Apex Oldham County Mini Triathlon Race Recap

This weekend was crazy busy in terms of races.  My facebook seems to be blowing up with people's race updates.  I don't get the new facebook....It looks like it did a long time ago, but I am not sure how to see the most recent stuff.  Is this everyone or did my kids just do something to the computer?  Soren disable the touchpad on the computer for the entire weekend.  I finally figured out how to fix it this morning.  Perhaps he changed my f/b too?

Moving on, I had the Apex Mini Triathlon in Oldham County this past weekend.  I live in Oldham County, so it was cool to do a race this close to home.  It was technically in La Grange, so not my actual city, but still very close.  The tris I did in Brighton, MI, were not quite as close to the old place as this one was to the new place.  I had to get up super early anyway, though.  They wanted me there at 6:30, even though I was not scheduled to start until 7:46.  It was a 400m pool swim (TT start), 10 mile bike, and 3K run.  It was super cold when I got up, I wore pants and my jacket, but I was glad I got there early, as it was first come first serve for the transition area.  It was shaped like an "L", but the course did not go through the full L, so it was definitely in my best interest to be there early and select an end spot, along the course, so I didn't have to go in and out of the other leg of the L.    Here is my stuff:

Me and my stuff, all set up:

There was lots of talk about wearing wetsuits.  I had mine, as mine goes with me to ALL my races, just in case.  It is my wubby.  I really considered it, because lots of people wore them.  However, since the transition area was on a parking lot, I did not want to risk falling down trying to get out of it onto such a hard surface.  Had it been on grass, I probably would have worn it.  The pool was so cold.  It has a leak, and they just pump water in it so they don't have to shut it down to fix it.  It looks so innocent here:

The first guy, who was supposed to be the fastest, since we were going in speed order, jumped in, swam 1.5 lengths, and stood up and stopped.  It really freaked everyone out.  The water was just so cold you couldn't really get your breath.  He did end up getting acclimated and finished, but it gave everyone a good scare.  I was lined up to go 49th, and we were off every 20sec.  I screamed when I got into the water, it was so cold.  FREEZING!!!!  HOLY COLD!!!!  I only had 20sec to get used to it and dunk myself before I was off.  I don't think I got any air the first length, and took a huge breath at the end before coming back.  It was just so cold I couldn't get my breathing down.  I totally get how that dude stopped and stood.  It was down and back in each lane, for 8 laps, and I swam down the next lane.  I got to the end and attempted to push off the bottom, instead of the wall, and I couldn't touch on that side.  I got a huge mouthfull of water and did an entire length of breastroke trying to stop from coughing.  Then I just kept telling myself "don't push off the bottom", and the rest seemed OK.  It seems like the guy behind me wanted to pass, but when I gave him the chance at the wall, he never took it.  Maybe I was being a jerk (please let me know if I was), but if I pause at the wall and you don't jump ahead, then I am going.  I am not going to "wait" or stop to let someone pass.  I am not used to a pool swim, and I guess in mountain biking, communication is a lot easier in terms of giving someone room to pass, and I do get over when it is safe.  I hugged that right lane line, bonking it a few times, since I tend to swim to the right anyway, and since I had my coughing episode AND still managed to pass a person or two due to improper seeding, the lane in front of me was almost always clear, so there was plenty of room to pass.    It did make me try to go faster anyway.  I am not sure of my splits, because I couldn't find the results online. 

Since it was so darn cold in the pool, it actually felt warm when I got out and ran up to my bike.  It was a little run to the parking lot, since it was in a pool and all.  I had planned to wear a patagonia half zip during the bike and run portion, since it was predicted to still be in the low 60s when I got out of the water.  My hands were so cold and frozen, I didn't really have the dexterity to put on a half zip, and fumbled quite a bit with my garmin.  I almost gave up on it, and if I do this race next year, won't use it.  I can't see it well on the bike and I didn't get it switched over to run so it didn't make a lot of sense while running anyway.

The bike course was HILLY!  I was told it would be hilly, but hills in Oldham County are apparently even hillier than hills in Louisville.  I guess I can ask the Ironmen from here what they think of route 1694.  I haven't ridden there, but apparently it sucks.  Ryan rides it and thought it was mean to do an out and back on it on the IM course.  I digress, I was going all out for the whole bike, and I haven't done that in a long time!  I was pretty much going up or down the whole time, and couldn't stay in my big ring on the front due to this one killer hill at the beginning.   It was fun, though, and I did pass a few people on the bike. I did wear my aero helmet.  I am glad I did, because there were some nice descents, as a result of those hills, and it kept my ears warm.  I was surprised I wasn't colder on the bike, because a lot of people had jackets and long sleeves.  I just had my wet bathing suit and tri shorts.  I skipped my aquaphor top b/c it causes a lot of drag in the pool, and I figured I would be in long sleeves at this point anyway.  Oh well. 

