lonely day out there
by Jeremiah @ Jeremiah's Tri Training Experience
This is a break down of our (Michele aka KB, Betty aka B-Fresh and me Darkness) day at Vineman.
The weekend started off with us making the drive up to Windsor (in Sonoma county) to pick up our race packets. The drive was long, not any longer that driving up to Santa Rosa, but I think we had the race on our mind and that was weighing us down. This was an interesting race because it had two different transition areas for T1 and T2. We had to setup T2 the night before the race.
Race Day:
We(Michele and I) spent the night at my Mom's house, so the drive to the start was a quick 20 mins. That morning we went through the usual pre-race routine. We got up early, fixed breakfast, packed and headed out for the race.
Swim:
For the first time, I was in the very last wave. I'll go into this later, but it made me much more appreciative of the volunteers and support staff. The gun went off for the final wave at 8:30am. About 5 mins into the swim, I had a little chuckle. I am not a strong swimmer, so I thought to myself "wouldnt it be interesting if I was the last one to come in out of the swim?" This thought actually kept me going throughtout the swim. The swim is in the Russian River, so you swim up stream and turn around and swim downstream. As I was heading up stream, it seemed like the buoys were placed farther and farther away. I kept think that the next one coming up was the last one. It never seemed to end on the way out. Coming back in was much faster. At the turnaround, the river was less that 3 feet deep. I was actually touching the floor of the river as I swam. I later on heard that some people actually walked at the turnaround. As I was heading back in, I took my time to admire the trees lining the river(that's all I could see) and enjoy the lifeguards escort to the finish of the swim. I knew I was the last one in the river and it wasnt just by a short distance, it was a long while. I was glad to get done with the swim, on to the bike.......
Bike:
It started with a race official telling me in the transition that he was going to pull my timing chip because I didnt make the swim cut off. I actually made the swim cutoff with plenty of time to spare. He went on to tell me that he had already sent out the highway patrol so there was no one out there to escort me on the bike. I started off the bike with a sour taste in my mouth about the whole race. There were a lot of negative thoughts that went through my mind about the race so far, about how things were going that morning. I decided not to tlet these thoughts get the better of me and instead channel my energy to making it through the race. I knew that I was at the risk of not making the swim cut-off, but I surely can make the bike and run cutoff. Another thing that took my mind off this whole situation was the great scenery out there on the bike. We were riding through vineyards, beautiful landscapes, parts of Sonoma County that I had never seen. As I approaches mile 13, I remember Michele saying that the water stops were every 13 miles. At mile 13 there was nothing, no panic here, but I wonder where the water stop was. Well, a little less than 1/2 mile up the road was the water stop. I was surprised to see people there when I got there. Wow, you guys are still here....... on top of that, they were Team in Training.... how exciting. My blood was pumping, my legs pedaled a tad bit faster, then I made the mistake of trying to ride through a water stop. This need a little explaination; unless you are a pro, or know how to grab water on the ride, it's best to stop and get what you need. I made the mistake of trying to grab water and gatorade as I rode through the water stop. I drop the water, but picked up the gatorade. I kept riding knowing that I may eventually run out of fluids and that would not be good, especially as the weather was starting to warm up. Around mile 20, I finally cought up the the Highway Patrol officer that was escorting the last rider. I couldnt believe that I actually caught up to the last rider..... This was momentus, I felt the energy rush to my legs, pedal way I felt......I eventually passed 11 people on the ride. From being the last one out of the water to catching up with 11 people felt great. As I was coming into the transition from the bike to the run, I hear someone say "baybuh" It had to be and was Michele. Her and Betty were just heading out on the run. Wow, didnt think I would see them through out the whole race. I rush into the transition park my bike, find my running stuff and head out on the run.
Run:
as I started heading out, I felt the effects of pushing it, especially for the last few miles on the bike. My quad muscles were twitching. I hard to pace myself otherwise I would start cramping up. But I wanted so badly to catch up to the girls. I was looking forward to talking to somebody. We had training for this race together and it would be extra special to run with them. Around every corner I went I was expecting to see them up ahead, but that was not the cse. These girls had turned on the gas. I had my work cut out to catch up with them. I eventually caught up to them at mile 4, but it was a lot of work. From there on we run/walked together. I was so happy to have company, and we worked well together to stay motivated and keep each other moving. We couldnt wait for the run to end, as we approached the finishing shoot, our friend Chienyo came out to meet up us and run with us. Yes we were almost done. As we went through the shoot, all our friends that had done the race were cheering us on. It was great of them to wait around for us.
