Stacy's Triathlon Journey: 2011 Galveston 70.3 Race Report

This is my very first race report; what an adventure this last 8 months has been!

I arrived in Galveston on Wednesday before the race. I hate to be rushed or late for anything, so this was needed to stay calm as possible.

Wednesday night in the hotel room I made lists for every day I was in Galveston, these lists helped keep me calm, I would check off the items as I completed them and had no worries I was forgetting anything.

Thursday I did a zone-1 ride for 1 hour down the seawall. Was able to get a feel for the wind to expect on race day. After my ride I cleaned up and went to expo for packet pickup. I was the 2nd person to get my packet. LOL! I'm thinking maybe a little anxious! Went to swim at gym pool in the evening. Just a 30 minute easy swim.

Friday was an exciting day, My team was pulling into town! There were 20 of us racing this weekend. I met up with most of my team-mates and walked with them while they got their race packets. I felt like a little kid! I called it an early night and went to room to try to rest (which did NOT happen).

Saturday morning was my brick; this consisted of 20 min bike, followed by a ten minute run. What a SNAFU! I hit a large piece of granite from the seawall with my front tire about 3 minutes into ride. Grateful I did not fly over front handlebars I pulled over to the side to inspect my tire and wheel. Not really sure what to look for being the novice I am; haha! Seemed fine, still had air. I mounted my bike and continued on my way. 6 more minutes and I am flat! I've changed two flats with relative ease before, this today was not the case. I was like a monkey with a stick! Thank goodness my coaches, Tim & Tamara saw me on the side of the road! Tim changed my tube for me and then the new tube exploded! He got the 2nd tube to hold but suggested I get new tire and tube at expo. I purchased 2 tires, tubes and replaced rim tape on front rim. All installed and ready for bike drop off at 4pm!

Sunday
Awoke at 3.45am,

left hotel at 4:30am. Drive to race and am detoured from where i had planned in my mind I was going to park. Did a little freaking out as my husband brought me back to calm. :)

AM Transition Setup
I prepared the night before so was confident with having what I needed for the set up.

Here is how it looked after I was done

Now I will Hurry up and wait! I am in the last swim wave which is scheduled to depart the pier at 8:45am. I chill out at tent with my other team mates who are also in a later wave.

SWIM!

I have kept positive self talk about this swim. I have no problem swimming 1950 meters in a pool but as I have figured out from my most recent open water adventures it is a WHOLE different ball game! We are lined up on the pier, I am still calm and have a positive outlook. We jump in one by one as instructed and bob in water waiting for start, I am still positive and calm at this point.

We are off, I am swimming, thinking "ok, I can do this!" Then I get bumped, pushed, thrown off kilter! Now I am FREAKING! lol

I have made it to MAYBE the second buoy and this enters my head; "I signed up for the FULL?!?!?!?!?!" This is where the hysteria sets in! I can laugh now, but holy cow I went into full anxiety attack mode! I am struggling and swimming like someone is chasing me, and making very slow progress due to all this hysteria. I make the first turn and see my first orange buoy, I look down the line and this is no more comforting! There are shit loads of the orange bastards! I continue in this unproductive manner for 24 minutes. This is when I roll onto my back and ORDER my self to get my shit together! About that time a rolling wave tries to drown me with sea water. Ok, off my back! I assess my situation and decide the only thing for me to do is swim ONE buoy at a time! I'm only worried about the closest buoy. When I reached it, I did a quick cheer and then I started my attack on the next one! This got me to the shore in 53 minutes. I had a goal of 45 minutes because this is my time in the pool. I did not take into account waves and terror!

I exited the water with my fists clinched and in the air, I believe I said something like "I survived!" to the gentleman at the shore. LMFAO!!!

OK, I see people running from the swim to T1. I decide instantly I will be using this time to re-compose myself and I walk. I rinse salt water off well as instructed by my coach, but for some reason this looks more like a porno! When I see the picture my husband had taken I have a vision of people making their children turn their heads! See for your self...

What a start to an interesting day!

T1 goes pretty smooth, 7 minutes with my walk and shower scene and I'm off on the bike.

BIKE

Bike start is awesome, I have no problems clipping in! My hubby snapped this of me at the bike start

This is the Smile of a person that is SOOOOO glad to be out of the water!

I start out and look down at my timex global trainer and the heart rate says 60! Ok, no friggin' way! So before i even get out of Moody Gardens area I pull over to assess the situation. I must have HR monitoring!!!

Lesson # 1 - Dont wear HR monitor on swim, all that water is not good for reception.

I remove heart rate strap and then put it back in place, and voila; I have a HR! Shew! I am off again.

I make it onto seawall and see my sister waiting to cheer me on, she get this interesting photo of me. :)

Im feeling good, through the whole bike I maintain 155 to 166 HR. Being in the last wave has helped on the bike. I pass zillions and am only passed by one! This is exactly the confidence booster that I need after that nail biting swim!

I am on time with my fluids and my nutrition. My cookie idea was an epic failure. The humidity made them so mushy I couldn't grab them from my bento box. Thank goodness i listened to Tim and had plenty of back up goos and clif bars!

Lesson # 2 - I hate my cages. I had the most god awful time getting an empty bottle into them. The bottle would crunch up and not go into cage.

REMEMBER my TIRE issues?

Mile 55.5, I have a FLAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTH? Ok, I assess the situation. It is in fact close enough to run my bike in, but wait...... I seem to be moving forward fine on this flat tire. Ok, I am riding this flat tire in, I will buy a new rim if need be!

Lesson # 3 - on a flat, take the turns VERY slow! LOL. I made it to bike dismount on my flat! Yipeeee!!!

My Goal was 16.5 mph, my actual was 17.5 mph! :)

This went much smoother, 4 minute time! The run has begun!

RUN

Never under estimate the draining power of a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike ride faster than you have ever gone.

I am instantly overtaken by nausea! I see Tim at the tent and tell him this. He instructs me to walk through the water stops. OK; I hear .... Walk through ALL water stops and drink at ALL of them! LOL

See here, one of my FIVE potty breaks:

I am glad for these water stops as I literally ran water stop to water stop! There was much internal arguing going on at this time and I would only allow my self a break at these water stops!

Lesson # 4 - You don't have to drink at all water stops, you can poor water on your self and retrieve a new sponge.

Oh my sponge. I held it like a security blanket! I loved my sponge, as you can see in the picture above it was with me even in the porta potty!

My husband was wonderful! he made the experience better, he even ran with me a little on each loop and gave me a pep talk.