Sunday, July 26, 2009

Spalsh & Dash #3 Report

or "All Kinds o' Sucky"

PRE-RACE
Alarm went off and I popped out of bed after only hitting the snooze button once.

Made my way to the kitchen to make coffee. Then went to the bedroom to get dressed. Came back to the kitchen and there was coffee everywhere. I don't know why, but about once out of every 10 times that I make coffee, I do something wrong and we end up with a coffee mess everywhere.

To have it happen on this particular morning wasn't so good. I found myself cleaning up the coffee mess when I should have been drinking coffee and eating breakfast. I managed to get everything cleaned up well enough the the rest of the family could make coffee when they woke up. But I was now running out of time. There would be no coffee for me and my breakfast was reduced to whatever I could find to grab and go. Which turned out to be a strawberry milk chug and a small POM Wonderful.

I also wasn't able to rewrap my finger. Somewhere in the midst of the coffee disaster, I misplaced the tape. Couldn't find it anywhere. Time was ticking, and I needed to go.

This time the event was at a location a bit farther from my house. The drive over stressed me out a bit, but I made it on time. Got body marked, signed a waiver, and then went back to my car to rummage through my first aid kit in search of tape.

Found some white tape that seemed like it would work. Taped my finger to the one next to it. Went over to the pool and tested it out. I found that it didn't hurt too much if I bent my two fingers in toward the palm of my hand. My swim was definately going to be compromised, the entry and pull on the left was messed up, but I could do it.

Got lined up and waited my turn to start...

The SWIM (400M)
The swim was up and back in each lane, then under the rope to the next lane, and so on until the 400M swim was complete. The were starting us 30secs apart. I had estimated my swim at 8:15, a pace of 2:04/100 based on my last month's splash & dash result.

I turned to the person behind me and apologized in advance. I expected to be swimming slower than my estimated time. She said "no worries" the lanes were wide enough, she'd just pass if she needed to.

My watch says that I finished in 9:20, a pace of 2:19/100. Definately slower than my estimate, but not as bad as I expected with the compromised left hand. And while the lady behind me made ground on me, she never got close enough to pass (in the water).

TRANSITION
There isn't too much to set up in transition for a splash & dash. I set up my shoes, socks, hat, and small handheld full of Nuun.


All I had to do was throw down my goggle and cap, put on the shoes, grab the hat and bottle and go. Somehow this took me 1:01.

The RUN (5K)

The run course consisted of going up and over a highway on a pedestrian bridge, then running along side the highway on a bike path. Possibly one of the least scenic courses ever. The first part was on a gradual incline, then after the turn around, it was a gradual decline.

I knew I was in trouble about 100 yds into my run. The combination of lack of coffee and decent breakfast, extra energy spent in the pool trying to make up for issues with my left hand, and the sloshing in my stomach of strawberry milk and pomagrante juice was not doing good things for my body. My stomach was upset and I seriously contemplated if puking might make me feel better.

Struggling the whole time, I was passed on the run by many participants who started well after me in the swim. Run time ended up being 33:45, an 11:12 pace. For a 5K?!?! Ugggh. I think that's the slowest 5K I've run in 3 yrs, possibly ever. The only exception was the 5K at the end of the Patriot Tri last year which I mostly walked due to my knee, so that doesn't count.

My total combined time ended up being 44:06. While I wasn't the last to cross the finish line because of the seeded swim start, I think there is a good chance that I had the slowest combined time and will be listed in the results as the final finisher.

What can I say? It definately wasn't my day. I expected a slower swim, but never anticipated having such trouble on the run. Sometimes it just isn't meant to be.

But that isn't a good reason to give up, right? I thanked the race director on my way out and told him that I planned to be back for the next one...

[Edited several hours later to thank you all for your comments so far! I still can't believe just how sucky this was, but I like to think it was more a situation gone awry than a reflection of my ability. The next one will surely be better!]

26 comments:

  1. You do these for fun right? Sounds like a great way to start a Sunday!!

    Everyone has a less than stellar race now and then! The fact that you plan to be back for the next one speaks volumes. :)

    Have a great rest of your weekend Lisa!!

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  2. I'm impressed that you did the race! With everything working against you, you rallied pretty well and still have another event in the books. Congrats :)

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  3. Considering the broken finger, and the rough start to the morning, kudos to you for even getting out the door! May not have been your A race, but I still give you an A+ for getting it done... your next one will be better :)

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  4. With your hand situation and everything else, I'd say you did quite well!

