Napa Valley Triathlon: adapting on the fly, part I

Placed 8th out of 17th - not bad for a training race!

I signed up for the HITS Napa sprint triathlon a couple months ago with the intention of using it as a training race to get comfortable with things transition (I suck at them) and being in the water with other swimmers who like to grab, push and swim over you. I also excited as it would be the first triathlon that I actually was being trained for as opposed to the Lake Tahoe sprint and Donner Olympic which I did in the middle of marathon training and as my coach put it "relied on my running fitness to get me through". As race day approached, however, my excitement started to wan a bit - the lake temperature was not so promising. I already knew that the swim was known to be a cold one but it was looking like cold was an understatement. I've been in cold water before since Tahoe is the nearest body of water to practice any OWS in. It was going to be interesting to see how I tolerated water colder than Tahoe. And it gets better - the weather forecast was shaping up to be cold as well. It's ironic as I am usually worried about race day being too HOT, not too cold (I hate running when it's over 60 degrees). But I've never been on the bike when it's been less than 65-70 degrees and I certainly have never willingly gone swimming when it's been 40-50 degrees out. Oh dear. And I would be going to this race solo. My husband couldn't get the time off work so I would be on my own making the 4+ hour drive over to Napa. It's been a while since I've gone off on my own. I wouldn't be completely alone as I was meeting a fellow triathlete named Sara who I had met via our tri club, the Best Tri Club Ever. She lived near there and it was her first Olympic distance. We had already made plans to meet up this summer at Tahoe so I was looking forward to meeting her and possibly having an opportunity to cheer her on at the finish of the race.

It was SO cold that morning - setting up transition

Par for the course whenever I have to drive over the mountains, it was dumping snow the morning I had to leave. Yay! I carefully made my way over the pass and arrived safely at the hotel. Headed out to Lake Berryessa where the race was being held and where packet pick up was at. Oh, so much driving! It was about an hour drive from the hotel. As I got closer to the race site, I started seeing some 140.6 distance athletes still out on the bike. In the cold. And rain. Mad props to them. I would later find out that night they pulled about 30 athletes for hypothermia and it was a miserable race day due to the cold. I found the parking area and checked in, receiving my packet. It was real now. I was excited to be doing the first race in this training cycle for IMCDA 70.3. Headed down to the water where some athletes were getting in some swim practice and checking the water. Dipped my feet in and it didn't feel too bad. The sun had started to peek out and my spirits were high. This was going to be fun! I stayed a while to cheer on some of the 70.3 finishers who were coming in just under the cutoff. Then hopped in the Jeep and drove another hour back to the hotel. Tired of freaking driving, I was looking forward to a hot bath. Only...no bathtub at the hotel. Damn it. Picked up some Chipotle for dinner and then went through, setting everything out for the morning. I would have to leave the hotel around 4:30am to get to the race location in time to set up in transition. After I checked everything (twice....okay, maybe three times), it was time for bed.

Taped hand warmers to my cycling shoes...lol

I never have problems waking up on race morning and this was no different. Got dressed, grabbed one of my Superhero muffins from Eat Slow Run Fast cookbook and water then headed out the door. Arrived at the race to what seemed a bit chaotic and had to park what seemed to be about a mile away from transition. Oh, good. Dragging all my shit down there was going to be fun. Once I made my way into transition, I was pretty pleased with all the space each athlete had not to mention a little stool to sit on. So spoiled. I texted Sara to find out where she was at and not too much longer later, I saw her heading my way. Introduced each other, she helped me get on my wetsuit and then she was off to help Whitney (another fellow Best Tri Club Ever athlete) with an issue with her tires.

I was all zipped up and ready to go. Plodded down to the water and looked at the mist rising up from the lake. I should mention at this time...it was 38 degrees out and the current water temp was 57. Yep, I was going to freeze my ass off. I decided to skip the warm up swim as I was worried I would get too cold waiting for my wave. Once they called for the 30-39 and 40-49 women, I headed out to wait for the start. Took off for the swim and almost immediately realized that putting my face in the water was creating an odd sensation in my chest. It was like I couldn't breathe and my chest was super tight. I did some doggy paddling while my brain raced to figure out what to do. It was also at this time realized my goggles weren't sealing correctly on my face - the rubber was so cold and stiff that it wasn't forming a nice seal and hence, my goggles were leaking. To be continued......