This is the only picture from the race
Today, I raced the Chicago Triathlon. Last year, I finished 11th in 2:19.12. I figured this year I could definitely run faster than my mediocre run last year and probably swim and bike faster too. I was aiming for 2:15-2:16 and 7th or 8th. Last year, 2:16 would have gotten me 5th, but I knew the competition was going to be tougher this year.
I was right (about the competition, not about how fast I was going to go).
Maija and I got up and got to the transition by 5:20 a.m., for our race starting at 7:28. We were late. The ‘elite amateur’ rack that we were supposed to put our bikes on was completely full, totally jammed, there was no room. The race marshall said, “WELL, you should have gotten here earlier.” I was like whatever time I show up doesn’t change how many bikes you’re trying to cram on a rack. Then he was all, “We had this problem last year.” Maybe you should fix it then.
That should have been a clue about how crowded the race was going to be.
Four minutes before our race was supposed to start, they decided to give us ‘extra time’ to get in the water since there were so many of us. The 180 (ONE-HUNRED AND EIGHTY) elite amateurs started filing down the stairs into a swim start about 15 feet wide. There was no room to even tread water. With the men and women together in the same wave it was insane. We were already punching and hitting just treading water and it was hard to breath or get room while we were all piled on top of each other.
Then, we started swimming. Except it wasn’t even swimming. You couldn’t get a stroke or put your head in the water or do anything resembling swimming. For the first 100m, all I did was hit people and get hit and fight to breath and swallow water and float on top of other people. Usually that kind of thing clears out within the first few minutes, only this was worse than any swim start ever and it didn’t clear out. We kept wacking each other and I was so far back, I don’t know how anyone was able to swim. I started to almost maybe be able to swim around 300-400m and then someone hit my goggles off.
I thought my race was over. I can’t open my eyes in the water with my contacts in and I wasn’t going to swim the whole thing with my head up. I started smacking everyone around me to make enough room to find my goggles. After I found them, I swam as hard as I could. I tried telling myself I was making up time and I would catch up on the bike and I just needed to keep it together. Then I started to feel horrible cramps and nausea. It’s ok, it’s ok, work it out.
I came out of the water in 19th (according to my mom), around 21:55. We then had to run forever to the transition and this girl with short bleach blond hair went flying past me and I tried to keep up -- which was definitely faster than I ran during the actual run.
The bike is two loops out and back. On the out of the first lap, I struggled. I passed two girls right away, but couldn’t gain on this one girl about 20 seconds up. I was all over the place -- hard, easy. Easy felt HARD. I was still reeling from the swim and on the very first bump I hit my armrest on my aerobars slipped and dropped down. Then there were lots of bumps.
I don’t know why I struggled, but when we got to the turnaround I finally passed that girl and started picking it up. I got in a rythm. I realized I hadn’t been singing my standard song to myself - Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ naturally -- so I started singing in my head and it went better from there. I passed maybe six girls, repassed one who passed me, but on the second lap I started to feel sick to my stomach again. I was trying to drink and eat enough so I wouldn’t get dehydrated, but I felt like I was going to throw up too. I couldn’t get a full breath while in my aero position and started to feel nauseous. It’s ok, it’s ok, work it out.
I came in around 1:07 or something and went out on the run in 11th place about 15 seconds behind a Timex girl and neck and neck with the bleach blond girl.
I was very excited at this point. I knew if I ran even my mediocre run from the year before I would be around 2:17 and I knew, knew I could run faster than that.
I tried to stay right with those two and ran the first mile around 6:30, then started to struggle and they dropped me a little. I tried to still keep it up and keep them in sight and ran the second mile in 6:50. I was really really feeling sick by this point. I had bad cramps and felt like I could start throwing up at any point and couldn’t get a full breath and just felt really nauseous. The two girls were gone and there was no one with in 2-3 minutes behind me. Just keep it under 7 minute miles I told myself and I would have a plenty fast time and might, might catch someone else if they were struggling too. The third mile crept up to 7 minutes. We hit the turnaround and the top ten girls were moving fast. The girls right in front of me had caught another group, which was the back of the front pack. Then me. Then a big gap and a whole pack of girls 2-3 minutes behind me. As long as I don’t start walking, I told myself, I can hold them off. Then I thought, ugh, what if I start walking.
Around the mile 4 marker a big guy passed me and we ran together. “We’re running 7:30 miles!” he said, excited. “Ugh,” I said. To add to the fun, the wind on the way back was like another wall to break through. Then, that guy dropped me.
The last two miles were rough. I don’t know if there’s another way to explain it. I didn’t think I could keep running my 8 minute miles. I thought I would have to walk. I thought maybe if I stopped and threw up I would go faster. I thought I hadn’t struggled this much on a run since the year I couldn’t run. One of the girls in the group behind me caught me, the others were close.
I ran 45 minutes to finish in 2:18 and 13th place. One minute faster and two places further back than last year. The top girls were fast.
I think I swallowed so much lake water it fucked with my stomach. I don’t really know what you can do in a situation like that. I don’t know what I should have done, except run faster.
Sunday, August 30, 2009