My second Oly (and a luck update)

My second Olympic distance Triathlon was on Saturday.  Last year I did the Sprint distance which had a Oly distance bike leg. No pictures because I didn't bring a camera and my personal cell is still broken.

This race was a B race for me.  I got lucky and it happened to fall on a rest week, so I did get some taper in.  The race was in Evergreen Lake at Bloomington, Illinois.  Friday night I drove to Bloomington and met up with Ryan and his wife Annie.  We opted for deep dish pizza and a couple beers for our meal.  I'm not very fast and determined experimentally, 2 beers the night before a race has no negative effect on time, but has a positive effect on sleep.

Saturday morning I got up at 4:30 am, ate a banana and yogurt and headed to the race site at 5.  It was almost perfect racing weather, mid 70's and overcast.  It would have been perfect with a little lower humidity, but it was nearly perfect.  Since it was a B race, I approached it like a training day.  That really helped with the swim jitters.  I wasn't nervous at all even though it would be my longest OWS without a wetsuit to date by 50% due to the 84 degree water.  I looked at my HRM as my wave waded in to the water and it was still in the low 70's, chillin!.  I had some minor contact in the swim, but overall I felt great.  I relaxed, sited every 14 strokes (7 on each side), and felt good.  I never really had to stop and catch my breath and didn't think I got too far off track, but my time sucked!  I was a bit bummed with my time, and even more bummed when all the bikes on my rack were gone when I got to T1.  Oh well, more people to pass.

I felt good and strong on the bike.  With such a slow swim, I was only passed two or three times and passed a ton of people.  Unfortunately, none in my age group.  They were all faster than me even though I had a PR bike time for an Oly (and any race for that matter), 20.4 mph!  I passed Ryan on the bike and we chatted for a bit.  He had a really rough swim with two guys swimming over him back to back.  He almost DNF'd but stuck with it. When I passed him on the bike, it motivated him to burn all his matches and catch me.  Nice job sticking with it after a rough swim Ryan!  For nutrition I ate two GU's and drank a half a bottle of water.  Probably a little light on the water but my stomach was a little sloshy and it was cool outside.  I did take a couple salt capsules half way through since my stomach was sloshy.

The run started off good for me.  I decided not to stop at any aid stations for the first half.  It was cool enough and I think I was take too much water in sometimes.  It was still cool but humid so the sprinklers, people with hoses and cold sponges felt good.  During the second mile, the usual "why do I do this to myself" thought cropped in to my mind.  Then I passed a couple guys in my age group which was very motivating and that thought went away.  I cruised along at upper zone 3 for the first half (low 170's hr) then turned it up to upper zone 4 (low 180's) for the second half.  I really felt as good as you can running at that exertion level.  I was trading position with a guy named Andrew and I actually had enough breath to chat a little.  That's a sign my run fitness is improving even though I'm still slow.

When I finished, I grabbed a water and felt fine.  I wasn't really spent at all.  After the race, I went to Lake Decatur with Ryan and Annie and cruised around on their boat for a while until it was time to leave so I could cook dinner.  Again, I apologize for no pictures, hopefully I'll fix the phone situation this week.

Luck report.  It's getting better.

Monday:
Good luck:
I won some olive oil from California Olive Ranch online just for following Rachael's blog and it arrived Monday this week.  Thanks Rachael!  We used some of the oil for dipping bread the other day and it was fantastic!  Rachael gives lots of stuff away and is pretty entertaining too.
Bad Luck:
No phone parts, actually no mail delivered at all.

Tuesday:
Good Luck:
Kate's bike was only $50 bucks to fix!
Bad Luck:
Called post office.  No mail for two days because our account was marked "on hold", hmm.  When the mail arrived, no phone parts.  USPS said they need the tracking number to double check the status.  More bad luck, my SIL's dog came over for a doggie vacation (while they went to New Orleans).  Lola walks in, grabs a big dog bone, walks over and drops it right on that pointy bone on top of my foot.  Ouch!  Broke the skin and bruised something inside to the point I limped all day Wednesday and wondered if I would race.

Wednesday:
Good Luck:
I woke up with a pulse.
Bad Luck:
Now this streak of bad luck is becoming quite funny.  Woke up and my PC won't boot, looks like a hard drive failure.  No phone parts.

Thursday:
Good Luck:
My bike was only $17 to fix!
Bad Luck:
Called to get my USPS tracking number (couldn't look it up because the mail was on my dead pc

Friday:
Good Luck:
The deductible for my car ($500) was waved because I hit another AAA member! My phone parts came in!
Bad Luck: None!   Hopefully I turned the corner.

Saturday:
Good Luck:
I completed my second Olympic Distance triathlon without crashing or having a heart attack.  Had a great time with Ryan and Annie.  Also met Nate and his wife Nikki who were very nice.
Bad Luck:
The phone parts didn't fix the phone.

Sunday:
Good Luck:
Had a great day and caught up with some yard work.
Bad Luck:
None!  Two days in a row.

Now to get that phone fixed.....