Wake up at 5 am. Put on tri clothes. The top is easier to put on than when trying it on in the fitting room. Actually feel hungry so eat a small bowl of cereal. Get bikes on the car, lug all the tri crap to the car, get everyone in the car, and off we go.
The drive is pretty pleasant. The temperature isn't too hot and we listen to upbeat songs on the way down. Make a small pit stop at a 7-Eleven, where we are stared at like aliens from another planet. Guess they don't see to many people in funny bike clothing. Finally we get to the race site. We were a little confused getting there from the main road, but make it we do. Go get checked in, dither about whether to get the bikes off the car and leave them close to the pavilion or leave them on the car, finally decide to move them close to the pavilion. Eat half of my cashew turtle, hit the bathroom one more time, and go down to the lake.
The water temperature is around 80 F, so S decides not to try out her new wetsuit. When she sees other people in wetsuits she questions that decision but it's too late now. Catch the brief end of the swim talk and everybody in to simulate a mass race start. I'm the weakest link of the 3 of us, so they agree to not swim full bear and just stay with me. Whistle starts, and off we go. It's pretty slow going, as I've borrowed a pair of my friend's goggles and they don't quite fit as well as I would have liked and there was a little water in them which threw me off. I had brought my goggles too, but hers were the first I grabbed so that's what I went with. I alternated between freestyle, backstroke, and doggy paddle like I usually do even for the pool. H is a very strong swimmer so she was watching me to give me some tips. She encouraged me to slow down while freestlying because it was making me too out of breath to sprint the way I do. I explained to her how I still am not comfortable in the water and so I panic when trying to freestyle. I did try to slow it down a little though. There was a guy who had horrible form; he must be right-handed for his right hand would flail and violently dig in the water and the left one was doing almost nothing so he swam in a Z pattern looking like a crab, hitting anybody he came near. It was a little alarming and we got out of his way. They talk about people swimming over you, and I guess he took that to heart because he never seemed to look where he was going. H told me I had good form when I swam and at least I was doing a lot better than that guy, and indeed I would pass him when swimming freestyle, and I swam in a straighter line. It was a very good experience, and I didn't have to hold on to anything although it did take us 40 minutes to go around for the 1/2 mile. I stopped after one loop while S and H did another loop to complete a mile, without me holding them back. I got out of the water and stubbed my feet on some concrete which hurt quite a bit but apparently did no damage. We left the lake and headed for the bike.
We caught the tail end of the lecture again. I already knew all the things the coach said so it wasn't terribly interesting. We interrupted our bike prep to take a picture. I ate part of a protein bar and grabbed some Luna Sport Moon Energy Chews. Then we got started on the bike course, which is a rolling 16.5 miles. We ride and ride and ride. Again I am the weakest link (in everything) so they had to wait for me several times. Not only am I on a heavy mountain bike, but I haven't practiced on hills because I don't like them. Most of the climbs we did were very slow and gradual, so it's not like I could stand and pedal like I do for shorter climbs. We were out on the road for about an hour when H needed to pump a tire. I kept going for a little bit and then stopped to eat the chews. I was struggling on the hills, but eating helped and I felt a little stronger for a bit.* The SAG vehicle started to follow us, which made all of us feel like losers. They were able to bike ahead though, and at one point I needed to take a break. The support guy got out of the truck and was giving me some pointers for the hills, which I did appreciated. But I told him I was fine and yet he continued to shadow me, which made me very uncomfortable as well as gave me performance anxiety. A little bit up a very long slow climb with him still right behind me I throw in the towel and let him rescue me. (Roughly mile 13 or 14?) I think I could have finished had he not been following me, but whatever. I felt very frustrated and even more like a loser. He tried to pep talk me up with how it's a challenging course especially for not training for hills, and for being my first time doing all 3 at once, but I still felt worthless. I do well under pressure for some things, but as a person who was always picked last for gym class, I do not handle well any athletic-related pressure.
We get back to the pavilion and get ready for the run. S found she needed a break after the last hill, but H is ready to go run. I figure since I bailed on the bike I should do the run. Much like the bike course, the run course is also "gently rolling". H paired up with another late bike finisher and I stayed behind a little to not slow them down and also because I like to run/walk. I mostly run/walked up until the 1.5 mile turnaround, and then I gave up and just walked all the way back. S had come to do part of the course so we ended up walking together. There were a fair amount of people walking the course at least by the time I was on it. She passed a woman who made disparaging comments about the number of people who were walking, something along the lines of "it's a run, not a walk". That would have been the very last straw for me, had I heard it firsthand. (Also, it is a clinic for beginner/novice triathletes. WTF do you care if we need to walk and not run?)
Finally S and I get back to the pavilion and get a chance to eat. It's 2 pm by this time*. I scarf down a cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato and a spicy sausage, a bag of potato chips, and some sort of cake thing. The coach is talking about transition stuff, but he's mostly talking about it in terms of the Luray Tri and not for tris in general. I had hoped he would do a whole transition layout, but he didn't. S told me she would show me how to lay it out when we got back to the house. After we eat we decide to shower before we head home, since this park has showers. (I will not be so lucky for the Philly tri.)
We talk about what we're going to do for S's DH when we get back, seeing as how it is Father's Day and he's been with the kids by himself. He had asked to do a group bike ride. We get back to the house, rest for 30 minutes or so, then we head off to Bethesda for ice cream. I am proud of myself (finally!) because I remember when I struggled to do the trail to Bethesda because the trail very gently inclines. Even after those hills today I was able to get there with no problems. Ice cream was the perfect antidote for my No Good Very Bad Day.
* It wasn't until we got to eat lunch that I reviewed what I consumed for the day, nutrition-wise. I started with a small bowl of cereal around 5:30 am. I also drank some water and ate most of a cashew larabar on the way to the race site. I ate half of a cashew turtle candy. I did the swim which took 40 minutes, then went to do the bike which took an hour (and a half or two maybe? should have looked at my watch) with only a bit of protein bar, some energy chews, and more water. Then I finished the run/walk and I don't know how long that took but again I only had water. I wasted all that time for the lecture parts when I thought I'd be able to add stuff because it just didn't occur to me that I actually needed more calories. I think that's partly why I bonked on the bike - I didn't have enough fuel in my body to keep going. I also hadn't added any salts and sweated a lot. Jayne Williams talks about Post Race Stupidity Syndrome in her book. I think I was displaying During Race Stupidity Syndrome. On the plus side, even though this is all 20/20 hindsight, I learned a lot about prepping for a race. It's probably better to overfuel than underfuel. Also, just because I wasn't practicing transitions so didn't really brick all 3 and didn't feel like I was overly active doesn't mean I wasn't pretty active for 4 hours straight. I will do better the next time I try to brick all 3 (or even 2 for that matter!).
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