I'm not really sure where my thoughts and notes begin here. There is so much here. First and foremost, I guess I should start with why I got the mountain bike. Doing triathlons mean I need to work on the bike and in the winter that is hard. I biked a little on the bike during the winter but it was NOT pleasant.
So here are the reasons:
And as regards to this race....? How cool is the concept?
So, let's start...I got a mountain bike. Used in 3 times. Andre took me to Bethpage, Cunningham and the last time was again in Bethpage. The last one was a little bit of a doozy. Andre didn't take it easy on me. He wanted to take me to Stillwell in preperation for this but the weather and schedule just didn't let that happen. That last time I simply played hookey.
Well I got injured almost a month ago. Haven't really run at all and I was at a loss. I didn't completly feel ready for the bike segment here. The only thing I had to me was the comment Andre made last time which was that I had a good eye. I was good at finding the right line to follow. Everything else is legs/cardio/body and mind.
Before I knew it the L.I gold coast triathlon was on top of us and a week later this race. Gold coast was a rain affair with the swim cancelled. Here there was no swim but I was itching to do things right and for the race not to get "modified" because the weather.
I guess the event really starts with an hour drive to Wading River. Tiring. Good news: Weather winnies said there is only a 30 % chance of rain and looking at the radar maps you can see that the clouds and major storms have passed. We are all clear. No cancelling or modifying the race course. But of course it's windy and drizzling and the clouds don't look too good.
I like to get to race sites early and it was a good thing too. I rented a kayak ahead of time and when I got there, Brian the race director (RD) told me to go to the lake to take care of that right away. Gets crazy he said.
Went to the lake and promptly found out that my name was NOT on the list of people who rented a kayak. Crap. She calls Brian and everything is all cool. Got my kayak, vest and paddle. Heavy little thing. Carried it down the hill to the lake. I'm starting to realize that I would have to carry it up the hill too.
They have indoor plumbing and no lines. How cool is that?
Soon enough they tell us to go the lake for the meeting and the start of the race.
Pre race meeting. The RD comes out and tells us that in previous years he saw people trying to get in and out of the kayak without getting their shoes wet. They struggled so much that they sometimes flipped over and things got dangerous. Because of that he decided to change the course so no one would have these issues. During the 1 mile run around the lake, there is a section where you run through the lake. The water was up to my knees! For real!
Strategy....Finish the run quickly, kayak too and do as much of the MTB as possible. I was about tenth in the water - so far so good.
The kayak was NOT working out. I saw the whole world get in front of me. I was not dead last but way at the end. Only good thing with being last is that I didn't have to carry the damn thing all the way up. Cool up until the volunteer said to me - over here...There's more space. Didn't have to carry it all the way up but a pretty good way. My feet are soaked and I am running up a hill carrying a kayak fighting the sand in the hill. Cool. Run another 1/4 mile to transition.
Mountain bike. Two loops - each 5.5 miles long. First loop seemed like 20. Second loop felt better. Much better. Still it was hard. There was single track. There was mud and sand pits. There were some crazy up's and some crazy downs. I was following a kid (14 years old and regular shoes) and I was yelling at him at every uphill. I knew if he went down that I would crash into him or that I would have to unclip and suffer. All went well. Only 1 time did I have to unclip. I went through a sandpit (about 3 inches of sand). I didn't fall but it sucked. Actually passed a few people on the bike too. Some of the uphills I was surprised I managed to go up. Some of the downhills were worse. There is a 180 degree u-turn and all you can see is this nasty down hill and you sort of stop riding without unclipping. you gotta let the rider in front of you clear it ad then you launch. Had 2 of those. As I manage to get through another, I think "Man, Andre would be proud of me if he could see me". And then I thought "Shut up. Don't open you rmouth because the next time you're going flying."
Just as I finish the bike, 100 meters from transition I see Lee and the kids. They came out. Took my mom's little car and came to see me. YAY!
Obstacle course: balance beam, Under ropes, another balance beam but this time it was a tree so not smooth. Football toss through a hoop, 5 pushups, 10 situps with medicine ball and mental puzzles. Let's see: word search, 2 word unscrambles, couple of Questions, math question where the right answer wasn't there and what not. Archery cancelled - sucks.
Off to the run. Trail run. Worse 5K I have ever had. Horrible. First we again had a lake run. Just when my feet were finally dry. Then hills. Some of the downs, I actually had to hold on to trees to go down. Some of the ups where worse. Some of the hills, I actually climbed on my feet and hands (on all 4) - terrible hill. That was because I couldn't get purchase on the loose soil. I was running with this old guy who at 1 point just took off. He was that good. Anyway, wow. Did I mention that there was another lake run?
Still managed to sprint the last 1/4 mile run which part of was up a hill.
Never before have I ever did a race where I was this beat up. My arms were dead from the kayak. My abs were a little sore too. Legs sucked also. Exhausted but fun. Turned out dehydrated too.
Pizza came and kids happy. Went to splish-splash for about an hour and a half which made kids happy and day was over.
Unhappy story for someone. About 20 minutes before the race, this guy comes flying down the hill to the lake with his girlfriend on their bikes. I tell them that transition is up there. They yell out that they know. Then I see them in transition. He comes flying up there with his bike. He's pissed. Where is pickup he wants to know. We tell him and he almost throws his bike away and rushes there. Then I am walking to the lake for race start and he is flying down there with his bike which doesn't make sense because he'll have to bring his bike up...Later found out the whole story...Apparently, he has a kayak at home but his girlfriend said that they will rent and she was in charge of that. OOPS. She didn't. No kayak. Ended up doing the race unofficially with no kayak leg.
Good time overall. Fun race. Crazy race. HARD race.