Voodoo Doll: Evergreen Lake Race Report

First things first!! I haven’t posted in several weeks, and for that I sincerely apologize. Sure, things have been busy, but I simply haven’t made the time to write. To all who have emailed asking what’s up, I’m grateful you look forward to reading about our adventures.

Evergreen Lake is an Olympic distance race – a 1500 meter swim, 40K bike, and 10K run. We drove up Friday night to Bloomington, IL and met Jen and Sharon (a fellow triathlete and client of Jen’s) for dinner at an Italian restaurant for some pasta and chicken. Steve was along for the trip and I can only imagine his pleasure in being surrounded by not just one but three hot female athletes :). He didn’t appear to mind in the least and seemed perfectly comfortable…NO DOUBT :).

After dinner we all went to the race site where we checked in and I racked my bike – a nice option that makes one less thing to worry about race morning.

It rained overnight. It was drizzling when we left the next morning. It was POURING when we got to the race site.

Actually I didn’t mind at all. It just made things more interesting and brought another new challenge to meet up close and in person.

Friday the water temp had been 80F, and Saturday morning it was announced water temp was 77F which meant wetsuits were allowed. Dang. I didn’t bring my wetsuit so I would swim “sans skin”…”sassafrassarassa!…” oh well, lesson learned. No matter what they say about water temp, ALWAYS pack the suit :).

Us 40+ yr olds were the last wave for the Olympic distance and off we went. I got into a rhythm and sighted perfectly on swim caps and buoys. In fact I was so focused and so comfortable I didn’t notice it had started pouring again until I rolled to breathe and noticed the safety folks in kayaks were getting soaked. I could see just fine and didn’t feel a thing.

I would relish that thought more than once as I came within a minute of my goal swim time and ran to T1 to hop on my bike.

I was vaguely aware my bike shoes were soaked but everything was wet and there was no way around it. For the first 15 minutes I felt slow as molasses, as if my legs were submerged in mud. It was drizzling and the wind was steady in my face. The course was out and back, and it was also a false flat.

The rain changed from drizzling to abating to pouring and blowing sideways. At one point, it was coming in so hard I couldn’t even look straight ahead over my handlebars. I had to turn my head and steer by looking out the corner of my eye when it wasn’t filling with rainwater. I felt like a voodoo doll being hit with a million needles that were actually raindrops. It was nearly comical and I actually started laughing at the absurdity of it all.

At the turnaround point, the wind was largely at my back and I stood up on the pedals and turned them over like a hamster on his wheel. I was determined to exploit every advantage. The rain came hard – again – and my bike lurched with the force of the accompanying sideways wind. I said out loud to every demon lurking in my head:

“You’ll never take me in the fire;
You’ll never take my own desire
I know my heart and I just can’t deny it – I AM FIREPROOF….”

A line from the song Fireproof by the Christian rock group Pillar. For the whole song, click on the link below. A GREAT tune for anyone in the middle of the battle, single-mindedly pursuing a goal :).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oXBP7YN_2z4

I came in only a couple minutes off my goal bike time, amazing considering the driving rain. Steve was standing on the sidelines and I grinned at him as I put on my rain soaked shoes and headed out for the run.

My legs felt surprisingly good. I was determined to NOT stop unless I needed to throw up.

10 minutes into the run I took in some GU and knew I would not need another one the rest of the race.

I slowed a bit only to grab water or Gatorade alternately at each aid station, and even then I took only a sip. This time I squeezed the mouth of the cup even further than in previous events so it would only trickle into my mouth and not end up on my face or up my nose. New mechanics to learn when not shuffling or walking through an aid station :).

I was running high Zone 3 (170s) the first 5K but as soon as I passed Mile 4 I shifted up to Zone 4, which meant going into upper 170s/low 180s – headlong into the “seriously uncomfortable but got one more gear” range, enough to get to Mile 5.

At Mile 5 I let ‘er rip and went straight for Zone 5 – upper 180s/low 190s – the kind where hurling becomes a reality if kept up for too long. I was determined to smartly parcel out the energy and never thought once about stopping.

I finished within just a few minutes of my goal time, despite the weather. It didn’t occur to me until much later that I actually PR’d my Olympic triathlon time :).

The demons were silenced that day, despite their best efforts to pin me like a voodoo doll :)