Ann Sloan's First Olympic Race Report

Ann's FIRST Olympic Race

Hello all....get ready for a LONG LONG REPORT......it might be two sittings worth with a cup of coffee or wine.
Yahoo...the road to my first 1/2 Iron.....

The Pre Race Story:
Well, most of you all know I LOVE participating in races. Training for my 1/2 Iron has cut back on my race activities this season. Most races are on Saturdays, which is my training group day. Plus I need to do longer distances then sprints. This is where my fear, excitement, not sure what comes into play.....I wanted/needed to do an OLY distance prior to my 1/2 Iron and have very little choices.....in June it is Moses Lake or Cascade Edge. Cascade Edge is closer and cheaper, but they start the sprint and oly at the same time....my fear is being last so I opted for doing Moses Lake since they start their Oly at 8AM and Sprint at 10AM so you figure on the run I'll see the sprinters...PLUS it would be the same course I did my FIRST Tri on........

I talked a fellow Tri girlfriend into to going so we were on!!!! Moses Lake here we come for our first OLY - 1 m swim, 22 mile bike, 6.2 mile run.

FRIDAY NIGHT
Lisa and I drove to Moses Lake.

RACE DAY
Lisa and I got up at 6AM. I was dawdled too much....packed my stuff and dawdled more. Finally we left the hotel around 6:40, decked out with my RTB race uniform and headed to...you guessed it.....Starbucks! Got my pre-race green tea latte. YUMMY. Got to race check in about 7:05. Grabbed our stuff and set out to transition. We decided to set up next to another Biancci bike like Lisa's. The owner came over and it was a gal from Seattle, Gail - we made fast friends! this was her second OLY. She knows several of the gals I am training with for my 1/2 Iron. It made the time pass super fast...all of the sudden it was 7:40 and we needed to get in our wetsuits.

The SWIM>>>DA DA DA DUM
Got into the water and filled my wetsuit. Swam a few strokes then stood in the water for the 'Race Meeting'.
I was feeling pretty good. Excited.
Rory the race director started the meeting. He said....ok - now the swim has an hour cutoff.
"WHAT!?!" I yelled An hour!!? He gives me a funny look and several swimmers laugh and yes you need to swim a mile in an hour.
I yelled, THAT WASN'T on the website!!!! I am not kidding,this is not good." ok, now I was stressed!!!
I have never 'officially' done a mile in the open water let alone timed myself. Well, I pretty much did not listen to the rest of the race meeting....1 hour holy crap.

Once the meeting was over they did the national anthem. I think that calmed me a bit, but I kept thinking I need to do this in an hour.....30 seconds to send off....wished Gail and Lisa luck.....10 seconds....GO!!!!

ok, we are off. YEA, didn't even think about the people in front of me. The thought of being left NEVER entered my mind only, get to the 1st buoy.....just swim......

the swim course was 1/4 out, 1/4 back, then another time.
Got to the first buoy, hit my lap button on my watch - DID NOT LOOK AT THE TIME....figured that might stress me out. After I turned I felt some hands hit my feet. HUMM>>> someone is actually drafting off ME!?!?!?!? LOL. That kept me thinking for a bit. Midway back to the first buoy the leaders were headed towards me. I was a bit worried I might bump heads with someone. Nope, no head butting, but did have someone push off my legs. Got to the next buoy and hit my watch, again not looking at the time but did look back and there was a girl whose head popped up and she said ONE more to go. I said yep...and again thought wow what a change from last year....someone following me!
Got to the buoy hit my lap button and decided to look at the time - 27 minutes. YES!!! plenty of time.
The kayaker was funny - he said I was just behind the leaders and he was sure I could catch them. I laughed, thanked him for being there and headed on my way......last 1/4 mile. No worry, no concern. Did try and push a bit faster. Then heard one of my trainers voices in my head - Make sure to pee before you get out! Hummm, pee while swimming...yipes. That took my thoughts through the last 1/4....was able to pee a bit finally after concentrating. LOL>

Got out of the water at 37 minutes and was greeted by Rory who quickly looked at his watch and said - What 37 minutes - weren't you the one who was worried about the hour cutoff ....plenty of time!!!

Overall - my swim was GREAT! I wouldn't have changed a thing. I was steady, didn't freak out - other than before at the hour cutoff, kept mostly focused.

