TWU Sprint

After taking three weeks off, I decided there would be no better way to break back into training than to do a little race. Rebecca and I headed up to Denton for the TWU Power Pioneer Triathlon... another Ironhead Race Production Sprint Distance Triathlon (click here for results). The last tri I did was the Saturday before leaving for camp... the Paddle, Pedal, Pound the Pavement Tri in Grapevine, which took place on June 2. That was literally the last time I rode, ran... and I only swam once since then. Coming back from Camp brought chaos to the training schedule and I was just getting ready to get back into the grove then I got sick... and that lasted two weeks! The bad news was that I gave my sore throat, chest congestion, headache, violent cough (Becca says it is loud enough to break glass) and runny nose. She was about a week behind me, but sick still on race day. I feel pretty good and have for the past several days. The only thing that remains is the cough and a voice that sounds like some weird Muppet or Fraggle or something. To add to the chaos and illness, it has also been raining, Noah's Ark -style here for the past, uh, MONTH! Some say that all of the rain is elevating the fungus, mold and mildew in the air, which is causing everyone to get sick... anyway June was not an ideal month for training to say the least!

So we decided to race anyway... just for fun (right!). Coach Phelan thought it would be a great idea for me to do the race as a training race. I think his last instruction was something like, "don't push it..." or something... I don't remember (like I would have listened). I really tried to approach it like that, but there is just something in me that won't let me "take it easy and have fun." Don't get me wrong, I have fun racing... before, a little at the beginning, and at the end, but not so much at the end or in the middle (ouch!). Anyway, we showed up and I began scoping out the competition. I didn't see some of the usuals so I started getting excited. Somewhere in my mind I was gonna shred the bike course and raise some serious eyebrows! Well that did not happen! I realized that it wasn't going to happen exactly at the time when I turned around on the bike course. I had a GREAT swim, relaxed and fast. I passed the gal in front of me on the third 25. My time was 5:07 for the 300 Meters. The run from the pool to T1 was about 200 meters and is zapped me a little. But a quick transition and onto the bike and I was flying. the course was rolling to flat and the first half I was really moving. I was averaging around 25, but at times the speeds were in the 30s. With about a mile to the turn around, I noticed a flag in someone's front yard. It was Old Glory, flapping, I mean Standing straight out. I caught a glimpse of it as I wiped my chin on my shoulder... you see, I had to catch it in passing from the side because I would never see a flag head on that was blowing DIRECTLY AT ME! My heart sank a bit as I knew what was coming. I kept cranking, trying to put as much into the bank as I could. It wasn't a mile later that the turn around came. I slowed, swung a knee out and turned slowly -- BAM! There it was... the wind. It was right on the nose and to make matters worse, it was up hill all the way back (or so it seemed!). My legs felt like they were filled with sand. The only positive thought I could muster was that I wasn't cramping and this wouldn't last forever! I began to feel the effects of no training... and I was not surprised... as if I were the BK and I could just do this thing on raw talent!

I finished the bike leg and began making my way through the transition area. My heart rate was at the redline and I was having difficulty breathing. This is probably due to all the coughing and chest congestion over the past several weeks. On the way to the race, I had a coughing fit, so I grabbed a Mucinex CF and downed it trying anything to get it under control. Mucinex, by the way is awesome... The CF must stand for Create Freakingtonsofphlegm... I was a phlegm factory the entire race. At first I was coughing it up then it started flowing from my nose. I started off with the politely -directioned snot rocket, but by the end I was just blowing it out both nostrils in all directions. At this point, I didn't care, I was dying. My run into the transition slowed to a trot then I walked to the rack as I realized my hopes of having a good run were gone with last week's training schedule. So I took my time and tried to get things calmed down. On with the shoes and visor, flipped the number around and I started running. Only one word came to mind... it starts with and F and ends with UCK (Firetruck ;) I was in serious pain, but I kept moving with one thought in mind... keep moving forward and don't stop! The run course was a two-looper. I hate two-loopers because the whole first lap I am thinking to myself, "i've got to do this again!" I knew I was running slow, but I didn't care. All of that testosterone filled garbage of winning was gone and now all I wanted to do was finish. The run course was longer that 5K but I am not sure how munch. I ended up running 9:30 per mile pace, which is far slower that the previous race's 7:30's. Again, I didn't care. I turned my mind to singing praise songs and began praying for the race to be over! Once I finished, I sat for a while and gathered my thoughts and composure. I knew I had been stupid for thinking I could win with no training. I took myself to a place of just being happy to be there and being able to race. Once they posted the first round of unofficial results, I cheered up even more... I found that even though my run time was about 5 minutes slower than it should have been, I would still end up with hardware. I won second in Clydesdale and would have placed 4th in age group, overall, I was 35 out of 220. It motivates me to get back out there and train. With excellent coaching and a little work, I will be right back up there!