Kinetic Weekend

Kinetic Half Relay – Bike

There are things I never thought I’d be doing because I never really believed in myself enough to do them…one of them is training for an Ironman. Up until a few years ago, I don’t think I even knew what it entailed and here I am, 4 months away from my first attempt starting with IM Moo.

I decided to be a little conservative this weekend after the winter we’ve had so I signed up for a half-iron relay with Tracey F. and Joe W. and the full sprint for Sunday. The longest distance I’ve ever done on my bike is 40 miles a few weeks ago and I was in excruciating pain. Not because I’m not physically fit enough to complete the miles but because the fit on my bike is just not right so needless to say... going into the 56 miles, I was REALLY nervous. I hadn’t slept very well the night before and was not ready for the type of heat we experienced on Saturday (or the wind). But I had a goal of 4 hours which kept me at about a 14 mile pace.

T1. I was ready to go. Tracey came up the hill, I grabbed the chip, strapped it on, and off I went. As I came up the curve, Ed said “Go for it out there today, Rohini” and I had already planned on it. :-) “See you guys later”.

There was a U turn at around mile 4, and the first loop started. I felt pretty great. I was hitting the downhills at around 30-35mph, averaging between 14-15 mph which was the pace I wanted. The uphills were difficult but I handled them and moved on to the next one. I was told to just keep pedaling - and my mantra was "Every stroke gets me closer to the end". As a former rower, that thought process was familiar and comforting. Best of all, my back wasn’t hurting. At mile 29, I passed my fellow BOP-ers who cheered me on. The last thing I heard around the bend was Jacquie M. yelling that I was doing great and I smiled as I continued on to the next loop.

At the end of the loop, I refilled my bottles, drank some Gatorade, ate a few crackers, and got back to it. This is where things started going wrong. I noticed my chest was a little tight when I went uphill and it was getting harder to breathe. At mile 35, I started getting kind of queasy. I saw Sally at this point and she gave me some of her Cheez Its along with words of encouragement. This was after the the longest part of the loop. The wind gusts were probably up to 40 mph at this point, and I kept getting pushed around on my bike by both the wind and truckers alike. It was getting rough. At mile 40, I threw up…oddly enough I felt better and thought, “Okay, here is where I need to HTFU and keep going”. So I did. I kept going and going and going and it just never ended. Mile 51 came along and at this point, I was looking at my Garmin and measuring each quarter mile. I couldn’t seem to get enough oxygen or drink any water because it just made everything worse. The sag motorcycle came up next to me and startd following me, notifying me that I was the very last rider out there. This is where I lost it. Mile 52. I got off my bike and asked him to call someone to pick me up but when I sat down, I had to lay down. Everything was spinning, and I could only take shallow breaths. I even put myself on my side in case I got sick (old lifeguarding habit) and ask him to call the medic. Ambulance. Paramedics. BP 80/50. Next thing I knew I was on my way to the hospital and the only names that came to mind were Ed and Jacquie. I didn’t have a cell phone or anything so off I went to the hospital where after some loud laughing with Jacquie and Tracey who came to pick me up, fluids, and a breathing treatment, I was released.

Lessons learned:

1. ER Trips are bad, but I HTFU’d and did what I could. I hit my longest mileage on a bike by 12 miles even with all things fighting against me.

2. Listening to my body is a good thing because I was experiencing an asthma attack, heat exhaustion, and dehydration at the same time. Sometimes it is okay to quit!

Kinetic Sprint:

I signed up for the Sprint the next day but changed it into a relay with Chris W. and Barbara. We came in 6th and I had a great swim minus a couple of minutes of chest tightness towards the end. So I’m glad I got out there and didn’t scare myself out of racing from Saturday’s events. Chris even came in first for the bike section among all the relays and Barbara raced in her first triathlon event (and finished the 5K in great time!).

Overall:

Generally speaking, I could not do this without Team Z and the support I get out there from everyone. Thank you to my fellow BOPers for being so supportive both on and off the race course and to Jacquie and Tracey for saving me from the Free Standing Emergency Room.

As for Musselman…well I plan on kicking that course’s ass.