Sunday, April 27, 2008

Race Report

I have to say that today I breathed a great sigh of relief that this week is over. To say it was busy is a gross understatement.
On Earth Day, I helped 20 Grade Twos and then 22 Kindergartners weed and garden around the school. There are a lot of holes in the school yard, now, due to the PAC representative’s fantastic idea to arm the children with shovels and pitchforks! Then I picked up Madelaine and Bennett from school and they came to play with the boys for the afternoon. They had a great time, and then Eliot joined us for hamburgers.
We successfully finished the last four performances of Adventures in Art and although it was tiring being at the theatre so much, it was also rewarding in so many ways. And I didn’t screw anything up on my end, so it’s all good.
After the performance on Friday night, I met my girlies for 25 Club. We were going to Bingo, but the timing was off so we just had dessert and drinks instead, which was nice and mellow. Luckily I had already packed my triathlon bag for the morning, as we had to be out of the house by 7 am.
The race went well, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a wee bit disappointed in my time. A couple of months ago I was hoping for 1 hr 25 min. I was happy with my swim and my bike times – 18 min and around 48 min respectively, but I tanked a little on the run – 31 min. And my transition times were slow because it was pretty cold, and it took me a while to get warmer clothes on between each segment. You try running several hundred feet in a wet bathing suit (which Mike got a picture of, which you will not see posted here – oh no) after swimming your little heart out and being kicked by numerous “ladies” and then trying to pull bike shorts and socks over your shivering goose pimply body. It’s hard. And I was trying to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything (bike shirt, shorts, socks, shoes, timing chip, race number, helmet, glasses, water – oh yeah, and bike) so it was nerve wracking. Once I was out on the bike course, I felt I did quite well although I never warmed up. I also ate two bugs (not on purpose, just to clear that up) but I did not fall off my bike or make a ridiculous fool out of myself as I’d feared. And it was truly awesome to have my men cheering me on: “Go Mummy”, “Yey Mummy”, etc. After the bike it took me a long time to get ready again, since I haven’t mastered the drinking while riding thing yet (I know, I know, I’m a feeb) so I needed to get some water in me. I also took off my bike shorts and shirt and I was going to run in my tri top (still wet from the pool) and my running shorts but I was still so cold I had to put a running shirt on too. And my hat. And my shoes. Oh, it just took forever... and I also had this “whoa” moment when I dismounted and tried to run back to rack my bike. My legs seemed to be working somewhat independently of what my mind was communicating. Shocking, really, that I did not fall over. So I set off on weird legs and needed to walk almost right away to down some Gu – energy gel. Well, then I needed water and the station wasn’t until 2.5 km in, so the first half of the run did not go so great. Then the energy kicked in a little, and I used some guy as my rabbit. He passed me as I was walking, but I said to myself that I was going to run as long as he was, and I used him to mentally tow me in to the finish. So my final time was 1 hr 45 min. All I can say is that it is 16 minutes faster than my last triathlon.
After the race it was another race to get showered and changed and get to the theatre in time for the show. I made it there with 10 minutes to spare (relief) and made it through the show ok. After the first show ended I ate, then the sound guy showed me his secret spot to sleep. I crashed for well over an hour until he shook me awake to do the second show. The second show went well, too, and then we got everything out of the theatre and I hightailed it home. One giant bowl of chocolate ice cream and I was in bed.
Today I did absolutely nothing except head to Casbah for a massage. Heavenly. It was a much-needed mellow day!
Until next week,
Tamsin

1 comment:

Cathy said...

Girl, where you been? That race really take it out of you?