Rattlesnake Triathlon Crazy Back 2 Back - Day One

This was another one of those races that I signed up for back in January or so when I was still flying high from the finish of my 70.3. Feeling strong and ready to conquer it all. This was the Crazy Back 2 Back which consisted of an Olympic distance on Saturday and a Sprint on Sunday. My training has been less then stellar but I figured I could make it though the oly. Even though I hadn't swam much my biggest worry was the run. I hadn't done much of that either and the longest run I had done in some time was 4 miles. Well I know there would be much walking.  The day started early as the alarm went off at 4. I headed out by 4:45 to make the 45 minute drive. I think I may have dozed off as I drove as somehow I managed to pass the exit but luckily it wasn't much of a problem and only added a little time to my drive. When I got there I was lucky enough to meet up with Katie of Will Race for Carbs Katie has been somewhat absent from blogging but hopefully will start to blog a little more. She is a riot and I loved getting to meet her! (She  did a fantastic job at her first olympic distance! This girl is fast!) Also doing the race were my friends and training partners from last year Kathleen, Sarah and Paul, as well as a few other people I knew.

Me (looking pretty dorky in my glasses) Katie.

Swim 36:15

The air temp was pretty chilly, around 65 I think so I was ready to get started. When they played the National Anthem I started to tear up..oh who am I kidding I was crying.  They had someone playing the trumpet and the thoughts of my son were right there on the surface. I got a grip pretty quick though as I knew swimming and crying would not mix well.   The water didn't feel to bad since it was around 70. This race has a couple things that are different from any race I've done. First off it starts with a time trial start...I've never done this and to tell the truth the first day I was not actually ready to go when it was my turn...I didn't quite get that I was going right then, didn't take me long to figure it out though. Because of the fact that we were doing the B2B we got to go first on the swim both days.  The course was a little different also as you can see above by the blue line you go straight out make a u-turn come back run around a buoy and swim back out then you turn wide and head to the finish. This is both nice and strange.  There is a yellow guide rope that keeps you from running into people going the other way and it also let's you swim without really having to do any sighting if you stay near the rope..that was AWESOME! It was however strange to look up and see someone that appeared to be swimming right at you. It also seemed to make the water a little choppier and I swallowed a bit of water but through the whole swim I felt pretty good. I just took it easy and finished feeling good about it. There is a pretty long run to transition and that along with the wet suit strippers is all added into the swim time.

T1 2:35- uneventful, I am never going to be fast at this. I just don't have the balance to stand and put my socks and shoes on. 

Bike - 1:49

Felt pretty good on the bike. It is a rolling course...there are not many flats to speak of you are pretty much always going up or down. The above elevation profile is from the race site (I was trying to download my Garmin but gave up when because of the multi sport thing I kept getting the run instead. I know I figured this out one time, but I'm tired to night and have no patience for it.) So anyway given that it is an out and back course I'm not sure where that flatish downhill comes from and I would say the first 12 miles is pretty accurate.   I actually was feeling pretty good at the turn around....not fast but feeling pretty good. At one part I rode past a snake and thank goodness it was dead, but I was still grossed out and later they posted a picture of this "beauty" on Facebook...he/she/it  was seen at the bike turn around. ...uhhhhh gross... 

I guess we know why the call it the Rattlesnake Tri huh?

So then comes the turn around and you know it...right into a head wind so yea you  had to work  hard even going downhill. And while at the turn around I was showing an average pace of 15.? mph it ended up being 13.7 thanks to the wind. But it seemed like it went fast. I was passed a lot but I knew I would be since I started the swim as one of the first few people. All in all though I felt pretty good about my bike. 

T2 1:54
The "run" 1:26....

Yep you read that right took me 1:26 minutes do a 10k.... what can I say. The first 3 miles were going pretty good. I started chatting with a girl on the course and we were working on 2 minute run and then walk. I could tell a few of my issues were coming on. The butt/sciatic was bothering me some, my ankle/achilles felt a little tender and I was most concerned about messing that up and then it wasn't long before the numb toes/front of foot started in and was causing much pain. At the turn around I convinced my new friend to go ahead as I was only slowing her down and from there on out it was much more walking than running. For the most pat though I just didn't care. I had said all along that it wasn't a race I was just "doing the distance" and that's what I did.

Total time 3:57

What remained to be seen...could I actually do the sprint on Sunday....to be continued.