swim Bike Mom if she wanted to meet sometime during race weekend, so we made tentative plans to meet in transition later in the afternoon.  For those of you who don't know her,  she writes a great blog about being a mom, wife, lawyer AND a triathlete that can be found on Facebook and at www.swimbikemom.com.   She is quite hilarious and very down to earth! And inspiring to boot.

After picking up all of our race stuff, we went to the race briefing.  I didn't realize until then that the WTC rules are slightly different from USAT rules, most notably about drafting.  4 bike lengths/20 seconds versus 3 bike lengths/15 seconds.  Every time I do a triathlon I've not done before, I make a point to go to the race talk.  One gets the scoop on the course, what to watch out for, review of the rules, etc.  We found the main WTC official and talked to him about the hearing aid handoff.  Since Mark was going to be in the relay pen, we all decided he could just hand them to me after I was done with the swim.  One less thing to worry about on race day!

We drove the bike course; pretty, but lots of rolling hills, including some fairly long big ones.  After I couldn't find a street on the course maps, the climbing levels of race anxiety got to the point where I flipped my lid.  I'm still not 100% sure why this happens - I have done triathlons before, but get really anxious, especially if there is a detail or two that is not ironed out before race day.  This is a project for the off-season!  While it's good to release negative energy, it really is a waste of time - as Emilia (my mom) told me.  I am really glad we drove the bike course - it was good to get a preview of it, so I could plan out my race strategy for the hills (which totally paid off).  What was nice about the course is, for most of the ride, one can see the road a long ways ahead.  That helps with planning how to get speed down the hills and use it to power up the hills. 

We parked near transition and as I was walking my bike in with Mark, I found Swim Bike Mom walking close by.  We greeted each other with hugs and some small talk; then off to rack the bike and go to dinner.  We had dinner at the hotel with Christina Tragle and her friends, all of whom were racing.  Christina's friends were awesome and we had a great time, with lots of laughter.  I consider myself to be a pretty strong person, but sometimes it really helps to have another (super!)positive person to give you a positive reality check, good pep talk and good race strategery.  I am quite grateful for Christina's company and support this weekend.  I stuck with my usual pre-race pasta and bread, and had a glass of wine to chill out.   Back in the room, Mark and I double-checked our gear; I put my swim cap on so Mark could write "DEAF" on it.  The swim is the one time that it's pretty important for others to know I can't hear them - at all.  On the road and the run, I can hear people.  But the kayakers and safety staff need to know I can't hear - helpful in an emergency.  I exchanged a few texts with Coach Shelly, who gave me a really good swim mantra: Relax. Strong. We went to bed at 8:30.

Race Day, Sunday 30 September

We got up at 4:30.  I had been rolling around since 3ish anyway, with race anxiety creeping into my brain.  I know better; I have done almost a dozen triathlons.  So I used the power of positive thinking to crush one worry after another.  What if I have trouble breathing during the swim?  No worries, pick up my head and get my bearings.  Relax, Strong.  What if that slows my swim down?  I'm in the last wave for cryin' out loud.  No worries.  The current will carry me.  After all, Millie told me a bag of Dorito chips would make the swim in 30 minutes.  What about icky plant life?  So what.  I've swum through hydrilla - a pain but no biggie. What if something wrong goes on the bike?  I'll have to wait for support - oh well!  And learn how to do bike maintenance in the off-season. I had my usual pre-workout bread and Chocodream (a trans-fat free version of Nutella) and a little coffee.  In retrospect, I should've eaten more. 

We left the room at 5, parked the car and went up to the buses to transition.  Mark and I had our race numbers and age marked on our bodies - but no R for relay.  As we walked into transition, it hit me what a big-deal race this is.  And for the first time ever, I really felt totally excited about doing this race.  Power of positive thinking!  I'm always talking about being positive, but sometimes the advice you share with others is the one you need most for yourself.  I'm glad Christina reminded me of it.  It was pretty dark and a bit misty/drizzly.  Perfect! We organized our stuff in the tiny meager space we had - our bikes were racked very close together, while the bikes out in the main area were more spread out.  I ate a honey stinger waffle as there were still 2 more hours to go before the swim.    

We had to be out of transition by 7:15, so I handed my hearing aids to Mark and got on the bus to the swim start.  I should've taken a water bottle with me, because they didn't have any as I showed up. I lucked out and found an abandoned, brand-new water bottle.  There was water later on and I took advantage of it. I had almost 2 hours before I was supposed to start, so I got in line to use the bathrooms - a 40 minute wait.  One guy tried to cut in, but we were all in the same boat, so he got the exact same death glare from every one of us. He got the hint.  Afterwards, I wandered up and down the swim area and watched the other waves go off.  I saw Christina - lots of hugs, last minute encouragement, and she gave me a hug and big kiss on the (face) cheek (Zoya, love you girl, but I prefer this over the (bum) cheek slaps! Ha!)

I joined the Relay group at 9 am and we went down to the dock.  I couldn't hear anything, but I could absolutely feel the energy and the music.  The staff was absolutely great in getting everyone fired up.  I was nervous, but focused on how much this was like the Philly Tri - I like the swim at that race.  Same setup - dock, tread water before starting, and go with the current.  And it will be fun.  I will have a good swim.  Relax. Strong.  I thought of our family friend and dentist, Dr. Michael Nanne, who died of brain tumors last week, leaving behind a loving wife and children. Mike loved life.  He can't do this - he's gone.  But I can.  And that was just the thought I needed to pull myself together for the swim, once and for all.  God bless you, Mike.  The American flag hanging on the bridge reminded me of how lucky I am to live in this country and how I have the freedom to live my life as I choose.

