Dry squall is a term used in sailing when the seas and winds
are violent and unexpected like that of a storm but the skies are clear. Sunday morning the sky was clear the breeze
gentle with only a hint from the barometer of the rain to come that
evening. As Alan Paton writes in Cry the Beloved
Country, “out of a cloudless sky these things come.”
I spent Friday afternoon getting a tune up on the bike and
relaxing in the good, calm company of Jim Hale.
He generously lent me some significantly
lighter wheels since climbing is not yet a strength of mine and the Raleigh
course captured 1890 ft. in
elevation.
Sunday morning came early but I was awake before the alarm –
got out bed started prepping, getting plenty of TriSlide applied to me and my
kit since I knew it would be hot and with an estimated finish time of 2:30 I’d
be right in the heat and rising humidity.
Throughout training and previous races I’d start the morning with a bite
of fruit some yummy Dreaming Cow Yogurt to get the juices flowing. My rockstar friend Julie picked me up at
4:35AM to drive me downtown to where the shuttles were transporting athletes
out to T1.
Normally on race morning I’m
jittery and easily rattled right up to the start. However, this morning I was pretty calm and
focused. I got downtown in plenty of
time set up T2 and hopped on the bus. The arrival at the swim put me there almost 2
hours before I was supposed to start so I just plugged in some tunes and
rechecked T2…. which is a good thing because at some point from Saturday to
Sunday AM my cap and timing chip disappeared from my bike setup. I got all that squared away and figured if
that was the worst thing that happened I was in pretty darn good shape …famous
last words. I found Andrew Corbin who is always
entertaining and we chatted while waiting in the “honey bucket” line.
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| Before the swim with Julie |
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| Waiting for my Swim wave with Andrew |
Forty or so minutes from the start I put on
my HRM and watch, double checked the Velcro on the timing chip, chose the
goggles appropriate for sun since it was getting pretty bright out on the
water. Julie again rocked it out – she
was there to take my gear bag back to Raleigh and cheer me through the bike
transition.
This is only my 3rd open water swim. I find I’m pretty calm and it feels like I’m
back at sailing camp trying to swim between boats. After the athlete meeting I opted not to bring
my wetsuit and the official temp was 76.
However, I’m slow in transition out of the wetsuit so no big loss
there. I think having to make the
decision that morning would have caused some stress. I spent some time watching the pros and waves
before me but didn’t readily see any advantage to take. I rookie’d it in the middle of the pack and
then had to swim out to find some clean water – moments which were few and far
between. The first lap I was kinder
about being swum over, slapped and kicked. The second two I got a bit more aggressive
about defending my territory. We swam up
to a boat ramp which for me made it tricky to determine when I “hit the
bottom.” I was roughly 1 minute off my
anticipated swim time and since I’d allowed time for wetsuit removal in
transition I was well within schedule.
Got my bike gear on – hit the Trislide again down the kit and in the
shoes. Rolling out of transition I felt
good. My watch gave me some fits so I
had to pull it out of multisport and reset to the bike. Now, the first 3.5 miles is uphill and my
coach wisely sent me out there to do hill repeats long before race day. I knew what to expect and what my plan
was. I stuck to my plan as people pedaled
by. About 6 minutes in I looked down at
my HR to check that the way I felt correlated to my zones. SHOCKER – I’m clocking at Z4.3 DANGER WILL ROBINSON, DANGER…. I should be in the high 2’s at most low
3’s. In no other way do I feel like I’m
in a Z4 – breathing is moderately tough but not gasping, no burn in the legs so
I watch my speed – which was right around 8-9MPH – where it should be. I finish the climb make the first turn onto a
nice rolling downhill, smooth road. Give
myself a few minutes and check my zones again still a high 3 in a light spin – in
that moment I make the determination that my HRM must be wrong – change the
display to keep an eye on speed. I also
rode the course in full twice before race day and other pieces multiple times
to give me an idea of what my pace should be. I felt great
- thinking that my HR data was invalid I kept a conversation with myself, a little singing... Give Blood by Pete Townshend kept popping in my head - go figure-- to check breathing and MPH clocked where I thought it should be. I certainly felt the hills but kept an eye on
my speed. I also took into account the headwind and would drop back on speed
being mindful of power output when there was a headwind. For 56 miles I was the most disciplined
athlete I think I’ve ever been. I
borrowed a strategy from a Rev3 Team member
- since there were just a few hills (ha, ha) and I haven’t mastered the
climb, I made a point to pass people on the downhill where I could and force
them to either pass me on the uphill or go my speed on the ascent.
