Race Report

Sunday August 3 I participated in the River Cities Triathlon in Benton, Louisiana. It was a blast! This race was the best one I've participated in thus far and I'll be back next year. It was a different kind of race for me this time around. I didn't have anything to prove like on the first one and I wasn't rushing into another like my second. It's been almost a year since I've run in a triathlon and I don't have my same mojo that I was working last year. I've been working out here and there and eating poorly. I fell of the wagon. Additionally, I'm back 1 week from vacation where I let it all hang out food-wise and stressed my left plantar facia enough to make it painful. So, I haven't been pumping up this race, because I wasn't excited about it myself and wasn't too sure if I was just going to fall on my face and fail or what. Well, this race, it was a very positive personal journey learning experience.

Lori and Sienan and I drove out to Bossier City, LA on Saturday. Nathan stayed back in DFW doing "man" work with Uncle Craig; pulling tree stumps out of his yard. So, the race packet pickup at the local hospital lobby and the sports store was the next stop for my race number and rules. We then checked in to our hotel. It was blazing hot. The southeast, LA and TX in particular, have been having a major heat wave and we've been melting with temperatures between 104 and 108 and moderate to high humidity. We hit the pool and I read over the race info while they swam. I could already tell that this race was more together than previous just by their description of USAT rule enforcement and so on. After that, we grabbed some breakfast items for all and then went down to the Robinson Film Center in Shreveport to watch "What It Takes", a film about 4 professional triathletes and their Ironman Championship experiences in the 2006 season. It was very motivational and actually got me excited despite what I felt were many factors against me for this race. Hey, maybe this could be fun after all... On the way back to the hotel, we made a quick stop to catch a geocache downtown at a cool metal art "Zoo" in downtown Bossier City.

On Sunday morning we got up at 5:00am and loaded up the van for the 30 minute drive up to Cypress Black Bayou Park. There is an electricity in the air at triathlons. If you've never participated in or been to one, you should. It's exciting! We parked the car, unloaded and walked with hundreds and hundreds of other competitors over to the beach area. I went and set up in transition and Lori and Sienan setup at a picnic table. We found each other some time later and I went in to test the water while Sienan swam over to the platform to make friends and do cannonballs. The water was so hot! Probably close to 90 degrees. Since at this time it was only around 80 air temp, it felt better to get out than in. I decided my results were not as important as my health, so I would be focused on staying hydrated, keeping my heart rate at a safe level and replacing lost minerals.

We queued up and with each wave sent out there was a giant canon boom thudding in all of our chests. If you weren't awake yet, you were then. I was nervous, but ready for the long workout. The water was really choppy and it was actually a rough swim. I got tangled up with other people quite a bit. When the fast swimmers from the wave behind us (Clydesdales) caught up with us, there were a couple who actually swam over me. Hello! Swimmer here... Because the water was so hot I was ready to get out, so I just focused on getting it done. In the end, I took 24:19, which was pretty long, but I am happy with.

I ran up to transition. I was concerned about my left plantar facia. I came back from Michigan and had stressed it with all the running around barefoot in the sand. But probably due to adrenaline, I didn't feel a thing. Never-the-less, I took my time in transition to get my gel insert in my shoe and my socks on. I don't usually race with either, but I was more interested in taking care of my foot than being 1 or 2 minutes faster in transition. I swigged some Gatorade, grabbed my bike and I was off. In the end it took me 3:44 in transition.

The bike was awesome! One of Lori's co worker's husbands had given me his old bike last winter so I replaced my "Costco-special", as I called it, with this new hand me down. I remember my friends teasing me last year after the Tri For Fun in Sacramento that my bike was probably the only one there with a kickstand. Anyways, this new/old bike was the best. Lighter, easier to move and equipment to get aero. The course included great scenery, was relatively flat with a few hills but nothing I couldn't handle. The road was smooth and the locals were out to cheer us on. I really enjoyed it. I took in 1 gel and a bottle of water on the course and was done with the 18.2 miles in about 1:13:49.

I switched it up in transition, took in some more Gatorade and took off after 3:08. My heart rate coming out of the swim was 161. During the bike it vacillated between 160 and 170. Because of the heat and humidity, I decided during the bike that I wouldn't let it get higher than 175 on the run. Once it did, I walked. This meant I walked more than half, likely 2/3 of the run portion, but I was OK with that. There were ample aid stations and they had ice cold rags available to cool your body as well as cold water to rehydrate. I trucked my way in to the finish and whew!, I was done. 40:50 on the run and 2:25:47 total. Pretty respectable all things considered.

Lori came and met me and Sienan was still having fun on the platform. I quickly downed a water and we got in line for the feast. Nothing compares to the drained feeling at the completion of a triathlon and subsequently when you replenish your body's fuels. They actually had a whole roasted pig, the meat from which went on top of the beans and rice with bread. We made quick work of the after party and packed up and got on the road.

In retrospect, I wasn't looking forward to this race. I wasn't as ready as I wanted to be and I was scared. What was I scared of though? Not doing as well as before? Once I accepted that I probably wouldn't it was fun. There were times that it felt that it was lasting forever, but then when I finished I thought, "Is it over already?" In the end, I did it and I'm really happy with how I ran the race. It was a great course. I had an awesome feeling of being a part of something cool and I was proud of myself for doing it when I had what I thought were so many things against me. If I can do that, then I can do anything.

The cool thing is that this race inspired me to get my butt back in gear and work on losing the rest of the weight I had wanted to originally. I still want to get down to 170, putting me at a "normal" weight. I've gained a little back and I'm at 207 now. In the last week, I've started working out in earnest with structure. I've also been documenting what I eat in a logbook and counting calories; something that I have resisting doing even though I knew I probably should for about 10 months now. It's working, I've lost a few pounds of the initial water weight and I'm sore from running and working out. A feeling I've actually missed...