Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Pre Race Recap


I decided this warranted 2 posts because the events leading up to the race had as much to discuss as the race itself!

The week leading up to the race consisted of light workouts and sorting out the remaining logistics. I practiced packing everything to make sure it would all fit into a small suitcase and backpack, and to ensure I didn’t forget important items like my wetsuit, helmet or bike shoes- things that would be possible, but annoying to replace.

Friday morning I woke up and headed out to the airport. I couldn’t believe that this weekend that had seemed so far away when we all signed up for the race almost a year ago was finally here. Many months of hard workouts had passed by quickly. I got to the airport very early in order to avoid traffic, and ended up getting onto an earlier flight so that I’d arrive in TX 2 hours earlier than planned. The flights were uneventful. I spent the entire time alternating between excited and nervous. It was finally here, I was going to be a half ironman. Did I train enough? Do I have enough food? Am I ready for this?

I arrived in Austin and met up with Mat whose flight had only gotten in a few minutes before. We got the rental car and headed to Mo’s hotel to get my bike and hang out. We caught up and talked about the recent goings on and about the upcoming race, before parting for dinner. Mat and I stopped at the Austin capitol to play some aerobie, and hit up a tex mex restaurant for dinner before heading to the hotel. 


 Saturday morning, Mo and Amy and I met up to do a pre race workout. We got our wetsuits on and I was all of a sudden terrified of the water. But, as we got our feet in and waded up to our waists, the water was warmer than expected, and our short swim was quite pleasant. I was renewed with a little more confidence about the swim portion of the race. We exited the water and hopped on our bikes for a quick easy ride, going down part of the course route and back before heading out for a very short run. Doing this little warm-up assuaged some of my nerves. We checked in at the expo and bought some “Austin 70.3” gear- I got a pint glass, a water bottle, and a shirt that had every participant’s name in the M-dot ironman shape. Then we headed back to shower and pack our transition bags before meeting for lunch at noon.

After a few navigational issues (thank you GPS and crazy Austin roads) we had a quick lunch at subway before heading back to the race site to drop off our bikes and T1 and T2 bags. The bike check-in was mandatory, and the bags optional, but it was really nice to have all of that dealt with the day before the race. While Amy and Mo took care of Amy’s bike emergency (she broke a screw in her stem) I set my stuff up and went to the course talk so I could report back on anything they missed. Of note was that for this particular race, snorkels were allowed. Really? I am sure I could swim a lot more efficiently if I didn’t have to think about breathing! Maybe next time…

After the course talk, we headed out to drive the bike route. They had talked about some rough patches on the road, so we scoped those out as well as the various hills. It seemed like there were a lot more uphills than downhills, especially when the first major downhill we saw ended with a sharp uphill right turn. Unfair! The course was nice though- through the farm land of the Austin area. We would be seeing many animals on our course- cows, chickens, dogs, goats. We arrived back at the expo center exhausted. The 56 mile drive had tired us out- what was going to happen when we biked it!

We then headed to the Olive Garden for a pasta dinner. While carbo-loading pre-race for best results is a well known myth, I still feel comfortable having pasta the night before a race. I know how my body will digest it, and I don’t have to worry about having an upset stomach at the start line. I was also reminded that the night before my very first triathlon we ate at an Olive Garden! (That also may have been the last time I ate at an Olive Garden!). We were all famished, so we devoured the salad and breadsticks and our meals. The group of us chatted about this race, past races, and other random things and in general had a lovely time.

We all stopped at Target on the way back to our hotels. We bought some bagels and almond butter (and knives) to share to make our pre-race fuel. Mo was working on stirring the almond butter and ended up dumping out most of the oil and butter, and we proceeded to prepare our sandwiches using Mo’s trunk as our counter space. By the time we had our food prepared, we were all covered in almond butter and I had to take two trips to the Target bathroom to wash my hands and grab paper towels to clean up the mess. This is what happens when you get exhausted triathletes together to prepare their pre-race fuel. And we hadn’t even started the race yet. Haha.

After the exciting parking lot adventure, we headed back to our respective hotels to prepare for the morning. I put out my race outfit and got my goggles, swim cap, timing chip and ankle band ready before hitting the hay as early as possible. My alarm was set for 4, which I knew would come quickly...

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