Jordanelle Triathlon 08.16.14

Yesterday I ran the Jordanelle Olympic Distance triathlon at Rock Cliff.  I signed up for this race after East Canyon, to make up for transferring back to the Sprint distance.  I know I needed to get in an Olympic distance before my scheduled Half Iron distance tri at Ogden Valley in September. 

I did a mini-backwards-triathlon last weekend to make sure I could do the distance and then get accustomed to the water at Jordanelle.  Let me just say, the Mayflower side of the Jordanelle was incredibly choppy, and it was so windy last weekend!  But we started at the Rock Cliff side of the reservoir for the race.  We had to park a ways away and ride our bikes to the transition area.  It was quite cold in the morning, and very dark.  I didn't have a head lamp, so I was careful getting down there.  There are some race days that are wonderful and great, and others are just so mentally defeating that it makes you question why you do it.  This was one of those mentally defeating races for me.

I set up my transition and chatted with my teammates, Erich and Dave, before the start.  The water felt warm, but the air was still cold.  I thought maybe I should wear my wetsuit.  So I put it on.

We started a bit later than expected.  When my wave went off, I took my time and repeated a positive mantra to myself to help calm any residual anxiety I had from East Canyon.  I relaxed, but I tired out really quickly from the restriction in my wetsuit.  Darn it!  I knew I should have gone without.  Too late now.  The water felt wonderful after awhile!

The run up to transition was a steep incline about a quarter of a mile.  I got on my bike and took off.  My legs were tired from the swim (being in my wetsuit), and the first half of the bike was a straight incline on a 1-2% grade.  I felt so slow, and I felt like I couldn't will my legs to move faster.  I knew I was one of the last ones out on the bike course, so I just tried to focus on making it back to transition.  Early on, I thought I had popped a tire, but I was lucky I didn't.  I think it may have been a piece of gravel getting stuck somewhere.  The last half of the bike was a downhill and made me feel much better!  The last hill was pretty steep, so I think I may have even hit 40mph on the downhill!

Most of the sprinters were done by the time I got back, so lots of people were walking in the bike lane.  I got back to my transition area and then went off for my run.  I felt like I was an eternity away from the road.  It was hot and my legs were cramping.  What I wasn't ready for was some trail running.  Mile 2 to 3 was on a trail path between the marina areas and then wrapped around through the nature trail.  By my second loop, I believe I was the only one left on the course.  I wanted to quit, but I just told myself to keep going.  The rest of the triathletes were already on their way out.  One lady asked if I was still racing.  She commended me for my spirit and cheered me on.  I just wanted to cry, and even considered making this my last race of my triathlon career.

 I knew at this point I accepted the fact that I was pretty much dead last.  I was mentally and emotionally drained.  And it was so incredibly hot!  I finally reached the finish line, and all but the volunteers were gone.  It was heartbreaking.  But apparently I placed 3rd in my age group.


Although this was a great race, it really almost broke my spirit.  I talked to one of my teammates afterward, and he said the same thing happened to him at one of his past triathlons.  I guess it's not always about having the fastest time, but about having the biggest heart.

As they say DLF>DNF>DNS.

I 

East Canyon Triathlon 08.02.14

I was supposed to run the Olympic distance triathlon at East Canyon today, but the Deseret Half last week left me feeling too awful to want to do go through with the Olympic distance.  So I ended up transferring to the Sprint distance...

Friday, August 1, 2014

Since I missed packet pickup in Sandy on Wednesday evening, I went to packet pickup at East Canyon for the Friday pick up and T1 set up.  I brought Sparkle along to leave her overnight.  I was a little worried, since the last time I did that was at The Nation's Triathlon back in 2008.  Not many races offer the option to leave your bike overnight... at least not the races I've run here in Utah.

On the way to the marina, I got stopped by this...

 It's not every day you see this on your way to packet pick up!

I ran into my teammate, Erich, and a former Desert Sharks teammate, Jodi, whom I hadn't seen in quite some time!  She'd probably hate me if I posted her pic on this blog, so I'll just leave it out, but I was so glad to see familiar faces!

I left Sparkle in T1, and then drove down to Morgan, UT, to scope out the bike course and T2.  It made for a long evening... longer than I expected anyway.  I was hoping to go watch the Movie Under The Stars at the Capital building, but didn't make it.  I had more prepping and packing to do for my race.  I scarfed down some pasta for dinner, and tried to get to bed at a decent hour.  3:30am was right around the corner, and I still had to drive an hour back to Morgan to catch the shuttle.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Yup... 3:30am came pretty quickly!  I don't know how I'm unable to drag myself out of bed for work in the mornings these days (usually between 5:30 and 6:00am wake up), but I can get up at 3:30am for a race?  How does that make sense?  Anyway, I got ready and made my way up to Morgan, UT around 4:10am.  When I got to T1, it was soooooooooooooooo cold!  Note to self: when running a tri up in the mountains, don't forget to bring sweats for pre-race.

