2011 YWCA Women's Triathlon - Race Report

2011 YWMC Women’s Triathlon
Race Report

Racer: Diane Jorgensen of Minneapolis
Bib number 482


Race Date: 8/14/2011
Race: 2011 YWCA of Minneapolis Women’s Triathlon
500yd Swim in Lake Nokomis, 15.5mile bike along Mississippi River, 5K run around Lake Nokomis
Weather: mostly sunny, low/mid 70’s with no humidity, 0-3 mph winds.

Before the Race

I wanted to be there when the transition area opened, at 5:30. I decided I would be least anxious if I could be there and start getting settled in early. And, that way, we’d have the best parking options. After discussing it with Joanne we agreed that Romie was old enough (she’s 5 now) to be able to attend the entire event, including getting up really early. Eunice, from Peru/Costa Rica, was staying with us and wanted attend. I had told her we were going early. I had previous told Joanne too, of course. Her response was that she would do whatever she needed to do to support me. The night before Jennifer told me she wanted to meet at my house in the morning and follow me out to the park. I told we were leaving at 5:00. That was a bit early for her, but she was game.

My alarm went off at 4:30 and I was up and moving. I had prepared as much as possible the night before, with things in organized bags and a list of everything I had to gather and get in the car in the morning. I got my things ready, feeling a bit uninspired perhaps, but resolved. I ate some breakfast, made a bit of coffee, and started packing the car. I went upstairs and woke up Joanne, and then Romie, and they got up. I finished packing the car as they were getting ready and started getting my bike on the rack. Jennifer pulled up behind me with her daughter Erin in the front seat, and got her bike from my back yard and worked to get her rack on the car and her bike on the rack. Joanne and Romie came out, and assisted Jennifer. We were pleasant with each other, subdued, as is typical before a pre-dawn adventure. Eunice made it outside before we were completely ready, surprising herself that she could, in fact, get up before the sun. Tania and come in the night with the boys, and before we left she was standing on the porch, getting last minute things from the house for us, and enjoying the quiet excitement. There was a lot of last minute grabbing this or getting that. We left 15 minutes or so behind schedule. I had planned about 15 minutes of lee-way, and thus was pleased.

As we approached Lake Nokomis in the pre-dawn light, there was fog over the lake and the ball field. It reminded me of a mystical land, Avalon perhaps. We parked on Cedar and started the long walk across the field to the parking lot now converted into a Tri Event Transition Area. We were all packed down with bags, bikes, and a big purple balloon. There were plenty of people there already, but it wasn’t particularly crowded. And, there were plenty of open picnic tables just off the beach swim start. Apparently most early arrivals come alone and leave their families to find them later. I pointed Jo toward the picnic tables, told her I would find them there, and we kissed goodbye. Jennifer and I headed into the T Area with our bikes, picked a spot next to each other in the middle of the rack, and set up our areas. We separately found our way to the chip pick up. Together we made our way to the marking tent. There was no line, and we joked with the woman about tickling us with the marker. She asked my age. I told her 41 because I thought I remembered we go by our age as of December late year. But, she didn’t ask that, she had asked “how old are you.” We discussed the criteria and she left it up to me. I picked 41, not only because I thought that was accurate for the race officials, but also because I was only a day short of it.