This turned out to be a great race, a great day, and the best thing was I was able to do part of the race with my training partners Michele and Betty. I loved it, and may do it next year too....... :)
The weekend started off with us making the drive up to Windsor (in Sonoma county) to pick up our race packets. The drive was long, not any longer that driving up to Santa Rosa, but I think we had the race on our mind and that was weighing us down. This was an interesting race because it had two different transition areas for T1 and T2. We had to setup T2 the night before the race.
Race Day:
We(Michele and I) spent the night at my Mom's house, so the drive to the start was a quick 20 mins. That morning we went through the usual pre-race routine. We got up early, fixed breakfast, packed and headed out for the race.
Swim:
For the first time, I was in the very last wave. I'll go into this later, but it made me much more appreciative of the volunteers and support staff. The gun went off for the final wave at 8:30am. About 5 mins into the swim, I had a little chuckle. I am not a strong swimmer, so I thought to myself "wouldnt it be interesting if I was the last one to come in out of the swim?" This thought actually kept me going throughtout the swim. The swim is in the Russian River, so you swim up stream and turn around and swim downstream. As I was heading up stream, it seemed like the buoys were placed farther and farther away. I kept think that the next one coming up was the last one. It never seemed to end on the way out. Coming back in was much faster. At the turnaround, the river was less that 3 feet deep. I was actually touching the floor of the river as I swam. I later on heard that some people actually walked at the turnaround. As I was heading back in, I took my time to admire the trees lining the river(that's all I could see) and enjoy the lifeguards escort to the finish of the swim. I knew I was the last one in the river and it wasnt just by a short distance, it was a long while. I was glad to get done with the swim, on to the bike.......
Bike:
It started with a race official telling me in the transition that he was going to pull my timing chip because I didnt make the swim cut off. I actually made the swim cutoff with plenty of time to spare. He went on to tell me that he had already sent out the highway patrol so there was no one out there to escort me on the bike. I started off the bike with a sour taste in my mouth about the whole race. There were a lot of negative thoughts that went through my mind about the race so far, about how things were going that morning. I decided not to tlet these thoughts get the better of me and instead channel my energy to making it through the race. I knew that I was at the risk of not making the swim cut-off, but I surely can make the bike and run cutoff. Another thing that took my mind off this whole situation was the great scenery out there on the bike. We were riding through vineyards, beautiful landscapes, parts of Sonoma County that I had never seen. As I approaches mile 13, I remember Michele saying that the water stops were every 13 miles. At mile 13 there was nothing, no panic here, but I wonder where the water stop was. Well, a little less than 1/2 mile up the road was the water stop. I was surprised to see people there when I got there. Wow, you guys are still here....... on top of that, they were Team in Training.... how exciting. My blood was pumping, my legs pedaled a tad bit faster, then I made the mistake of trying to ride through a water stop. This need a little explaination; unless you are a pro, or know how to grab water on the ride, it's best to stop and get what you need. I made the mistake of trying to grab water and gatorade as I rode through the water stop. I drop the water, but picked up the gatorade. I kept riding knowing that I may eventually run out of fluids and that would not be good, especially as the weather was starting to warm up. Around mile 20, I finally cought up the the Highway Patrol officer that was escorting the last rider. I couldnt believe that I actually caught up to the last rider..... This was momentus, I felt the energy rush to my legs, pedal way I felt......I eventually passed 11 people on the ride. From being the last one out of the water to catching up with 11 people felt great. As I was coming into the transition from the bike to the run, I hear someone say "baybuh" It had to be and was Michele. Her and Betty were just heading out on the run. Wow, didnt think I would see them through out the whole race. I rush into the transition park my bike, find my running stuff and head out on the run.
Run:
as I started heading out, I felt the effects of pushing it, especially for the last few miles on the bike. My quad muscles were twitching. I hard to pace myself otherwise I would start cramping up. But I wanted so badly to catch up to the girls. I was looking forward to talking to somebody. We had training for this race together and it would be extra special to run with them. Around every corner I went I was expecting to see them up ahead, but that was not the cse. These girls had turned on the gas. I had my work cut out to catch up with them. I eventually caught up to them at mile 4, but it was a lot of work. From there on we run/walked together. I was so happy to have company, and we worked well together to stay motivated and keep each other moving. We couldnt wait for the run to end, as we approached the finishing shoot, our friend Chienyo came out to meet up us and run with us. Yes we were almost done. As we went through the shoot, all our friends that had done the race were cheering us on. It was great of them to wait around for us.
This turned out to be a great race, a great day, and the best thing was I was able to do part of the race with my training partners Michele and Betty. I loved it, and may do it next year too....... :)