Race Recap or Winner Winner Chicken Dinner (Updated with pictures)

Despite leaving early from work, Ed and I didn't get on the road until after 3pm Friday. We had a bunch of errands to run, including stopping at Landry's, my favorite bike store, to get my bottle launcher fixed, yet again. (I didn't get a chance to try it out, so hopefully it holds for good next time I go on a long ride - I'm tired of losing water bottles!) The ride was going swimmingly until we heard about a huge accident on the NJ Turnpike - it was backed up for miles. Unfortunately there really was no easy way around it, and a usual 4-4.5 hour trip took close to 6.5 hours. It was around 9:45pm when we checked into our hotel, hours later than we had anticipated arriving, especially since we had a race in the morning. We found a Macaroni Grill and both ordered the 'make your own pasta creation' - whole wheat rotini with grilled chicken. I ate less than half of the portion, not wanting to weigh my belly down that late in the night, dreading that it wouldn't digest by the race start at 8am. We still had to find a grocery store as I needed my all the pre-race breakfast items. After driving around for a while and finally finding an open grocery store, I was in bed around 11:15pm, but probably didn't fall asleep until close to midnight. With a wakeup time at 5:50am, I was expecting a less than sub-par performance that next morning.

6am the typical nasty breakfast eating began - 2 of the individual serving sizes of unsweetened applesauce (1 cup), a banana (only ate half), Powerbar Endurance, and because I forgot protein powder, I substituted Muscle Milk (drank half the bottle). During the eating of the food, I began to poop. Then I continued to poop. And then some more. Ed packed the car and I continued to poop. I grabbed 4 Pepto tablets, and ran out the door.

We drove a town away to the race site, where there were volunteers and signs pointing us in the right direction. Definitely a huge step up from what we expected! We parked, got our bikes ready, and walked to pick up our race numbers. When I received my bib number, I asked the volunteer "This is the winning number right?" They laughed and said "We handpicked it especially for you!" I got bodymarked by a nice little 12-year old boy, and off we went to rack our bikes.

The area was roped off, but there were no numbered racks so we got to choose our spot. Unfortunately all the good spots were taken, so I situated my bike in one of the back racks and made a mental note to not forget where it was. It was kind of funny to see so many newbies who were unsure how to rack their bikes, using up 4 spots for their stuff - I was that girl once too I think!

I went out for a 20 minute pre-race jog, legs feeling extremely heavy, and having the thoughts that it just wasn't my day to race. I peed in the woods, and headed back to the race start. Met up with Ed and walked down to the "pond" sans wetsuit. Only a handful of folks were wearing wetsuits, which I thought was silly for such a short swim, but hey, the winner wore one!

Swim 0.25 mile:
I waded down into the pond, and my feet were sinking in the dirty and sludge. Disgusting. There were 4 waves, and all the women were in the 3rd wave. I watched Ed and his group go off, then the older guys, and before the women went off, the winning males were already out of the water. I situated myself on the front line (we were spread out, I am not fast!) and on the right hand side. I wound up swimming more toward the right than close to the buoys. I should have stayed left and caught a draft and some people's feet. That was a mistake. I swam as best as I could. I wasn't comfortable, in fact, I felt like I was going extremely slow due to the drag of my triathlon top. It was not zipped up, and the top portion was flying around my chest. And to be honest, I thought my boobies escaped my sports bra and were hanging out for all to see. Before exiting the water, I made sure they were locked and loaded. I got out, ran the 200 yards over the timing mat, and headed into T1.

Swim time: 8:43 (81/204 overall)
Not my finest moment. Should have drafted.

T1: 1:11 (36/204 overall)
Nothing to report - thought I was a bit slow getting my shoes on



What? Do I have something on my face?

Bike 15 miles:
I was out of T1 like a bat out of hell. I was ready to get on the bike and see what I could do. I was out of the gate and yelling "ON YOUR LEFT" every two seconds. Folks were riding the line which I absolutely hate. I don't believe the roads were closed either, but we were in the backwoods of NJ and I saw maybe 2 cars during the entire race. It was a two loop course of 15 miles, and the first few miles were definitely false flats. Very deceiving. My heart rate was out of control, and I knew I needed to somewhat relax before blowing up. Thankfully after making a turn and heading out on another road, I loosened up and began biking smart. And fast.

