Monday, August 27, 2012

Rattlesnake Triathlon Crazy Back 2 Back Day Two

Ok before beginning the story of day 2 lets go back to day 1 for a minute. Besides much stretching, ibprofen, cold water bath (I'm to chicken for actual ice) and laying around I did nothing for the rest of the day. I was debating on the race for Sunday but soon decided there was no way I couldn't show up. Besides the fact that I heard that while the sprint racers would get the t-shirt we got for doing the oly, the back 2 backers would get something differnt  and usually pretty good.....well I am all about the swag so I'm there.
Nice long sleeve t-shirt and finisher "medal" from the sprint day  1
Up close of the medal/key chain/bottle opener.
I actually really like it. 
Once again the alarm went off at 4 and I rolled out of bed. I was not as sore as I had feared I might be so of that I was glad. I made the drive, this time not missing my turn and was soon set up and ready to go.

Swim 15:15 (it was only a 500 meter swim)
This time at least I was prepared for the start, and they got us lined up correctly which had been a challenge the day before...have you ever seen a bunch of triathletes tri to put themselves in numerical order...no wonder we do mass starts. Luckily they had someone to help us today and that someone knew the correct order to put us in.  This time we just did the triangle that was the end part of the race yesterday. It felt ok, my arms could feel the swim from yesterday and I did swallow a couple of big gulps of water. I just took it  easy and based on my time it was... easy that is..although I would say I was slower "running" up to transition also which is included in the swim time.
T1 2:43

Bike 51:19
I just barley started out on bike when I realized that something had moved and my bike computer wasn't giving me speed info. It was however showing my cadence so I was glad of that as that is kind of what I was using as my guide, just try to keep it around 80. I did have my Garmin but did not have it set to show average speed. It wasn't long before I realized just how tired my legs were, but the turn around came very quickly compared to yesterday and that felt really good.Of course  we did however turn around in to winds just as strong as yesterday.  And boom just like that it was over. I was pleased when I looked at the results to see that my average pace on Sunday  was 14.11 while Saturdays was 13.7. Neither of these fast speeds but I was happy to be faster on the 2nd day. You can see the profile above which of course looks similar to the oly because it was the same course. :)
T2 1:38

Run 39:33
Oh yea....the legs are tired....toes a little numb from the ride when I started. I had decided on a different pair of shoes to run in and put in one of the pad things that I used when my morton's neuroma seemed so bad last year. I could feel the pain in the butt occasionally but never really got bad. I did a bit more running today, it was of course easier knowing it was only 3 miles. It was fun also as I saw all my friends on the course and was able to shout to them and both encourage and be encouraged. Also nice was the fact that becuase the course was so much shorter there were still many people on the course (they didn't all have time to pass me!) and that always makes a race more fun. It's never a joy to be one of they only ones out there. So again my average pace was faster (not fast...just faster)  on the 2nd day...which is a good thing since it couldn't have been much slower...Sunday 12:43 Saturday 14:13.

For the most part this was a very fun race and I think I would like to maybe do it again. I would however like to...once again...lose some weight and train a little more. The race photos...hideous...so I won't bother to "borrow" them. :) However upon finishing we did get our swag for completing the B2B and it was a really nice fleece vest.
Sarah, me and Kathleen after completing the B2B all sportin' our new vests
There were 115 crazy people this year who decided to do the Back 2 Back.
I am on the far right, three rows back with the white hat with sunglasses on it. 

This was a very fun and well put on race. For the most part everything seemed very well organized. The volunteers were awesome, all of them, and the swag...well I'm not complaining, both the t-shirt and vest seem to be very nice quality. I believe I will do this race again...snakes, wind and all. 

15 comments:

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Congrats!! I know how hard it is to race back to back, it is so tough on the body, you earned some well deserved R&R

Cold water baths are just as effective as ice baths, minus the additional pain, I do cold water baths

A Prelude To... said...

FUN! You did great...PLUS great swag!

WHAT??!! BDD? Cold water baths are just as effective? Hmm...I'm up for giving this a try. Ice baths seems too hard core for me sometimes.

Terzah said...

Congrats, Julie! You did wonderfully--you are one tough lady (and I agree, for a free fleece vest it's worth it). It's so much better that they do the short one the second day. :^)

Jill said...

Nothing like getting a fleece vest in the middle of August in Colorado, eh? That just made me laugh when I saw it on FB :). But a really nice vest nevertheless and I'm sure come cooler temps (when will that be??), it will be awesome to wear. The bottle opener on the medal made me laugh, too...what a crazy race.

I hear you on racing when we're race ready...this racing in poor shape sucks but I also think it sort of helps get us a little motivation (sometimes :)). I am super proud of you for getting out there - especially on the 2nd day when I knew your head wasn't really in there. You are pretty damn tough, lady!

Ice baths are really pretty awesome once you get past the initial shock of them. I always wear a sweatshirt and sit there with my phone so I have something to distract me. Pretty soon, they feel incredible. Of course, I haven't done anything worthy of needing an ice bath lately, but they really aren't so bad. :)

xoxo

Bron said...

Great job! I love the goodies you guys get for your races - we get nothing (sometimes a towel or water bottle) like that here in Aus!

brg said...

great job! My trick with ice baths is to put on neoprene booties (my feet can't stand the cold), my down jacket, a beanie and a cup of hot tea. Trust me - the ice baths do wonders and are much more effective (for me) than just a cold bath.

Katie @ Will Race for Carbs said...

Oh man, you are totally my hero :) Can't believe you did it again the next day!!! I was so sore on Sunday I couldn't even think about getting back out there....although that swag IS pretty tempting. Also, I have never done a cold bath or ice bath or even luke warm bath...so again you are so much more bad ass than me ;)

I think I will do this one again too so I will see you there...but of course I hope to see you before that!!

Tea said...

I did the back to back a few years ago and had so much fun! I love the Rattlesnake races!

Congrats on a great weekend!

(The SWAG is off the chain cool!)

sugarmagnolia70 said...

You are, quite simply, amazing!!!!

Katie said...

CONGRATULATIONS! That medal is pretty excellent.

Jennifer said...

What a great weekend you had!!!! Congratulations on two great races.

adena said...

Well done!!! You look fantastic and you ARE fantastic!! Remember that. :-)

ps - today starts back to healthy eating and training, only this time, I mean it. haha

Unknown said...

That is an awesome medal. I love ones that double as something else. (I have one that is a belt buckle.) Congratulations on the race!

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it is an amazing medal and specially quite useful because you can open beers with it.

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