Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Wasa Olympic Race Report

Here is the down and dirty race results: 2:25:12, but the swim was screwed up and 250m short I think. 5th in age group, 23rd woman overall, and this other lady beat me by 4 SECONDS!!! Hahahahah -- More on that later...

The venue changed for the tri this year due to the explosive number of entrants. My eyes just about bugged out of my head when I saw how MASSIVE transition was. As my Dad would say, "Holy-Oh Crap!" :) :) :)

This was the first race where I actually knew a LOT of people. A huge chunk of my Arizona training group were there as well as other buds -- I even ran into my high school French teacher!! Go figure! Hahahahaha!

The water was so warm this year, I even felt a bit hot in my wetsuit if you can believe it. Normally the water is freezing cold...Okay onto the race itself...

SWIM
The men had their own wave start about 15 minutes or so ahead of the women. What a nice change -- swimming with a bunch of women is a much more enjoyable experience than having to deal with testosterone flailing and punching men. Nobody rammed you on purpose, nobody tried to swim over top of you -- what a relaxing time it was! :) :)

Swim time (remember it is not a true 1500m): 23:18

BIKE -- 1:11:51
My legs felt terrible for about 15km of the bike ride. Just really fatigued and heavy. I just did what I could and knew that the time to push what little I had would be in the final 20km when the wind would be blowing hard against us. As the course had changed from last year, I was totally surprised when the 20km turn around appeared -- I just about fell off my bike...literally.

I was pushing a big gear and was just passing this girl and a man when I saw a placard in the middle of the road and people sitting in lawn chairs behind it. SHIT!! I had no time to shift into an easier gear, so I just slammed on the brakes and turned in slow motion around the corner. I actually unclipped just in case I couldn't make the turn -- it was that close.

As soon as I made the turn (YES!) I said to the two people I had just about taken out, "Sorry guys, I didn't realize the turn around was right there!" The man was a total dick -- he said, "I can turn my motorcycle faster than that." I thought to myself, "You a$$hole, you're just mad that you are getting chicked." The woman said to me, "I don't mind! It's OK!" What a difference in attitudes eh?

At this point, I had my cycling legs back and I just went as hard as I could. It was awesome, I felt great biking as hard as I could into the wind.

When I got into transition, someone had put their bike in my place (That's the THIRD time this has happened to me at this race), so I just laid my bike down on the fence and grabbed my running stuff.

RUN -- 50:05
All the girls I had passed on the bike very promptly passed me on the run, but I felt good with my effort. A friend of mine, Erin (another Arizona pal) was yelling at me to "Dig Deep!" and "Push hard!" Bless you Erin -- you have no idea how much that helped me get through the run -- I wish I had the energy (and the breath!) to shout encouragement back to you!!! :) :) :) :)

Here comes the major dorkiness part. Nearing the end of the run, there were two people in front of me that I could not get by. It wasn't because they were going faster than I could, it was because the spectators lined both sides of the narrow path, making it impossible to pass. I think one was a part of a relay, the other maybe part of a relay too -- in any case, for all I know it might have been their very first tri and they were both soaking in the atmosphere. There were all these kids lined up along the path and these two people were giving high fives as they ran -- at least at this point, I had the presence of mind not to plow over some poor kid to get by.

OH MAN, but here comes the bad part....

I had energy left and I wanted to get by these two people SOOOO BAD. There was just NO room to pass until the very end --- and I mean like the last 5 meters before the finish line. A tiny opening appeared between the two people and darted in between and around them to get ahead! OH MY GOD I AM SUCH A DORK!!! My very good friends, Cath and Jase were there cheering me on, and Jase captured the moment on film -- you can see the look of disgust on the spectators' faces at the stunt I pulled!! And you can see the guy and the girl I managed to squeak by.

Page 2 « Lake Wasa Triathlon It is the first picture on the left hand side of the post.

LMAO!!!! If there is anyone who will understand this -- it will be Chad!! Remember you and your precious seconds that separated you from 3rd place last year? Well, 4 freaking seconds separated me from 22nd overall!! HAHAHAHAHAH!!! Yes, I have turned into the total tri dork, and I would do it all over again if I had the chance.

LMAO!!!!!!!

My friend Charmaine was bugging me saying, I might as well try to take out the guy in the wheelchair while I'm at it....EEEEEEP!!!!!!!