I biked in my big ring 80% of the race which is entirely foreign to me. Usually I only hop onto the big ring on descents, so to push the big ring on flats, well, was pretty fucking cool to say the least. I wound up playing cat and mouse with a 37 year old woman until I got frustrated and thought to myself "NO MORE" and dropped her. My next cat and mouse was a 40ish year old man with a pimped out Cervelo. I have a preconceived notion that MOST Cervelo riders are completely dickfaces...(not you Jamie or my other nice readers), but this guy was super nice! He informed me I had dirt all over my face (thanks to swimming in a pond with kicked up mud from the first two waves) and to be careful out there. His race wheels hummed past me at times, and then Blue Thunder would retaliate and pass him. He wound up leading us into T2. So thank you unknown rider for keeping me motivated!

The bike course for the most part was amazingly flat, despite the false flat during the first portion of the loop. The streets were well-paved, there were hardly any vehicles, and I even motivated a horse to gallop alongside of me! I passed a ton of guys, and I was passed maybe by 3 people in total. I sipped my sports drink, probably drank half a bottle, and took down a Gel at mile 10. Overall, I felt REALLY solid. Unbelievably solid.

I pulled into T2, feeling pretty good, but also dreading the run.

Bike time: 41:42 (21.6 mph) (63/204 overall)
Um.
WOWZERS!
IMCoz here I come!

T2: 1:16 (124/204 overall)
WTF was I doing in T2? Eating a sandwich? Taking a crap?



What? Do I still have something on my face?




Run 5k:
Here we go, the dreaded 5k. I hate sprint triathlons simply because I can't sprint for shit. I don't swim fast, I don't run fast, and I just plain hate them. The sun was beating down, it was hot, and I was ready for the race to be over with. As usual, I went out too fast, my first mile coming in around 7:55. I didn't have a set pace for my run, but if I could hold onto sub-8 minute miles, I would be super pumped. Alas, my pace dropped a little bit more with every step. I tried to keep a steady pace, knowing fully well that I would be disappointed in myself if I didn't keep my body in a state of hurt.

I hovered around 8:15 minute miles on my Garmin, and with a mile to go, I stepped it up a notch. I passed a few guys, but then was passed by three women. I kept looking at their ages marked on their calves, hoping they wouldn't be in my age group. They weren't. Up to this point I had not seen any other women in my age group. Where were they all? I huffed and puffed to the finish line, which was inconveniently located after running over this really dangerous concrete water drain.

Run time: 25:45 (8:19 min/mile) (109/204 overall)
My Garmin respectfully disagreed, saying the course was 3.2 miles long, and averaging an 8:05 pace. Regardless, I relish the day I run consecutive sub-8 minute miles in a triathlon.







Total time: 1:18:35 (69/204 overall)

I clicked off my Garmin, handed over my chip which, in typical fashion had scraped the living shit out of my ankle and met up with Ed who wound up finishing a mere 17 seconds before I did - (but not after knocking out a 44th place on the bike with over 22mph)! Unfortunately the drinking water had run out at this point, so I had nothing to cool me down after I finished. Because it looked like I had fallen into a pile of manure, I stepped under that glorious ladder shower to wash off some of the dirt. I say SOME because I wound up picking chunks of dirt out of my ears and belly button later that day.

We walked over to the fire hall for refreshments - WHAT A SPREAD! Not only was this a well-run organized race, but they had the best refreshments of any race I have ever participated in! Sub sandwiches, assortments of bagels with peanut butter, big crusty pretzels, cookies! The list goes on and on.

Ed and I checked the posted results.

FEMALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 34
1 ANNE MARIE ALMIROL 30 BROOKLYN NY 1:15:53
2 KIMBERLY KALTREIDER 30 CHARLESTOWN MA 1:18:35
3 MAGGIE PONIATOWSKI 32 MT LAUREL NJ 1:19:49

2ND PLACE IN MY AGE GROUP!!!! DING DONG!!!!
I'm a winner, I'm a real life winner!!!
I get an award?! ME?!!!

They held the award ceremony, and I got a sweet paperweight and a gift card to a bike shop!

Oh Anne Marie from Brooklyn, I'm totally coming for you next year!

So while the field was small, this certainly was a nice ego boost. No, I'm not a superstar. No, I'm not an elite-age-group winner. No, I'm not going to Kona. But this is just a little inspiration for a typical middle-of-the-packer. Makes me think I might be going places. Keeps the faith alive.