Jordan Valley Triathlon - 17 May 2008

Photo courtesy of 4sport

My first Olympic distance tri -- a 43rd birthday present to myself. Done :-)

We drove up to the Galilee on Friday and I spent the day trying not to think about how nervous I was. During dinner,some of the people at the table scared me when they started talking about how I should have done at least 80% of the Oly distance in training, which, of course, I hadn't (I'd done all the distances and then some for each sport alone, just not combined). This didn't help my nerves any and by race morning, I was kind of a wreck. In fact, I started to think about not doing the race. I don't think I was serious, but I was very nervous. My stomach had been bothering me for three days (in retrospect, I think this was nerves) and race morning was no different. How on earth was I going to get through the race with a stomach ache (and no bathroom to use)???

Anyway, I got set up in transition, did a short warm up and was ready to go. I was worried about the water temperature (21 degrees Celsius -- I wasn't swimming with a wetsuit), but then I reminded myself that in the last few years of doing tris, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that the things that go wrong on race day are almost never the things that you stress about before the race. This would prove true again at this race.

They gave us about ten minutes in the water before the start. That was just enough to get used to the water temperature (a bit chilly at first, but then fine) and to take a few quick strokes. That was enough for me. Before I knew it, the race had started.


The first thing I noticed was how shallow the water was. I've swum in the Sea of Galilee before and I don't ever remember being able to run in the water for a couple of hundred meters before it was deep enough to swim. We were still able to stand at the kids' buoy. This is rather sad and even frightening, as the Sea of Galilee (or the Kinneret, as we call it) is our main water source and there just isn't all that much there. It was a relatively dry winter and this is the result.

Back to the race...

Unlike most of the Oly distance swims here, which are two loops of 750 meters, this one was a single loop of 1500. That meant swimming out a fairly long distance to a faraway buoy which was barely visible. It also meant that the 200 or so participants in the Olympic 40+ heat got very spread out. For much of the swim, I was completely alone. This was ok on the way out and between the first two buoys, as at the beginning, I just followed the people in front of me and later on, I was close enough to see the buoys. After getting around the second buoy, though, I suddenly had no idea how to swim in a straight line to the exit, which I couldn't see. The buoys were anchored, not tied to a cable, so there was nothing for me to follow. I couldn't clearly see anyone. So I just swam in what I assumed was the general direction. Fortunately, having to swim a lot is one thing that doesn't stress me out, especially in pleasant, calm water. Also, I had made a promise to myself to take this race easy -- I was trying out a new distance and I wasn't interested in how fast I could go, but rather in finishing the race. Every few strokes, I picked up my head and searched for the exit, but I couldn't see it. Eventually, though, I caught up with a group of swimmers ahead of me and I just followed them out.

I wasn't at all surprised when I looked down at my watch and saw my less-than-stellar 1500 meter time. I'd done an easy swim, no effort at all, and I'm sure I did a lot of zigzagging. My watch read something like 38:00. Yikes! But I was very surprised when I reached the transition area and discovered that I'd exited the water before two of my teammates, one of whom is a faster swimmer than I am and the other someone who always manages to beat me out of the water at races. As it turned out, they finished the swim two minutes behind me!

I hopped on my bike and started riding. I noticed that I wasn't riding anywhere near as fast as I'd ridden last year, but I also knew I had to go twice the distance and I was a bit concerned about a hill on the far end of the course that I'd never done when I'd raced the sprint distance. So I didn't push myself at all on the bike, which is normally the strongest part of my race. I got past the sprint turn-around and about 2.5 km later, I saw the first of several small hills. As I started heading up, I shifted onto the small chain ring and my chain slipped off. This doesn't happen very often, but when it does, I've learned to calmly just shift it back up. This time, though, that didn't work -- when I tried to shift it up, I ended up with chain suck and I was unable to even pedal. I managed to clip out before tipping over and I got off my bike and fixed the chain. This is when my two teammates passed me. It didn't actually take me all that long to get the chain back on, probably because I was so calm about the whole thing, though slightly annoyed that I had to stop in the middle of my ride. Soon I was back on the bike, pedaling away, and downshifting very gently.

