Evergreen Tri Race Report - Facing Your Fears

I have two main concerns going into a triathlon:

• Breathing difficulty (asthma) during the swim especially - hot, humid conditions create problems for me
• Rain-slickened roads (especially after witnessing the horrific crash at Naperville)

Here's a portion of the Pantagraph article printed on Sunday following the race:

Rhodes led from wire to wire, winning the International distance division in 1 hour, 55.4 minutes and 40 seconds. The weather posed some additional challenges to Rhodes and the other athletes throughout the muddy, soggy race.

The effects of the weather were visible during the bike portion.“I was pretty cautious coming into the turns,” Rhodes said. “Everyone had to take it a little careful in the corners. It’s better to lose 10 seconds than sliding out and losing a minute or more.”

For others, the weather-related issues were present from start to finish.“It’s a really tough day,” said Elizabeth Ott, 30, of Naperville. “It was really hard just with the weather. Honestly, I want to say it made it one of the hardest triathlons I’ve ever done.“

I was talking with some of the other top girls, and we all said that we noticed we had a hard time breathing today. The air was really heavy. It made it a hard time to catch your breath.”

As we headed out to Lake Evergreen at 5:30 AM, it was pretty evident that bad weather was on the way. My husband scanned the horizon and optimistically suggested it was looking better as we got closer. I did manage to get my transition area set up and make a bathroom trip before the downpour began. I eventually sat in the car with my wetsuit 1/2 on, contemplating what the day would bring.

The swim started on time because thankfully there was no lightning. My breathing, however, did not start on time. Even though I used my inhaler just before getting out of the car and heading to the beach area, it took about 10-15 minutes before I could breathe well enough to get into a proper swim stroke.

Bike? What bike? Where is it? Yup, I ran past my bike. The landmark I had selected to cue me as to where my bike was (2 rows past the "Bike Out" writing on the pavement) would have worked well if there had only been one of those writings. I lost at least 2 minutes trying to figure out where my bike was located. True, it shouldn't have been that hard because there weren't all that many bikes remaining in the transition area.

I clipped in easily and without incident - always nice on slick pavement, and headed out on the bike course. About 5 miles into the 25 mile ride, the storm hit. I, of course, was headed into the storm and the accompanying wind. There was some discussion as to whether we actually had hail or just very hard-hitting rain pelting us. I thought it was hail. It felt like hail. It was raining so hard it was difficult to see the road. My sunglasses were filled with water. My shoes were filled with water.

About 7-8 miles into the ride, I was headed up a slight incline just before a left-hand turn. )Since this was an out and back course, I had already been seeing the front riders on their way back in to the bike finish.) I saw him (one of the faster riders) preparing to take the right turn. He was going so fast that I told myself; "He'll never make that corner". And he didn't. His rear tire slid out from under him and he slid across the pavement.

Luckily the two riders behind him managed to avoid him. I unclipped quickly as it was happening, unsure how close to me he might slide. Once I was safely past the accident, one of the course workers asked if I was ok. I replied; "yes". The answer was really "no".

I rode for a bit longer until I was out of the view of the course volunteers and then I stopped alongside the road. The image of the Naperville crash came rushing back. I questioned what I was doing. Why was I out here in this storm, riding a road bike on thin little tires on slick roads? Two triathlons and witnessing two crashes firsthand.... is there a message in this?

I considered my options. Stop and then what? Wait here in the storm until someone comes along? Walk my bike back to the corner with the volunteers and tell them I'm done? So, I did what I had to do. Finally after about 5 minutes, I got back on my bike and started riding. I took it easy on the corners and the sections of road with a lot of standing water.

Once I reached the bike turn around, I had the wind at my back. The rain continued to come down hard, but at least I was headed back. I managed to ride between 18-22 mph in some sections on the way back (compared to my 11-14 mph on the way out). I even started to feel more confident riding of the extremely slick road.

T2 went better than my first transition. Of course, everything was soaked, so it was still slow, but I started out on the run fairly quickly. As I headed out, I went by my family... Madison (age 3) and Ella (age 2) were gleefully standing underneath their parent's umbrellas cheering me on. They were not phased by the weather at all. (Their parents, Lauren & Kirk, Lisa & Gary, on the other hand looked quite wet and miserable.) Uplifted by the the sounds of "Go Grandma, Go!", I began the run.

I told myself as I began running that part of the triathlon is my sport of choice. I can run. I love to run. And so I did. I even had fun during the run. My husband and the Team in Training group were volunteering at the Mile 1 (and Mile 5) water stop, so it was nice to have my own personal fan club as I went by both times.

As I ran into the finish area, I was greeted by the cheers of my family and also quite a few friends. It felt so good to have overcome (or at least managed) my fears and complete this triathlon. Today I was a "completer" and not a "competitor" and that was good enough.

3 triathlons this season. All 3 with bad weather. Steelhead 1/2 Ironman is in 2 weeks. Any bets on the weather?

Evergreen Olympic Tri Results:

Swim (.93 mile): 44:04

T1 (Saturday as my husband later said): 4:56

Bike (24.8 miles): 1:41

T2: 2:09

Run (6.2 miles): 59:44

Total: 3:32 (2007 time was 3:17)