Jordanelle Sprint Triathlon

Training for Death Ride mentally drained me more than I liked. With all the focus on riding road I missed dirt. Although I had two triathlons on the calendar I opted to reconnect with the Mojo and spend the majority of my time being the dirty girl that I am. Every day I ride dirt I'm reminded just how much I love mtbing more than any other sport. I was also significantly behind on client work and needed to focus on getting back on track. All this means is that swimming and running were neglected activities.

The next time I wheeled Cervy out of the garage was for the Marin Century. It was a great day but I still longed for dirt. While riding dirt that following Monday I reinjured my sacrum. This left me uncomfortable for a week and debating the Emmett triathlon that Saturday. I ended up sitting it out until I could see my PT for confirmation what was wrong. After dealing with the jammed femur and a slow recovery to get me back to 70% I didn't want to push it. I also had the Jordanelle Triathlon coming up and I wanted to make at least one of them.

The Jordanelle Triathlon is held near Park City, Utah. I flew out to meet my friend Kirsten who was also doing the tri. I would be her first. I hadn't really done any swimming after Death Ride except for one OWS when I was camping at Utica Reservoir. My PT had told me that I was not to push it on the run and risk injuring myself further. I wasn't nervous at all until the morning of the race when I saw them placing the buoys for the swim - 750 meters, the longest OWS I would have ever done. That's when the nerves hit and the self doubt started. My stomach began to flip and turn and feeling as if breakfast should be coming up any minute. Every attempt to calm myself down and mentally build myself up proved a failure. At one point the thought of backing out crossed my mind. Not only did the buoys look far but why did the second one have to be in the middle of the ocean?! OK, I realize Lake Jordanelle isn't the ocean but when you have a fear of water as strong as I do it might as well be the ocean. A few times I dry heaved and the taste of stomach acid sat in my mouth. Given the typical dry mouth from nerves this is not the way one wishes to start a race.

I suited up and slowly inched my way to the water. They were having all women up to age 39 start in the first wave. The water was filled with yellow swim caps. The start line was several yards out into the water and I inched my way up until I could just barely reach. When you have a fear of water even treading water causes the heart rate to surge. The gun went off and arms, legs and miscellaneous body parts were hitting me every where. I figured it was too crowded to attempt free styling it so I did my own version of the breast stroke and waiting for things to thin out. Woman around me began to panic and hyperventilate which was not helping me any. I tried to swim fast enough to get them behind me but as soon as I did I would hit another group of women who were struggling just as much as I was. I sited the first buoy and stayed fixed on making it there. At no time did my face hit the water during that stretch and at no time was my heart rate any where below 180. I wasn't wearing a HR monitor but I know for certain my HR has never gotten that high on a bike ride. "You will not drown, you will not drown, just stay calm" I kept repeating to myself but hearing women flailing around me and gasping "oh god, oh god" was working against me. I rounded the first buoy and hoped to be able to attempt to freestyle but never gathered the courage to get my face in the water. There were still too many people around and my HR was still soaring. I flipped onto my back and tried to take some deep pilates breaths. I closed my eyes and thought of my happy place and then I dunked some pour woman as my had came down on her head! I'm not sure I've ever apologized so many times in one day. Floating is easy but you tend to hit a lot of folks too. I turned back over to site the second buoy and decided I was mentally done with this leg of the tri. "Just get through it" became my motto. It was hard to site the dock without a brightly colored buoy and I was, again, on my back or side breathing like a steam engine. "Just get through it. Just get through it". I saw people begin walking up the dock but when I tried to put my foot down it didn't touch anything. When you have a fear of the water this also is not the experience you want! I inched my way over to the dock and wanted to fall into child's pose and kiss the ground. Embarrassment and fear that the second wave might run over me prevented that from happening. I gathered myself and ran up the dock to the transition area.

My happy place! I tore the wetsuit off my shaking body, geared up for the ride and turned to get out of transition. There was a women standing in the middle of the aisle resting on her bike, WTF? "EXCUSE ME" I yelled as she mumbled a "Oh, I'm sorry". I mounted Cervy and a smile broke out on my face - here is where I make up my time! Instantly I began passing folks. I shifted into big gear and let the body do what it's been trained to do. The first part of the course was a false flat. 1-2% grade leading up to a steep short climb and then downhill. After DR nothing feels like a hill anymore. I opted to stay on the left side the whole time and my motto became "on your left, on your left, on your left". People were remarking on how fast I was riding and I was thinking "you all might be able to swim faster than me but this is Cervy's time to FLY". I'd pick my carrot and attack them, making sure to take time to read what age group they were in. I passed men and women but did not see anyone in my age group. Damnit, they had to be further in front so I pushed harder and waited patiently for the hill, my strength. As the hill began to show itself I noticed the 20+ riders slowly making there way up. I rounded the corner, dropped a few gears and let the legs do what they love to do - climb! One by one and sometimes two by two I became dropping riders. They'd either let out a disappointing sigh or a 'awesome power' comment. I focused on the girl in pink at the top of the hill, my next carrot. I knew that once we finished the hill it was all down hill and Cervy still had the mtb cassette on her which would leave a few gears too short. I silently hoped some of the riders in front of me were a bit hesitant on the downhill. I was not so lucky in that regard. We all sailed down the hill without anyone being passed. I stayed fixed on the carrot wearing pink and hammered on the flat section until I passed her. New carrot? Then I hear someone coming up behind me, WTH? I turn to look and it's the first Olympic male racer wearing an aero helmet, my next carrot. I kept him in site and watched his uber high Lance Armstrong cadence. The next Oly male passed me. They made for great carrots but it was bit disappointing to be passed by Oly competitors while doing a sprint tri. We rounded the corner into the final chute to transition and it was like everyones speed dropped by half. I figured this was the final push and hammered to the end. At the dismount a guy in front of me managed to fall and take out two other riders. Ugh, is it proper tri etiquette to excuse yourself as you step over a down rider?

I pushed Cervy to her resting place and changed into my running gear. After dealing with the hip injury for most of this year my goal was to not re injure myself at all. Each burp I continued to taste stomach acid even though the nerves had stopped once I dragged my drowned body from the water. I focused on form and not speed. When I felt a tinge of pain in the hip I stopped, walked and started again focusing on form. My stomach cramped and screamed in pain and another burp of stomach acid sat in my mouth, just lovely. I passed and got passed but at this point all that mattered was focusing on form and getting through the run without it requiring an emergency call to the PT. Once we left the pavement and hit dirt I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I had some additional cushioning. At mile 2 I hit my running zen state but when it's only a 3 mile run it's a bit late. I began passing more and more people and sat in that zen state thinking had this been a 5 or 6 mile run I might actually do okay. We ran over a bridge that twisted and turned several times each time begging us to peer around the corner asking if this was the final turn to the finish. Finally it came into sight and I crossed the finish completing my second triathlon.

I grabbed some water and fruit then found Kirsten's friends. It was nice to be done and I wanted to see Kirsten come across the finish line completing her first tri!!

Final time: 1:38:24.41
Swim 00:23:25.259
T1 00:02:55.923
Bike 00:42:10.268
T2 00:01:46.944
Run 00:28:07.019

In true Caryn fashion, I have already found another sprint tri, swim school and OWS practice and events. I will conquer this fear!! So much for that off-season I've been looking forward to.