Seems like I have been doing a lot of racing during the month of June, actually this month has just been a lot of everything, racing, yoga training, summer school, but that is me, I just like to be busy and not sitting around. So this weekend I decided to compete in the Olympic Distance at the Wisconsin Tritenium. I had not heard of this race until my friend, Maxine mentioned it to me earlier this year. I was trying to figure out races to compete in and at the time none were looking all that appealing. I wanted to keep this year's races to Olympics or less as far as triathlons were. So I decided to sign up.
Now since I have returned from my yoga training in Sedona, I can't exactly say I have felt like myself. My sleep patterns are all over the place, probably should stop the 2-3 hour naps after summer school. Friday I felt pretty good on my pre-race workout. However, things seem to be a little crazy after that. I went to the dentist, only to have the receptionist tell me she changed my appointment until 10 AM instead of 9AM, really because where am I going to go now. Then I looked at my checking account, the hotel charged me twice for my stay. I called there and the lady said I had to call me bank, that it was their error, of course the bank says otherwise. Basically the hotel just had to send me information and a release so I could have the money back in my account Saturday morning. You would think that would be easy. Nope, as I am driving up to the Madison/Verona area I get a call from the bank, the hotel messed up some of the information, so I call them and I get the manager. I have to say I have been so disappointed with customer service these days. People are just rude. This guy was not any different. He of course tells me it's the bank and I have to call them back, but I better hurry because he's leaving in 20 minutes and if he doesn't fix it, it won't get changed. Okay, so how bout you just resend the information? So I call the bank back and asked the guy to three way call the hotel. The manager starts ripping on me. I was like are you kidding me. Finally the teller from the bank says umm, she is on the phone. Then they start to argue with each other. I was like are you kidding me? So finally we get it figured out that the hotel manager is going to send the fax again. He claimed he was hanging up until he heard me say, if this is how they are going to treat customers I will not ever return this hotel. Then he decided to tell me he was still on the line. Hey good, because I am not kidding and by the way, I have friends that stay here frequently when they come to ride the Madison course. Finally that gets fixed and the money was back in my account this morning.
I go to the Trek store in Madison to pick up my packet. Now I am notorious for forgetting stuff. Sure enough I did this time. I forgot a sandwich for the morning and body glide. I stopped at Walgreens and got some stuff for a peanut butter sandwich. After eating dinner I finally got to the hotel, a little worried about what was going to happen. Well, the staff that was there was very nice and made me feel at home. I went to my room and watched the Olympic trials for a little bit and then off to bed.
I got up at 4:30 to get ready for the race, ate my sandwich and then headed over to the course. It is a good thing I like to be early, got great parking. As I walking in, this is actually when I remembered that I left my body glide at home. I listen to the race director talking and he said the water was 80 degrees. This race is not a USAT sanctioned race, so I could wear my wetsuit without missing out on awards if I placed. I kind of pondered and then asked a lady by me if I could use her glide around my neck, wrists, and ankles, She was fine with that. Still pondering, I discovered a hole in my wetsuit, okay decision made, no wetsuit. They have a sprint and Olympic course here, the sprint went first. I sat around and eventually started to chat with some gentlemen around me. I guess last year this race was cut short due to the storms. As I got to the bike course I realized why the times in my age group from last year seemed so fast.
7:44 my wave took off for the swim. This course has a three loop swim, you have to get out, run over the map on each loop. I have to say, I really didn't care for that. I was fine running around, but getting back in, it took me a little to get back into my groove. I was also glad that I didn't wear the wetsuit. I am one of those people that is always cold and I felt like I was boiling in that water. Finally I am done with the swim, run out and get to the transition area, got on the bike, and off I went.
Now the bike is advertised as being on part of the Ironman Wisconsin course. That is true for about 2-3 minutes of the bike. If anyone has ever started the bike at Fireman's Park, you head under the bridge and then take the right up the hill. After the hill we went left, instead of right. This is where I really realized how much of the race last year must have been cut short. Holy hills. For anyone training for Ironman Wisconsin, the bike course for the Olympic is a great reason to do this race. There were very few flats and lot of long or steep or both hills. I am pretty sure that within the first five miles of the bike I MF'ed the course several times. What the hell was I thinking? The bike is a kind of a two looper. We have to do the square twice. There were some hills, I was like are there yet? So on this square is Observatory Road. We were told in the preview that after the downhill we would be making a left hand turn. Yeah, this downhill is one of those that you could probably go 35+ mph at least without pedaling at all. Needless to say I knew the turn was coming, so I kept gently braking on the way down. Then you make the turn and you have to go back uphill, this is where I made a bonehead move and switched gears too fast. Crap, there goes my chain. I nearly bit it, but I was able to get over to the side safely and fix my chain. As I was getting ready to go, one of the volunteers ran over to me and gave me push up to get started. That was nice of him. Okay, up there and past a few more hills I am not starting the second square. A lady from Madison Multisport was passing me and she says "okay, onto loop 2." We went back and forth a little bit on this loop and one time as she was passing me I was like we don't have these hills in Illinois. She laughed and said, well, this course is tough, even for those of us from Wisconsin. So the next time I got to Observatory, I left my gears on a easier gear so that when I switched to my small ring, I wouldn't lose my chain again. I thanked the man who helped me and went on. As I was going up the hill after Observatory, I felt a mini spasm in my back. REALLY, hell no, don't even start I am not stopping. This went on a few more times on my way to the bike in.
I started on the run. Now this is usually my favorite part of triathlons, not so much today. A gentlemen caught me about a quarter mile into the run as asked if I was having fun. My response was to be honest, no, I feel awful right now. Oh the run is also 3 loops. In my head, I am thinking well, the run should be flat. WRONG. About a half mile into the run we take a right turn and go up. My first thought is I have to go up this hill three times, ahh damn it all. Needless to say my run up the hill was more like a trout, but I was bound and determined that I was not going to walk. It's six miles, there is no walking damn it. I get done with the first loop and go through to hit the mats (yes we had to run over the mats 3 times to make sure no one cheated). During the run I saw my friend from Madison. She would say hello Illinois and I would reply, hello Wisconsin. So now I have a goal, lets see if I can catch her and maybe have someone to run with. I did end up catching her a little bit after mile 4, but she told me to go ahead because she was going to walk. There was another girl that I was chummy with on the bike that I would see on the run. We'd cheer each other on too. I have to say, it was a friendly competition, maybe because we were all hurting from the bike. Finally I see mile 6 and make the turn to the finish.
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I grabbed some water and a lady asked how I was. I told her I was a little dizzy. She informed me there were paramedics. Hmm, a few of those guys are cute, but I passed. The crazy part was that after I went to get my results I stood in the shade for a little bit. I was sweating uncontrollably. That made some sense because I was not sweating on the run, which did make me a little nervous. Only problem now was that I couldn't stop sweating. I decided to leave. I was 10th in my age group. While, I was disappointed in my run split, I was happy. I gave a lot on the bike and it did probably cost me in the run, but I can say that I didn't leave anything on the course. I would recommend this race as a trainer if you are considering Ironman Wisconsin. Honestly, I didn't like the 3 loops on the swim and run, but the bike course was awesome. If I ever do Ironman Wisconsin again, I would sign up for this race, just based on the bike. In all honestly the 3 loops on the run didn't bother me a lot because I was like oh I am back here again. Afterwards I headed back to Illinois for a graduation party. My cousins wanted to know why I wasn't swimming, hmmm. They were like you can swim in your triathlon suit. Umm, no it is nasty and going into the wash.
I get a little break from triathlons and I think in that time, I am going to work on riding hills.
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