Napa Valley Triathlon: Adapting on the fly, part II

In my last entry, I was having trouble before the swim portion even began. After trying to swim a few strokes freestyle and realizing I couldn't breathe and my goggles were filling up with water, I flipped over to backstroke. And did the entire swim backstroking. It actually went really well and I finished the swim portion feeling very strong!! Time was 18:10 for the 750m; definitely not my fastest but considering I backstroked, I was thrilled. Which was good because that middle discipline, the bike, is the most unfamiliar to me and I needed to feel strong getting on the bike. Running up to transition was pretty horrible; my feet were totally numb yet running over dirt and rocks was surprisingly painful. I made it to my transition spot and proceeded to take my time drying off then layering well for the bike. I knew it was going to be cold and I have never ridden my bike below 65 degrees before - current temps were around 38-40 degrees. I even had taped hand warmers to the tops of my cycling shoes...lol. I finished in transition and was ready to hit the bike section. T1 time was 5:32 (definitely need to work on this).

All I have to say is the bike portion was damn fun! I loved every single minute of it even though I could not feel my feet at all and my hands were so cold that shifting and braking was a little bit of a struggle. But I am pretty sure I had a grin on my face the entire bike. Rolling hills are my favorite and I'm a decent climber. So I would sneak up behind someone then pass them on the climb and haul ass down the other side. I'm also not afraid of going fast. I was not supposed to push this race as it was a training run so I did keep the bike effort to a moderate level. Overall, I was happy with my bike. I do wish I had operated my Garmin correctly because I noticed partway through the bike that something was amiss. I found out later on that somehow, my bike got recorded as my T2 time - that was the longest T2 time ever! Bike time was 57:38 for the 12.4 mile bike and T2 time was 4:26 (again, this needs serious work).

I came into T2 feeling good, feeling strong and happy. Now....this would be my first brick since 2013. So I knew it was going to be interesting. As I headed out on the run, I realized I still could not feel my feet. Joy. And I realized I was running way too fast for my first mile. What was that about? My legs actually felt really good after getting off the bike. Hmmm. Regardless, I slowed down a bit and worked on pacing myself. I knew there was a decent sized hill right in the middle of the 5k course. I had been running at an 11:45 pace or so for my training runs so I wasn't expecting big things out of this run. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I was running and my feet finally thawed out around mile 3 of the run. I headed down the last stretch of road before the finish line and when I realized I would make my goal of under 2 hours, I was thrilled. My finish time was 1:59:10 and I couldn't be happier. This race was a learning experience and a training race. I now know what I need to work on going forth into the next race, my Olympic distance next month. Coming back from major surgery has been hard but not impossible. I've had to learn patience and it's paying off. Hard to believe in a few months, I will be going much farther in the swim, bike and run - and that I will be racing 4 x as long most likely, possibly a bit longer. My goal for CDA70.3 is just to make that cutoff and enjoy myself while doing it. Those are pretty good goals, I think :-)