I set up T2, then went to go get my timing chip and body marked.  I ran into my teammate, Brandy!  More familiar faces!  I love it!  I can't help but second guess whether or not I have everything whenever I have a race.  I'm not sure even a checklist will help, because I'll always think I left something at the wrong location.  I got on the shuttle and rested all the way to the reservoir.

As I closed my eyes, thoughts entered my head.  Calming thoughts.  I thought of The Nation's Triathlon I ran in September of 2008.  My parents and sister came to watch me.  It was a pretty tough race.  It was so incredibly hot during the run, I kept dumping water on myself to keep cool.  In the middle of my race, my dad ran with me.  He told me to keep running and that I could make it.  It really meant a lot to me.  And then, I thought about my swim at the Giant Acorn Triathlon, and how relaxed I was.  I had to keep thinking that so that I would calm my anxieties about the swim (since the Green River Triathlon swim portion was cancelled back in June).

When we got to the reservoir, it was still really cold!  I had wished I brought sweats right about now.  I finished setting up T1 and then chatted with some of the other triathletes.  I met Mitchell, Caroline, Colleen, Shelby, and Erin.  They were all running the Olympic distance.  I talked to Colleen about running a half iron, and she made me feel a bit better about cut off times.

I put on my wetsuit, way early, to keep warm. 

The Olympic distance tri started at 8:00am.  I got to warm up and test out the water while we waited for the Sprint distance to start.  The water was perfect!  Not cold at all.  I kept telling myself, "You got this, Joyce!  You've done this before.  You're going to be fine!"

8:30am -  my wave goes off.  The water was nice, and I was doing fine, but my anxiety set in and got me again.  I had to keep reminding myself to relax, and that I would be fine - just take my time and relax.  It wasn't the temperature that got me this time (like it did at Herriman last year), but the crowding during the swim.  I asked one of the lifeguards if I could relax for a second, which helped a lot.  He said he swam, of course, but not in triathlon - so he was amazed that we were all out there doing it!

I finally relaxed a bit, when the next wave went off.  But I did what I could, and just told myself to go buoy to buoy, using my rest stroke when I needed to.  I don't think it helped that the water was pretty choppy today, but thank goodness there weren't any white caps!  Slowly, but surely, I made my way to the end of the swim.  I was so tired from the constriction in my wetsuit.

The "run" to T1 was all uphill.  I walked, along with the guy who finished the swim at the same time.  I stripped off my wetsuit and headed for T1.  I'm glad I left my shoes to wear, as it was so gravelly!  I threw all my gear into my T1 bag, got on my bike gear and headed out on the bike.  Of course the bike started with an uphill out of the reservoir, which left me a bit winded.  But I got a little bit of a reprieve after that, as most of the course was downhill.  As I was pulling a gel out of my bento box, my inhaler dropped out.  I had to turn back and get that - too risky (and too expensive) to leave behind.  There were some rolling hills along the course, but for the most part it was either downhill or flat.  Oh, how I love the flats!

The wind didn't help today... definitely left me "winded!"  It definitely made it difficult during all part of the race for me.

Close to T2 was a final gradual incline which felt almost steep.  I felt like my legs wanted to give up right about then.  I wasn't pushing it too hard, as I wanted to save myself enough energy for the rest of the race (remember, I hadn't really trained much for anything this past month).  I got to T2, stripped off my bike gear, and changed into my running gear.

My legs felt like 500lb weights.  And the first part of the run was on grass.  Grass and I, unless I'm playing field hockey or something, don't get along when it comes to running.  It didn't last too long before we finally got to paved trail.  My legs felt like they were going to start cramping and have Charlie Horses again, so I took it easy.  I walked a bit, with first time triathlete, Jason.  He rode a mountain bike, so I could only imagine how he was feeling.  And he told me he had really bad anxiety on the swim.  Good for him for at least trying and conquering though!  We ended up chatting and running together into the finish line!

Brandy met me at the finish and gave me a hug!  It was so nice to see her again!  And all the rest of my Desert Sharks teammates were there to congratulate me!

 

Yay for another race in the books, and all the new tri friends I made today!  My teammates swiped a lot of the awards, as well as my new tri friends!  Today was a great day for triathlon!