Pre-race madness, and Fireman 2010

I have an almost obsessive-compulsive approach to race mornings, and I'm sure I'm not alone with this in the world of sports. I've always had routines and specific things I do before races, but this summer has added a sort of practicality to my madness. Sunday morning was yet another entry in that category.

One of my big things is that I have to get to the race wicked early. I'm talking slightly before transition opens, which is often before 5:30AM. In normal life I'm nowhere near a morning person, but the morning of a tri I'm up at 4, 4:30 with no problem. Again, I realize that there are many others that share this need to be early, but starting with my first tri of the season back in May, I realized I do it for a reason. The Polar Bear Tri was held at Bowdoin in early May, when I arrived early only to lock my keys in my car trying to get my backpack out of the trunk. A teammate with AAA happened to pull in next to me and saved me, and I was spared having to to race back to Portland in a friend's car to get my spare key. In July at Urban Epic, I went to the Dunkin Donuts on Fore St (another pre-race ritual; iced coffee and two strawberry frosted donuts), put the coffee on top of my car, and drove off. I knew as soon as I heard the crash echo off the deserted cobblestones and brick facades of the old port that I was going to have to go back to the Dunkin guy and get another cup. This, after the awkward conversation about why I was wearing spandex in the old port at 5AM. It didn't waste a ton of time, but it demonstrates my inability to function correctly pre-race.

This brings us to Sunday. I convinced my roommate to enter Fireman again, after she did the sprint last year. She only owns a hunk-of-steel hybrid, so I also introduced her to the lovely world of road bikes and convinced her to rent one from Cyclemania. We took it for a test spin on Saturday and she fell in love. Sunday morning we strapped the bikes to the back of my car and headed (via Dunkin) to Kennebunk. Last year I parked on a street that runs parallel to the beach, a great place to watch the sun rise and mellow out before the anticipation of the start builds. We entered the name of this street into the GPS, and aimed to park there again. Unfortunately, the GPS took us to the wrong end of the street; when we got there we found transition was set up and the road was closed. We ventured into the residential streets running parallel to the street in question, using the GPS as a guide, to try and come out on the other side of transition. We failed. I ended up in a dead-end driveway, being followed by someone else as lost as I was. I put the car in reverse, looked behind me... and backed into the corner of a fence.

I freaked out a lil bit, as you can imagine. I'm not used to having two bikes on my rack, and miscalculated how long my car was when I cut the corner (I did see the fence before I backed up). I got out, made sure there was no damage to the fence, swore a few times, thanked the woman who had been following me for her  keen observation that I had hit the fence, and got back in the car (if that woman happens to be reading this, sorry if I yelled in your general direction). We made it to the street we were looking for, parked, and examined the damage in the emerging daylight. The rental bike lost a spoke, the wheel was slightly bent. We panicked a while longer, and my roommate took the bike to go find the mechanic to work his magicks. In the end the mechanic was able to true the wheel, and my roommate finished the sprint race with no problems. Luckily we were there so early, we had plenty of time to freakout, assess the situation, and then get it fixed, all before the start of the race.

The race!

I love swimming in the ocean. I love swimming in the ocean in large crowds of people. I'm weird like that. The swim wave of the olympic race was a 250-person mass start. It wasn't all that crazy, since the beach was wide enough that people spread out before diving in. I stuck to the left side front of the crowd, with the course ahead of me and to my left. There were some decent swells heading out to the first buoy, and visibility was also dampened because we were swimming almost due east into the rising sun. In addition, most of the swimmers ahead of me were men, who were given red caps. I do not understand why red or orange caps are ever used in these races when the buoys are red or orange... you end up sighting swimmers instead of buoys! The course was pentagon-shaped, sort of like a house. The bottom of the house was a ~50 yard beach run, and you swim the course twice. I made it out of the water the first time around in 10min, and the whole deal in 21. I was significantly faster after rounding the farthest buoy, not only for the waves pushing us in, but the increased visibility since the sun was behind us. My friend Nicole ran past me on the mini-run, no fair! There's no running in swimming :-P She swam really well though, I stuck right by her feet the whole second lap.

