This picture sums up Vineman pretty well. A full day of fighting, and not really going anywhere. From my perspective anyways.
Going into this race, I was mentally and physically prepared as I've ever been. I've had good races here in Vineman 3 years with improving times every year (6min + each year) and this year I wanted to just go under 4 hours. It's been the project for the last year or two and I came very close the last race, at Victoria 70.3, where I was 51 seconds away from breaking the 4 hour barrier.
My swim was probably the best I've felt in month. The bike is there. And the run was also there. I did overdo my training 2 weeks before, but with some rest, lots of massage, lots of elevated legs, I felt very ready to go.
yes, I got hypothermia, im not exaggerating.
I did my swim warm up routine that worked well last time. Knowing that it was non wetsuit legal. I got in water 5 min before instead of 10 min before. But it was still too along. From the get go, I just couldn't get going. I got dropped right away and was pretty puzzled with how I couldn't push myself. On the way back, expectedly, I was passed by the women's leaders. Adding more insult to the already bad swim. And it was cold. My hands were frozen. I just told myself to keep going.
and just to be clear, the water temp was like 72 degrees, and air temp was 52 degrees. So biking half naked, at 25mph in 52 temp with wind chill is supposedly normal. And we're not allowed wet suits. I'll just leave it at that. Because apparently, that's supposed to be normal.
I wish there was a video of my transition one video. It would have made the nominee or finalist for Shaqtin' a Fool's MVP. For those of you who don't watch TNT basketball. You should check out that segment. It's gold on youtube.
I could barely unzip my speedsuit and I ended up taking my race suit off as well. So I had to put my race suit back on while my body was wet and it was hard to put it back on. It was a fun mess.
I was glad I finished. And my mom was there to see me. Definitely a race I don't want to remember.
The positive from the race? my time is still 4:15, which is 1 minute faster than my time here 3 years ago, first time as a pro. So at least, on a tougher day, with no wetsuit, dealing with frozen hypothermia, I was still better than my 23 year old self.
And I can't really write how disappointed I was. Because then I'm too emotional, and have no perspective.
But...
What could I have done better?
1. I could have been more aggressive at the swim start. Which is something that I'll do next time. I've never gotten over being kicked and knocked around. But I think it's just in my own head. I do lift some weights, and I am kinda swole. So maybe next time, I'll be much more aggressive, via advice of Dylan.
2. And being more prepared for the cold air temps early on would have been a smart choice. Putting newspaper in my chest, or having a vest, toe cover, gloves, etc. may have helped the issue.
But honestly, I think the hypothermia just took it out of me.
BUT HEY, LET'S DO ANOTHER ONE SIX DAYS LATER.
So my friend and I decided to go to Utah, to be a tourist. And do this half ironman. Long story short, the swim was canceled due to algae bloom. So no issues of hypothermia. And I won! I got lost a couple times because my dumbass didn't read the course map. And did an extra 0.6 miles on the run. I was ecstatic when I was told that after doing the extra loop, I was still in first. And I kinda just enjoyed myself rest of the way, and enjoyed the rest of the run rather than balls to the walling it.
But averaged 26.2 mph on the bike, and ran a 1:26-ish without the extra 0.6 miles. A win is a win And ill take it. 3:47 time, with the swim, it would have probably put me at around 4:05-4:00. But the chase for sub 4 continues.
If you're interested in this race and checking out Utah, I highly recommend it, http://www.racetri.com/the-utah-half/
The finisher's medal is like 3 times larger than the first place medal. And they gave me a burger king crown. can you say grass root racing is awesome?
thanks to the race director Aaron for a unique event.
So Ive taken about 3 weeks off completely. What did I do in those times? job hunted, and caught up on the whole Harry Potter Series because I've never seen one. And Attended my college roommates wedding. It was my first friend's wedding that I attended. So that was pretty cool.
But my body has enjoyed this long overdue complete break. I'm completely out of shape and I have a race in 2 weeks, San Francisco triathlon at Alcatraz hosted by Trical. Not sure how that is going to go. But hopefully I can get my ass in shape in the next 14 days somehow.
oh and some pictures from the Utah trip
In closing, I would like to say thank you to Pedro at P-fits who continued support. And Shane from team Zoot as well. I can't say enough about what you've done to help me. thank you. Nick for all the guidance.
And also, i just want to say, post script. P.S.
i do have fun with triathlon. Your fun might be different from my kind of fun. My kind of fun is pushing limits and getting better everyday. And breaking through my own limits that I mentally put on myself. And competing against the best in the world. That is fun. Just because I bitch about a bad race, and all the hard things about racing pro doesn't mean I don't love it. And to be clear fun to me is not standing on the top of the podium and "winning" races. I race pro because I get to race the best in the world. How many people get that kind of opportunity? There's hard times and tough times that comes with this pursuit. If I don't upset after a really really bad race, then I probably shouldn't be a pro. You don't have to tell me how to live my life differently. Because I never told you how to live yours.
Here's to being more open minded thank you. Cheers.
Happy summer.