Race Report

My priority this week is studying for an exam I am taking next week. It is an Education and Childhood Development test so that I can test out of the class credits for my M.Ed. I have a lot of reading to do, but it's generally not that difficult. It is time-consuming, though.

One of the kids I interviewed for Brown got accepted! He was probably my favorite, the one whose interview ran overtime.

Today, I began my 8th grade unit on the Periodic Table. I love it! The kids love it! Reading the Periodic Table is like doing a word search, which is a middle school student's favorite activity. Today's lesson was on finding an element's name, symbol, and atomic number, as well as the definition of atomic number. I saw nearly 100% of students able to complete the exit ticket on their own, and some even enjoying it! I hope the rest of the unit goes this smoothly.

The rest of the day didn't go quite as well, because I was really tired. And why am I so tired today? I did a duathlon yesterday!

I dragged myself out of bed around 7AM on a Sunday so I could do a race that I was underprepared for in the early-Spring chill. Part of my motivation was knowing that it was a small race, and it is my last year in a very small age group (F20-24), so I might win an age group award. Part of my motivation was knowing that by putting money down on registration, I would actually train for this race. I did, but could have definitely trained more.

Due to laziness and weather constraints, the only biking I had done before the race was a 5-ish mile ride on a dirt path. The race was marketed as "off-road, but not technical", so I felt pretty confident. I had put more focus on run training, which I had been doing at 6-10 miles per week for the last month at least. My longest training run was 4.5 miles, and I did a 4 mile race in 42:17 two weeks earlier.

The race was 2 mile run/10 mile bike/2 mile run. I arrived with plenty of time to spare. It was a very small race, and only about 90 people ended up racing in total. It was so small, there was even toilet paper left in the porta-potties. It was cold when I arrived, and was happy that I had spent $15 on a running jacket the previous day. I picked up my race number, set up my bike in transition (which had no racks, it was just a drop-your-bike-near-the-exit sort of thing), and sat in the car with my boyfriend for about 20 minutes.

I had eaten an Eggo and peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, which I think was a little ambitious. Around 15 minutes before the race, I was wondering if I should get in the potty line, but I ended up being fine anyway. Whew.

The race started and everyone took off FAST. I'm usually in the last 2/3 of the pack in a running race, but this group seemed to be a very small bunch of disproportionately serious triathletes looking to start their season with an easy du. I quickly fell behind the pack and stuck in second-to-last place, where I stayed the entire race. The run was well marked, mostly flat, and about half grass, half asphalt. I had not difficult finishing the 2 miles, but anticipated some tired calves for the second leg of the run. I expected the first mile marker to be marked off, but when I had been running for about 13 minutes, I realized I wasn't going to see it. I finished the 2 miles in 21:59, which is around my training pace. Not great, but a good job pacing myself and not getting tired too early.

I picked up one of the two bikes left in transition (my bike is always easy to find, because I keep my tire repair kit in a raccoon-shaped bag under my seat) and headed out of there. The transitions were not timed, but I was pretty fast, because I kept on my running shoes. I don't have clipless pedals on my mountain bike, which was pretty fortunate, because I got stuck in some surprise soft sand a couple of times.

The race was fat-tire only, so no road bikes or racing bikes allowed. I was glad of that, because the ride was much more challenging that I had expected. It was two loops of 5 miles. Some of the riding was on the road, but most of it was on dirt. There were a couple of patches of really soft sand, which require some hard pedaling and really consistent handling. There were a couple of narrow paths through trees and over tree branches, which were actually really fun, but a little nerve-wracking. I'd love to get more experience on off-road biking.

I made a couple of mistakes on the first loop that I was able to correct the second time around. I learned better how to ride through sand (had to put my feet down twice on the first loop, only once on the second). I learned the better paths through the forest. I also corrected a mistake I made on the first loop right around the halfway point, when I saw the path went along the road, and used that as an opportunity to grab some water. I took a sip, and noticed that the path suddenly turned off the road onto a rough forest patch. Crap. I grabbed tightly to my water bottle and my bicycle, hoping not to loose either. It turned out okay.

I should have worn bicycle gloves, which I realized about halfway through. The mountain bike doesn't give me multiple handlebar grips like my road bike, so my hands ended up really sore and bruised where I was leaning on them.

The end of the bike ride was pretty flat, so I lowered my gear and spun faster to try to loosen up before the second leg of the run. By this time, I knew my time was embarrassing, so I hadn't looked at my watch in a while. 10 mile bike in 1:00:49. Ouch.

The run started out as all end-of-multisport-race runs do: terribly. It hurt, and I couldn't catch my breath. I settled into a comfortable pace after about the first mile, but having not seen another racer for an hour, I was getting a little discouraged. With about a half mile to go, I passed a couple of race volunteers who were jogging back to the tent. I convinced them to join me, and they kept me going until the end. They were a pleasant married couple and we chatted for the last few minutes of the race. I finished a little faster and a lot happier than I would have. Run Part II, 22:30. Only a little slower than the first leg. Total = 1:44:30.

And it turned out, I am not in that age group; the age groups are determined by age at the END of the year, so I'm really a F25-29. No award for me, although I was 4th in the age group. 88/89 overall.

A day later, and after an easy mile run, my hands still hurt. My ankles are a little bruised from biking in running shoes. My hips and left knee are sore. I'm dreadfully tired. I can't wait for the next one!