Even with the screwed up swim, I still shaved off time from what I did at Lethbridge last month, so I'm pretty tickled at that.

Lesson of the race? Go ahead -- Embrace your inner dork! LOL!!!!

14 comments:

Keith said...

At last the suspense is lifted! Great report! Love the photos. There are some good ones of you there. I was reading another blog, and the girl said the all-girl start was a cat fight worse than any mixed start.

I don't get in this age of GPS how the distances can be out more than 10 m or so, considering most GPS systems are accurate to at least a meter, and some to the centimeter.

And yes! embrace your inner dork if that's what it takes. I have my shark. Susi has her gerbil. If you say you have an inner dork, who are we to argue? I'm not sure what other readers have an inner of, I guess they could tell us if they wanted.

Susi said...

hey jules!! great race! yay! leslie was saying she wondered if the swim was short?? i think she got out of the water the same time you did.

once again you inspire me by your ability to push hard all the way thorugh the race - i love that! and you are so not a dork. although the one picture that looks like you are gargling may kind of suggest that. LMAO! the other pics are gorgeous!!!

congrats on a awesome race babe! you were, are and always will be a ROCKSTAR! xoxo

ps, dorks rule. i embrace my inner and outer dork on a daily basis. people are starting to wonder why i keep hugging myself. :)

Cath said...

Hahahaha - I was in stitches laughing as you shimmeyed on by past them - it was real laugh out loud moment! Great to see you race, and well done. I agree with Keith though, no excuse for a short swim course, but it's the same for everyone so obviously the result still stands good and proper...:)

Jenna said...

I say blow by them cause it is a race is it not?? Grea trace, great pictures and we know you are a dork and we love you BECASUE of that silly!! Rock on!

Jenna said...

btw - at Great White Half Iron I was given a man's coloured cap and OMG - I had the shit kicked out of me. I was in the first pack to hit the first buoy and even as a strong swimmer there were a few moments where I honestly though - Holy Shite, I am gonna drown....I was contemplating dropping 5 feet beneath the people stew and swimming to the side until one asshole grabbed my wet suit repeatly and tried to climb over my back and survival mode kicked in...I do not think he needed his balls anyway.....so it doesn't matter if I kicked them does it? I was hardly aiming - just flailing....

Cath said...

In my last race in the UK, it was an all woman wave, I got 2 kicks in the face, a swim over, a kick in the ribs - I think that was it, or was I numb by that point :) It was the qualifier for the Olympic distance worlds team and and i guess it was a no holds barred mentality, just brought the aggression to the fore - and like you say that's what racing's all about, right! :)

Runner Leana said...

I didn't know you were there Julie! Congratulations on a great race!!! I figured the swim course was short by about that much too. I couldn't believe my time when I got out of the water. Way to pass those folks at the finish line - that was hilarious!! (I would have done the same thing...)

Shannon Wicks said...

Great race and thanks for sharing the details and photos.

I would have done the same thing at the end...maybe a little pinch on the arse for each of them to get them to scoot over even faster!

Beth said...

Congrats speedy speedy!

Charlie Browne said...

Gotta admit I would have went through them much earlier than you....great race Jules!!

Kelly B. said...

Good effort Julie!! The photos were great as well. Msybe you should have ran as close as you could behind the others and yelled "I'm gonna PUKE!!" They would have looked back an likely moved over or even stopped...and then you could have sailed right through!!

KK said...

Great race, Julie and way to finish strong! I think it's a positive thing that you wanted to finish that way and think it is highly annoying that those two people thought they were the only two people going through the finisher's chute and could cock block eveyone else like that. PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE. I don't care if it was their first tri-move it on over, it's time to stop dickin around and finish already and let other people finish too. Phew, I guess I got pretty mad about that for you :).


Anyway, smokin splits and negative Ned on the bike can go f himself. It's all about being positive (unless of course people aren't letting you pass). :)

Way to rock that race!

Amber Dawn said...

Great race! I missed a first place finish by 2 secs once. ALWAYS sprint to the finish!!

Julie said...

KK -- OMG I just about fell out of my chair when I read "dickin around." I ALWAYS SAY THAT! LMAO!!!!

Hahahahahahahahahahah!!!