We walked over to home base, the picnic table Joanne had picked out. As we approached my wife’s head was in her arms, resting, exhausted. As soon as she realized we were heading hwe way (we weren’t even close yet) she popped up, alert, enthusiastic, and ready to show me her love and support. For the next hour and a half Jennifer and I wandered. I checked the transition area, took walks in search of my friends from work who were also racing, and tried to decide the best time to use the bathroom. I decided to use it about 7:00 I think. I wanted to get there before the line was too long, but not too far before the race. When I got there, there was a line, but it was short. Women weren’t standing directly in front of each port-a-potty. We were in a doubled line, in front of sections of port-a-potties. At one point I was in the front of the line, with women spaced out on each side of me. Someone to my right asked if the potty a few to my left was open. The handle was on green, yet no-one had moved toward it and as I had been watching I hadn’t sensed that there was an opening. I was perplexed, and verbally stated that I would check the door. I opened it, and sitting on the toilet was a naked athlete, breasts bared, a look of surprise on her face and just beneath that, a look of dread, as if she were incredibility concerned about her ability to survive the race. I apologized and closed the door in a fraction of a second, walked back to my place embarrassed but perplexed that the door had opened at all. The same woman who had spoken earlier reassured me, telling me that the door at least, would now be locked. Indeed, the woman had locked it behind me. Seconds later there was a true opening in a nearby porta potty, and I took my turn. Returning to camp I declared myself ready, and told everyone who cared to hear that I would rather just start this thing now, thank you very much. Jennifer’s oldest, who had arrived earlier with her boyfriend and best friend, acknowledged me.

At 7:25 I went back to the Transition Area to check my bike one last time before it closed. Jennifer asked me to check her bike, too. All looked well, exactly as we had left it. I ran through the check list of items there for the 22nd time, and couldn’t think of anything missing or anything that needed to moved even a fraction of a centimeter from where I had it. I walked around the outside then the inside of the T Area – still looking for friends. I saw Kristen and Kris, just walking in with their bikes. Kristen passed right by me, unseeing, realizing she had less than 3 minutes to get her area set up. Kris saw me, and I said hello, I realized she was late, and I wasn’t going to keep her because I knew she was late.

Waiting by base camp for the 7:45 mandatory meeting Nereida found me. She seemed calm, confident, and ready. She told me her whole family was here, and we promised to meet up at the end. Many minutes later, while pacing around, I found Sue P. walking by. She was excited. It was good to hear her excitement, I soaked it in like the sun. Her friend was with her and we did introductions all around. I talked to Sue, who had survived a serious bike accident with mere scrapes a few weeks earlier, while Jennifer spoke to her friend. I assume they were talking about this being their first triathlon and how they were experiencing that. Sue and I were both seasoned, having completed our first one a year before. We talked until it was time to head down to the pre-race meeting. Well, we kind of kept talking, making it difficult to hear the muffled announcements. We finally quit our jabbering when the National Anthem played.

With the meeting completed and the race ready to start, we headed back to base camp. Hugs and kisses to family, Joanne beaming as if I were in the Olympics, ready to win gold. Romie confused about where I was going and why, though it had been explained to her many times.

Back on the beach, waiting for the wave, I was with Jennifer, then lost her, then with her, then panicking because our wave was moving forward and I couldn’t find her. Of course, she was already in line. Just before catching up to her I had chatted with Kristen, before she ran off to see Nereida off in a wave 3 before mine.

They called my wave, and we moved forward. I was ready, nervous and confident at the same time, and realized I truly didn’t have the excitement from last year. I wanted to fast forward 3 hours and be done with it. After all, my goal in doing this was to force myself to be active the months before, and I had done that. How important was it to force myself beyond my comfort zone when I had proved myself last year? I didn’t feel as ready as last year. I felt tired, and just not incredibly motivated. As soon as I realized that I would do this anyway, I was able to stop that insane self-talk.

Our wave was called to move over the timer to activate the chips. We walked slowly, two or three abreast, as if we were told to do that. We weren’t. We probably could have leaped through there and activated them. Crossing that matt kicked things in for me. I was doing this. It was going to start. Let’s Go! I scanned the spectator line for my family. I didn’t see them, but, OMG, there was Sarah, my friend from Toastmasters. I had no idea she would be there. Incredible! Wonderful! Fantastic. I blew her kisses, waved, and jumped up and down. (Maybe I didn’t jump up and down but it felt like I was jumping). Then I saw my family. Ah, they were so beautiful, smiling, beaming still. My wife, my daughter, and my friend Eunice, all three there only for me. Their cameras were pointed my way, and I waved. I turned to the water as the countdown started and had to hold my arms out because Jennifer was hugging me. “Thank You” she said.” I’ll see you at the end” I said.” Remember, don’t leave without me!” She moved to the center of our group well I hung back, trying to decide how far I wanted to be not only in the back, but the outside. And then the countdown started. The announcer, the spectators, and the athletes starting after us shouting in unison. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, horn blaring.



