July 5, 2010
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Overview:

I did the Kure Beach Double Sprint triathlon race on June 27th, 2010.    Double Sprint means: swim, run, bike, run, swim.   It was at Kure Beach, North Carolina, one of my favorite beach destinations.   In case you were wondering, Kure is pronounced Cur-ee, like the french scientist, Madame Curie.

I did this race back in 2006, and there were 8 foot swells due to a Tropical Storm.   I DNF’d because I could not get past the breakers.  It was terrifying!   I was hoping for better weather this time around.

Goals:

I always look back at prior year’s race results, and my own performance history to come up with some goal to work toward.  Last year’s top three in my age group came in at  1:17 or less.    So, my ‘wow that would be awesome’ goal was 1:17.   I kind of figured 1:20 was more like it, since I don’t feel in tip top shape right now.

I decided to go without a watch for this race.  It’s much more enjoyable to just let your body go — and go hard — than to constantly look at a watch to check pace, time, splits, heart rate, blah blah.

Fun with Friends:

I drove down to Kure Beach on Saturday to meet my good friend, Ginger, aka, Aquaphor chic.  We met at packet pickup at the Two Wheeler Dealer in Wilmington.  While there, I met a blog reader named Kim.  She worked at the bike shop, is a triathlete, and she also does a sport called paddle boarding, which sounds really hard.   Hi Kim!   It’s always fun to meet a bloggy peep.  🙂

Then we met up with some BT buddies…John K, Maria, and Pete.   We all went out for dinner at Flaming Amy’s grill.  Awesome food, which left us all with food babies.   Not the best pre-race nutrition, but oh well!

After eating, Ginger and I went down to the beach to do some practice running swim starts with dolphin dives.   The water was refreshingly cool temperature and the waves were fun.  She gave me lots of pointers.  It was such a great time that I said “I wish the swim for tomorrow’s race was longer”.  

After swimming, Ginger and I went to our hotel to check in, shower, plot our race strategy, prep our bikes, and other girly fun.  Haha, prepping our bikes is girly fun.

BTW, Ginger is recovering from knee surgery, and has only been running for three weeks after a six month haitus.    Kure Beach was her first race back after her injury.   This race may be my only chance to ever beat her, because normally, she’s super fast in the run!

Photos:

Official Results:

Swim 1, 375 meters:     8:11
Run 1, 1.5 miles :            12:59
Bike, 12 miles:                  32:50 (2nd AG, 10th OF)
Run 2, 1.5 miles:             13:22
Swim 2, 375 meters:     12:37
Overall:                               1:19:56 7th AG, 30th OF

Race Morning:

Ate food, hung out with Ginger, met  lots of folks.  Did some strides on the beach before the swim start.  I observed some of the earlier waves to see what the current was doing.  Walked down to the waves and peed in the water.  Hey, fish do it.

Swim 1:

I tend to veer left and the current was pushing to the left, so I positioned myself in front, but off to the right.     When the horn went off, I ran and dolphin dived into the waves.  It was great fun as if I was a little kid playing in the waves – alongside a bunch of other little kids!   Rough kids, too!      It was a wild swim with lots of punching and kicking going on, the most body contact I have ever experienced in a race.   And I loved every minute of it.    The pack thinned out as soon as we turned the buoy.  I sighted well, held a good line, swam strong.    Sometimes all I saw when lifting my head to breathe were waves, so I just took a few more strokes and tried again.  It was all good.  I was sad when the swim was over.

Run 1:

Ginger is a better swimmer than me, so I knew she’d be ahead of me.  As soon as I got thru transition, I spotted her about 35 yards ahead of me.    I worked hard for 1.5 miles, gradually inching on her, but never quite passing her.   I was about 10 feet behind as we headed into the bike.

Bike:

Ginger must also be really fast at transitions, because when I got out on the bike course, she was nowhere to be seen.   The bike course was a two laps out and back course.     I could feel that I had a nice tailwind on the way out.   That meant I would have a headwind for the way back.   I was not going all out yet, as I knew I’d have a headwind in the final 3 miles.   I just rode hard, but not too hard. Passed alot of people.   I yelled at a couple folks blocking me from passing, too.