Throughout the entire bike, ever mindful of the rising temps
and humidity I’m taking in EFS and my PowerBar Energy Blends (how yummy is the
strawberry mango?!?!?!) on the off
chance that HR Zone was correct I didn’t want to find myself low on calories
for the run. I slightly modified my
hydration/nutrition plan from every 30 to every 20. I probably over did the refill – taking
water at every opportunity but the advice from my coach to pour any excess
water from the aid stations was a huge help – I never felt overly hot.
T2 left a bit to be desired running in bike shoes over
uneven pavement and winding through what felt like a snake (it is the year of
the snake though ?!?!) course
to get to my spot. I get there and I’m
pissed because some chic has racked her bike in my spot – I move it – get
racked and focused back on my game. Now,
there’s a niggling thought in the back of my mind that I haven’t had to use the
bathroom despite the amount of fluids I’ve taken in and on every other bike
ride I generally have to go about half way through. So while I’m right there I hit the honey
bucket and do get rid of some fluids.
I cruise through T2 pretty pleased – I’ve got almost 20 extra minutes in
the bank – I anticipated 3:45 for the bike and knocked it out in 3:25. I made the switch on my watch to run mode in before
exiting T2 . The first part of the run
was uphill and I notice I’m cruising at under an 8:30 which I can’t sustain so
I take a step back, a big breath and move down to 9:30. I know I’ve got some brutal hills between
miles 6 to 8 and I don’t want to find myself out of whack. The aid station at mile 1 I take a bit of
water. Somewhere between mile 1 and 2 my
stomach starts to feel like a boulder.
And we all know how fun that makes a run. Before I even get to the aid station at mile
2 I can’t get my HR regulated – I don’t know why I believed it was right on the
run yet wrong on the bike but I did. The
numbers were all over the map –so I stop and walk over the EMS folks and tell
them I can’t get my HR regulated – suddenly I can’t tamp down my emotions so I
start to do that awesome cry, get mad, calm cycle (I’m sure this helped me
tremendously - :P) they take my BP and
tell me its 78/49 – “dangerously low” and their “medical recommendation” was
that I stop. They ask if I’m dizzy and I
say – “I wasn’t until you asked me to sit down,” so I promptly stand up – which didn’t make me
their favourite customer. In retrospect
they did a great job stalling to make me take some more recovery time. I had to answer about 10 questions and then
sign a form saying I understood their recommendation was to quit and I was
choosing to go on of my own volition. I
have to wonder if you could argue that at that point I clearly wasn’t operating
with full cognition… if you’re in the peanut gallery on this one you can save
it. haha
Enter in the dry squall analogy – I am at a total loss
between miles 2 and 9 – the medics said my electrolytes were clearly off so I
didn’t take any more endurolytes, I tried to get down a Energy Blasts (they are
usually like candy to me) to no avail.
I’m looking for anything to relieve my poor stomach. I also tried to remove any time goal and just
focus on finishing.
Around mile 6 I get my BP taken again and it’s moving into a
more “normal/resting” range at 90/60. I
feel more alert but continue to walk since every time I pick up the pace my abdomen
rejects that plan. Again at mile 8 or
so I get the Raleigh Fire Dep’t to take my BP again – its up to 110/70 or
so. At this point because they are
measuring it I realize that my HRM is feeding good data to my watch. So possibly it’s been right all day. One of their firefighters walked a loop with
me – which was great to have company. At this point I feel like my BP/HR has
“recovered” but my stomach is still giving me fits. I periodically find child’s pose in some cool
grass – I have no idea why but it felt good.
As I begin to head back towards the finish line I am willing myself to
run the last 4 miles a good clip – yet every time I try it’s just not
there. So I decide to run the downhills
and walk the uphills which worked out marginally well. At mile 12 I am fed up with feeling like crap
and decide to run the last mile (vanity’s a bitch with all those cameras isn’t
it…..) As I’m finishing I start to realize I can’t really see anything so as I
cross I slow and ask for the med tent.
My HR at this point is way beyond my “redline.” They get me in a lounge chair, ice me down
and start in on the BP/HR measurements again.
Good news/bad news – I tend to “recover” really quickly so while the
numbers were still high they were moving in the right direction. I was also able to take in additional fluids
at this time too – and when the Dr asked if I’d used the bathroom it hit me
that I never went again after T2.
I don’t know what happened.
I don’t like not knowing. I am a
problem solver and I’m willing to work at the solution. I am still in that place where I don’t feel
like I accomplished anything despite finishing and that was ultimately the
goal. But having done the work and
setting an attainable goal, I still feel a loss. As another coach from the past posted
today, “A period of time is needed to
alter the outcomes of your new beliefs.
The structure learns to adjust to the new preferred outcome ~ gestation
periods.”
To paraphrase a team mate, many thanks to Rev 3, blueseventy, Quintana Roo, Pearl Izumi,
PowerBar, Biotta Naturals and Compex – wish I could’ve give you a better race.
