Pushing when you don't think you can

First off, official results of the Shortest Triathlon are up http://onyourmarkevents.com/results.asp?id=2174

00:34:49 Not to bad for a first go. No where near the women's record holder of 17 minutes (how is that humanely possible!) but I'm pleased with the effort and mainly the learning experience.

Yesterday a friend and I headed out for a secret training mission on the Wildflower course. I started the day with what I think was close to a 400 meter swim. The buoy in the swim area looked a lot closer while standing in the parking lot than it did once I got to the shore. My arms were tired and I didn't freestyle the whole way but I did manage to swim it without stopping for any breaks. Fortunately the water temps were fine for swimming. Unfortunately it was HOT!

We suited up for the ride. After doing our first climb out of the beach area we both commented on how hot it was. We're still in the middle of heat stroke here in the Bay Area. We slugged along the course which is a bunch of rolling hills. No brutal climbing but pretty grueling. Rod was out in front of me. I haven't been on the bike much since the month long trip to the Philippines and I was worried about making all 56 miles. I took it easy and just kept at my "I could go all day at this pace" pace. The heat and rollers started to take their toll on us. We'd stop for brief breaks to chat and stopped at a little store for a bathroom break and to refill water bottles. I told Rod he could ride at whatever pace he wanted for training, I just needed to ride at a pace that I was comfortable with so that'd I'd complete the mileage. He mentioned he wasn't feeling well. We trucked on and on and on.... We continued to stop, suck gels and drink but the course and heat were relentless. If there wasn't a wind tossing your bike to the side it was dead still and the sun baked your skin. It was HOT!

As we made the turn onto Interlake we opted for a shade break. We were just passed mile 40 with another 16 to go. We knew we had a good climb ahead too. We continued on. With the swimming I had done the last three days my upper body was sore and I couldn't get comfortable on the bike no matter what position I was in. I kept watching the mile markers on the road and quietly counting down how many more we had to go. As I approached the bridge Rod had stopped on the other side. He had scoped out the possibility to getting down to the creek but the ranchers fencing prevented it. There was a homestead a few hundred yards away and I voted for asking for a lift. Rod seemed a bit worried we wouldn't get one. Two passengers cars passed and then a big white truck that could easily haul us and bikes. I flagged the driver down. He was a young kid back heading back to his ranch. He could get us to the junction for Lake San Antonio. We took it.

After we got dropped off at the junction I offered to ride the 12 miles back to the car while Rod sat under a tree. He thought he could make it so we headed off again. More rolling hills, a good climb...relentless. We opted to not do the entire course and head back Beach Road and take the, what we thought, route with less climbing. I knew we were close to the car and the idea of a swim in the lake sounded so refreshing. After a while things still didn't start to look familiar. I could see the lake but we were in Harris Campground which we hadn't passed on the way out. Eventually the road just ended. Physically I was done but with no options left we had to mount the bikes and find our missed turn. I knew it was a ways back as I saw the sign for the beach access but just followed Rod. Our route back involved some more climbing and we eventually hit the right road and headed back to the car. That was the most brutal 56 mile ride I've ever done. I couldn't wait to get into the water, which turned out to be too cold for a non-wetsuit swim. We relaxed on the beach, ate some fruit, drank water and then headed home.

A bit demoralizing when a ride doesn't meet your expectations but it was a lesson in just how hard riding in heat can be. We saw the thermometer in the drivers truck, it read 94!! Even with the lift we rode 56 miles which took us just over 5 hours without any long stops. On a positive note, my summer cycling tan is off to a good start.