I finally spotted Ginger at the  turn around of  lap 1, at mile 3.    I was going to wait until the second lap to hammer hard to pass her.   Somewhere around mile 5, a woman with 46 on one leg, and an ‘m-dot’ tattoo on the other leg, passed me.   Damn.  I picked up my pace to match hers, but did not pass her back.    I shadowed her at a safe distance, for I knew passing her would just start a game of leap frog and toast my legs.

Soon after heading out for lap 2, I passed Ginger.  She told me about m-dot girl up ahead. I said “I know, she passed me too”!     It was not too difficult to match m-dot girl’s pace as long as I stayed focused and worked hard.  I noticed that m-dot girl would sometimes slow down to drink from her water bottle.      Just after the turn around for lap 2, mile 9, she drank from her water.  I took that opportunity to make the pass, hoping she would not notice me.     Then I went HARD so, even if she did notice, she would not be able to pass me back.   That worked, she did not pass me back.  However, you can see m-dot girl right behind me in the bike dismount picture below, so I didn’t make much gains on her.

Run 2:

I was not happy to get off the bike.  I was tired and hot and really did not want to run 1.5 miles back to the beach.  Did I mention it was hot?!      When I hit the run course, I saw m-dot girl and Ginger ahead of me.   Crap, I even practiced fast transitions!   Even tho I  was hot and I was tired, I had to work hard to catch Ginger and m-dot girl!     And I did.  I passed them both fairly soon after the run start.  I ran as hard as I could to put some distance on them for that final swim.    It was sooo hard.   And I was soooo looking forward to that final swim.  That cold water was going to be refreshing in this heat.   That’s what kept me going hard, the thought of that cold ocean water.

When I got to the beach, I tore of my shoes, donned cap and googles and ran up the beach toward the swim start.  The beach was crowded with spectators, and no racers were directly in front of me.   And I was not thinking right, so I dove in the water about 150 yards too soon, and started swimming toward the middle buoy.      Read my earlier post about that, with maps.

As soon as my body cooled down, my head started to clear.   Kind of makes you wonder about the wisdom of swimming in such hot tiring conditions.

I started wondering how close Ginger was. Was she gaining on me?  Was I swimming well?  Wouldn’t it be cool if we crossed the finish line together?  Even cooler if we tied?!

Then it dawned on me that I was all alone.  Why hadn’t I seen any other swimmers?  I didn’t expect a big pack as with the first swim, but I felt I should  be seeing someone, anyone!    I stopped to tread water to scope out the situation.    Here is what went through my head:

  • OH CRAP!!!!  I AM SWIMMING TOWARD THE WRONG BUOY.
  • FML
  • What should I do?
  • FML
  • There goes any chance of beating Ginger or M-dot girl – who I had fought hard to pass.
  • FML
  • Should I go back and walk up the beach 150 yards?
  • FML
  • Should I swim the extra distance?   I swam  few strokes that way, and  the current was strong against me.
  • FML
  • Should I just cut the swim short?  Would anyone notice?    I would know.  And what glory would there be in winning on a cheat.

I decided nothing to do but swim the extra distance. Against the current.    I decided that since I had lost any hope of a good race result, I would enjoy that swim, not push hard.   Then I remembered how I had wished the swim course was longer.   Haha, got my wish, didn’t I?

I did enjoy that swim.  I played with the waves, played with my stroke, and had fun.  At one point I remember thinking “Hey this is fun swimming in the ocean, and I’m not even thinking about sharks.   D’oh, I just did think about them.”     (Did I ever mention that I am afraid of sharks?)

This picture is me running up the beach at the end toward the finish chute.  You can see I am very calm and relaxed and having fun at this point.    I’m mostly bummed that I did not get the chance to cross the line with my good friend Ginger.    I am very pleased with my time, making just under 1:20, despite having to swim an extra 15o yards against the current.   . Life is good.

And thanks, Ginger, for a fun beach weekend!    Ginger got 4th place in our age group with a time of 1:17 – Congratulations!!!!    In a reasonable year, that would have gotten her on the podium.  But this year, there were three uber fast chicks who all got 1:14 or less.