THE RACE

Swim
It seemed like forever after the countdown before I actually got in the water. I kind of wondered if it was really necessary for me to be that far on the outside and the back. Apparently it was, or I was simply faster than I expected, because within seconds I was getting shoved around.

The swim was hard. I had people bumping into me carelessly. I couldn’t see from the glare of the sun. I kept stopping to get my bearings. I was trying to make sure I was going the right direction, and I was looking for a bubble where I could swim without people crashing into me. I wasn’t concerned enough with winning to play bumper swimmers with the fellow racers. At one point I swallowed water, and came up gurgling. I didn’t want the lifeguards to think I was in trouble, so focused on recovering quickly. Moments later things just felt wrong, like someone had tilted the lake, sending me in the wrong direction. I looked up, squinting. I had almost run into an octopus with yellow legs. No, it wasn’t an octopus, it was life guard with noodles, she was pointing the other way. I looked that direction, and realized I had been swimming into the line and not toward the buoy. I changed direction, and for a few minutes, was able to feel the rhythm of uninterrupted swimming. It was then that the anxiety came into focus. I wasn’t panicky as I was last year. This was a physical feeling, localized to my legs. It wasn’t a cramp and it wasn’t a tremble, but it felt like my legs were experiencing my anxiety. It was incredibly uncomfortable. And, presto, I heard in Dory from Nemo in my mind “just keep swimming. Then someone crashed into me. What the… again, I thought. Again, I stopped, did the breast stroke to be able to look up and get my bearings. I swam farther to the outside to get away from her and all the others that seemed all around me. Last year, I had a nice bubble almost the enire way. You know what, I think I was a swimmer’s buoy. She crashed into me again. I was almost to the last corner. I just wanted to be done. I made the corner, and swam as hard as I could. It sure seemed like the last time I had been in this lake I could feel sand on my hands earlier than this. I pushed, and pushed, women on both side, in front, and more catching up behind. Finally, I was close. I swam as far as I could go without being beached, righted myself precariously, and was out of the water, trotting toward land. I saw my family, tried to smile for their cameras, grabbed their hands as I walked by, and handed Joanne my goggles and my swim cap. It was only later that I realized I could maybe get penalized for that; getting help from spectators. I was a little off balance from the swim, as usual. And, you know, it’s not like my balance is that good anyway. I slowed up to rinse my feet in the kiddy pool and almost fell over. I thought I heard Megan gasp. I tried again, slower. I was successful, did the other foot, and continued trotting to the T-Area. I was exhausted!

T1
I pulled on my shorts and grabbed everything in my first pile and headed over to the curb. I had planned to sit down rinse my feet, throw baby powder on my feet, and then put on my socks and shoes. My p-l-a-n was to do that quickly. I couldn’t seem to get the hang of things and kept dropping things. Shish-kabob, I hadn’t thought to take the paper off of the top of the trial size powder. I was losing precious seconds turning into minutes, all the while realizing my family was watching. Finally, I had my feet prepared. I walked quickly to my bike. It was alone in the rack, easily accessible. I snapped on my helmet, pulled on my gloves, and trotted out the T-Area. There, at the corner, was my family. Hi family. “I love you!” I said. “I’ll see you in an hour or so.” I heard Romie protest and start to cry and saw Jo bend over to reassure her as I walked away, mounted by bike, and pushed off.

