If you missed my post detailing the events that leading up to "The Race" please check it out.
THE SWIM: (goal: Under 20 minutes and I did not want to float on my back UNLESS it WAS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY)
As Frances and I were waiting for our wave to start, a gentleman approached us, we learned that this was his first open water triathlon. (I will not share his name, you will understand why in a moment. I will refer to this gentleman as "Sir"). Frances and I were both excited for Sir and talked about how he should join Black Triathletes Association and offered him encouraging words. Sir reveals to us that he has never swam in open water; my stomach turned a bit for him. With this knowledge, Frances encouraged Sir to go talk to Derrick since Derrick learned to swim last year. Sir walks off and heads to Derrick. They appear to chat and Sir made his way to the back of the women's start wave. I thought that was odd since the men's wave was to start before ours. Anyway, I stopped with my concern for Sir, and said a prayer.
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| No, we were not discussing "Sir." |
As the women's wave inched closer to the start, I happened to turn around (I don't know why) and I see Sir standing with our wave, I say to him "Sir, are you starting with us, your wave is gone?" He replied "Yes." I shrug and smile. However, the race director signals him to start. Sir makes his way down to water. He steps in. He steps out. He steps in. He lunges forward into his stroke, arms flailing about. I gasp. He stops. Stands up. Goes underwater. I hear the race director yell "Hey!" Sir starts swimming under water and next thing you know he is coming out. Praise God. I'm happy Sir was okay, but I'm sure he was emboosticated getting out of the water with the entire women's wave watching him. However, I'm happy he checked his ego and got his butt out of that water.
Just a word of friendly advice to all who are considering tri-ing, please don't let race day be your first time swimming in open water.
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| Out of the water |
The women’s wave finally starts and I hang back and to the
right of the others, although the start did not appear as chaotic as I thought it would be. I immediately begin my "stroke, breathe, sight rhythm"-1.2.breathe.4.5.breathe.7.8.sight.
(Repeat) I feel good and actually catch and pass a few people. As I get closer
to the first buoy I pause, there is a kayak stopped because a male
athlete had started to panic. I felt bad for him, but I started swimming again and made my way around the buoy. "Yes, 3 more to go" I thought. As I continued my way to the second buoy, something strange happened, I started catching mouthfuls of water every time I turned to breathe. "WTF??!!" I thought. I didn't panic, I stopped and started doing the Tarzan drill (swimming with my head above water...thanks Coach Richard) just to try and relax, but keep moving forward. I try to get back into my rhythm and again, a mouthful of water. Finally, I say to myself "turn your head more towards the sky, dummy..." During all of this drama, I was either pushed a bit off course by the current OR I don't swim straight because I had to change directions slightly. I correct and settle back in to my rhythm, buoy #3 was on my left. My heart was beating with excitement and I could feel myself fighting the urge to smile. "Stay focused, Elle. Keep the last green buoy in front of you.” I was so excited because I could see the finish. I could see the volunteer in the yellow shirt. Next thing I knew, I was passing the 4th buoy and shortly after, he was telling me to stand and extending his hand to help me up. I declined. I felt strong and trotted out of the water to cheers. I smiled all the way to transition. I was so excited. I did not float on my back! I finished that damn swim.
SWIM TIME: 00:19:48 (12 seconds faster than my goal.)
Transition (T-1)
I was very emotional finishing that swim, I cried, but no one
knew because my face was wet. lol My legs felt like they had cement blocks tied to
them but I trotted. The spectators were ringing cowbells and cheering. I saw
Andre, one of the volunteers who encouraged me prior to the race, and gave him
a high 5. Then it happened, I saw my husband in transition, what a welcomed
sight, I was smiling …big time!!! I successfully got myself out of my wetsuit,
changed into my cycling gear, and it was time to ride. T-1 00:02:40
THE BIKE: (goal: 1:00:00)
The bike is my favorite of the three sports,
although it does give me a little anxiety because I worry about mechanical
failures like a flat tire. In addition, I had a dream a few nights prior that I mounted my bike before the mount line, this caused me a little anxiety. BTW, I didn't mount before the line. Anyway, I said a prayer in transition and kept it
moving.
I felt good once I started and I remembered what Coach Mari
taught me and my Irons In the Fire teammates about the importance of taking in
our nutrition on the bike. She also had us perform a “sweat test” to determine
how many calories we needed to take in per hour. With that knowledge, and the fact that I have trained using my nutrition, I felt confident that I would be in good shape on the bike and made a
plan to drink every 10 minutes. Although my plan to drink every 10 minutes was was a solid one, I did not consider how I would keep track...hmmm. Yes, I had my Garmin 920XT and I’m sure I could have changed it
where I could view the clock, but I did not dare touch any button (other than the
“lap” button when I reached transition) out of fear of messing with my data.
Lmao... whatever...lol With that, the only thing I could do was guess, not perfect, but it was something.
