During the winter months, I had discovered from USAT that I qualified for the national age group triathlon championship to be held in Burlington Vermont. The race weekend holds two events, the sprint and the Olympic distance (1500 meter swim, 40K bike and 10K run) events. I qualified for the Olympic distance so I jumped on the challenge looking for something new and exciting to experience, plus, I’m a triathlon coach and needed to add swim race experience to my years competing in duathlon. I booked the double goal; marathon in May and triathlon nationals in August, both held in Burlington. My wife and I enjoy the local scene up there and we wanted to take the kids up to explore a new place.
After the marathon at the end of May, my focus switched from running to a more balanced triathlon training plan. I expected my running legs to take at least a month to heal but in reality it took about two months before I could comfortably do speed work again or until my stride felt “normal”. Increasing both swimming and biking volume was not an issue, my enhanced lungs from all the running were eager to be more active and the group rides were happening everywhere.
I booked a few training races between the marathon and nationals to get fit and test my fitness. Three weeks out I raced the Lowell Olympic distance triathlon and had improved results. My swim, though not near the leaders in that race, was still showing signs of improving with 2-3 days a week in the pool. Overall my workouts were going well and the taper was giving me new energy.
My last week of work before our trip/vacation was going great, I was clearing everything off my to-do-list right to the last minute before heading out on my last day. Once I made the train home, I had that aaaah… moment of realizing it was vacation time, race in two days, and time with the family for over a week! That aaah feeling… is that delightful moment of decompression after having a beginning-of-vacation-
After I walked in the door, and was greeted by the kids, my wife headed out for her evening run (our typical routine of balancing the day) and while I started to make dinner. Within a few minutes, my daughter came up to me complaining “My tummy hurts”. Then she had that awful look of pending doom before I ran with her to the bathroom so she could lose it. Okay….so there is the sensitive parent side that instinctively springs into action to comfort our ailing children… and then there is the small inner child that screams, “What a way to start to a vacation!!” Our focus changed quickly from trip packing to making sure our oldest was getting some rest, sleep, hydration etc. My wife offered to stay up with her that night considering I had a race in two days (owe you one!!). I slept a bit but was distracted by the potential for a few days of family puke-fest, considering the contagiousness of these stomach bugs in 2012.
The four hour drive up to Vermont went as expected; child number two showed signs of stomach ailment and within an hour lost it all over her seat, her arm, floor, window, ceiling, my bike, our luggage, well maybe not that bad but it was chaos! I hopped into the back seat as my wife and I conversed in how to clean up this accident (all of this at “slightly” elevated voice levels). We had no towels, napkins or anything to clean up with… not great planning on our part. We raced to the next exit at ~15 mph because we were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic which was awesome for our spirit. Our oldest began complaining of the smell and critiqued our hazmat clean-up skills. The rest of the drive involved a few pit stops for our youngest. Both our kids were exhausted and we just wanted to get to the hotel to rest up. Should we turn around? Sarah was very supportive and committed to going up so I could do the race and pledged to take care of the kids while I raced. Plus the kids did not want to miss out on an adventure. Her generous and thoughtful offer was soon rewarded by contracting the virus herself once we reached the hotel.
After getting situated into the beds to rest and re-hydrate I went out to get supplies, drop off my bike at transition, see the course, get dinner and pull-ups (not for me, I swear). All the while, I was sweating it, not for the race but worrying about my kid’s health and of course fearing the virus was going to hit me at the ideal moment of race start. “Take your marks, get set… BLAAAH!!” Also, on the drive over to drop off my bike, my freshly pumped up tire exploded (pinch flat) so I had to change that upon arrival. I chipped my rear molar trying to get a stem-extension off the blown wheel…. Back to the dentist! After finding some Thai food and supplies I arrived back at the hotel to find the kids chilling and then Sarah headed off to retrieve the cloths from the hotel drier. I asked my squirming youngest how she felt and she responded immediately by vomiting all over the bed.
That night was another sleepless night but thankfully the kids were able to get some rest. I was able get a whopping 3-4 hours sleeping between our kids while my wife slept soundly by herself. It had not started that way but I seem to be a magnet for sleepless kids everywhere we are. I sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door at home so the kids make a b-line for me after nightmares or a any event that wakes them. I've had many moments of being in a deep sleepy, dreamy state and suddenly feeling like an alien is staring at me before my eyes adjust.
Anyhow, this is supposed to be about my race. In summary, I awoke early, feeling calm. The weather was perfect. I walked two miles to the course because we only brought one car. This ended up being my gradual warm-up and was to me, a peaceful way to start the day. At the start, the water was warm but very rough (no barfing at the countdown) and I thought some people would not enjoy swimming in these conditions. In all honesty, it was the roughest water I've swam in (though only my tenth triathlon). I was barely able to keep my swimming lines on target and often found myself swimming off course with all the turns. Getting out of the water was a sigh of relief. Onto the bike I felt at home and was able to get in some fast sections. The crowded turns kept me from going at my preferred speed for that distance but it likely kept my legs fresh for the run. , Run was fine, probably should have gone slightly faster at the start but there was very few people catching me nor was I catching anyone in my age group in the second half. However, I realized after the race, there were many more age group waves to follow and every second is huge at this athletic level. In the future I will give it everything I have in the run to improve overall time in the standings as every second faster can be another placing at nationals. Overall, I finished feeling strong, in one piece and wanting more. I finished in the top 3rd in my age group. Thanks for reading.
