This is Part 2 of my Kure Beach race report. Read Part 1 first, and then read Part 3. Part 3 is the actual race report, so go there if you just want the facts!
Well, I figured if I didn’t write the rest of this story on my day off work, it wouldn’t happen for a long time. My weeks go by really fast between working long hours, doing the Tuesday evening IOS ride, my Wednesday evening spin class, etc, etc. I don’t usually get home until 8pm, and then I am doing laundry, housework, and spending time with my teenage/adult aged children if they happen to be around.
First, let me describe the Kure Beach race. It is a double sprint consisting of 375m ocean swim, 1.5 mile run, 12 mile bike, 1.5 mile run, and ending with a final 375 meter swim. There is a beach transition area and a bike transition area. Makes for a super fun race, but a little hectic for setup.
I opted not to do packet pickup on Saturday night because I was too busy having fun in Carolina Beach. So, I get my bib number in a tweet from my friend Scottie in hopes of helping make setup easier. Unfortunately, that didn’t help. You really need to get your race packet the evening before for Kure Beach.
I parked near the bike transistion and racked my bike. Then I had to walk four blocks to get my packet. (In retrospect, I should have ridden my bike). Then I walked down to the beach transition area and set that up. I left my cap and googles there. Then I spent some time scoping out the swim area to be sure I understood how the final run to swim transition worked. Last year I made a big mistake there and it cost me 3 minutes. I didn’t want to do that again.
So then I walked the four blocks back to my bike to put my numbers on my bike and set up that transition. My feet hurt from all the walking, as I was not wearing any socks with my sneakers. And it was getting late and I had to rush. It was so late that I had to run those four blocks back to the swim start. I tripped on the boardwalk and skinned both my knees. I looked down, and they were raw and red, but no blood. I bet it was one part per million of blood tho. Dangit, get those sharks out of my mind.
Then I remembered I had left my swim cap and goggles by the swim transition. That was 500 yards up the beach. I had to run to get them. As I ran back to the start, I saw the yellow caps (my wave) line up near the water. FML – I was really late! The next wave, green caps, were blocking the entrance to the swim. As I ran through the green capped athletes, I had to yell “Oughta my way, coming through”. I felt like a bitch, but I had to cross the timing chute, so I had no choice. I finally got down to the beach with the other yellow cap girls. They said one minute to go. I had just enough time to put on my cap and goggles. At least my frantic rush kept thoughts of sharks out of my mind. Mostly, anyway.
Part 3 of this race report is done!
Tags: kure beach
This is Part 1 of a 3 part report. Click for Part 2 and Part 3. Part 3 is the actual race report, so go there if you just want the facts!
Wow, it has been so long since I posted. I probably don’t have any readers left. Work is still kicking my ass. It’s a demanding job, but I still like it alot. I work long hours, which really eats up my spare time. Thus, the lack of blogging.
The long hours at work also cuts into my training. I was not really feeling up to par for this race.
And since my good friend, Ginger, moved away, she was not able to be my race buddy. That makes me really sad. And I was using it as another excuse to just bail on racing.
I had planned a long weekend at the beach and invited my 21 year old daughter along. I worked a 12 hour day on Friday and was really stressed out. Friday night, while packing up my beach-wear, I considered just skipping the race and laying on the beach all weekend. In the end, I packed up my race gear too, but was still not mentally committed to racing.
I posted this on FB:
i have a race this weekend at kure beach. really tempted to just bag the race and lay on beach all weekend.
My friend Scottie replied:
“negative…you WILL get out there and you WILL go fast!!!
That helped alot. Thanks, Scottie!
But still, I was struggling mentally…
I also got my period on Friday. I have this irrational fear of sharks anyway, so this made me really feel like shark bait. I spent time on Friday reading the shark attack files. Turns out, New Hanover County – where Kure Beach resides – has the highest rate of shark attacks in North Carolina. Great. Seeing a “No Shark Fishing” sign on the Carolina Beach pier did not make me feel any safer.