The Bike
I was excited about the bike ride. There was no wind! I had done it 3 times this season, and biking was my best section last year. I don’t know if the wind picked up or my calves got a flat, but I could not pick up and maintain a good speed. The ride seemed more hilly than ever before. And each mile was pure countdown, self-talk. And, my legs continued to feel anxious, carrying that burden for my body and my mind. I tried to remind myself how beautiful the ride was, but it was heartless. And perhaps I was in an earlier wave than the year before. My wave last year had 3 minutes head start from my wave this year. It seemed that when I passed volunteer corners they were already bored. They had their colorful shirts on, but were fairly quiet. Sometimes I’d hear a Way to Go, or Keep It Up Diane (our names were on our bibs this year) but it was almost always in a low tone. There was an exception. There was one group just north of the Ford Bridge that I heard a half a mile away. They were so happy to see me I think, because every rider gave them an excuse for their excitement. They were fun.

Early on Kristen and Kris passed me. They were riding like it was country community ride, steady, easy, happy. Soon other people passed me. OK, a lot of riders passed me. Many more riders than last year passed me. I passed one or two. One I passed said “Hi Diane” as I went by. I didn’t know who it was, but thinking back, it was probably Nereida. I don’t know why I didn’t recognize her. Other riders were kind and polite. I must have been in a mood though, because I heard negativity in many of their comments, such as “you’re looking good, the important thing is that you made it out here at all”.

When I crossed the Lake Street bridge I was going faster than the woman in front of me. As I came up to her, she sped up. I didn’t have the energy to burst ahead of her, so I dropped back, not wanting to get a penalty for drafting. It was as little frustrating, I was already having difficulty maintaining a decent speed.

When I got to the turn around, mentally, I felt better. There was only 5 miles left. I knew I could do it. As I came out of the parking lot I saw Nereida. We yelled at each other and praised each other. She was truly just a minute or two behind me, and she looked terrific; confident and strong. I trudged on.

Crossing the Hwy 55 bridge, a woman passed me going just about my speed. She slowed down to talk to me, telling me that she was looking forward to being done with this and spending the afternoon at a pool party, having people fetch her things while she relaxed. With the exception of my friends, she was the sweetest person I had come across since my knees had been soaked. But again, I didn’t want to get penalized for drafting, so I kept slowing down to be at least 3 bike lengths behind her and she’d slow down to be able to keep talking to me, looking back at me. I think she eventually realized I was backing off of her. She looked ahead, said, “bye, enjoy the rest of the race” and was off. Less than a mile later, coming up to a stoplight, I wondered why I had worried about drafting at all. All of sudden I was in a pack, women biking two deep to the left of me behind me. Where did they come from? Who would get penalized for this, and how could we get out of it anyway we were so packed together? I tried to pick a spot away from them, and again made sure I was as far as I could be to the right. After several blocks I was single file. They may or may not have been single file, but they weren’t by me, and it wasn’t my concern.

All around the lake I was looking for Jennifer. I didn’t know where she’d be, but I knew she’d be at the run well before me, and I was hoping to see her. The last 3 miles felt like 10. I couldn’t believe I wasn’t done yet, I wasn’t going faster than my steady 11 or 12 mph, and that it was so difficult. I was relieved to know that chances were less and less likely that I would get a flat tire, or at least a flat that would keep me from finishing the race. I could walk an extra mile or so if I had to. As I crossed Cedar it seemed like the dismount area was receding from me rather than getting closer. It was like some strange magic trick. I had slowed down a little early, to give myself extra time to dismount. I had stopped too quick last year and had almost fallen. Just before the dismount I saw Jennifer stretching against a tree. I knew she was stopped because of a physical thing and she was trying to work it out. I yelled at her. She looked up surprised, said hello and smiled, and then started off to the path. A second or two later I saw Nereida’s family. I yelled at them, told them I had seen Nereida, and she was looking great! Finally, I saw the dismount area. My dismount was smooth, and I quickly walked into the Transition Area.


