Tri Class #18: mini-tri

Last night was a great workout. We did our own mini-triathlon. We met at Queens beach and went back and forth twice for the swim. We started near the pier on the right (facing the water) and then went until the first wall outcropping on the left, not the further one that sticks out like a pier.

Then we ran over to the parking lot, pulled out our bikes and rode over Diamond Head. We stayed on that road until the stop sign just before Kahala Beach and turned left there. At the Arco gas station, we turned around and retraced our route back to the cars.

Putting away the bike, we changed into our running gear and did a lap clockwise around Kapiolani park, finishing at the Marathon finishing line.

The swim was the hardest portion for me. The water was ugly and murky. When you put your face down, you couldn't see a thing. That's really unusual for Hawaii and it was really disturbing to me. I sort of freaked out a bit, but I lifted my head and floated a few moments and eventually got a grip on myself.

Needless to say, the swim took me quite a while. I ingested quite a bit of water, too. At two different points I truly thought I was going to throw up. Fortunately, I didn't and I was able to finish the swim. I rinsed off and then jogged to my car. During my transition to the bike, I glanced at my watch, 20 minutes.

The bike actually went really well. I'd say this was my favorite part of the day. Going up Diamond Head right at the start isn't so much fun, but going down afterwards is a nice reward that helps you catch your breath. I felt pretty strong on the bike, and I felt like I was getting stronger as we went on.

There were three other riders who had started the bike at the same time I did. We spread out going up Diamond Head, with me in second. Starting on the downhill, I set to work catching up with the leader. I was slowly gaining on her, when she pulled up with a flat near the left turn we were to take. I turned around to help, and then was waived off by a coach who I hadn't seen.

I felt bad for her because it just sucks to get a flat in a race, even in a practice race. I also was bummed for my sake. I wanted to find out if I could catch her. I know even if I caught her on the bike, unless I put a huge margin between us (unlikely), she would smoke me on the run. Still, I wanted to know. Back to the bike. It was hard to get going again and in the process a fellow I had passed earlier, had passed me again. So I passed him back. Yay! It was an isolated victory though.

The rest of the ride was uneventful until near the end when my attention wandered as I was coming near the transition. I was thinking about how I wanted to get to my car and I guess I had slowed down. Another rider, Tom, passed me and yelled "higher cadence." I knew I was in too hard a gear, but since I wasn't really paying attention to my riding, I had neglected to change it. He snapped me back to attention, for which I was grateful. I dropped my gear, picked up the cadence and was hoping to pass him when he pulled over to his car. My car was around the corner and I had banked on having that much distance. Pooh. Starting the run, I glanced at my watch again, ~1 hour, so the bike and transition took roughly 40 minutes.

Although I had felt good on the bike, the run was a completely different story. I think all the sea-water in my stomach caused it to rebel and I had pretty bad side pain. I felt my stomach and it was hard as a rock. While that sounds good, that's not a normal state for me, usually there's some give. Basically, not good. So I held it to a slow pace and hoped it would pass.

About a third of the way into the run, Tom, who had passed me earlier on the bike, passed me again. Dangit. I was in no shape to chase him down at that moment. Half way along, Mike, who had already finished, was walking back from the finish line and I guess he thought I looked like I was in pretty bad shape, so he turned around and joined me. He's by far the fastest person in our group, so I wasn't sure how I felt about him trotting along at my pathetic pace.

It turned out to be great though. We discussed what was going on with me, and his suggestion, I'm not making this up, was to run faster so maybe I can throw it up. To illustrate what a weird sport this is, I actually thought there was logic in this and picked up the pace. He also reminded me to lean forwards. When he said it, I realized that I was running extremely upright and tight. I have to watch that.

When I finished the run, I neglected to look at my watch right away, but when I did, it said 1h20m. I estimate the total time to be 1h15m, so the run took 15m. At the end, we were right on Tom's heels and if my breathing wasn't so rough (asthmatic-like again), I might have caught him. He said afterwards that he could hear our footsteps (and I'm sure my breathing) and had picked it up. So, in the end, I was very grateful that Mike had run back with me. He was a huge help and I pushed myself much harder than I would have otherwise.

Why is it that I need someone else pushing me along? I should be self motivating. Maybe that comes with more experience. I think I still have the survival-mode mentality where I only push myself to the point where I know I will finish. Now that I'm getting more fit, I should be pushing for time. I know I'll finish, so I should focus on making myself go as hard as I can. If I end up having to slow down, so be it, but I'll eventually get stronger and more wise about how long I can hold a hard pace. What have I got to lose?

On a side note, I wore my tri-shorts and black swim-suit top for the whole thing. It worked out well. No more trying to force bike shorts on over a wet body. I just pulled on a bike jersey during the first transition and I was all set.

Lessons learned:
Push HARDER!
I need to do more ocean swimming.
Don't stand up to get out of the water until your hand hits the sand.
High cadence, low resistance near the end of the bike to let your legs recover before the run.
Lean forward while running. When I'm uncomfortable, I tend to be very upright.
Get the little tie-thingys for my shoelaces.