Ann's top 5 list of - you know you've improved your swimming when.....
1) You do the entire swim freestyle instead of back stroke
2) Even though you are 5th from last, someone is actually drafting off of you!!! (felt the gal hit my feet a few times on a turn)
3) The first 3/4 of a mile doesn't feel like the longest 27 minutes of your LIFE.
4) On the last 1/4 mile all you can focus on is how to pee and swim before getting out.
5) You look at your time for 1 mile (37 minutes) compared to last years 20 minutes for 1/4 mile !!! :)

Transition: Lisa was already in transition when I came in....we chatted a bit. can't remember much...then she headed off saying I'd catch her on the bike. I was moving kind of slow.

Bike:
Now on to the bike.....not much to report here. We are on a frontage road next I90. The first couple of miles my HR was way up and my thighs seemed to be hurting a bit. Tried to work that out. Few things to look at....freeway, racers coming back, few racers ahead. Lisa left a few minutes before me...so I worked on catching up to her and did. Spent most of the race on my aerobars. Saw a snake in the road too. The course was probably close to the loop around Lake Sam. I think Lake Sam has a few more hills, but felt about the same. Ate my 6 potatoes for fuel. Didn't drink enough probably. Would have been a whole different thing if it would have been hotter. It was fun seeing my speed at 17 and 18 mph...that is rare!!!

My Avg speed...16.4

Transition: Got into transition and changed my socks for the run. My feet were wet. Lisa came in just after me. Grabbed my hat and fuel belt which was packed for a family of four, said goodbye to Lisa, cause I knew she'd catch me on the run. Yes, had my fuel belt packed with all four bottles.

RUN:
The first mile didn't feel great but didn't feel awful either. Lisa passed me before mile 1 and was looking good - even though she said she thought her legs would sieze up at anytime.
This is where I know training pays off. Kept telling myself that the first two miles would be hard, but then I'd get into a rhythm. Before I got to the first water station a guy started to pass me...I of course cheered him on. I got to the first water station, passed on the stuff indicating I had enough for my family of four and kept on going....the guy stopped. Then he caught me again and asked if I had done this before - I said just sprints, how about him...first time and this is hard....then off he ran.....

By myself again.....saw racers coming back....yelled at them...didn't get too much response back. Passed a house where some folks were bbqing...I said hi, they returned the favor and asked how I was doing - I said GREAT and them? They had hangovers. LOL. Run run run.....sing to my self...lets see what else to think about.....oh, there's a yard sale....run run run.
Opps almost missed a turn....the volunteer wasn't paying attention. Whew, the turn around. Lisa passed me on the way back. I said I had plenty of water/gu if she needed anything....she laughed said she thought about asking me but thought it might freak me out.

Turn around point here I am!!! passed again on the water station, thanked them and told them sorry I didn't need them to do their job. :) Passed the yard sale house...there were some more folks shopping this time. There were a couple of folks looking bored, so I clapped and said, come on and cheer for me! They did.....that made me laugh for a bit. SAW NO ONE....for a long while...then I heard a car come by and girls cheering...it was the yard sale folks. I waved and cheered back...kept on running. Finally made it to the turnaround for the sprint distance folks and started seeing people. To my surprise the yard sale car came around again....LOL....
I kicked it in the last 1. I was in my element - other racers! I cheered everyone I saw......of course I am sure some of the faster sprinters were trying to figure out where I came from...and how I got ahead of them. The race numbers were the same color so they may not have known I was on the OLY course as the 2nd to LAST person!!!! Yes, not last but there was only one runner behind me......Then on the last 1/2 mile I caught up to an OLY runner....checked in with him and said come on and get on my heels...we're ALMOST HOME!!! Let's go!

I see the finish line and head on in with a SMILE on my face and my thumbs up!!

Except for my first mile - I was under 12 minutes. the last mile was great - 10:30, that was when I could cheer on the sprinters and had something else to focus my attention on other than ME! this was about the time I was thinking about my 1/2 Iron as well as if I ever did an Ironman - holy cow how would I keep my self entertained for 17 hours...ALL by myself???

The finish!
Lisa is greeting me at the finish line! I hug her and am so happy she finished and was happy! This was her first OLY and she hadn't been totally training for it. BUT she was sporting a 3rd place medal !!! Good for her. Then to my surprise the race director Deanna says oh Ann - here I have your medal....LOL....I said how can I get a medal being 3rd to last?!?! But there it was, 3rd for my age group!!! Of course there were only about 40 folks in the OLY race...and 3 or 4 folks in my age group. I'll take it anyway I can get it... :)

Total Time: 3:23 - not bad for my first OLY and to still be smiling and want to do it again..
1/2 Iron here I come - 1 month 3 weeks 4 days!

I really like this race I think it might be an annual one for me.

FUN TIMES!!!!

Ann