Hey Lady, Take it Easy

Ok. That's it. For reals.

I am done with events for the year.

That became abundantly clear at yesterday's Golden State Triathlon. It was a sprint triathlon and was probably my slowest tri ever. And I am totally, 100% cool with that because, to quote Austin Powers, "And I'm spent!"

I foolishly thought that this would be a cakewalk (mmmm...cake) because it was JUST a sprint triathlon.

So what went wrong? Mainly, two things:

First: Don't underestimate a race's difficulty just because it is a distance you have done before.

Second:
Don't overestimate your ability just because it is a distance you have done before. Yeah, I have done plenty of sprints before, but a lot of things can come into play that can affect your race.

For example, let's take a look at the events I did in September:

9/11/11 Big Kahuna 1/2 Ironman
Got sick the day after, did nothing for a week, and ran/swam a little teeny tiny pathetic but the week after

9/23/11 Had a work event, was awesome, but crazy busy, draining

9/25/11 Ran run portion for mermaid triathlon. Good pace considering lack of training.

10/1/11 3.6 mile open water swim


The 1/2 Ironman and 3.6 mile swim were both A races for me this year. Hmmm, probably not so good to have them spaced so close together.

So, already I was going into this race with event fatigue.

Also, last week I started a 21 day clean eating plan. It is really to help me get a hold on what I eat, limit my portions, eat foods that aren't empty calories etc. You get one cheat day a week and this week's happened to land on race day. However, I planned poorly and did not stop for breakfast on the way from our hotel in Sacramento to the start near the American River. I was too concerned with finding the venue. We kind of get lost a lot when we drive through Sacramento, primarily because there are bridges involved. I managed to find a mini Cliff Bar that I gulped down while setting up transition. That combined with my conservative eating the day before probably did not make for great pre-race nutrition.

After setting up transition I headed to the start of the race. The swim started way far away from transition (you had to cross a bridge to get there). I muttered a little "ouch ooch ouch" from walking barefoot through a park and over a bridge. I entered the water did some strokes and got ready for my wave to start. I noticed I had a little trouble swimming to the start buoy, but didn't really think much of it.

And then we were off.

The swim was tough. It was only 1/2 a mile and I totally thought I had it in the bag. I mean, c'mon! I swam 3.6 miles last weekend! I took off and noticed my arms were sore and I wasn't going as fast as I would like. And then it dawned on me: Oh, yeah. I swam 3.6 miles last weekend. I guess it may take time to recover from that. The swim was a little annoying because there were people stopping in the middle of the swimming, or doing breaststroke or backstroke butterfly. Argg!

As it turned out, there was a reason why the swim was so hard. It's called current. After the race I heard people talking about how hard the swim was because we were going against a really strong current. Oh, and those people weren't stopped on purpose in the river. They just couldn't get past the current. Yikes.

So, I finished the swim and proceeded to exit the lake. There were volunteers there to help you out while you climbed the MUDDY SUPER SLIPPERY STAIRS to get back to the park. Thankfully there was no falling. However, when I got out of the water and took my first step on the ground I got a swirly lightheaded feeling.

I was hungry.

I remember hearing the announcer saying there would be no aid stations on the bike. Eek. I got to transition, drank a bunch of water and reluctantly headed out on my bike.

Wow. How do you spell "SLOW?" Sheesh. I was dragging on the bike. And it was 3 five mile loops which made it feel even more tedious. After the second loop I started feeling a little weird. My stomach was cramping and I had cold sweats. I think I was running out of gas. At one point I thought about stopping after the second lap, but I just kept going.

Finally I was back in transition and getting my run stuff on. A man approached me, "I LOVE YOUR PINK BIKE! IT IS SOOOOO AWESOME!" He kept blabbing on about it, which ordinarily I like, but HELLO I am in transition! Then I asked him, "Are you finished?" He said yes to which I responded, "Well, I, uh gotta go because I have this run thing to take care of."

I headed out to the run. Right at the beginning there was an aid station. Hurrah! I grabbed Gatorade and Gu and it was like nectar of the gods. At every aid station I took a cup of Gatorade. I finally finished the 5k (with a record slow pace. Um...yea?) and f ound my hubby and we took off. I needed breakfast (and so did he since there wasn't food for spectators). We drove to our fave breakfast place in Sacramento and there must have been 30 people in line. FOILED AGAIN! We headed back to our hotel, dumped the bike, and walked to a breakfast place. We had to wait 20 minutes to get seated, which was fine. However, it was about 40 minutes before we got food. Sheesh!

Finally I had an egg white omelet in my belly and was ready for a catnap and watching Legally Blonde at the hotel room. It was awesome.

So, I learned a lot at this race. I hope I actually start applying these lessons. One thing I know is I will not be doing the 1/2 marathon I signed up for in two weeks. Judging from Sunday, my body is telling me, "Hey lady, take it easy."

I hope I do not go through event withdrawal. I already heard that some of my workout buddies are flirting with the idea of the Las Vegas Rock n Roll in December.

Must.Not.Log.Into.Active.com.