My sub-4:55 aspirations. Didn't quite hit it. Much slower. Maybe next year. I didn't even continue the trend of my last 3 races there: 4:59, 4:58, 4:57.
Confidence in my open-water swimming ability. Yeah, the surf was crazy, the current took me off course, all of that usual stuff. But my swim was a lot worse than usual. Maybe I swam an extra half mile? It's not entirely impossible; each time I got to a buoy I ended up making a 90 degree turn...
The skin on my bottom lip. Each time I've done this race, I've woken up the next morning to an incredibly swollen bottom lip. It gets sunburned during the race, even after I slather layers of lip balm on. Then there's the beach the next day, which seems to worsen things. Maybe that's what happens to groupers.
My salt intake strategy. I manged to misplace my Salt Stick, a handy little salt tablet dispenser, so I used a tiny plastic bag to hold my salt tablets. It was so difficult to get that thing open that I only did it once on the bike, never on the run. Hooray for normonatremia!
The smooth surface of my goggles. I mentioned the surf. On Friday during my practice swim, I was proudly standing up in the shallow water, an air of satisfaction that I'd made it out alive, when I was tackled from behind by a large wave. I tumbled over, head first, finally landing on my stomach again. Planting my feet on the bottom, I tried to reach the air above when it happened all over again. When I did crawl to shore, I realized my goggles had been stolen off my head by these waves. I searched to no avail. Later in the afternoon someone found them on the beach and got them back to me. I'm going to keep them for a swim in Sardis Lake, where I can't see anything anyway.
The hair at the nape of my neck. Darn it, I'd just gotten this patch of hair grown out to about 4 inches. Now I've lost half of it again. For some reason, there's a reaction going on between my swim cap and the neck of the back of my wetsuit that vaporizes this hair. No matter what I do, no matter how many inches of Body Glide I cake on there, I can't avoid it.
My pride in being able to race hard. I've always thought that I can really put it out there on race day. I make myself hurt and leave it all on the course... right? I'm not so sure anymore. I was getting on to Andrew after the race. He's an amazing athlete; he's been doing triathlons less than 2 years and has won half of the races he's done, including everything from half-Ironmans to sprints. Right before entering the park during the run, we passed each other. "JOHNSON!!! What's up? How's it going? Run fast!!" he says as he practically leaps into the air. I reply with a mumble and a smile. I have no extra breath for more of a response. Later, after I had explained my theory of his race pacing to him, Mary Cay comes out with a "Joy, you don't race very hard." What!? Me? But I'm sore! How can this be? Maybe I just don't LOOK like I'm racing hard: 
But Andrew, I'm not so sure about. :)
And finally, the first of my four May races. I have over-scheduled myself for May, but I'm up for the challenge. Coming up this weekend: the Memphis in May double. Saturday is the mountain bike race, Sunday is the olympic distance. Stay tuned.
what was the temperature of the gulf? i can't imagine swimming in panama city in May!!! Good luck at MIM this weekend. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteoh Johnson. I see a smile on your face. That does not look like the face of pain! :) I think that was a great first race. You are going to smoke the rest of the month.
ReplyDeleteWell, the swim was killer, the headwind on the way back was mean, and the run was..through the park. Tough day.
ReplyDeleteImagine how fast you'll be this weekend!
Oh c'mon, I'm still sore; surely that means I raced hard... or maybe I need to add more intensity to my training (which I plan on doing).
ReplyDeleteAlso, compare that smile to my race pics; I look like I just got kicked in the crotch...