I spent all of Saturday laying on the beach. It was wonderful. I got burnt. I didn’t care. I ventured into the water a little bit, but I was sceered of sharks. I mean, how well do tampons work anyway, when sharks can detect blood in 1 part per million?!
Later that day, we rode some of the rides at the Carolina beach amusement park. We both loved ”Ring of Fire” … a ride that spins you vertically around in a circle. It even leaves you hanging upside down for a few seconds. It was a blast.
Next, we rode the Graviton. The ride operator let us choose the music for the ride. My daughter let me choose, so I asked the guy if he had any Led Zeppelin. He said yes, and asked which song. I asked for Kashmir, and he had that one. So we spun round and round sucked against the wall of the Graviton listening to Kashmir. It was perfect.
Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face
stars fill my dreams
I am a traveler of both time and space
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Saturday night, I practiced Transitions in the parking lot of the condo. Some old drunk guy came and talked on and on about how he was in a bike crash a few years ago and messed up his knee. I think he was making it up to impress me. I was trying to be kind, but he was really annoying! I finally got rid of him by saying I was running out of daylight to do my workout.
Practicing transitions in the dark parking lot got me excited about racing, so decided I would do it. This race report is continued in Part 2 and then read Part 3.
Tags: kure beach
Today I wanted to send a Wahmbulance picture to a friend. So, I went to google images to search for wahmbulance. What a proud moment in my blogging history when my very own blog post came up second in the search results. What does it say about me that this made my day?! I’m hoping this post bumps me up to #1…Bwahahahaha!
Tags: wahmbulance
I’ve been taking a spin class every Wednesday evening at the Falconbridge O2 Fitness club. The instructor’s name is Jason, and he is simply fantastic. He makes each class feel like I’m racing in the Tour de France. And when I am tired and want to slack off, he’ll say just the right things to motivate me to get back into the groove. Here are some of the things he’ll yell out to the class:
Stay with me
How bad do you want it?
I know it hurts
You can do this.
Once after class, I told Jason how I liked it that he made the class feel like a race. He said he used to race on UNC’s cycling team. How cool is that? It sure explains his racing slant toward leading the class. I love it.
We do a lot of climbing sets in the spin class. This past weekend, I was riding my bike outdoors, and it felt really awkward to climb on the bike. In spin class, I am on a rigid bike when doing the standing climbs, and my muscles have adapted to that. But on a real bike, I do alot of rocking back and forth during a climb. I asked Jason about this. He told me that spin classes made him a much better climber. He said that the rocking motion increases the surface area of the tire against the road, and wastes energy. If you can keep your bike more straight and stable during a climb, you will climb faster! I can’t wait to play with that theory.
I call Jason’s spin class “The Pain Cave”. Sometimes I think of this video – one of my favorites as you may know – while I am spinning.
This is what he says:
In time trial, it’s just you and your bike and the road. You must forget about the love for yourself. You must be a masochist. I want more pain, more pain. Go, Go, Go, Go. When you like suffering – when you like the pain in your legs and all your body – it means you are good.
Tags: climbing, o2 fitness, spin class
Wow, I think it’s been a whole month since I last posted. I have been unsuccessful at losing any weight. The good news is that I have not gained any weight. I still weigh about 157 lbs.
And it still really sucks running with that extra weight. The only race I am excited about is Bridge to Bridge, the mountain century that I want to do in September. I really don’t want to do any triathlons at this weight. It will suck too much. I know, I am comparing myself to my former “lean mean triathlon machine” self. I either need to find my way back there, or get over it. Red pill. Blue pill. The blue pill tempts me.
I did have some nice lunch time runs at work in the sewer easement. My friend and co-worker, Scottie, calls me a sewer rat!
Here are some tweets from one of those runs, reverse cron order. If I had any spare time in my life, I’d clean this up and embed the pictures. But, work is kicking my ass lately, so I have no time. Still love the job and the people, but it is really quite demanding.
http://twitpic.com/3yp6zu