When I reached the "big hill" that I'd been so concerned about, I almost laughed out loud. Yes, there was a bit of a hill, but it was definitely not a big deal -- not even close to some of the stuff that I climb around here. On the way back, I found myself riding completely alone. At the top of that hill, I looked right and saw the whole Kinneret. What a sight! I was on such a high and this feeling didn't leave me for the rest of the race. I wasn't riding fast, but I was cruising along, down on my aerobar, singing and commenting aloud how beautiful everything was. I was having so much fun that I could have stayed on my bike forever!

The bike course was slightly short, I think -- about 39.2 km, according to my bike computer. When I reached the end, two friends were waiting for me, cheering me on. I smiled at them and yelled out that I was having so much fun. My legs felt great when I got off the bike because I hadn't even tried to ride hard. All that was left was a 10 km run, but first I had to get through transition.

The transition area was full of bikes. I was sure I knew where my spot was on the rack, but when I got there, it wasn't my spot. I got rather confused and I started running back and forth and back and forth with my bike, mumbling to myself: "Where's my stuff???" My team manager was refereeing in the transition area and finally, he called out to me, "If your stuff is with Ilan's, it's over there!" and he pointed to the spot. That was, indeed, the place, but someone else had put their bike where mine was supposed to be. I managed to squeeze my bike in and I had to kind of crawl underneath it to get to my shoes. I had decided to wear socks for the run and I'd practiced putting them on quickly. Well, that didn't happen this time -- I ended up putting them on crooked and because I didn't want to get chafed by the seam, I took the time to straighten them out. Eventually, I did make it out of the transition area. My coach was waiting at the exit and I think he was rather amused. I certainly was.

The run was slow. Very slow. I just wanted to make it through 10 km -- I didn't care about the pace. At 2 km, I had to walk because I couldn't manage to get my gel packet open while running. I walked a couple more times after turning off the sidewalk onto a dirt path, mainly because I was afraid of turning an ankle, but also because I was just being kind of lazy (and it was getting hot). I've had some problems with the joint at the top of my thigh (between my hip flexor and my groin -- I'm not sure what to call it) and it started to ache around the middle of the run, which caused some more walk breaks. However, I saw lots and lots of people walking and I never really walked for all that long. I smiled and said hello to people and thanked the volunteers -- I honestly didn't care how I got through the run, as long as I finished it. It turned out, by the way, that the run was longer than 10k. One person measured it at 10,400 meters. My time for the T2 + the run would indicate that that was correct -- I'm slow, but my T2 + run time was 1:15 -- I'm not that slow, even when I walk!

I remember almost nothing about the last 300 meters or so. I was just on a high -- I was finishing my first Oly tri! I sprinted to the finish and I remember hearing the announcer call out my name. What I didn't hear was that he wished me a happy birthday and congratulated me on my first Olympic distance. I hit the stop button on my watch and looked down and almost laughed. 3:25. That was quite a bit slower than I thought I'd be, but then again, there wasn't a single point during the entire race when I'd actually tried to go fast (well, apart from that 300 meter sprint at the end). As it turned out, only one out of the four team members who did the Olympic distance went under 3 hours. It was a rather slow course, I guess.

As soon as I stopped panting (because of the sprint at the end), the first thing I noticed was that I felt a whole lot better than I've ever felt after any sprint triathlon. Apart from the joint above my thigh, which has been bothering me for some time, nothing hurt and nothing had that tired, achy feeling. I had kept myself well-hydrated during the race and I'd also taken three gels and two salt capsules and I had no headache, no nausea -- nothing. In fact, the first thing I did was grab a sandwich and start to eat. I have never done that at the end of a race before -- normally, it takes at least half an hour or so before I can actually eat anything.

So that's it. I finally met the goal that had had to be put off for so long. And it was no big deal. Maybe I'll even try a bit harder on the next one! And now that I've done it, I definitely understand the appeal. There's no way I'm going back to sprints, apart from races that don't offer any other option. This was just so much more fun!

Oh, and I finished dead last in my age group. Unlike in the sprint, the people who race Olympic distance here are mainly serious, talented athletes. The women who finished one place ahead of me beat me by about 5 minutes, some of which I could have made up by not having to get off my bike and by having found my spot in the transition area. And if I'd actually raced, I think I probably would have finished ahead of her, so I don't feel like I'm out of my league.