    Since you've talked about the dash-n-splash, I wonder if there are any over here? Hmmmm...

    Congratulations!

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  5. Sorry that it didn't go as planned, but you still persevered and finished it! That's always an accomplishment! Congrats.

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  6. Wow Lisa, after all the mishaps, just showing up for the event should've earned you a medal.
    And yet despite all that you still competed and crossed the finish line -that's a winning attitude.
    Well done! :)

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  7. Ugh, what a rough way to start the day. I hate when my 'routine' is thrown off before a race. I think you handled it well! Congrats on another S&D!

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  8. WELL DONE LISA! just that bit about milk and juice sloshing around in your tummy was enough to make me queasy and I'm not even running!

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  9. A finish is a finish. You'll appreciate a great race next time that much more.

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  10. Sorry you had such a tough race. You had a lot of factors working against you - finger, lack of food, stressful morning. You finished and that is all that matters. You know you will do better next go around. You should feel great that you competed and finished with all that stuff going on!

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  11. Your description of the coffee debacle made me laugh because I do the same thing ALL. THE. TIME. and then I swear like a truck driver...

    Unlike you, I leave the mess for later to clean up...then I get to get all irritated AGAIN about why I can't manage to make coffee for myself in the early AM w/o spilling coffee all over the freekin' place.

    (Betcha you're surprised that THAT is the element in this blog that someone decided to rant and rave about).

    Sorry about the race. I think it's awesome that you persevered and were out there...now heal that finger (are you flipping me off right now?) LOL!

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  12. It's REALLY hard to have a good race when your morning starts off in such a poopy way. BUT! you got out there and you did it

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  13. With the way your day started, it sounds like it wasnt going to be your day. You still went out there and pushed through with a broken finger and made it to the finish. I could see how milk and pom could really make the stomach sour

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  14. The breakfast of champions! You need to keep some powder sugar donuts around in a case that sez, "Break in case of Emergency!" and what's with this COFFEE ABUSE. I am notifying the proper Democratic committee...

    and since when did you start typing in such small print? I can't read it!! If you or going to type something in a different font, make it four times larger than the your normal font.

    There are other things, but I think this is enough for now...

    oh, and good race :-)

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  15. You did good girlie!! Don't be so hard on yourself!

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  16. Whenever I think I didn't have a good race/run/practice, etc. I try to focus on the fact that it was better than I would have done from home on my couch. Good for you for getting out there even with an injury. Here's to the next one...

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  17. Dude, I would have totally crawled back into bed if my coffee exploded.

    Good job on finishing!

    MCM Mama

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  18. i am still in awe that with a crazy finger you were ready to swim! You're right some race days just aren't "the day", but the important is yet another finish and more lessons learned

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  19. Awww, chica - your day got totally off from the get-go! I would've just said "forget it" if I had all that happening on the morning of a race.

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  20. Congrats - YOU DID IT!

    I know that doesn't sound like much given your disappointment... but you made it to the start and you plundered to the end... well done for sticking with it! :o)

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  21. Bummer about the coffee mishap in the morning. But you still managed to finish your race even with the bad hand, which I suspect may have been good enough reason for many to bail on the race entirely. Chalk it up to a lesson learned on pre-race nutrition and don't look back!

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  22. sounds like my race....it just wasn't in the cards for us.

    You kept at it though and it seems like I'll be hearing about another race, which is good news.

    I have to say, I don't envy that breakfast though...lol.

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  23. You pulled off a great race, in spite of all the problems of the day! Good job!

    I love the white and pink socks!

    I've done that with my coffee maker too. I think my problem was putting too many grinds in and/or having the coffee ground too fine.

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  24. I think you are incredible for even doing this race with your hand issues and everything else that has been going on. I agree with you totally that it was just a situation gone awry. You will rock the next one!

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  25. I HATE it when the damn filter folds over causing the coffee maker to puke up coffee grinds and water all over the counter! Not that I have ever done that before, or, umm.. this morning.

    NO coffee and you still showed up to the race?! You are a ROCKSTAR! I would have surely drown.

    33:45 5K? That is not ever the worst 5K I have run this WEEK.

    Go you!

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  26. That's a good perspective to have. You did have a breakfast very high in liquid content there!

    I was close to last in the open water swim I did, and the ones that finished after me were generally 20-30 years older. :)

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