T1 went pretty smoothly, my speedsuit came off better than it did in my 70.3, and I headed out on my bike. I love this bike course, it is very flat and smooth. I recently got aerobars installed on my bike, and I was able to feel the difference on the flats when I used them. Love it! I got passed by my friend Erin around the 10mi mark, and used her for a little extra kick for a few miles until she disappeared. Last year I finished the course with a 21.0 mph average, this year i finished a solid 22.0. Hooray aerobars! Next year, 23.0?

T2, as usual, was not a good time. I hate running. I loathe running. I get back from my bike, sit down to put on my shoes, and have no motivation to get back up. My transition area was right near the run out, and one of the volunteers kept shouting "C'mon number 22! Yeah!" and I was having none of it. I really need to work on my attitude in this section... I tend to shut down. I finally got my butt up and out onto the course. As much as I love the bike course here, I hate the run. It was a warm day, on long stretches of open road. The saving grace is that the course does have a few shady areas, which felt great, but inevitably you return to the sun. I also despise two-loop courses, since I have no desire to run past what I've already seen (this was a major problem at Mooseman). I bore down and kept running, watching the other girls in my age group churn past me, until I finally approached the finish. Another friend of mine had passed me as we started the second run loop, she gave me a little boost but finished a couple minutes ahead. When the finish came into view I thought it said 2:45, which was 2 minutes off last years time. I was happy with that, until I saw that it actually said 2:36! I crossed in 2:37 and change, a full 10 minutes faster than last year. Comparing splits, I dropped ~3 min on the bike, and ~3 on the run. The swim courses were different, so  they don't compare. My run time of 63 minutes was my second-fastest 10K ever.

I consider it a great success, after 7AM. Before that, a failure of epic proportions. Give a little, get a little?

The rest of my tri season is in question. I'm looking at either Lobsterman or the Maineiac, but financial constraints may be the kicker. Being a triathlete and a graduate student are not 100% compatible. That being said, I'm having trouble envisioning my season being over on September 1. Stay tuned.

Hello, my name is Kellie, I am a triathlete.

I once got in a heated debate with my college swim coach over what made one eligible to be called an 'athlete'. Firmly denying that I could ever be called an athlete, I explained to her that I've always associated athleticism with agility, reflexes, and speed, none of which I historically posses outside of the water. That I was a successful division 3 collegiate swimmer made no difference to me. "Running" has always been a four-letter word to me, I can't shoot a basketball from ten feet out, and I won't be winning any strength competitions. The one thing I've had going for me was endurance, and that wasn't enough in my book. Then, I discovered triathlon.

I'm not breaking any speed records and I'm not any kind of elite or all-american, but this past June I got my body to somehow finish a half-ironman. In the last year I ran a half-marathon, and  I finished a handful of sprint and olympic distance triathlons. I can't deny that it requires some athleticism to do those things, so I am now able to proudly declare myself to be a triathlete. That word, in case you missed it, ends in 'athlete'.

I intend to use this blog to share my experiences as a newcomer to the sport. I've met a whole community of amazing triathletes in the greater Portland area who have helped me figure out what in the world I'm doing, and how I might do it better. Many of them have also served as inspiration, training partners, and awesome friends. In addition, I have introduced several friends to the triathlon scene, some of whom can't escape any more than I can.

My next race is this Sunday, the West Kennebunk Fireman Triathlon. Last year I raced this event as my first olympic distance race ever. I love the bike course as it is relatively flat, but I remember hating the run course because it's a double loop. Like I said, running is a four-letter word in my vocabulary, and running the same loop twice is like a kick in the face. I finished last year in 2:47:22, good for first out of one in my age group. That's always a great phone call home... "Mom! I won my age group!"..."That's great! Out of how many?"..."ummmm, well, me!"

I'll post a race recap sometime later Sunday or Monday, and share my point of view on the race. The weather looks perfect, should be a fun day :)