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| Off the bike |
The ride course was nice, I really enjoyed it. Although I thought the description "rolling hills" was a bit misleading, I enjoyed it. (SN: one woman's hill, is another woman's mountain.) I felt great and passed a few folks and got passed by others. I started to get a little bored around mile 7 and started playing "pick a target." Pick a target is a game I play with the voices in my head. The object is to catch the person in front of you. My first target was "Orange shirt" simply because he was the only person in front of me. I inched my way closer to him, the hills slowed him down a bit and I was able to catch and pass on the down hill. I stayed in front of him the whole time. He drafted for a bit and I noticed this maroon PT cruiser slow down next to us, I think it was a referee and he may have gotten a penalty. I think he believed the same thing because he backed off and I did not see him until he made it back to transition. I passed a couple more folks and then there were the yellow shirts telling me to dismount. As I make my way back to transition, there he was, my husband.
BIKE TIME: 1:05:01 (5 minutes, 1 sec slower than
my goal).
Transition 2 (T-2)
Dorian is cheering me on...well talking shit. "C'mon Martindale, speed it up." Me-in my head: "What? Shut up!" I rack my bike, toss off helmet while kicking off shoes. Stop. Sit down and I hear Dorian say "What? What are you doing sitting?" Me-in my head: "what the hell does it look like, putting on running shoes." Anyway, I get my shoes on, get up, stretch, and grab hand held bottle. I’m out. T-2: 00:01:50
THE RUN: goal 00:42:00
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| Heading out for the run |
Bike legs. Lawd
have mercy, bike legs. My quadriceps were burning, I swear they were bleeding. Just imagine your thighs being on fire. Now imagine those
fiery thighs with cement blocks wrapped around them with plastic wrap. Yep,
bike legs…lmao
I felt really good as far as my energy, but those legs...oooh. I started off with intervals for the 1st mile, it took that long for my legs to feel better. While I ran, I heard Coach Mari telling the Irons group to try and "clear the peg" when we ran. So, in an effort to distract myself from my fiery, cemented thighs, I focused on form and clearing the peg. Yeah, that worked for all of 5 minutes...lol
Overall, I really did like the run course, it was flat (flat
for Georgia) and it was nice to see all of the athletes that offered so much
support during the swim. I saw Derrick and he said something like "go get it" or something and I replied thank you. Lol. I saw Frances and she said "you look strong." I saw Tiffany and the other ladies that were in my transition area and they all were so excited for me and I was excited for them. I received several compliments on "THE KIT" and complimented others on theirs. Everyone just seemed to be having a great time, I know I was even if my thighs were internally hemorrhaging...lol
I finally reach the turn around and for some reason I experienced this rush of energy, maybe it was my "runner's high" because I felt good running. Maybe it was because I knew that I had less than 15 minutes before I would see the finish line. I'm not going to say that all the stars aligned and the burning in my thighs resolved, but it was not as intense and I was comfortable. I wanted to finish strong, so I did not push until I heard the sweet sound of music and cowbells. I picked up my pace, and made sure I "cleared the peg." Next thing I know, there was Andre the volunteer. Andre shouted, bring it on it, you look so strong! He seemed genuinely excited to see me and
ran with me for a bit, just before I crossed the finish line. RUN TIME:
00:40:02 (00:01:58 faster than my goal)
The Results:
I make my way over to transition to see my husband so he would know I was finished. He got stuck volunteering in transition so he did not see me finish. We chatted as I gathered my things so we could take them to the car. As we were headed to the car, I looked for Derrick and Frances so I could congratulate them on their race and to take a few more pictures to share with the BTA group. I saw Derrick first and he shared that Frances won 3rd place in her age group and asked if I had checked my time. I wasn't really concerned, but I went and when my name finally scrolled by it read "LAWANDA MARTINDALE 1/3." Huh? Wha? I went over to Derrick and whispered "I think I won first place in the Masters Athena." Although I was planning to stay and watch Frances get her award, I had even more reason to stay.
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| Frances-3rd place 35-39 |
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| 1st place Athena-I still can't believe this happened. |
I quickly headed to the car to find Dorian, he was loading "Big Daddy" (my bike) onto the car. I was so excited and shared with him the news of what I thought to be 1st place in my category. (I continued to say "think" because until they called my name, it was not official to me.)
It is finally time for the awards, and it was official, I won 1st place. I was happy that Derrick, Frances, and Veronica stayed to watch, we took a few more pictures and wrapped up the day.
Overall, I was pleased with my performance and thought the race was well organized with AMAZING VOLUNTEERS, I thanked everyone of them each time I passed by. However, I was
extremely disappointed with Georgia Multisports and how they handled the awards for the Athena category. According to the event site awards would be given based on the criteria below. Georgia Multisports honored this until they reached the awards for the Athenas, the 2nd and 3rd place did not get awards! WTF?!!! I was a bit confused and extremely pissed. I plan to write a letter. I know the 2nd and 3rd place winners were disappointed, because we congratulated each other while viewing the results. It is my hope that they contact Georgia Multisports. It is not fair that every other group received awards (actual awards) for top three, but I was the only Athena. That shit stinks...bad!!!
So, there it is, my first Open Water Swim triathlon.
Now, time to write that letter...
- Overall top three finishers.
- Masters top three.
- Athena (165+) top three.
- Clydesdale (220+) top three.
- Relays top three.
- Age group awards will be given three deep in the following categories: 15 and under,16-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70+.
