I must digress to honor my Wilson's death on Aug 27 at the Oceanside Pier. I was attempting my first 2.4 mile swim. Alas I changed my routine and put my neo cap on first, then latex. I always put my Garmin 310xt (named Wilson) under my neo chin strap cap for security. It's in my cap not wrist so I never lose GPS on my swim. I changed my alert to vibrate every .20 mi so I could count 6 and turn around. I did not know I also needed to change the lap trigger which was still set at .25. This caused irregular alerts to go to off so I was very confused about my distance. I was anxious to return to land to check my Garmin distance. TOO anxious. I failed my own strict advice: NEVER remove anything until ON the beach. The tide was pulling hard. I didn't make it to dry land before I flicked off my latex cap and forgot Wilson was there, not under the neo cap. He flew off into the ocean as I screamed hysterically for my training partner to surface. I cried and cried franctically grabbing at the water...not only has he been with me my entire tri journey but he was $300 new. I had to face the fact to replace the watch for $150 -$200 or buy the upgraded 910xt which has amazing swim tracking improvements including lap swims but $400. I researched through tears for hours untill I finally went to Road Runner for the 910xt. I cried when I bought the upgrade even... it got me additional discounts though because the clerk felt so bad for me... saved $116. Out the door was $308. Now I have to learn all about my new partner before the disney race Sunday. But this quick video is absolutely how I felt:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ig2z_cast-away-lost-wilson-the-movie_shortfilms
Sep 2: I wanted to run Disney Half last year but it sells out so quick that I had to set my calendar in January, 2012 to signup!!! I believe every race should have a goal and this one is to take lots of fun pictures at every mile marker and enjoy it with Marcus, Ryan and Aliyah!
Sunday morning will mark the 7th running of the Disneyland Half Marathon with a field of over 17,000 runners from 14 to 78, representing all 50 states and 19 countries. Getting up before dawn to go for the gold…Disneyland gold...
However, I seem to be on a roll of tri drama.... during dinner the night before the race, my bike shop called...they had a burglary and my bike was stolen. I have a race this coming weekend and I have to rebuild a new bike all over again. I guess it is great I will get all new stuff, but not great that I have to start all over with a million questions of what should I upgrade now that I have the chance? And do I want to spend the money on upgrades while I am unemployed? Does everything in my life have to be a double-edged sword ?
Sept 8: SD Classic Olympic Triathlon (ironically sponsored by Moment Bike Shop where my bike was stolen)
Started with setting the alarm incorrectly and awaking when we were supposed to leave! However, we were out the door in 20 minutes and had a few minutes to spare before transition closed although I was in Wave 2. It appeared we would start swimming in the dark and I had black goggles...really need a yellow pair! My race rack was packed as expected so I moved over to wave 3's rack with the guys who are much more accepting of a girl squeezing in. However, it didn't give me a chance to think about my swim focus.
Swim: I guess I watched the girl next to me because I started far too fast and started hyperventilating very quickly...I couldn't relax my breathing for at least 3 minutes while I side stroked beating myself up mentally about what a loser I was pouring in the swim practice and producing such a pathetic result. I finally started swimming and then the sea of male piranahs started swimming over me. It was hell. I got hit in the goggles twice. I had to fight not to just quit. Eventually I found my rhythm and got through it. My final swim time showed me I could have had a PR result minus the first .2 mile as I ended 1.6 mph finishing in 37 minutes with an extra 100M since I sighted to wrong buoy!
As I expected my bike was not completely ready. Loaner wheels were disappointing and no aero bars or water system but the worst was the handlebars that were too wide and the seat was too low. I was super uncomfortable on the bike. I loved the new Ultegra shifting upgrade. Felt like butter and I passed many. Because I didn't have my aero bar water system, I had to carry a bottle in the cage which I promptly dropped on the first gulp resulting in no nutrition on this ride. Luckily there were 2 water stations. Oh well, dropped the first bottle of free water too. I couldn't get my hands dry. By the 2nd bottle, I drank all 8 oz at one time! I saw a major pile up crash and went on the wrong side of the road to avoid it. Saw many with flats and chain issues too and some walked up McClellan hill. Very glad to have ridden up the hill 4x previously. So happy to have not experienced mechanical hell on race day. I was happy with 17.8mph with the hills finishing 1:23. I was nervous I had not eaten and needed to run. So, T2 took a bit longer because I had a bottle of water to chug with a Roctane GU and grabbed another for the route. Had 2 more GUs on the run with water so I felt fine.
Run was pretty steady which is normal for me as I'm not a sprinter...however a girl did a faceplant right behind me trying to do too much at one time... take an extra 5 seconds and walk to drink...she tripped right over a ledge. Happily the 2 hills were not too steep but I had to stop for a few seconds to fix my footpad in my sock...I figured do it now or run an hour in agony! It was worth it!
I'm so proud of you.......Stan
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