Northwest Indoor Triathlon
9 February 1997
Wow! What a race! Having never completed an indoor triathlon before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but this race was well-run and the volunteers were great! A small field of mid-winter racers made this the perfect event for me. I had a chance to see some of my friends from last year's races (Hi Todd and Beth!) and also meet a few new faces (Hello to Rick, a swimming shark!). Here's what happened at this workout/race:
The Swim: 10 Minutes (Can you say SPRINT?!)
I KNEW this was a good omen! My swimming this winter had been going well, and I was certainly ready to show the triathletes here that I could swim! My race was to begin at 9:00 a.m., so I had a bit of time to check out the pool before I got in for my laps. I met Rick as I was getting ready; he was swimming at the same time I was. The previous swimmers got out of the pool, looking exhausted (and they weren't even going all that fast!). I was psyched!
We got in and they mentioned we would have ten minutes to swim as many lengths of the pool as we could in our alloted 10 minutes. Making it to the green section of the lane line would give you 1/2 of a length. Rick and I exchanged information about our goals (Rick was shooting for 700 or so; I hoped for about 600-650). The timer said begin, and we were off!
I got out really fast, and stayed with Rick for about the first 200. He was doing flip turns, while I was doing open ones (I tend to fatigue quickly if I do flips in the pool; something having to do with not getting enough air and a skyrocketing heart rate). He pulled away and I settled into a quick pace, not knowing what it really was. Eventually, Rick lapped me and he continued to pull away again. I didn't care. The timer yelled TIME, and we were given our totals. 29 LENGTHS! (725 yards!) Great! Better than I had hoped for, and certainly a good start! (Rick, the swimming stud, made 33 lengths, the best of the day....)
The Bike: Maybe my trainer has been on the "easy" level all along....
Into the locker room for a quick change (we were given 5 minutes), and up to the stationary bikes. Got my water out and took a few swigs---not dehydrated, but it's hot up here! Hopped on a few bikes away from Rick and began churning. Yikes! This is tough! We were told to set the rpms to 90 and pedal away. As I got up to my usual training speed at home of around 92-94 rpms, I could tell I wasn't going to stay there for very long! I slowed down and Rick pestered me a bit with his ongoing biking "records" as he and I churned out the miles. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty when I finished, as I soon heated up and was gulping down water as fast as I could. Even though I felt it was tough going, I ended up with 10.8 miles after my 30 minute stint. Not bad, but boy did it feel tougher than my workouts at home!
The Run: 20 minutes of sheer hell!
Having never run on a treadmill, I was a bit nervous about this portion of the race. I shed my cycling shoes and donned my trusty NB997's for this run. I got on the treadmill and tried to set the speed at my usual race pace of about 8:30 per mile, but my body said NO WAY! A cramp screamed in my gut (left side) form the start and wouldn't let go! I tried slowing down to 12 minute miles and it let up, but as I increased speed, it just kept coming back....Oh, well....I resigned myself to finishing dead last (or nearly so) as had happened last year at Big Creek, and plodded along.
Water wasn't doing me much good, either. I couldn't drink very well while running on the treadmill, so all I got were little sips from a bottle or cup. Luck for me, the run was about to end....At last! All done! (And not any too soon!) 2.12 miles for 20 minutes was pretty dismal, but not an entire wash!
After the Race: The Goodies and the Awards!
I packed up my bag and headed down to the goodies room (the "banquet"). Lots of Powerade and bagels, cookies, and fruit were available. It felt good to be done, and I would wait around for quite a while until everyone finished to hear who has won and how I had done overall. Being in NO HURRY (Sunday morning? What? Me hurry home to the dirty dishes and work to complete by Monday? Never!), I lounged around and ate (and ate, and ate...) until the race director (Great job, Joel!) came in and announced the winners. Several gracious folk had stayed until the end, and we celebrated those who won (Rick, my swimming partner, ended up 3rd overall!). A great race, and I throughly enjoyed it, even though I didn't do as well as I might have on the run. Back to training!
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Updated 10 May 1997
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