It’s been so long since I’ve used this blog that I’ve forgotten my password, as well as how to add content.  So bear with me dear readers.  I promise to make it worth you while!

Back at the beginning of September, I felt deflated.  I had been training for MONTHS to compete in the Kiawah Island Triathlon. It was to be my first true Olympic distance triathlon.  I felt pretty confident for the bike and run, but the ocean swim had me plenty worried.  I was almost RELIEVED that the race was postponed due to Hurricane Dorian, except I had several conflicts with the rescheduled date. Not to mention I had lost my mojo and my desire to compete.  I deferred to next year’s date of October 4 2020, so maybe I’ll have the courage to attempt the ocean swim then.

In the meantime, I was all dressed up in my tri kit and had nowhere to go.

At the beginning of September I shifted gears and started to focus on a few endurance running events.  I’ll talk about those in future blogs. I was still in triathlon shape, so on a whim I signed up for the Tri Sumter, which was held on October 19, 2019. The race consisted of a 300 yard outdoor pool (heated, thank god!) swim, 16 mile bike (which in actuality was 17 miles) and 5K run. This race is considered a pretty good event for first-timers, paricularly because of the swim. I decided that this race would be a good event to close my Triathlon season with, so I signed up.

Pre-race Set Up

I knew going into this race that I was on my own. I didn’t know anyone else who was racing, and my trusty Sherpa (my husband Brian) was competing in a Pickleball tournament that morning.  I had loaded all my gear and bike into and onto my car the night before, and headed out to parts unknown (AKA Sumter) by 6:15 AM.  By southern standards it was COLD (47 degrees F) so this added a degree of difficulty as I tried to tailer my wardrobe for the weather.

I made it to the event site without incident, but the parking was problematic.  The Sumter Aquatic Center had very limited parking, so I wound up parking cross the street along the road.  I was hoping the “Private Property-No Trespassing” sign didn’t apply to me!  I was juggling my bike, Tri backpack and 5 gallon bucket until a very kind lady offered to carry my bucket across the street.  Talking to her was about my greatest extent of conversation with anyone at this event.

I really blew the check-in process.  Turns out, I needed my ID and USA Triathlon Membership card for check-in.  I had neither with me.  I begged and pleaded with  Registration until they finally gave in and handed me my bib number and t-shirt.  (As a side note, I made sure I avoided those people for fear they would change their minds and disqualify me…)

I’m never very good about picking a set up spot in transition.  It always seems that once I pick a spot and set up, I see a better spot.  I simply just stuck to mid-field, and left it at that.  I decided to wear a light jacket for the bike, so I carefully draped it across my bike so I would be able to see it when I got back into transition after the swim. (As a humorous side note, I really didn’t need to do this.  I’m generally slow out of the water, and by the time I get to transition there are few bikes left so mine is easy to spot.)

The Swim

I have only done a handful of triathlons with pool swims, and all of them have seemed a bit chaotic.  This one was no different.  We were told to line up via the honor system, talking to others to determine estimated 100 yard times.  My 100 time is nothing spectacular, and my 300 yard practices I averaged about 2:25/100 yards.  I went to the back of the line first, and heard things like “I’m going to do breast stroke the whole way” and “I’m a 4:00/100 swimmer.”  I started to move up a bit until I found a pack of 2:30 swimmers.  I briefly chatted with a woman who had also done the Parris Island triathlon.  As we were waiting for the start (and it was pretty darn cold standing there!) a couple cut in front of me, the lady giggling saying that they just signed up for this event and had NO triathlon experience and hadn’t trained a lick for this event.  I suggested that they move to the BACK of the line, but the woman was resistant to moving.  Seriously??? I wanted to smack her.  I may not be fast, but I AM competitive and I was ready to plow over her at my first opportunity.  Fortunately, the man with her was more realistic and pulled her away to the back of the line.  I never saw them again…

The race began right on time. True to their word, the pool was indeed heated, and I was told the temperature was cranked up to 87 degrees.  Watching the first swimmers is always a treat.  They look so…good.  No struggling.  Smooth, strong strokes. By the time I get into the water, it’s always a free-for-all.  Add to this the fact that the pool was only 4 feet deep, and you see a lot of walking in this event.  When it was my turn, I slid into the water, and started off.  I forgot to start my watch (typical for me) and I tried to start it underwater.  This NEVER works.  I was thankful for all my strength training and practice because I really felt strong throughout the whole swim, despite the fact that my feet were blocks of ice from the wait.  There was a good distance between me and the person ahead of me.  I was only passed by one man, and I let him pass me when I was at the wall.  The same was true after another lap because I PASSED him.  After the 6 lanes were completed, we were to walk out of the pool through a “zero entry” area, which turned out to be a bit difficult to maneuver.  I’m generally pretty slow getting out of the water, and there was a good bit of distance to go to get to the transition area.  I’ve no doubt I lost a good minute getting to T1, and my dumb watch was on stopwatch mode and I looked to see that I finished my swim in 6:57.