T2
My family has all of my memories of the transition area during round two. I heard them first, and then saw them. They were against the fence, nearest base camp. Romie looked wet. She had on her bathing suit and Lazy Man Tri cover up. Joanne was at her side, waving at me, still smiling like I ruled her universe. Eunice was there, snapping photos. I waved at them and knew they were watching me as I transitioned. I opened up a cliff bar and took a bite. I almost spit it out. I didn’t want to eat it. I mean, I really didn’t want to eat it. I knew I should get a few calories in me, but it was gross. I decided to walk with it. I drank water. My helmet was off, and I walked off. Joanne yelled, “are you allowed to have your gloves?” I still had my bike gloves on. “Yes, but I don’t want them on. I forgot.” I headed back to deposit them, gratefully took the water offered at the corner and came extremely close to falling on my big nose as I tripped over the cord of the timing matt at the edge of the transition area.

The Run
As the ground started to reach up to squish my nose, a volunteer groaned, “ooohhh”. I somehow managed to stay on my feet and stood up straight. I looked back in the direction of the voice of the invisible volunteer, “I’m OK. I’m good!” and I kept walking. I think this was just out of site of my family, several feet ahead, hidden from view by the crowd. I high-fived my amazing family as I walked along, and headed off down the path.

I tried another bite of cliff bar and confirmed I did not want it. I didn’t want to throw it though. I might want it later. I didn’t have shorts in my pockets, but I did have one behind my shirt. I reached back, struggled to find it, yanked on it, and dropped it in. I felt it sliding down my buttocks. Oops, I hadn’t put it in my shirt pocket, I had dropped it down the back of my still damp shorts. I laughed at myself, realized I could not inconspicuously pull it out, but stepped to the side and did the best I could to dislodge it before too many people noticed, as I pulled it out of the bottom of the short plant leg. I held it in my hand, really just wanting to be rid of it. I was still only barely out of the T-Area. And, my feet felt insecure. I looked down, and saw that my shoe laces needed to be tightened. I stepped off the path, and bent over to tie them. “Hey, Diane, we’re going to do this!” I responded, “Way To Go, Nereida” as she walked past me.

I got up and trudged along. Just before the other side of Cedar Ave a woman turned back to say Hi to me. I had seen her at the beach the week before when I went swimming with Jennifer. “Oh, hey, how’s it going?” I asked. “Good” she said. “You were right, this is fun.” I said, “I saw your friend earlier, she looked like she was doing awesome” I said. “Yeah, she’s doing great!” the Lake Harriet swimmer said as she past me out of site around the bend.

Walking across Cedar bridge was horrid. It was hot, and uphill. It was so tempting just to cross over to the people that were walking down it and skip the little out and back. I didn’t though, of course. And, there was a water station up there. And, I saw Nereida again. She was going down as I was going up. More positive words of encouragement flown back and forth, wrapped in warmth and sincerity. The water station was not so good. The water was warm. Yuck. I drank it anyway, and drank another one at another table two feet down. As I was going down the bridge I saw Sue. She was right behind me. Wow! I told her to hurry up so she could catch up to me so we could walk together before she passed me up. She said she’d try. She answered as if she was joking. I wasn’t joking, I knew she could catch up to me.

The rest of the walk I was focused on my landmarks. The deer sculpture, the parking lot, and home. Deer, parking lot, home. Just get to the deer. Just get to the deer. Oh, there’s the deer. Parking lot and home. When I got to the beach across the lake from the T-side I just wanted to swim across. There was a volunteer not too far from there. I asked her if I could. She said yes. I kept walking. Women passed me. Lots of women passed me. There was one that I was keeping pace with. She walked faster than me but then I’d jog for a few seconds and catch up to her and then I’d walk and she’d get ahead of me. That didn’t’ last long. I didn’t want to jog, at all, and wasn’t going to force myself to do it.

