Sunday: The Music City Triathlon

 Me at the 2009 Music City Triathlon

This morning, for one of the first times in my life, I got to the race before transition even opened.  It was pretty amazing, and I scored an amazing parking place that was right on top of the transition.  Having attended zero races where I arrived on time, this was really nice.  I got body marked before there was a line (Last year, I arrived SO LATE that there were no body markers left, and I had to borrow a Sharpie from another racer.)

Anyway, I was really wishing that I had brought a book by the time I lined up for the swim.  There was a lot of time to roam around after I set up my transition area and returned to my car to deposit all superfluous packet items.  I had a small drama before the swim, when I left my goggles in a porta-john, but I located them and it all worked out (which for me is kind of great, as I often forget things and sometimes they do not turn up before the race).

Now, I will say that I was royally bummed that Team Magic made the decision to start the Sprint racers before the Olympic Distance racers.  It was a forecasted 98 degrees today and starting the Olympic Distance racers after the Sprint racers meant that I did not get in the water until 8:30ish or maybe even later.  It was brutally hot then and an hour and forty minutes later when I started my run, It was full on into the heat of the day.

Also, today I was race number 764, and Richard Baker (Triswami) was race number 765. This meant we got in the water together, AND racked our bikes together.  Now racing in the proximity of Richard Baker is a real learning experience.  If Richard Baker and I were in the movie Better Off Dead, I would be the one saying to "go that way real fast, and if something gets in your way, turn", and he would be the one skiing the K-12.  He's that good.


Anyway, I got to stand in line with Richard and soak in his knowledge while I stood in line for the swim, but let me tell you what really impressed me.  I, miraculously, beat Richard Baker into the transition from the swim, where I spent less (I thought) than my typical amount of time putting on chapstick, shuffling into my bike shoes, locating my sunglasses, ect.  Richard Baker hustled into transition and took THIRTY SECONDS to throw on his helmet and grab his bike, maybe less.  His bike shoes were already clipped to the bike, he hopped on and fastened his shoes as he road.  Five minutes later, I was still floundering around, apply sunscreen and digging out electrolyte pills from my bike bucket.

It was just phenomenal.  I was positively spellbound as I was sitting there on my bucket stool fumbling around for socks.  I was so spellbound that I exclaimed, "Richard, that took like 30 seconds".  Richard looked at me, and I caught a glint in his eye.  The glint said to me, as I sat fumbling around with my socks, "Yeah, sweetheart, this is now the pros do it; The people who are serious;  The people who practice transitions."

Anyway, needless to say, that was the last I saw of Richard Baker, until he lapped me on the run.

Overall, the Music City Triathlon was a well done event. The swim was great, the bike felt reasonable to me, most likely because I have been putting in more bike time, but the run felt like my all time worst.  Like I said, it was 98 when we started the run, and I clocked a 7:30 first mile, but after that I alternated between nausea and cold chills.  I drank water and hammer heed every half mile, but was still rather suspicious that I was in the early stages of heat stroke.  I actually had a lot of kick left at the end of the run, which makes me wonder if I held back on the run, while fearing heat stroke.  There was liquid all over the course and even the policemen were carrying water bottles to hand out.

I was 10 minutes slower this year and I was seventh place this year, where last year I was fourth.  This was a bummer. Splits aren't posted yet, so I will compare all results when they are.  I feel like I am biking better, so I had hoped that that would change my overall time for the significantly better.  The bike usually ruins my times, so I was hoping for massive improvement.  The heat was certainly a problem, and I had suffered the pink eye situation which had kept me out of the pool for a full 2 weeks and kept me out of my speed sessions.  Maybe all this is why.  Maybe there is no why.

Finally, I learned something important today, and that is that I need to buy and wear a kit.  A kit, I learned today, is one of the trisuits that covers you from shoulders to shorts.  I have been racing in a bathing suit and I got sunburned on my back to day.  A kit would have eliminated some of that issue.  It also would have made me look as if I were there to play the game instead of paddle in the pool.