Recorded swim time:  8:02  (47 out of 63 competitors)

Transition 1

Boy did I waste a lot of time just getting my damn helmet on.  Usually it’s the gloves that I have trouble with.  Oh and my bike Garmin.  I had set up a race profile, but of course I hadn’t switched settings so it was still on Indoor cycling.  I’m never fast in transition, so I just said “Fuck it” and headed out.  Here’s a shock.  At the mount area, I HAD NO ISSUES CLIPPING IN. I needed to add this in case my former coach reads this.  In fact, there were 2 other guys heading out at the same time, and both of them were having clipping issues!

The Bike

And so I was off!  I was thankful for the jacket that provided some warmth.  There was a fair amount of wind.  The course was along HWY 521 S, Not the most scenic of routes but generally well-paved.  There were a number of bridges we had to go over, but there weren’t extreme changes in grade so they were very manageable.  I knew this was an out and back course, so I was anxiously waiting to see the first cyclists on their return to gauge how far ahead they were.  I saw the lead cyclist when I was at mile 5.  I was working hard on keeping my cadence up around 85-90, but in doing so, I had to keep my gear relatively easy.  I believe this cost me some speed.  When I did click to one gear harder, my speed went up to 17-18mph, but my legs really couldn’t sustain this.  I think if I didn’t have a run after this I would have grinded harder.

The turn around was at mile 8.5 (don’t know why this was billed as a 16 mile route when it was clearly 17 miles) and then it was time to take it home.  I was able to pass a couple of people along the way, and that is always a morale-booster for me.  Side note-I love this bike!  Bella’s handlebars have been reconfigured for ME so that I can easily reach what I term as the “Ram Horn” handles and sink into the ride. Sadly, it didn’t seem like I was that far ahead of many people on the bike, but hey.  At least I wasn’t dead last (which I HAVE been before…)  I was getting tired around mile 14, and there was a bit of an incline there.  I kept repeating to myself “212 degrees, 212 degrees.” This is a reference to a motivational book called 212 The Extra Degree (see WalktheTalk.com for more info.)  Finally, I rounded the corner towards the transition, all the while seeing runners coming in to the finish.  I dismounted early (always afraid of the unclipping process) and had no issues as I rolled into Transition.

Recorded Bike time:  1:04:45 (46 out of 63 competitors)

Transition 2

Bike racked (again, I’m generally one of the last in transition so I had to search for my minuscule space and squeeze my bike in), helmet off. Gloves off.  Jacket off (good choice, although it hadn’t warmed up much.) Change shoes.  Grab water bottle.  Head out.  Forget about the watch.

The Run

The fact that I hadn’t practiced any bike-run bricks became apparent to me very quickly.  My feet were frozen and it felt like quite the effort to even raise them to walk, let alone run.  My left hip, which is usually problematic was fine, but my left calf was tight.  I decided very early in the run that I would be using run/walk intervals.  I believe this was the best choice.  I felt my cadence was pretty good (thanks to the bike) and my stride was pretty short.  It didn’t feel very efficient, but when I was able to employ intervals AND still pass people, I knew I was doing the best thing.  The run was an out and back through a small neighborhood with minimal grade.  My feet were still frozen at the halfway point, but I was able to keep up the pace.  I took my last walk break at about 2.75 miles and took it home.  I was very pleased with my run time, especially because I was running intervals.

Recorded Run time:  29:50 (52 out of 63 competitors)

The Wrap Up

Overall, I was pleased with my effort during this race. My swim was strong and that is what I trained for.  No stopping at walls for breathers (just to be passed, once) and continuous swimming. I’m slow at transition.  Not sure I’ll ever improve much at this.  I’m especially pleased with my bike.  I definitely have room for improvement, but again, I felt strong.  I could have gone further.  I could have given it some more gear.  Only fear held me back.  And my run?  Wow.  To pull a 5K under 30 minutes is always a good feeling, especially since I know I was using intervals.

This was a good event.  Very well supported.  Great, enthusiastic volunteers.  I really appreciated their encouragement, especially along the desolate bike course.  The security and traffic support was wonderful.  Awards were handed out in a timely fashion.

I’m proud of myself because I did this race ON MY OWN.  I could have just stayed in bed (which apparently a good number of people did because I saw that 80+ people had registered for this race but only 63 competed).  I didn’t know a soul there, but I felt welcomed nonetheless.  I would definitely recommend Tri Sumter to anyone in this area looking for a good Fall Sprint Triathlon.

Overall stats:  Chip Time 1:47:04 (Gun Time 1:56:49)

Over finish:  49/63

Age Group 55-59:  2/2

All Female:  11/20