angledge | The long triathlon writeup.

We were scheduled to meet up for breakfast at 5:00 AM, but nerves had me awake at about 3:30 AM. I got out of bed & started Race Day with an attack of dry heaves. NERVES! However, thanks to the metformin, I have months of experience with waking up sick. So I rode it out, shrugged it off, & wheeled Valentina the Bike downstairs. Breakfast was a near-catastrophe - the hotel had not prepared coffee! But the staff scrambled madly & eventually rolled out large percolators full of consciousness. This was a good thing, because:

Hundreds of Race Day Triathletes - Caffeine = TOTAL CARNAGE

By 6:05 AM, the SF/Marin team was assembled. We got on our bikes & rode about 15 minutes down a beautiful bike path to the transition area. The weather was perfect - temperatures in the low to mid 60s, very little wind, & the surface of Monterey Bay was glassy & still. Everyone found their assigned transition spot & got set up. Compared to most of the competitors, my transition setup was simplistic - minimal gear, few snacks, nothing extraneous. At 7:00 AM, we cleared the transition area & at 7:15 AM the first wave hit the water! The triathlon was underway - but I still had 1 1/2 hours to wait, because my wave didn't start until 8:45 AM. So my teammates & I watched the early waves run off the beach & fight their way through the kelp.

Regarding the kelp: this swim was held over a rich upwelling of the deep Pacific currents, which has caused a lush kelp forest to develop near the shore. While that's great for marine life (including the seal that watched me do my warmup swim on Friday afternoon), it was less than ideal for human swimmers, who try to swim over the top of the kelp without getting too heavily entangled. It felt like you were wrestling with a kraken. Ah well, all part of the fun. I was disappointed that I didn't see any wild sea otters (which doesn't mean they weren't there!).

At 8:00 AM I went back into the transition area & pulled on my wetsuit. At 8:30 AM, I got in the water & did a few strokes, getting used to the temperature (about 57 degrees F). At 8:40 AM the started called us back behind the start gate. There was a 10-second warning, & then the starting horn!

Open-water starts are always chaotic & so it was for this race. I swam hard, trying to find space in the pack (& the kelp). I got kicked in the head a couple of times, & accidently kicked someone in the collarbone (sorry...). The swim course requird two loops around a set of four buoys. Between loops, we ran up onto the beach & across a timing pad so that our timing chips (strapped to our ankles) would register that we had actually done two loops. When I got out of the water after the first loop, the wave after mine was poised to start. Since the waves were starting 15 minutes apart, I figured I was looking at a 30-minute swim - a fast pace. Good news. Incidently, that was the last point in the race when I had ANY idea how much time had passed.

I finished the 2nd loop & started T1. I unzipped my wetsuit & pulled off my cap & goggles while running up the ramp towards the transition area & my bike. I quickly pulled on my bike shoes (no socks - my feet were wet!) but it took me AGES to wriggle into my racing top! Helmet on, strap buckled, sunglasses on, & I ran Valentina out onto the road.

The bike course was also looped - four times out & back along a beautiful stretch of beach highway. I was very careful to count the loops. This was the longest stretch of the race, & frankly it was also the most boring. The course was very flat & the scenery was, well, repetitive (since I saw it all eight times). I concentrated on keeping my pedaling rate very high & tried not to get discouraged when superfast bikers kept whipping past me. Back & forth, back & forth, starting to fell the burn in my legs, staying hydrated with Gu2O, & finally I was done. I ran Valentina back into the transition area, helmet & sunglasses off, headband on, bike shoes off, socks & running shoes on, gobbled down some ShotBloks, & I took off for the running course.

The first few minutes after T2 were the worst part of my race. Because the bike course was flat, I didn't stand up on the bike at all - & after 40 kilometers in the saddle, my feet had gone completely numb. As I started running, they started to wake up - painfully. They felt like they were on fire. I walked long sections of the first two-mile run loop. At some point around 1.5 miles, my feet felt better & I started to pick up speed. I ran for the most part, albeit at a fairly slow pace, & walked when I felt I had to. Every time I stopped to walk, I cursed myself for every skipped practice from the whole summer. This part of the race was all about stamina & I wished I had more left in my tank. I ate a few ShotBloks, & drank water at every water table (staffed by incredibly upbeat volunteers).

Three times 'round the loop - three times past the Green Gables Inn, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, past the Cannery Row shop where I bought la chica a kite last spring. Three times past cheering teammates, coaches, & complete strangers. I felt like I went faster on each loop, pushing each run interval longer, walking faster when I had to walk. When I passed Coach Rob for the final time, he yelled, "Burn it home now!" And I poured out everything I had left. I crossed the finish line with my arms outstretched, so that the crowd could see what I had written on my right arm:

FOR SARAH

After that, there was nothing but the Pure Elation of Success. I got a finisher's medal. Even better, I got a bottle of water. Even BETTER, when I rode back to the hotel I got a shower. And a huge meal. And some well-earned sleep.

The final numbers:

Swim time & pace: 29:18, 19:32 min/km
T1 time: 3:35
Bike time & pace: 1:31:38, 16.2 mph
T2 time: 3:41
Run time & pace: 1:10:23, 11:21 min/mi
TOTAL RACE TIME: 3:18:35

Cost to buy gear for three sports: approximately $2,000
Fund raised for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: $4,732 & counting
Experience of completing a triathlon with TnT: PRICELESS

Thanks again to everyone who supported me - I never could have done it without you all!

I will continue to add photos to this post as I get them.