Race Report - Osprey Sprint Triathlon 2014

I went into this race very undertrained.  I knew that from swimming 2 times a week I would be fine in that area.  I also knew that it was only a 15 mile bike ride, mostly flat, and I would be fine in that area.  The big issue was that I have not run at all for a long time.  As it turns out, the run was the least of my troubles!

Pre-Race
I spent the night with Colleen at her house.  It was so great to catch up with her...we both stayed up later than we had intended.  But I woke up on race morning feeling rested.  The weather was questionable - with a chance of thunderstorms overnight and into the morning.  However it was not raining when I woke up.  The pavement was damp so it must have rained at some point overnight.  Colleen left before I did in order to meet up with another friend who was doing the race.

Matt was again racing the Osprey.  This year he was joined by his wife Sharon and his brother Don...it was the first triathlon for both of them.  In addition, my friend Kellen was racing it as her first triathlon.  Kellen had gone to check out the course the day before and had posted a picture of a jellyfish on her Facebook page.  Of course that sent me into the same panic that I had last year. 

When I arrived at the race site, it was really windy.  The water had whitecaps and the current was strong...in the wrong direction.  We would be swimming directly into a strong current with very large waves.  The good news was that there wasn't a jellyfish to be seen.  All of the athletes I spoke with seemed to be nervous about the swim.  Even Chris, who is a race director and has done numerous IronMan races, was commenting on how the swim was going to be rough on people.

The weather was not cooperating.  There were quick showers that pushed through right as I got to the race venue.  Then it seemed to clear out, but the sky still looked pretty threatening.

Swim
The rough water freaked me out, so I really wanted to get in the water early.  I got in and did some breathing bobs and swam a few strokes back and forth until my wave was ready to go.  Colleen and I lined up to the side but in the front of the group.  I was nervous but excited.  The weather seemed to have cleared just in time for the race.  It was still windy but the rain showers seemed to have pushed past us.

The countdown was on and finally we started the race.  I wanted to establish a good pace from the start so I really pushed it to the first buoy.  After rounding the first buoy, I got slammed in the face by a wave.  I drank a lot of the salty water.  I tried to calm myself down but it rattled me more than I wanted to admit.  The waves were large and the current was coming right at us.  I was trying to get into a good groove when it happened...as my hand entered the water, I touched the top of a jellyfish.  I immediately yanked back my hand and stopped swimming.  Somehow I avoided being stung.  I tried not to scream, but I definitely let out a loud yelp.  I turned and saw several women in my wave swimming towards me.  I knew that I had to keep going or get run over.  So I tentatively began swimming again.

The waves kept knocking me around and my stomach began to lurch.  I feared that Chris' prediction of people getting sick would happen to me.  I kept going and tried not to think about my stomach.  The second jellyfish that I hit didn't cause me to scream, but it didn't do anything to help me calm down.  I realized that I was swimming slightly wide of the swimmers in front of me.  I moved over and got directly behind another swimmer.  I followed those feet all the way in to the dock.  I couldn't wait to get out of the water.

As I ran down the dock towards the transition area, I knew I was in trouble.  My stomach was rolling and I felt like I was going to lose it at any moment.  I took a little bit longer than normal in transition, trying to calm my stomach.  Finally I knew I had to go...I got my bike and ran to Bike Out.

Bike
Once you get on the bike, there are 3 quick turns to get onto the main road out of town.  I made the 3 turns and immediately started looking for somewhere to pull off the road.  Several cars were parked on the shoulder and I had to hold it down until I got to an open spot.  I barely got my bike stopped before I threw up.

Knowing that I had to get myself together and continue on in this race, I took a swig from my water bottle, swished it around and spit it out.  Then I clipped back in and took off.  I didn't want to push it too much but I really wanted to make up time from that horrible swim.  I kept it in the small ring and focused on my cadence.  The wind was pretty tough so I tried to stay as low as I could in my aerobars.

About 5 miles in to the bike it started raining.  It was a light rain so it wasn't too bad but it made me worried about the sharp turn that was ahead of me.  The wind seemed to be in my face no matter what direction I turned.  But finally at one point, I found myself going 24 MPH without any additional effort.  The wind was finally working in my favor! I knew it was time to take advantage of this.  I cranked down to a harder gear and muscled my bike up to 26 MPH.  Unfortunately that only lasted for a mile or so until we turned back into the headwind.

My stomach was finally settled and I could concentrate on getting everything I could out of the bike.  I knew the run would be my undoing.  As I rode back into town, I was dreading getting off the bike.  My transition was pretty uneventful and I headed out on the run.

Run
I was running out of town as the first finishers were headed back in.  This was pretty cool because I could see all of my friends that were ahead of me.  The first mile was tough.  After I cheered for Matt, my head got to me.  I walked.  Then I jogged.  Then I walked.  I was having the mental battle of trying to convince myself to run. 

Finally I got within eye-sight of the turnaround point.  Something in my head just clicked.  I knew that I had 1 1/2 miles to go to finish this race.  I picked up my pace.  I was now running, not jogging.  The young man at the turn around point was dancing as I approached.  The old Karen came out...I danced with him as I made my way around the turn around.  A smile was now on my face.

I picked up my pace even more.  I wasn't looking at my watch anymore.  I was just running.  And I was having fun.  It took until the last mile and a half, but I was having fun.  I did not stop running again until I crossed the finish line.  I had broken through the mental barrier! So in the end, while this may not have been my ideal race by any stretch of the imagination, it was a great day.

Race by the Numbers
Total 1:48:04
Swim (.5 miles) 14:58 - actually 1 minute faster than last year which shocked me
T1 2:43
Bike (15 miles) 52:47 - 17.3 MPH
T2 1:38
Run (3.1 miles) 35:58 - 11:36/mile