RACE REPORT: Santa Cruz Olympic Triathlon - Sunday,
September 28, 2014
Having raced only once since the district TT in June, due to
strange and frightening health issues - my heart has had erratic beats to the
extent that I get so little O2 I simply can do nothing but sleep for several
days at a time…for the past 3 months1It
has been exhausting trying to find answers, and just showing up at work has
been at times challenging…but slowly I’ve been getting answers, and I am deemed
safe to return to the level of activity I am comfortable doing.Frankly, that still is not much, and I was
not at all able to train for this race, but my relay teammates, Lori Meyers and
Jamie Naples Ulloa, did not want to sub me, and I hoped the ocean air might be
invigorating!So, with only a handful of
easy rides the past two months, I was off to Santa Cruz Tri with good friends.Never mind that some 25 years ago I set a
course record for the bike leg when I raced this same event with my college
buddies!Times change and I was feeling grateful
to be riding at all.
Reg: Hammer was a sponsor, so I was hoping to stop
by the Hammer booth after picking up a nice Hammer bagful of race goodies…but
alas, no Hammer booth today.Note to
self: let Hammer know I’d be happy to run the booth next year!Meet and greet - sounds FUN to me!
Pre-ride: My
swim buddy, Jamie rode the course with me around 2 o’clock on Saturday.The new course has a 4 mile stretch at the
beginning and along Cliff Drive, thru neighborhoods, so it was nice to check
this section out - it is NOT fast riding due to the many turns, but it is very
scenic (well, today it’s a gorgeous view; tomorrow I’ll have my head down!) Once
we hit the highway, it was a straight line shot 9 miles away to the turnaround
in Davenport.However, due to the heavy
headwind, we turned back early; no need to further check out the course!I made the decision to swap out my disc for
my 808 since I was having a difficult time maintaining a straight line.Really happy with my bike and wheel set-up,
as I easily made the swap and didn’t have to adjust my brakes.The less fiddling around, the better!
Pre-race dinner:
My Delta Tri Club friends arranged a great outdoor restaurant at a hot pizza place
in Santa Cruz.We had three teams, two
individual racers, and spouses…a noisy and happy bunch of athletes!This was our club season finale (for most of
our athletes) and the weather was perfect for an outdoor meal.I ate a chicken salad, and we returned to our
hotel and turned in early.
Race day:
up at 5:30, for oatmeal and a ten minute walk to the start line ☺I was feeling only so-so, but I had a couple of hours before my leg and
just tried to relax.I warmed up for
just 4 miles on the beginning of the course, and it was drizzling and cold…ugh
- not fond of the cold, but more importantly, not fond of racing wet pavement
with hundreds of other racers of varying ability levels, especially on the
neighborhood streets.But…the air dried
out and by my start, I was able to race comfortably in my tri-top ☺Our other (younger!) club team
came in about a minute and a half ahead of my swimmer, so the race was on!Lori attended to the chip exchange like a
pro, and I was off! ☺We strangely had about a hundred yard run up the road before
we were allowed to mount our bikes (we had to run down it, too!Very challenging in cleats!) Once riding, I knew
immediately that I was feeling joyful just to ride, and that I could ride relatively
fast, just not red-line pace.I put my
head down and caught our other girl’s team’s rider just after the turnaround.There was NO WIND so I was, of course,
wishing I’d left my disc on, but no big deal.The whole course was big-ring, although it was rolling and had an 1100’
gain.I was enjoying the effort and
feeling decent until 2 miles to go…which is about normal - no race feels good
right to the end! ☺ I rode to T2, ran down the 100
yard hill and let Lori take over to finish our race in 8th place of the 15
women’s teams entered (and we were definitely not one of the younguns!)Our me’s team took 3rd, our other women’s
team was 5th and Jane Kalfsbeek, one of our two solos, was second in her
AG!It was a Great and Fun Day for Delta
Tri Club (although they kept asking me, Why was in all decked out in Hammer Pink!)
And so…my
season has come to an end, and not as I’d hoped.My plan all year had been to go out to Ogden,
Utah and race masters cycling nationals.It was a definite letdown, but at this point I am starting to feel
better that I was just a month ago, when the symptoms were so severe that I
felt like I had mono again.Thankfully I
have a great job and great insurance, which has paid for a ton of tests.At this point, my heart and lungs are in
great shape…but the misfires still continue on a regular basis, so testing
continues to find out why.The good news
is that if this is simply electrical, they can zap the misfiring connections
and I can race again next season!
I have had a great and
successful season right up until this point, and I’d like to thank those who have
helped me along the way. I;m so grateful for the opportunity to work with each
of you:
HAMMER
Nutrition!Proud to wear your colors and fuel right with
race nutrition that works!
Town
Center Bike and Tri for your expertise is setting up my bikes with
great wheels, equipment, and great
service!
Serenity
Springs, Elite Spinal Care, & Dr. Bloom Chiropractic for keeping my body ready to
rock!
Davis
Wheelworks for
your great bike fit!Thanks for keeping
me fast and injury free!
Recovery
Pump for making
it possible to recover and race hard!
Delta
Tri Club for
your support even when I’m cycling instead of Tri-ing!