when is it my turn?

so i debated about writing a RR from saturday seeing that i only "raced" about 2 hours of the 70.3. but in light that most times writing for me is a good way to get stuff out that i cant normally say - maybe it will somehow help.

some photos from the weekend just to warm up a bit...

taking a dip the day before. i never imaged lake michigan to be so beautiful. the water was cystal clear and clean and crisp.


start of my swim wave. first time for me jumping thru waves to get out to the first buoy. i have to say though, this has been my favorite swim of all time.


coming in on the bike. i do still love my bike.

so the tale begins on thrusday night or actually i will start with wed night when it was 9 pm and i realized that i didnt have as much stuff together as i thought i did and that included packing up my bike. hmmm normally not such a tough task.. but new bike + new case = some what of a conundrum... the bike didnt fit. so we took the seat off. still too tall. ummmmmmmm. so after having what i deemed a heart attack and bobby's suggestion of just bring your road bike instead... we had the ingenius idea to shave down the block that the frame sits on in the bottom of the box (its an upright case). presto! fit in there perfect.

so thursday. first of all. cheers to southwest for always having the nicest most friendly people working for them. and only $50 to ship your bike. my only complaint is the open seating. i totally disagree with it and think it only leads to boarding anxiety as people have to ask permission to sit in a seat ... sucks... anyway flight to midway and off we go to check into the (dont be jealous) roadway motel. yes. i booked it. it was cheap and close to the airport. driving over there we got off the interstate and suddenly were in a very desolate and industrial part of chicago... finally seeing the neon of walgreens up ahead like a light of salvation- we turned into the bates.. er i mean roadway.. motel and true to form there was the shady check in with the blinking "office" sign. i knew if they gave us a regular key instead of an electronic one we were hightailing it to the nearest hampton inn... so we go to #19 and actually it wasnt that bad. dare i say it was actually not even close to the worst place i have ever stayed. clean. comfortable and breakfast the next day. nice.

friday we got up and drove to benton harbor. not realizing that the hour we lost going to chicago we got back going to michigan. stopped by and got my packet and then drove to the race site for a quick swim. at this point i will mention that i'm feeling good. the best i've felt in about 2 weeks so i was pretty excited. swimming that day was actually FUN. though i felt a little stupid putting on a wetsuit with people sunning on the beach. but the water temp was about 70 so just chilly enough to warrent one. i tried to practice swimming out into the waves and getting thru the breakers to the first buoy. then checked out transition and headed to the hotel.

we again lucked out with a gem of a place about 20 minutes north of the race site. and as fate would have it, a brand new super wal mart was right next door. we headed over there and did some food shopping for lunch and dinner. i hate to say it as i know some will cringe, but i'm not a big eater outer. i much prefer simple food that i know i like and doesnt have all the hassle of going someplace. got the bike ready and packed up for an early morning. went to bed feeling like i was ready to have a good day.

saturday am - everything went as it should. i spent a bit too much time setting up my transition and by the time we started the 1.2 mile walk down the beach to the start i only had about a 15 min run and no trip to the john... figured that was going to have to wait. arrived at the start with about 15 minutes to spare and watched the earlier waves go out. went and said hi to beth and we walked up to the start. waves were 7 minutes apart which i think was a bit too long. i think some people must have waited about 80 minutes from teh pros to start (the highest wave i saw was 11 but there may have been more...)

so GO! i took off behind the first line of girls and just went for it. it was pretty tough for me to sight since every time i looked up all i saw was the crest of a wave so i tried to guage by the people around me - which as the swim went on was harder as it thinned out. i did find some feet for a brief period but that was tough to stay on since the waves kind of flopped yo uaround a bit. but i did like jen said - just go with the waves and it worked. i stayed just over my comfort zone and when i came out of the water and saw 32 on my watch i was pretty happy. the toughest part of the swim had to be exiting the water and then running up the sandy beach.

t1- pretty good. had a bit of trouble with the timing chip leg of the wet suit but managed to get it off and head out on the bike. for the first 2 hours i felt great. good speed. good turn over. nutrition on. i was riding back and forth with one of the girls on beths MAO team so i figured i was doing pretty good :) but then - well its kind of hard to explain - but like in the ER when they say "things started to deteriorate quickly" well that was me. it wasnt really bonking but more of a slow down. like letting air out of your tires with a slow leak. the last 18 miles of the bike was straight into a pretty stiff headwind and i was having a lot more trouble than i should have fighting it. i kept thinking "man florida was not this hard. and i'm in better shape now"... so what had started as a great ride went south, but i thought i could still salvage something with a good run. and i still had high hopes for the run since i was running better off this bike. and i attributed my slow down to the wind.

t2- pretty good though i dropped a gel and went back for it, not sure why...

the run. pretty early on i knew something was way off. the first 1/2 mile was flat and i thought just get your legs back and then lets go. the course turned left and went up a long hill. i had a bit of trouble getting up it and thought as soon as i got to some flatter roads i would be fine. nope. without going into the details the run turned into a walk and i could not even make myself start running again. i was so deflated and felt like my brain was not connected. cause i was thinking pretty clearly and pretty clearly not happy. i just kept telling myself get to the next mile marker. telling my legs to turn over. i still had the plan to pick it up at mile 7 for the last 10 k. i really fought it, i kept thinking is it the heat (nope! it actually got colder as the day went on). is it nutrition? (nope! pre race and on the bike were spot on). i will say i have never wanted to quit something so badly in my life. i honestly didnt know how i was going to make all 13 miles. i finally hit mile 11 and told my self no more walking. i literally had to force myself from stopping, even on the down hill. that involved a few choice words that im' sure my fellow racers were wondering about...i've felt spent from effort and i've felt tired from a long race, but this was different.

anyway - thats enough. i went to the doc today and will hopefully get a good answer- soon. thanks everyone for your support over the past week and especially after the race sat. its so tough to go through all the training and the time and then come race day you dont get the chance to see what you can do.