My recollection of the triathlon

by Nicole

I woke up Sunday morning at about 3:45, hoping to get 15 more minutes in before my alarm went off. But I had to pee so badly I couldn’t fall back asleep. I lay in bed arguing with myself about whether I should get up and pee and try to fall back asleep, or just get up. And that’s when I saw the first flash of lightning and heard the rain start hitting the windows.

I’d heard the rain wasn’t supposed to start until 2:00 that afternoon so I was pretty irritated that it came early. I had no faith that the weather would clear up. I thought all the training and preparations were going to be washed away by lightning strikes changing the course distances or canceling parts of the race. At very least, I thought we were going to have to wait to start the race until noon. Since I was already awake at 3:45, and I cannot nap, this did not bode well for my performance.

So I got up, made myself a little coffee, grabbed a breakfast bar that I had made the night before and tried to relax a little (after I dug out all the rain gear Derek and I had put away after the Boston Marathon in April 07). Tina showed up at the agreed upon 4:30, we loaded up my bike, and jumped in the car. The ride to Webster was short, but we had plenty of opportunity to watch the lightning fork across the sky and listen to the menacing rumbles of thunder. I indulged my fears of a turbulent swim, sucking in lots of lakewater, skidding on wet roads and running in blisteringly wet shoes.

We parked in the closest lot and decided to stay in the car for a while, no rush since we knew we’d be in the last heat. I kept in constant contact with Derek via text messages both for weather reports and moral support. I text messaged my ironman and ironwoman friends who reminded me (nicely) to get over it.

Dawn started to break, so did the weather. Daylight increased, thunderclaps and lightning strikes decreased. We put up our hoods and made our escape. As we walked our bikes the half mile to the start area, the rain got lighter and lighter, and by the time we were in the race area it had stopped completely.

The word was that at 7:00 (when the first wave should have started) we’d find out if they were canceling the swim or simply postponing it. By 7:15, it was clear that the day would go on as planned.

Tina and I set up our transition stations next to one another and made friends with the people around us. We found our other teammates and started watching the elite swimmers start their race. It was amazing to watch someone swim one half of a mile in about 7 and a half minutes. Even more amazing were the crowds. Almost 2500 timing chips were recorded, but there were many more people there.

Somehow among all the action we even met up with many of our cheering section: Derek, Doug, Louie, and my ironman friend and swim coach Tony and his lovely girlfriend Jess. My perfomance anxiety was helped by the same homeopathic remedy that I had used during my board exams to calm “exam nerves”: Gelsenium. It was also helped by a phone call from my ironwoman friend Melissa who reminded me to go slow during the swim and gave me some sage advice: You only get one first time at this, so enjoy the journey, enjoy the day. You’ll have lots of time in the future to work on being fast. Today, pay attention and don’t miss it.

We got in line for our swim heat. They had us get about ankle deep in the water and we instantly felt the current dragging us into the lake. I thought it was a myth, but when you are in the last wave, there is a current created by 2,300 women swimming in the same direction for the last hour and a half. When the bell went off I immediately rolled into “sweet spot,” a swimming drill that I used frequently to remind myself to go slow and take the swim as a relaxing exercise rather than a panicked “churn and burn.” After a few seconds of that I started swimming.

The whole swim felt as relaxed as if I was just doing my swim drills. I thought about Tony’s advice to swim 3 freestyle strokes and then 3 breast strokes. I focused on some advice my brother Fran gave me – was I rotating enough in my freestyle? Do i feel the water squeeze through my legs during my breast stroke? Sure I got kicked and elbowed and grabbed, but it was very polite. People were actually apologizing to one another. I tried to draft but I kept swimming over the people I was drafting. If you think about it, I was actually drafting all 2,300 before me with that current.

As we rounded the first buoy I cheered to the women I was with “We made the first turn!” As we approached the second buoy I cheered us on again. As I swam the last leg I thanked the swim angels who were waiting in the water to help us out and cheer us on. I slowed down as I approached the shore and out we came. I had done it. I didn’t suck wind or water, I didn’t feel
wasted, I didn’t finish last. And, Fran, I didn’t wear a noseclip.

We emerged to cheers and encouragement. I jogged along the path to Derek who traded me my prescription sunglasses for my prescription goggles, and off I went to the first transition.

My sister Michelle had swum the first leg of the relay and came over to help out. She aided me in the removal of my wetsuit and powdered my feet. I choked down a nutrition gel and got ready to bike. While I walked my bike to the bike start and I cheered on some women who were finishing their swim, I nearly dropped my bike.

I jumped on the bike and noticed my seat was way too low, so I jumped off of it and adjusted, unfortunately it wasn’t enough, but I wasn’t getting off again. I hit the first hill and noticed how much my quadriceps were burning (a side effect of the seat being too low, wasn’t getting enough extension), and thought about getting off the bike and walking the hill, but when I went to get my foot out of the pedal I couldn’t. So I figured it was a sign from the gods. I remembered Doug the Bicycle Repairman’s advice and stood the heck up.

At the top of the hill I saw some more friends there to cheer us on. They let me know that I was catching up with Tina who had crushed me on the swim.

I tried not to wimp out on the down hills, used what my momma gave me and pumped those little piston legs. I felt very strong on the ride, I caught up with Tina and made some friends. I said thank you to all of the volunteers and police officers. I cheered on people who were struggling, and those who were kicking my ass. I teased spectators, shook my fanny at Tina and generally had a great time.

As I entered the end of the bike I rode by both of my sisters who had started the run portion and yelled to them getting the best cheer ever from Chrisso which made quite a few people laugh. I jumped off the bike for an easy transition to run and grabbed a Vanilla Cliff Shot, and promptly spit it out gagging. It was so disgusting. Grabbed a raspberry one which was only slightly less disgusting, at least it did not make me gag. And I took off, at a very slow jog.

My cheering section was the best, and hollered for me. I was so happy to have people yelling my name and teasing me. I knew the run was not going to be great for me so I just took it slow and started high-fiving everyone who would do it. I passed my sisters again and hugged one, high-fived the other. My knee started to hurt, an old injury rearing its ugly head, and I had to alternate jogging with walking. I stopped at every water station and let the little kids throw water at me. I probably wasted a lot of time goofing around. 🙂

On my way back into the race area, I heard my name again and when I looked it was my brother Mike and sister-in-law Charlene who were an excellent surprise. I smiled for the camera and finished up my race amid more cheers and photo ops.

I was treated to flowers from my dear friend Nicole and snuggles from her new baby Nolan. I gave sweaty wet hugs to all our cheering section. And then I went to Michelle and Tom’s house and gorged myself on fresh salsa, grilled fish and delicious salads. And, of course, a beer.

As I mentioned earlier I’m not much of a napper. After we got home Derek napped while I just looked at the internet and thought about my blisters on my toes, a side effect of wet feet. At the appointed hour I decided I felt up to doing a little bowling, so we went to our last bowling match of the season and I bowled a good 20-30 points over my average on all 3 games. I decided the bowling made for a quadrathlon.

I don’t feel any different, I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished anything special. I really do believe that anyone could do that triathlon. But I’m proud that I learned how to swim so much better, I’m proud of how well I did on the bike, and I will likely do more of these sprint triathlons.