The water at the second stop was ever worse than the first. But, I was close to the end. My thoughts jumbled together ‘I am going to do it. And tomorrow, is my birthday. I’m spending the day at the beach. I just have to get through this. Hey, I don’t feel like I have a blister on my foot this time. I think the powder worked.’ At the little walking bridge, a quarter mile from the finish, I told a volunteer I wasn’t going to make it. “Seriously, he said, you’re there. Cross the bridge, go around the corner, and you’ll see people, a lot of people”. I told him I was kidding, I had no doubt I would finish, but I was tired and ready to be done.

And then yes, there it was; the crowd. I couldn’t see the finish though. All of a sudden a kid ran out in front of me. She was heading toward her mother who was passing me. I thought I’d miss my family, then I saw Joanne grab Romie and jog ahead of me, on the sidelines. I was confused until I saw the chute, then I realized the little girl had joined her mother earlier than she was supposed to. I didn’t have to slow to wait for them, they were there. Jo maneuvered Romie next to me and we each took one of her hands. I looked up and saw Monica from the East Lake Clinic waving at me. Wow, I didn’t expect her, either. And next to her was Nereida's sister, “Go Diane!” Finally, it’s fun! Jogging together, Joanne, Romie and I crossed the finish line.

Post Race
I was handed a metal. I didn’t have the energy to put it on, so I put it on Romie. She was pleased. I quickly told her she couldn’t keep it, but she could wear it for me. I hugged Joanne, “I’m so proud of you!!!” she said. I hugged Eunice, and Jennifer. Jennifer was there, right there, and so was her family. Beautiful! And then Nereida crossed. Hoots and hollers and congratulations.

I had to get water, but there wasn’t any. I thought last year there was loads of water at the finish. Did I imagine that? I wanted food. We went to the food line. Jennifer didn’t eat. Didn’t she read the book? It said you’re supposed to eat right away. A-ha, they still had veggie wraps, and trail mix, and oranges and... With a plate full of food we headed back to the finish line, and there was Sue. I missed her crossing the line, but caught her seconds after. What an inspiration she is – retired, hip replacement, recent bike injury, and just smoking fast this year!

There was no place to eat, so we took things back to base camp. I ate, and gulped the last of my water, disappointed I didn’t have more. We sat, talked, ate, wondered what to do next. Romie wanted me to watch how good she could swim. The water seemed so inviting. I went into the water with her. Ah, it was so refreshing, the best thing since post race veggie wraps and trail mix. Soon after, everyone was ready to go. We broke camp. The teens were already gone. They couldn’t resist the MOA. It was calling them from just down the road, and they had left while I was in the water with Romie. Jennifer had finally eaten, and had decided that really, she just wanted to go home. We took the seemingly 15 mile walk back to the car. It looked so different now, in the brightness of the day compared to the mist filled pre-dawn when we had arrived. We loaded up, and headed home.

We unpacked. I took a shower, and in short order all of us were sleeping. Diane, Joanne, Romie (who doesn’t nap anymore) and Eunice all had a nice mid day nap.

When we got up we prepared to go to a hotel for the night. It was part of my birthday celebration from my wife. I was quiet over dinner. I was content, but tired, thinking of how sleepy a triathlon and a full belly can make me. By 8:00 I was well past simply tired. Joanne and Tania took the kids swimming, and I fell blissfully into the depths of sleep, despite only 3 hours having passed since waking from my 2 hour afternoon snoring rest.

Post-Race – The Next Day

Ah, my birthday. My triathlon reward. The best day of the summer; family, swimming, beach, sun, friends, and family, a summer Monday with no work. And, especially for all my complaining thoughts during the triathlon itself, I felt great, pretty close to normal physically and absolutely content in all other ways. I guess the training (and the powder on my feet) paid off.

I am now a seasoned triathlete.

Results
YWCA Women’s Triathlon - 2011
Individual Results

Diane Jorgensen
bib number: 582
age: 41
location: Minneapolis, MN
overall place: 950 out of 973

time: 2:35:46
swim: 15:37
trn1: 6:40
bike: 1:13:22
trn2: 2:49
run: 57:20