Rumpass in Bumpass Race Report

I arrived in Lake Anna on Friday at 2, beating the usual I-95S nightmare. I helped set up the tents and kept Zoe entertained by throwing a stick into the lake for her to fetch. Around 4, a few more teammates showed up, so I was able to leave the trailer for a bit. J.R. started putting his wetsuit on, so I told him to hold up for a minute and I'd throw on my suit. I think he was expecting me to put on a wetsuit instead of just my swimsuit, since the water was about 62 degrees. After shaking his head at me, we frolicked into the water and got in a good 25 minute swim. Out we climbed, and moved onto a 25 minute ride of the course. Came back and went to my officials clinic for a few hours before heading back to the house I was staying at. I had a glass of wine with Brian, Maureene, and Jacquie before heading to bed around 10:30. I couldn't seem to get comfortable in the ghetto trundle bed I was sleeping on. About 40 minutes go by, and I hear the door open with a "Hello?" The other roommates were a tad bit late getting down to the house apparently... but then I hear a distinct click-click-click-click that only dogs paws can make. So I got up, and ended up sitting outside with Joe, Matt, Maureene, and Jacquie, who persuaded me into another beer after saying "no no, I'm racing tomorrow", talking until about 1am. Luckily, the race didn't start until 10am, so I was able to sleep until 6:45.

At the race site, I slowly put my transition stuff together, and sat at the tents for a while eating breakfast, hanging out, and generally doing a lot of nothing. 9:20 rolls around, and I realize I should probably put my wetsuit on and get a warm up in. National Anthem played, and I wandered over to the swim start since I was in the second wave.

Swim: 1500m swim in Lake Anna. Water temp - 60 degrees.
I started out about 4 rows back from the front for some reason, normally I'm much closer to the front. The gun went off, and I started to swim. Thats it. Nothing epic was happening, I just happened to start swimming with another 100 or so women. No thoughts of "okay, RACE TIME"... nothing. I just swam... clearly not caring about sighting as I zig-zagged all over the place. I'm pretty sure I swam at least a mile with the extended course I decided to follow. Looking back, I don't know what the deal was - I normally spot feet and make it my goal to pick them off one by one. Saturday, I couldn't have cared less about what was going on around me, I was just swimming. Total time: a terrible 29 minutes. whoa... ouch.

Bike: Two loop course on local roads
Again, no rushed feeling. I looked at my average heart rate and I stayed in Zone 2. It should have been much higher than than... I just rode. Looked around at the scenery, passed a few people. Yelled at a few guys who were in the first wave that passed me about 8 miles into the course to learn to swim for some amusement. A guy came up on the same p2c and yelled "nice bike"... I returned with "I like your wheels better though.. wanna trade?" He laughed, and then continued to pass me with his nice Zipps and disk wheel. I took it as a no. On the second loop I picked the pace up a bit, but nothing extravagant. I realized I wasn't racing, and decided I'd just pick it up on the run since I was feeling great, and most of my age group was close on the bike. Total time: 1:24

Run: Two loop course - trail run at beginning and end, significant hills on the road
After apparently taking a nap in transition (Seriously - 3:40??! what the hell was I doing for that long), I felt good to go for the run. Came out of transition through the grass running at an 8' pace. Felt awesome, ran past the screaming Z'ers, and made my way up the hill out of the marina towards the trail run. I walked most of the trail after almost rolling my ankle on a root, and decided its not worth the risk. Came out of the trail, hopped onto the gravel road, and then it happened. My back* said "F YOU", and shot pain up and down my spine like I've never felt before. Every attempt at running resulted in this pain. Jason, part of a relay, caught up to me, smacked my ass and told me to pick it up... which sparked someone behind us to yell "That was totally inappropriate". They were kidding, and it made me laugh. I tried running again.. no. So, most of the 6.2 mile run was actually a walk. Total time: 1:21 triple OUCH.

Overall time: 3:20:24. 8/8 in age group, 86/119 women.


So what went wrong in this race? I have no idea why I didn't have my game face on. Couldn't tell you why I wasn't nervous. Maybe because it just didn't feel like a big deal, and my focus is on the two upcoming half's. yeah.. thats it. i hope.

*Regarding my back: I went to a chiro for the first time in my life last week... and had 3 adjustments within the week. After speaking with an awesome friend, it seems that my chiro, being a triathlete herself, should have known waay better than to try that aggressive of a treatment knowing that I am racing, and never told me to ice my back. So, I think that whole treatment is going to be put on hold until after I'm done racing. I cannot risk not being able to run, I have way to much work to do between now and Kinetic/Mooseman/Lake Placid.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at the tents, getting burnt to a crisp (note to self: long sleeve wetsuits tend to take sunscreen off), and then finally going back to the house to play foosball on the WORST table ever made. Joe and I represented Ohio and went undefeated.

Sunday I officiated the Sprint, which was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to officiating Columbia - I get to ride my mountain bike to watch for penalties along the run.

More later about the new teeth :)