SpudMan 2014

As SpudMan quickly approached I would get butterflies in my stomach every time I thought about it. This would be my first Olympic distance Triathlon. Consisting of a 1500m swim, 25 mile bike ride and a 6.2 mile run. So pretty hefty. Not IronMan hefty, but more than I have ever done. But I knew that unless I attempt to do something beyond what I've already mastered (like the Sprint Tri's), I'd never grow! So this was my time to grow! 

My friend, Donna from work was the one who talked me into signing up for the race. And I am ever so glad she did. There was another girl from work (Jessica) that was going to do it too, but she found out she was pregnant and felt that she shouldn't do it.

Donna and I wanted our husbands to come along so we could have a support crew with us. But her husband (Rick) had to stay home to help with Donna's mom. And Jesse couldn't get his shift covered, no matter how hard he tried. I'll be honest on the day that we had to leave I cried to him that I was really sad he wouldn't be there. Something about having him there would give me security.

But Donna and I pulled up our big girl panties and we ventured up to Burley, ID to get our SpudMan on. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive from my house. Not bad at all.

We arrived at the golf course where the starting line was and were they were doing packet pickup and body marking. We had to get our packet before we could go put our bikes in Transition 1.

I knew this was going to be different because it was a longer distance. But I didn't realize how out of my element I felt. It took Donna and I awhile to figure out the system. But after asking a lot of other people for advice we figured it out.

We put all of our bike stuff in T1 and then we went to T2 to put up our running stuff. To mark your place in T2 they gave you a bag with a potato inside and your bib number on the outside. Then we tied it to the racks. (See what I mean by different?)

In T1 they also gave us a garbage bag that we were suppose to put all our swimming stuff into and hand it to one of the volunteers as we were leaving T1 to ride our bikes. (Again something new we had to figure out).

Once we got things all set up in our Transition areas we went and set up camp. We were able to camp right on the golf course which was within feet of the starting line. Quite the adventure right? Especially when you don't have any men there helping you set up camp. So I had to test my skills to see how well I knew how to put up our tent. Thankfully it came really easy and I felt so proud that I was able to get it up. I sent Jesse this picture (below) to prove I did it without his help. Donna assisted but I was instructing it all.

Then we went and ate dinner. They provided a "CARBO DINNER". Yikes. I actually brought along some chicken so I wouldn't feel totally carb loaded. As much as people say it's a good thing to carb load the night before a race, it is all a hoax.  It really isn't a good idea, it doesn't give your body enough time to digest all that heavy food. So I ate my chicken with only a little bit of the "Carbo Dinner".

We were then ready for bed. But had to wait for it to get dark and everyone else around us to quiet down. As we were setting up our bed I realized I forgot my blankets. Crap! It was suppose to get down into the 50's during the night. I was going to freeze my buns off. But thankfully Donna had an old quilt just in the back of her car that I was able to use. That was a blessing sent from above.

We didn't sleep super well through the night and a matter of fact we slept through the alarm and woke up 45 minutes later than we wanted. So we were feeling rushed to get ready for the race that started at 7:00am. We woke up at 5:45am and we had to visit for transition areas again, eat breakfast, change into our tri clothes, visit the porta-potties, get our wetsuits on in an hour and 15 minutes.

I took a picture of T1 in the morning because I couldn't believe all of the bikes. So crazy to see that many bikes in one area. The Sprint Triathlons I've done usually consist of about 400 participants. This one consisted of over 2000. Crazy huh?

They started the swim in waves. Each age group got to go out every 10 minutes. So that meant I was in the second wave. That gave me an extra 10 minutes to get ready, but I was frantically getting all my stuff on. All the while the others are in the water waiting for the horn to blow. I jumped into the water right as the count down finished and just went for it. It was crazy at first because everyone was crowded together, swimming over top of each other. But thankfully I didn't feel panicked one bit. I think the mastered swim class I have been going to has helped with that. The best thing to do during a swim is to stay calm.

I finished the swim and came out of it feeling great! Totally pumped! I even said to myself once I got riding my bike "That was Awesome!".

But before that I had to get all the swim gear into this garbage bag. Once I did I was running with my bike in one hand and the bag in the other out towards the road. Kinda crazy, but it works. We would later pick up these bags at the end of the race.

The ride too was awesome. About half way though I felt like my brakes were rubbing in the back. So I stopped and loosened them up and I was able to keep my mph up higher that last half compared to the first half. Too bad I didn't figure that out sooner.

Then came dreaded run. I have had issues with my IT BANDS for a few years now. I always roll them out and I just can't seem to figure out why they get so bad after I run long distances.

So around mile 2 I could tell they were starting to feel uncomfortable (especially the right side) then by mile 4 my right side was screaming at me. Oh Man it was PAINFUL! But my competitive self doesn't want me to stop. I keep thinking if I keep running it'll be over sooner. Haha. I did stop for like 10 seconds to stretch it. But that's all. I just wanted to get it over with.

When I crossed the finish line I was filled with so many emotions that it overwhelmed me and I just found a spot on the ground and I berried my face in my knees and just sobbed like a baby. For quite some time.

I calmed down enough to walk over to our campsite to get my cellphone and give Jesse a call. But then I sobbed to him on the phone. He was probably thinking, what the heck is wrong with you? Haha. No but I think the adrenaline, endorphins and all the pain in my knee just consumed me and the only way to get it out was CRY.

Donna's swim wave left 40 minutes after mine. So I patiently waited at the finish line for her. When she finished we had to get a picture together with our finishing medals.

So my goal was to finish in about 2 1/2 hours and my official finishing time was 2:31:57. Not too bad for my first Olympic Distance. I didn't want to put pressure on myself to place in my age division because of how big of a race this was. But I was 8th in my age division out of 81. Top 10 finish? I'll take it.

I literally can't wait until next year. I learned so much this time and will know what and how to improve for next time. In the mean time I have gotta get to the root of this IT BAND issue.