Twin Lakes Tri

Last year this was my very first tri. I had done Galena last year but did the duathlon. I didn't expect much from today but I would have like to have the same time or better, that didn't happen.

I suppose I should cut myself some slack but as usual I am my own worst critic in many areas of my life. I'm not taking into account I did do a mile swim/5K run yesterday - and while I am SUPER ok with not being in the top half of my age group, I REALLY am - I would like to at least improve upon my own times ya know.

Today started with me forgetting my goggles. I figured I'd do a little getting in the water and doing a few strokes to see if I could deal with no goggles. It wasn't great but it wasn't bad - figured if it sucked that bad I'd bag the race - but one thing I am too stubborn to do is quit - so I decided to swim it sans goggles. The roads were a bit wet from the rain last night into this morning. Hell for a while I truly thought we'd be racing in the rain, but it finally stopped by the time we got to Palatine - so some of the turns on the bike were interesting - its thru neighborhoods so there are quite a few turns. Even the running path had portions that were slippery as they had not dried out yet.

I've really got to get dig down serious about getting this weight off me because I know my running will improve - without me changing a thing but 20 pounds. And I've got to somehow, (ok for those of you who do not do triathlons, don't read this part) I've got to somehow learn to tinkle when I'm in the water. No matter how many freakin' times I pee before the race, something about hitting that water makes me have to pee again and I just have this mental block about peeing in the water ya know - so what happens is I refuse to take time to stop and pee and I suffer with this full bladder the rest of the race and get stomach cramps - so today I couldn't stand it anymore... there was a porta potty along the running path, I stopped - totally sucks trying to get wet items up and down - so maybe, well ok, this DID add a few moments to my time today. And when you pee 100 times before the race, and you've not drank tons of water, WHY does hitting that water make you have to pee again? What's up with that????

So last years times
2:11:30 total, 15:32 swim, 51:46 bike, 1:04:13 run and this year
2:14:49 total, 16:38 swim, 54:04 bike, 1:04:18 run

As I said I am way ok with not being anywhere near the top in my age group - oh sure we all have this fantasy of being there - but reality is I don't care, don't care that I'm slow - I do care that I don't seem to be improving on my own times. I know I need to take into account doing an event yesterday, and no goggles, and stopping to pee on the run - but I guess I'm just sulking about the whole thing and wondering why the hell do I even TRI????

Totally stupid on the food today too, not sure what was going on there... I had a protein shake and a piece of toast before leaving. I ate a gel just before the run -i mean come on its a sprint how much do you need... but I got home and jumped in the shower, and even in the hot water started to feel cold... I was done so grabbed my towel and felt very dizzy, I went to my room and started to break out in the shakes and a cold sweat - its been a long time since I've felt like this - it was all I could do to stand up and get downstairs and get something in me. I chugged a gatorade, ate some nuts, then a banana and a luna bar.... it helped me feel a smidge better but I've felt wiped out the rest of today.

But on a different note... apple Hammer gel ROCKS! I'm not a big apple flavored kind of person, but its what I grabbed today and man was I pleasantly surprised, this tasted like apple pie filling... so a thought occured to me... maybe a 1/2 an apple Hammer gel and a vanilla bean gel and I'd have some apple pie!