It's been awhile since I've posted. Today marks exactly 1 week since I raced the Rev3 Williamsburg 1/2 Aquabike but also, it has been 13 years since I had knee surgery. So, here is the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
Let's start with race morning. Oh, I was originally expecting hot ass hell weather. Well, Mother Nature decided otherwise. We had rain!!!! You train for the race that you're given, not the race you want.
We had to bring shoes because there was approximately a .8 mile run from swim out to transition. Also, we had a new bike course from last year which I am so grateful for.
Swim:
Per usual, I do not know why I always go into a cry-fit. I think it is because it is just the release of all the stress that I've been dealing with. Any hoo, I had my #FastChix and #CoeurSisters with me.
So we walked down the pier because we had to jump off the pier and swim towards the orange squiggly guy and climb out. Well, let's talk about the swim in the Chickahominy River. It is literally the most nastiest body of water only second to Tempe Town Lake. So, I'm swimming and it took a while to get my rhythm but I finally got it. I was sighting roughly every 8 strokes. During 2 different stroke/sight cycles I saw jumping fish. I also had to navigate through plant life, diesel smell and swimming over a log. Yes, a log and in my defense I couldn't see it because the water was brown and gross. Once I made it to the ladder, I climbed out and took proceeded to take my glasses out of my sports bra. Why??? Well, there was no special needs table. Once I got my shoes on, it was time to do my run to transition. Geez!!! Can I just say that this is where I was saying in my head, "This is some absolute bullshit!"
Time: a 4 minute PR (46 minutes)
Transition time: 13 minutes and some change
Transition area:
It was a mud fest and everything was wet. I made the decision to not throw on my socks because they were soaking wet. Why try to put on wet socks? I threw on my cycling shoes, my visor, my helmet and grabbed Beeker and was ready to go.
The bike:
For some bizarre reason I had the hardest time clipping in to my pedals. I don't know what happened, but I finally got locked in and it was time to roll.
Oh, embrace the rain. I knew that the course had loose gravel. It was ridiculous! I went slower than I normally would because number one, it was pouring rain and there was a lot of loose gravel but add in traffic as well. I could have just been miserable, but I decided to change my mindset. My mindset was that I could do this all day. Thank you Captain America!!!
Well, while riding, the goal was to keep pedaling, stay upright and have fun. Somewhere around mile 20ish, I saw a dead deer on the side of the row. Don't focus, keep pedaling. Further down the road, I thought there were crows. No, there were a million buzzards! Okay, not a million but they were on a fence waiting for me to fall so they could eat my carcass. #pedalbishpedal
Further down the road, a truck sped past me. I had another "Final Destination" moment. The truck had logs on it. #iykyk
Luckily, highway patrol was very helpful with directing traffic. I was happy that this was the new course and not the old course. If it was the Old course, I think there would have been a lot more accidents due to how technical the old course was in nature.
Plantations, cornfields, more plantations, pouring rain and I kept going. I knew that I could make the cutoffs and I didn't have to run. When I saw mile 50, I knew I was home and I had to just keep pushing. I surprisingly wasn't really tired but I didn't want to push it due to the rain and all of the loose gravel.
When I made it to the dismount line, I was so happy to not topple over. When I got back to my bike spother, I changed shoes and crossed the finish line.
Time: 4 hours, 14.2 mph
Overall time: 5 hours
After thoughts:
Overall I'm happy with my performance even with all of the everyday stresses that I deal with on a daily basis. If I had did the Olympic Aquabike, I would have placed. I placed overall 10 out of 10 and 4 out of four for women.
I trashed my cycling shoes because there was no saving them anymore. In my defense, I did purchase the shoes for $25 8 years ago. I got my money's worth. Now if anyone can help me on finding a pair of cycling shoes for someone who has a size 12 AAU'S (double narrow), I would be very, very appreciative. Now if I have to go with another pedal system I will if it is absolutely necessary. This was the first time I went 56 miles without stopping at any aid stations. I had all that I needed nutrition wise.
The most important thing for me was that I was able to be with my people. I was able to just turn off my brain and just enjoy being with a group of wonderful amazing women and I am so appreciative of that. Until the next adventure.
XOXO,
#Afrocoach
