another tri, another tan line..

NJ state tri- my first olympic and fourth 1/3 tri ever, and i now have a swim bikini tan line to add to my collection. the day before the race, A, maija, matt and i did coach maija's pre-race workout and i decided to wear running shorts to see how it would feel swimming in tri shorts. i was so pissed off at the drag that i decided to give up all hopes of vanity and do the whole tri in my super-cool camouflage speedo endurance bikini (the camo was the only endurance style available when i needed a new swim suit!) despite my self-consciousness of my legs and my rainbow-coloured tan-lines from running outside. pasta dinner at an excellent italian restaurant in manville w/ A, maija, matt and genine, talking about getting stung by jellyfish and getting knocked out during the swim.. nothing like getting excited 12 hours before a race! i had dreams last night about swimming with my bike helmet. the next morning, i was the most calm i had ever been before a race, i guess i had gotten my jitters out the whole week before (was it worth it??) and only about 30 seconds before getting into the water did i start to get nervous. oh! funny story: i was sitting on the bench waiting for the pink caps to be called when this lady said, "aren't you a pink cap?" i'm like, "duh, yeah." she goes, "your wave is starting next." oops! i swear, if asians could be blonde...

here are five of us (former and current aquaholics) pre-race: jen, me, amy, grace and maija.

so onto the swim: not bad at all! i was nervous the day before so maija had given me a mantra to repeat over and over. "just keep swimming.. (breathe) just keep swimming.." and it worked out fantastically. i felt great. these trumpeters were hilarious and made me laugh:

typical stories of my grabbing some pink cap's leg by accident and thinking, "someone forgot to shave her legs!".. avoiding being slammed by the slower ones in the waves ahead of me as i caught up but in all, a good swim. it felt long but i was enjoying it as much as possible b/c i know my enjoyment pretty much goes downhill from here. goal time was under 30 mins and i finished under that. i was so excited!

at t1 not much exciting, other than that it was quite exciting to not have to rip off a wet suit. i was shooting for an under 2:00 transition and i think i made it by 1 second.

during the bike my cateye freaked me out b/c i think it posted my mileage as slower than it was for real (b/c my bike showed 22.something miles at the very end of the race). i just got more and more discouraged b/c i kept thinking i was going 17 or 18 mph, and that i wouldn't make my goal of 70 mins on the bike. chaz glided past me on the bike on mile 10, saying "you must have had a great swim!" b/c he was a wave or two ahead of me. i got more and more discouraged as the old dudes kept passing me and then one or two in my age group. when an age group girl passed me, it gave me the motivation to kick it in a little bit more. the bike was kind of boring and frustrating, b/c i thought i was going slower than i was, my legs were already getting tired, and i kept counting to 100 to pass the miles. i switched b/n harder gears and easier, b/c when i went harder my legs would feel tired and i'd hear maija saying "that's b/c you're not supposed to be going 60 rpm's!" i was quite irritated by the bikers who would slow down during the turns in the freaking middle of the road and during the small loop in the college. at mile 19 i dropped my water bottle... i was feeling thirsty and a little bloated and nauseous; i think it was from swallowing the lake water and from the electrolyte pills that i had bought the day before to avoid feeling nauseous. before the race, i had met frank and jen who were previously from swim before A and i joined. jen kept cheering me on whenever she saw me, and frank and his collapseable trumpet were hilarious so it kept my spirits up. i was hoping to see maija on the bike and yell "maija rocks!" b/c of her swimsuit (which you'll probably see on her blog) but no such opportunity. made it to the end of the bike completely confused as to whether or not i should have been pushing hard w/ low cadences like i usually do, or whether i should be trying the new and smarter thing of keeping it going w/ high cadences.

t2: forgot my race belt! but i didn't realize that until 5 minutes into the..

run: this was gross. i had made my bike goal time (i think i was slower by 55 seconds) and my t2 goal time so had, in my mind, plenty of time for the run. i think i was going to cry by mile 2.5 b/c i was just not feeling good. on one hand, i was pissed at myself, saying, "come on. this is terrible. if you can't do an olympic how are you going to do a half, not to mention full ironman!" and then on the other hand, saying, "dude (yes, i call myself 'dude'). calm down, it's your first olympic. of course it's going to feel long." i was groaning a bit and someone on a bike offered to give me a ride and i was like, "yeah i wish."


here is my handsome bf giving a thumbs-sideways on the run. he was great, we passed each other once or twice and he was so encouraging. you go, A!


i kept waiting for my legs to pick up speed or for my desperation to meet my goal of 2:30 to motivate me to pick up speed..but honestly i think that was the best i could do. maybe next time i won't take the electrolytes so i won't feel like i need water at every stop (but what does that save? a few seconds?) by the last 200 yards or so, i finally heard maija yelling at me something like "go go go" which was what i needed. and then matt yelled at me a few steps down, "turn it on esther!!" i was deliriously annoyed, thinking "wtf man, you think it's not turned on?! ok FINE" so it did help a bit. and then the last 20 steps or so i saw A cheering me on and i just about whimpered and dashed to the finish. not a very graceful or photogenic finish, i can imagine. i was delirious at the end!

my total race time, 2:34:01. i was quite disappointed about not meeting my goal time, and then mad at myself for thinking that i could have run faster although i had done my best, and then annoyed that i hadn't actually practiced running race pace after a bike. maggs was right when she mentioned that how you practice is how you're going to go on race day (another profound yet obvious thought). then i got mad at myself for being mad b/c if i had set my goal for 2:35 i would have been happy so it was my fault for having these expectations. but thinking all of this through after a quick nap, i realized that there's nothing wrong w/ not meeting your goal time, it's better than not setting a goal at all..and if you can't meet the goal but can almost meet it then it's a good goal. i think if i had had a less ambitious goal i would have gone slower, anyway. also kind of saves you the trouble for the next race. i guess i was annoyed b/c i had thought this would be my first and last olympic before lake placid b/c i had planned on doing all halves afterwards..but now i'll just have to do another one! and now i know what i want to work on.

huge congrats to maija (maija rocks!!) who placed 2nd overall!

also big props to photo team matt and G who are the best cheerleaders and photographers any tri team could ask for. you got that right, we need to make ourselves official! any ideas for team names? and then we can set up a tent and grill hot dogs like the others. maybe we can bring a masseuse and chiropractors and make the other teams jealous.

the volunteers were fantastic- helpful and encouraging and i was so grateful for the fresh cold water (w/ ice!) and wet towels. the little kids were so cute, too, even though you had to stoop a little to get water from them. i tried to make it a point to thank the volunteers and cops during the race but was way too cranky on the run. thanks, volunteers!