Tempe Olympic Triathlon. A Personal Worst.

Shari and I drove up to Tempe on Saturday afternoon and picked up our race packets and checked in to the hotel. The original plan was to go to sleep early so that we would be refreshed and ready for the race on Sunday morning. Well, that didn't happen -- we got sucked into watching Million Dollar Baby and then I couldn't sleep at all. I thought I had gotten over my nerves about doing races last year, but my anxiety went ratcheting up last night in a big way. The alarm went off at 4am and we got ready and headed over to Tempe Town Lake. We got our bikes racked and then got ready to go.

I was racing in the Athena category, and my wave was scheduled to leave at 7:01am. It actually left at 7:03 -- pretty darn close to the schedule! When the horn went off, I started swimming and there was the usual mixing bowl effect of a bunch of people trying to swim in the same direction without being able to see ahead of them. Once I got out of the bunch, I had smooth swimming. I realized after going around the second buoy that I was feeling really good about this swim -- I felt strong and as if I were going fast, and I was actually having success with the sighting of the buoys and everything! I even passed a few of my fellow white caps -- a first for me. This all went down the crapper as I rounded the last buoy and had to look right into the sun to find it. I didn't find it, and managed to get totally off course. I think I ended up adding about 200 yards on to my swim. However, when I got out, I checked my watch and it looks like I did the swim in about 32 minutes -- which makes me very happy. I staggered out of the lake and up the steps (there was no one to make sure you didn't fall back into the water, so I had a death grip on the railings), and then moved as fast as I could to the transition area which was about 8 miles away from the stairs out of the water.

In transition, I changed into a tech shirt for the bike ride, shoved my feet into socks and shoes, put on my glasses and sun glasses, and helmet, and headed out. Now, I remember last year thinking that 4 loops of any course is at least one too many. This year, it was at least two too many -- I had a tough bike section. I headed out of transition and started pedaling and got many complaints from my glutes and hamstrings -- and then my right calf started to cramp up. I dropped my gear down and started spinning in hopes of working out the kinks that had just appeared, but it took more than one loop to get past all that stuff. My legs felt like crap -- they were heavy and refusing to move with any speed or strength. It was awful. I think every single person in the entire race passed me at least once on the bike, and in some cases, twice. The second loop was almost as bad as the first, but at least the cramping went away. The third loop was just slow -- way slow, and I realized toward the end of the loop that I was really, really hungry. I was so hungry at that point that I started to look for gels on the road that hadn't been opened -- I was dying for the package of shot bloks I had left in transition by the time I finished the fourth lap (no, I didn't stop for any unopened gels on the road, but I thought about it). I just couldn't get going at all -- my average speed for the 27.28 miles was 11.6mph. This was just sad and disappointing.

I am pretty sure that I was the last person back into transition. I am also pretty sure that I was one of two or maybe three people on the bike course during that last loop. Did I mention that today, Phoenix was supposed to be "unseasonably warm"? Yes, and by the time I pried my rear end off the saddle, it was really really hot. I put on some more sunscreen, slapped on my brand new hat with the curtain to cover my neck, put on my shoes and headed out for the run. I remember to bring the shot bloks with me too, and they were as good as I had imagined during that fourth loop of the bike course.

The run was just as bad as the bike -- super super hot, and when I started running, I realized that I hadn't brushed off my feet enough either before the bike, or after the bike when I was putting on my run shoes. What this meant is that my socks and then my running shoes were totally full of grass clippings and crap like that. Now, in Maryland, grass clippings are no big deal. They are soft. Apparently, that is not the case in Tempe. I spent the entire 10K feeling like my toes and the balls of my feet were being stabbed at all times -- it was bad. Worse, everyone else in the entire race was on their second loop of the course, while I was just starting my first loop. I did the entire second loop by myself -- well, I was passed by one person. As I was going over the bridge on my way to my second loop, I had to call down to the guys at the water station and let them know that I was on my way and they shouldn't shut the water station down just yet. Many of the aid stations had ice and I took advantage of the fact that there was no one but me out there -- I took a lot of ice, and drank a lot of water. I did run some of the time, but walked the majority of the time. I also managed to get a huge chafe under each arm -- apparently, I hadn't worn the tech shirt enough before racing in it.

I finally came down the ramp and went under the bridge to the finish line. I walked to the finish line -- something I am totally opposed to, but I was drained dry. As I came around the corner, I saw that transition had been broken down, and they were about to start the awards ceremony. I passed the timing mat and a friend from swimming saw me looking around for someone give my timing chip to -- I couldn't even do that -- no one was there at all. She took the chip off my ankle and told me that she would return it. Shari had packed up all my crap in transition and had parked it all under a tree with my bike. I was so grateful that she did that -- I almost couldn't face doing that after the run section.

I finished the race in about 4:50 -- about an hour longer than any other Olympic distance race I have done. I am not upset about it at this point -- too tired really -- but I am disappointed. I have been putting in a lot of training time in, and I don't feel like it showed at all today. I don't know why this race was so hard for me. I usually don't sleep the night before a race, so that wasn't unusual, and I am always nervous about racing, but it hasn't ever made a difference (I don't think) in how I did in the race. Maybe it was the heat. I don't know -- I will have to think about this one for awhile.