Grand Rapids Tri 2012

Grand Rapids Tri

I’ve been doing triathlons for the past few years and last year I moved up to the Half Ironman distance, my first being the GR Tri in 2011.  I did 2 last year and so the next logical progression was to train for a full Ironman.  I am signed up to compete in Madison on September 9^th!

Since last year was my first attempt at the 70.3, I had no idea what to expect.  I was full of self-doubt, whether or not I could even finish.  Since I had 2 under my belt from last year and an entire year of more training, I felt surprisingly more confident and less nervous this time around.

I usually start getting really nervous a few days before a big event like this.  But this time, I did not!  The day before, while I was out for a very short bike ride, I started playing all the negative thoughts in my mind.  What if it is too hot?  (My answer:  you will stay hydrated and it may not be your best time, but you will get through it).  What if it is too windy?  (My answer:  It’ll be windy for everyone, and I actually handle the wind pretty well…as I proved to myself at Fisk Knob recently).  Did I really train as hard as I should have?  (My answer:  You better believe it!  I did not even skip a single session according to my “plan”).  So, I went to bed that night and actually had one of the best pre-race sleeps of my lifeJ

The alarm went off at 4:15 am.  Man I absolutely hate getting up at that time of the morning.  (Getting up at a reasonable hour is one reason that I love Tri Allegan.  Why aren’t there more weekday evening triathlons?  I think RWT should sponsor one…).  I went to Barb Lindquist’s tri clinic a few weeks ago and one of the things that she suggested was to actually run right away after getting up in the morning, and then eat breakfast.  What the heck?  Yep, I was on the treadmill at 4:25 am.  So far, so good.

I like to get to the venue extra early so that I do not feel too stressed or rushed.  So, my husband and I were in the car by 5:45am and arrived around 6:15am.  Thankfully, the event was pretty close to our house.  Once I arrived I had planned to get a quick bike and swim warm-up in, but never did.  I got too distracted taking to friends and teammates and I guess I forgot about the bike warm-up (maybe next time).  I usually spend the majority of pre-race morning in the porta-potty, but I only went once and thankfully the nerves were under control.  I opted out of the warm-up swim as I was already too cold just standing around and didn’t want to get wet. 

Swim:  As we were wading in the water, I was still cold and getting quite nervous all of a sudden.  Seriously, there were an awful lot of people all wanting to be in the same water at the same time. Usually I try to line up about a third of the way back in the pack, but not this time.  My friends, especially Kattie and Marianne, have me believing that I am better than that, and I don’t want to get stuck behind slower swimmers.  So I opted to line up in the front, off to the side just a bit.  I did not hear a gun or siren or announcement, but all of a sudden, off the pack went.  I was freaking out for about 200 yards as everyone was jockeying for position and I could feel hands on my legs.  After a bit, I settled into my very own swim.  I had wanted to draft, but there was not an easy way to do this.  I just swam my own race and did not pay any attention to what anyone else was doing.  By the turn-around I was passing a few of the guys from a previous heat.  The swim went well overall and I felt like I got faster the longer I swam.  I found out later that I was the 8^th woman out of the water.  I had assistance from the wetsuit stripper---that was actually really fun as I laid down, feet in the air, and off the suit went.

Bike:  I was relieved to get on the bike, as this has always my best leg of the tri!  I was just hoping for no crashes and no flats.  I was having fun out there and making great time.   I saw teammates, Lonna and Heather, who were out on the bike course cheering.  Heather told me that I was in second.  What?  What did she mean?  Could I really be the second place woman?  Hmmm.  No matter what happened on the bike, I then decided to make it my #1 goal to be the fastest women on the bike there that day.  As it turned out, I was!

Run:  Deep sigh!  I was having a great race, but the hardest part was yet to come.  The heat and sun were building and so I really didn’t know how things would go.  I was thankful for my last minute decision, just prior to the race, to forego the GPS/ heart rate monitor.  I set out on the run and my goal was to stay relaxed!  I did not have a heart rate monitor to tell me that my heart rate was too high or the GPS telling me that I was going too slowly.  So I just kept running…relaxed!  The sunny parts of the course were tough and I was so thankful for the shady parts.  My husband, my mom and my dad were all spread out on the course.  With it being a double loop course, I got to see each one of them 4 times- they really kept me going.  My dad shouted out to me once that I was a few minutes behind the first place woman.  Again, I thought he had to be mistaken.  I thought that he probably didn’t even realize that there were 3 different race distances going on there that day. 

I crossed the finish line, from my vantage point the clock said 0:00:00.  Oh well- I did my best and I actually felt pretty well.  After crossing the finish line, one of guys told me that unofficially I was the second female.  I found out later that I was indeed 2^nd place (5:02) and there was a nice prize too.  All in all, it was a great race.  I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t thrilled with how I placed.  Mostly I was happy that I knocked 22 minutes off my time from last year.  Looks like all the training is paying off and I am still really enjoying competing in triathlons!