Cohasset Triathlon 2009

So I’m finally able to check times from Cohasset and they’re not what I hoped for.  6:33 slower than last year, overall.

Other folks noticed this, so it can’t just be me. the swim was rough – a little choppier than last year.  The roads were rougher, wetter, and the fog/mist was very heavy.  I was mentally prepared for ocean chop, wet roads (what’s a dry road?), and road debris.  Pre-Race: Communications from the Race Director were good, didn’t make me nervy this time.  The ocean conditions were dicey from all the rain, so I was very happy to get the message on Saturday night that the swim was on.  I picked up my packet and checked into the hotel.  It’s not that far away from home, but just enough to make it a heck of an AM drive.  I was a little silly – I love this new tank from Lulumon, and wanted to race in it.  But I wanted to race in my team jersey too.  The team jersey won, but just barely.  That tank may well show up at a hot race (Timberman?).  It is super soft and breatheable.

Wakeup: Slow, nausea.  I thought I was nervous and worried.  I felt unprepared.  I got dressed.  I felt icky as I ate my caffinated shot blox.

At the race: Biked from the parking down to the ocean.  Saw folks doing warmup runs in their wetsuits, was slighly amazed.  Was super slow loading my gear in to transition and donning my wetsuit.  Didn’t bodyglide my legs completely, something which I regretted later.  The morning speeches were terrific.  The race physician did not disappoint with his humor.

The Swim:
It took a lot longer to start the waves because of safety.  I don’t begrudge any race director changes in the interest of safety.  It does make people more nervy though.  I had a faster swim time than last year.  I think the wetsuit helped since my muscles could focus on motion and not on being cold.  The general strength conditioning (thanks Coach Sharon!)  really helped since I needed a lot of odd muscles to keep on track against swells and current.

T1:
Horrible-ish.  I found my transition spot after just going past it.  I couldn’t get my legs out of my wetsuit.  I was prepared with a spare bottle of plain water for rinsing, but I remember being really confused in general.

Bike:
The bike was ok.  I ran the bike out the whole way – I usually don’t because of the shaky legs and confusion.  On the bike, I passed a few people from my swim wave, including a someone from another tri-team.  I didn’t expect to pass anyone from my wave.  I was a little slower than last year (13.26/ avg instead of 14.94) which had me a little surprised.  I felt good doing it, but I know I was trying to save something for the run.  It was definitely damp – I was wiping my glasses to be able to see the potholes and rocks.  I could have gone faster in some spots and just plain didn’t.  For a short distance, I’m not sure it’s worth “saving” anything.  Now I know.

T2:
This tranistion was faster than last year (when I got super lost) but I noticed my brain had gone stupid.  I remember forgetting to take off my bike helmet and then wondering where to put it.  Not a good sign.

The run:
Since I didn’t have a clock to pace with, I went with run downhill and on flats, walk uphill.  (Thanks GeekGirl!) This seemed like a good way to not burn out in the first mile and then end up walking the last two. My stride was funny, my left hip hurt, but I ran at least half.  I was definitely using telephone poles and road marks as “I will run to here and then I will walk again.”  and “ok, at that mark, time to run again.”  I felt more in control, but I definitely felt beat and was starting to feel pretty sick again.  Alas, 3 minutes slower than last time.  I was really hoping to be able to do the distance in 35 minutes.  Instead I was a full 15 minutes slower than goal.

Postrace:
Whole Foods had a nice spread of fruit and chips.  O-Water was there with a wide selection.  Too bad my tummy didn’t agree.  I had to sit down on my way back to transition to get my gear for fear of puking.  I had chalked the morning headache/nausea up to the fact that I was very nervous and worried.  I couldn’t eat my morning bit, which is unusual for me.  Immed. post race, I thought the nausea was from exertion and not drinking enough.  By the time I got home I was in full-on sick.

But I finished.  Last Athena by a little more than a second, but I was faster than a few people, including 1 that is the same age as me and one 15 and under girl.  (Some of the kids were scary fast.) I’m going to take this race as a bit of a learning experience and not be too disappointed that I wasn’t oodles faster – I was sick!

I still had a nice time, as did my family, so I’m going to try it again next year.  The town continues to amaze me – lots of spectators clapping and cheering along the way.  Someone downtown had a cowbell. I remember folks with pom-poms.   There was a little girl at a water stop who said to me in a disapproving tone, “Your shoes are silly.”  (They were my Vibrams, after all.)  Someone else had a radio again – bless them.  The potholes were very well marked.  The road was arrowed. The race felt very safe with lots of police and volunteers at turns.   I really needed the police at one spot with a truck and he was totally in command, stopped the truck, got me through.  (The truck was clearly unhappy to have ended up in the middle of a race.)