T2 felt pretty quick.  I put on my socks and shoes, hat, and number, and was off.

This was on a rolling cinder trail.  It was fun, and I just tried to go all out.  I passed a few people on the run, so that was fun too.  It was out, a loop, and back.  It was so short that I pushed the whole way.  I finished with a time of 1:01:34.  A PR since I have never completed a race this short before.  Initially, I had wanted to be under an hour, but that was before knowing about the hills on the bike course.  Perhaps next year I can be under an hour.  I hope to do this race again next year.  It was really well done, and they gave away 2 bikes as door prizes.  Ironman had sponsored this race, and as a result, they gave away the bikes.  They also had lots of other prizes to local businesses.  I didn't win any of those, but I did win first in my age group!  I had never won my age in a tri before, so this was super fun.  I was actually pretty close to the overall winner, about 1:40 away.  I don't think I wasted 1:40 between my breast stroke and garmin fumble, but if I can get my overall swimming improved as well as train more on the hills around here, I can really improve on this.  I know that a lot of the big guns may not have been there today, with lots of big races going on all over the place, including an Oly in Louisville on Sunday.  Some people were doing both, though.  I did get a really cool plaque, which was awesome for my first ever AG win!

It was fun to go into my first tri in my new area and do really well.  There were several people from chuch there, and Ryan thought this AG win furthered my "mythology" as some super star triathlete, which I am not.  I still think of myself of a runner who happens to do tris, but that is changing slowly.  I was just happy that there are more people in our ward that are interested in tris.  There was a big crew in my old ward, so it is nice to know I am in good company here.  I wish there were some ladies, but it was fun to have them as support crew watching their husbands and children racing.

Congrats to everyone else who races this weekend.  I think this is my final tri.  That swim was cold, and that was not fun!  Also, Ryan's work schedule is getting increasingly busy, and it is harder and harder to bike.  With school in, I am tired and have missed a lot of swimming as a result.  I will be missing Friday's swim due to Boston registration opening up.  I might be able to get in a short swim after I get signed up, but that will just depend on how long it takes to get through.

Finally, we had a relaxing day to remember 9/11/01.  I can't believe it has been 10 years!  I remember it like yesterday.  I was a supervisor at Wixom Assembly, running the first trim line out of paint.  One of my line workers who regularly listened to the radio on the line, told me what had happened.  I didn't get it at first, and just kept trying to get more updates on the radio and internet.   We didn't do much car building, and eventually they sent us all home early since the schools were dismissed.  I went to the red cross office in Livonia to donate blood.  I am O negative, the universal donor, and spent most of the afternoon there, waiting my turn.  I think I did leave briefly to get away from the footage and devastation to go to one of the ballet shops to browse leotards and tights, since I was in ballet at the time.  I donated blood, which is really hard for me to do.  Needles give me the heebie jeebies, and I am pretty close to the low weight limit.  I have come really close to passing out before, so I was surprised how easy it was to help in this situation.  I wish it didn't take something like that for me to be able to do it without passing out.  I got home and typical of me, since I lived alone, had no food in my apartment.  I was on my way to the grocery store when my downstairs neighbors found me and had me over for dinner.  I still needed milk and food for tomorrow's lunch, so my neighbors sent their adult son to accompany me to the grocery store so that I would be OK.  I have family in NYC, who work in Manhattan, so time was spent making sure they were OK, and I was thankful they were fine.  It was so devastating, and really changed the course of history.  I tried to do my best to explain to Keira and Soren what had happened without upsetting them.  Keira seemed to understand that it was very bad, and just wanted to make sure it wasn't going to happen here.  We have visited Ground Zero a few times since, but most of my pictures were lost on our hard drive crash a few years ago.  The more recent pics look just like a busy construction site.  My mom has a photo of me as a child standing on the top of the World Trade Center, but I don't have that digitally.

Here is a picture of the kids taken yesterday:

My brother in law, Tyler, took this photo last night.  He did not live in NYC at the time of the attack.

Never Forget!

I hope you have a great week.  For those of you hoping to enter Boston, such as myself, "Good Luck!"