Richard B. Russell Tri The Parks - 8/15/09

Written by Elaine Sipos

The day before this race was a very long and stressful day and we did not get on the road to Elberton until evening. We had many issues along the way, and finally stopped for a late dinner.  Since I was still dealing with some of the day’s issues even late into the night, we decided a few beers (Oops, 3 to be exact) were in order for a stress reliever.  We finally arrived at our smokey-room motel at 11pm and got our bikes and things unloaded and into the room, got our race stuff together, and got to bed by Midnight. MUCH later than my usual night before a race bedtime!

The next morning we got a later start to the race site than usual, there was a long wait into the park, and then a long walk from parking down to the race site. I was a bit rushed/stressed when arriving to the race area about 30 minutes before race start! I’ve usually set-up my transition and finished my warm-up jog by this time…and I still had to get my chip, get body marked, have my bike checked out (thanks Rudy for bringing it to me in transition) get my transition set-up, etc. I realized that a warm-up jog was not going to fit in well, but I went ahead and did a very short one anyway.

This race was already going to be much longer than I was ready for. My run training was up to 4 miles at this point…and a 1500 meter swim is not my favorite…especially given that the bike distance only went up to 22 miles!  I did not know until 11pm the night before the race that this was a 2 loop swim and you had to get out of the lake, run along the beach, and then maneuver your way over “Pipes?” and back into the water to do it all again.  Oh joy…my favorite….a long swim with a tease of getting done and getting out…but having to go back for a 2nd round of fun! 

I was happy with my first loop and I was happy to see some girls running on the beach as I got out of the water. These girls are usually much further ahead of me even in a 500-600 meter swim, so I knew my 750m swim wasn’t too bad.  I definitely slowed down a lot on the 2nd loop, so I lost a little bit of that time…but all in all I was pleased with my swim improvement.

I enjoyed the bike and felt that I had a strong bike split. I started to have very bad calf cramping that I had to coast/stand to try to stretch out before it snapped.  I came in with the fastest Women’s bike split and got going out on the run. I was dreading this run already just due to the distance, but I had forgotten about the trail section for the first half mile. That was not a good way to start off the run for my foot. I was limping as I exited the trail onto the roads and was just hoping it started to feel better as time went on.

Well, it really didn’t feel much better…but I just tried to keep focused on holding a steady, consistent pace and picking people off one-by-one. I had no idea how I was doing or where I was in the race line-up since there was also a duathlon, aquabike, and aquathon….so out on the run the people could have been doing the tri, the duathlon, or the aquathon.

I was never so happy to see the downhill to the finish line. At this point, my calves and hamstrings were cramping up and about to snap, my shoes had dug into my heel and top of both feet and were bleeding out of my shoes, and my Morton’s Neuroma was like sharp knives being stabbed into the ball of my foot.

 I was happy to place 1st Overall and to see that I can at least push myself through a longer run than my training has prepared me for. I have a LONG way to go to be ready for a half marathon in Augusta…..but at least I know I can push through the pain….even if slowly! Next up…Age Group Nationals in Tuscaloosa next weekend…..3 races, 3 weekends in a row….I wish my body was recovering faster from this running! It’s going to be a tough race next weekend!