OK, the above pics are part of the "unrelated" but cool part of this story taken from us helping out at the Larry Kemp junior Camp this weekend, Left is Head Coach Kristi with firefighting mad man husband, EMT, awesome bunk mate Chad with junior phenom Holden in the foreground...the other shot is the whole group, just had to share, it was a blast, kids and bikes, like peas and carrots...more at the end...now back to my Tri story...
so I made it to the run, sorry for the pause here, but my run was the least exciting part of my first Olympic Tri. If you check results, another cool thing about triathlon, you get really detailed information on times it takes between swimming and cycling (your Transition times) and all legs of your event as opposed to some road races where there is no physical record of your brave feat. My run was less than specatular...until you factor in how little I trained and how sore I was for the 4 days afterwards...then it was pretty ferocious...to me.
So for the run I headed out at a crawl and remembered Tom's words from Triumph to just keep going, and I began to play the game. IF I kept going I could stop and take a pee after the first lap (3 of them). So I pressed on. Finally the water I had swallowed in the swim had worked it's way through my body and it was building pressure, but anther little tip here...hold it. Some how the urgency it creates is a good thing, it can make you go faster assuming it is not a full blown emergency. So I plodded on, willing my legs to keep going.
Soon I noticed that whenver I got passed, it was by hummingbirds, runners with a fast turn over. One thing about only being a cyclocross racer who runs occasionally is that I am used to bounding up stairs, not flying over flat ground at high speeds. My legs were sllllllloooooooowww. I would hear the bam, bam, bam, bam, bam of someone coming up on me as their shoes hit the ground and I was about half their pace BAM...........BAM............BAM...........BAM.....maybe that was why I was so sore the next week???
So I made it around once, then even though I could have claimed my reward, there really wasn't any place to pull over except the woods at the transition, but when I got there it wasn't that full of vegetation and there were lots of people around, so I told myself "next lap FOR SURE! I will pee and be free of this extra 10 oz!" and picked up the pace as I headed back out on the pavement.
Now the last post I did I said "why run when you can fly" and this is where the mental power of Cycle U came in. I preach to anyone who will listen that you set your vision on what you want to have happen and belive it as if it already has. I had invisioned a good run. I began to let my body do a good run despite what my pain sensors were telling me. I started to stride out a bit more on the flats, and dig deep on the rises or small hills. I fought to stay with those who passed me or at least maintain my speed. I held my head up and let my legs go.
At times I couldn't feel my legs much, they were working and flying beneath me but they didn't necessarily feel attached to my body. I had a few aches to work through, which slowed me down a bit, so I wasn't shutting out all pain but the last half of the run I was going for it and fighting to keep my pace as high as I could.
On the final lap, when I knew I was about 1/2 mile away I started to really go as fast as I could. I actually passed a few people and was striding long and fast and felt like I was really racing for the first time on the run. I sprinted across the line knowing I had given it my all. I didn't have to pee anymore. I think that h2o had be reabsorbed cause it was kinda hot by then. It was great to finish, and especially great to get the cheers from fellow teammates, wife and son and total strangers as I came into the finish line. Wow, that was great. And it totally stoked my ego to do OK at something I thought I might not finish during the swim.
Thanks for reading, look for me at Kirkland...I just might make it. I have to post a few pics from our Larry Kemp 10-14 year old camp in Cle Elum this past weekend, that was a blast! If you know of any kids this age who like cycling, it might be their favorite 3 days of summer next year.
This is us after a swim in the river and a road ride. Below is some cyclocross with Tim Rutledge. Great crew of kids!
