Clearwater 70.3 2007

I was waiting for the pictures before posting on the Clearwater race, and now the excitement has all but dwindled away.  So I'm cheating and cribbing from the recap I sent Boots and KK and AfricanKelli (whose tote bag, unlike some of us, performed like a champ at Clearwater). 

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As for me, I didn't "do" what I wanted - I had hoped to redeem myself from what I felt last year was less than my best effort.  And I just didn't end up training like I had hoped I would.  I think now that it's not realistic to expect myself to stay motivated from January all the way through November, especially when it gets a little chilly.  I'm a softie, that's all.  That said, I felt good the whole way through and had a lot of fun.  Oh, and I was sore the next two days, which makes me feel like I gave it a good effort.  I wasn't sore after that duathlon, which made me feel like I hadn't tried hard enough. 

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(Very Personal) Race Recap:

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We dropped off our transition bags the night before, to be hung on racks, and weren't supposed to add anything to our transition bags after that.  But Aunt Flo arrived that morning, and I went up to the guys standing guard and was like, "I know we're not supposed to add anything to our bags, but..."  And smiled sheepishly and held up a tampon.  And the guy looked at me and was like, "What is that?"

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I was like, "Uh...it's a tampon?"  And he looks at it blankly and says, "No, you can't add anything."  So I make this incredulous face and don't go away, so he yells to another guy, "HEY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO ADD A TAMPON?" while everybody else is standing around looking at me.  The other guy is actually normal and chuckles and says to me, "yeah, we've done a few of those this morning."  So the clueless guy goes off to put it in my bag - starts going down the wrong row, and I'm like, "237!  Left!  At the end!"

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It goes without saying that there was no tampon in my transition bag.  But the volunteers in the change tent were awesome.  Actually, the volunteers everywhere were really, really good except for that one guy. 

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The swim was a real washing machine.  The women 18-34 wave was first (a couple of us predicted - correctly - that we'd just get passed all day long), and I didn't want to be pushy at the beginning, so I spent the first half of the swim getting kicked as I tried to work my way up, which was slow going since we're all around the same speed, and then the second half getting clobbered as the subsequent male waves swam right over us.  I haven't swum since July so I was just grateful that I didn't poop out.

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I had had a goal for my bike time - the course is really 'easy' - really flat - everybody seems to get PRs there - even though I'm a terrible cyclist, it kind of chapped me last year that I couldn't do the bike in less than three hours.  Ace has given me some really helpful tips on how to become better, but even I didn't expect his advice to do me a lot of good when I haven't been training.  Anyway, I got a flat tire that kind of broke up any momentum or rhythm I had had, but frankly I was so thrilled that I was able to change it at all that I didn't care anymore how the race went as a whole.  Some ladies on the side of the road sat there, watching me change it for 15 minutes, and gave me a big round of applause when I finally got going again.  As it turned out, when I subtracted out my tire-changing time, I met my bicycle goal, so I was pretty content with the day.

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As a few people have observed, your performance (whether relative or absolute) at this race is meaningless, because it isn't really a fair reflection of how you'd do at any other race, or where you stand among your peers.  As with last year, drafting was rampant and egregious - huge packs of 20 guys (yes, it was generally guys).  Some people refused to give an inch, and so found themselves swept up in the packs (the rule of dropping back 7 meters when someone passes you is OK in a normal race; when you're getting passed by 15 people in an unending stream, it becomes ridiculous and unfair) - naturally, these people had phenomenal bike times and probably PRs.  But so what?  Other people attested that it was important to them to race fairly - they genuinely tried to avoid drafting - but however talented a cyclist you are, comparing such a person's time with that of a drafter is apples and oranges.  I guess the organizers tried to squelch the big packs of last year by spacing out the men's wave starts, but word on the street was that drafting this year was merely "better."  (Ace didn't go this year, largely because he felt the drafting made the race too unsafe.)

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I felt good on the run; it wasn't nearly as hot as last year.  They didn't have salt at the aid stations, just pretzels which I didn't want to stop to munch.  I trusted that the Gatorade was "Endurance Formula," though, and seemed to be okay.  (My fault - forgot to go to the athlete's meeting.)  They moved the finish 1/4 mile or so closer than last year so I didn't have an exciting sprint at the end, but that was also my fault. 

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I met a gentleman who named Dave who lives in Clearwater - turned out he had done the original Ironman in 1978.  What a genuine person.  At dinner one evening he floated the proposition that Kona should be 100% lottery for age groupers, in keeping with the spirit of the original event.  He hopes to do Kona next year for the 30th Anniversary, and I hope he does.

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Our friend Chris crashed on the bike, broke his collarbone in two places and put a gash in his leg so deep you could see the tibia.  But he finished the bike AND the 13.1 mile run after that with a blood-soaked shoe, finishing in 4:17.  Who are these people?

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By the time I crawled in they were out of food!  But I got my free massage and it was better than some paid ones I've had.  If you are in the Tampa area, his name is James and he is super committed to this profession and very knowledgeable - and gives a great rub!  (I'll add contact info to this space later; I took his card.)

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I just looked up my results.  Compared with last year, my swim was 2 min slower, my bike (not counting flat) was 3 min faster, and my run was 4 min faster.  So hey!  Satisfied!

Maybe this sport isn't so bad.

Comments

[Kelli]

Holy crap. You are so good! I can't believe those splits!