There were about 100 relay swimmers.  Many people dived into the water, but I prefer to sit on the dock, get my feet wet and then get in.  The race announcer said the water temperature was about 76 degrees, but it felt colder to me.  I wore my sleeveless wetsuit, which was fine - my legs were warm from having it on for 2 hours.  I put my face in the water and it was a bit chilly, to the point where it took my breath away.  I kept opening up my wetsuit to let more water in for buoyancy, and kept dipping my face until I got used to the water.  I adjusted my goggles, looked at the clock, and at 9:08 am, our (very last) wave went off. 

I had positioned myself in the back and off to the right.  We spread out quite a bit, which was really nice.  I bumped legs and arms with a few people, but nothing too bad.  I absolutely loved having the buoys on my left as I breathe to the left. I'm getting much better at swimming straight, but I still veer to the left a little bit.  I drafted off another swimmer - a first - until he slowed down and I was almost climbing over him.  I moved ahead, started crossing my left arm to get over to the right.  I worked with my wetsuit instead of fighting it, chanted relax, strong, relax, strong and sighted every 5-10 strokes.  My left goggle was leaking, so I kept that eye closed for most of the swim. There was a fair amount of aquatic plants; several times throughout the swim, I had so many vines and plants draped over me that I looked like a swamp monster.  It did not faze me, and neither did the little minnow (catfish??) that wouldn't leave my right heel alone.  Because we were in the last wave, the kayakers were gathered up behind us. Christina had told me to start moving over to the right when I could see the swim exit.  Excellent advice, because if I was too far to the left, I would have to turn around and fight the current. The way up to transition was long but carpeted, which was awesome. The wetsuit strippers got my suit off quickly - that was great! I did my swim in 37 minutes and I am very, very, VERY happy with that.  And, as a bonus - no hacking/coughing as I've experienced in every race this season. This swim totally redeemed all those crappy swims!

I saw Mark back at the relay pen and told him I had an AWESOME swim.  He told me I did a great job.  I threw on my nutrition-preloaded Antarctic cycling team jersey with the polar bears/penguins all over it (we ARE Team Polarflydolls, after all!) and ran off to bike mount line. The long walk, wetsuit strip and putting my gear on took about 6 minutes for T1 - not great, but not horrible either.  Since the remaining cyclists were primarily relays, we were pretty spread out on the road. It is a beautiful ride.  It was drizzling lightly, which is just perfect and I prayed that it stayed that way.  I thought about how happy I was with the swim, and for all the people and things I am grateful for.  Mark, family, friends, health, and the life I'm able to lead. 

Christina, Elena, Shelly and others keep telling me I am a strong cyclist, much more than I give myself credit for.  And they are right.  It was not an easy ride, but I never had to walk any of the hills. There was about 1300 ft gain. My rides at Andrews AFB are about 150 ft gain, so I need to work in more training rides at Poolesville and other places.  I worked hard to get as much speed as I could going downhill to make the uphill easier. I only had one unpleasant incident with another cyclist, when she started pedaling harder as I was trying to pass her on the hill.  She was weaving a lot and almost pushed me over the yellow line.  I told her to drop back or we'll both get penalized.  She pulled back to the right and I went pedaling on.

Since I am finally comfortable using the big ring, it was really good. There were three major hills in the second half. I went screaming up the last big one; the people at that water station were laughing and cheering me on.  I raced my plan, more or less; power at about 135 watts for the first 40 miles, but I didn't race the plan for the last 16 miles - my legs were tired out from the hills.  But I did maintain 18 mph for the last 30 minutes, going up to 20 mph avg for the last 15-20 minutes.  I even pulled off BOTH bottle swaps, even though I had never done it before.  The second bottle swap was a bit hairy because I was pedaling uphill while the guy was running alongside me, but I managed to grab the bottle from him.

When I came back to transition, I racked my bike while Mark grabbed the timing chip from my leg.  Another relay cyclist - an incredibly fit cyclist - told me that I was a pedaling machine.  Since I couldn't read his face well with sunglasses and helmet on, and since I cannot hear people's voice tones(this gets me in trouble from time to time, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes hilarious), I presumed he was just being nice.  But Mark - who heard him as well - gave me a big grin and I knew the cyclist meant it.  That made me feel really good because I was... indeed a pedaling machine!  Mark gave me a quick kiss and off he went on the run.    Some of the adrenaline wore off and I noticed how my hamstrings got pretty tight on the ride (which leads to numb feet).  My right calf was totally threatening to cramp, hard.  Not enough salt?  I didn't notice how salty my face was until I was back in transition.   My watch says 3:31, my official time was 3:32.

I grabbed all my stuff and walked my bike over to the finish line.  I managed to find Christina coming down the finishing chute and a few inspiring folks, including Scott, the first Ironman double amputee.  I was shaky and starving, and have never gobbled up a honey stinger waffle so fast before - I think it was less than 5 seconds.  Perhaps not enough breakfast and/or nutrition on the bike?  Something to think about for next season.  Mark finished in about 1:43 - a new PR for him.  He finished just in time, before the heavens opened up.   We got our relay medals and had our picture taken.  I have to say, it's the best race picture of us so far.  It was fun racing this with Mark; but he said, and I agree, let's do a full half - together.  Someday!  This was an awesome course, and very, very well supported.  Being a Guard wife, I of course loved seeing the hundreds of Guardsmen out on the course!

I believe in seeking out challenges to push yourself, push your limits and do the things you thought you never could do, big OR small. Even though every one of us has one or more challenge - mine just happens to be a hearing loss - we're all capable of taking our potential as far as we can go, and it can go very far!  So yes, I will keep on doing triathlons, as doing them push me hard both in terms of physical and mental capabilities.  I am a better person, wife, friend - everything - for it. Looking forward to the 2013 season!