Since I have been back from Las Vegas and the West Cup, I haven’t really been feeling in tip top shape. Actually, I wasn’t feeling that good while in Vegas either, but after Vegas, things went downhill really, really fast. I had massive headaches, felt dizzy most of the time and I was extremely tired, so for the past 6 weeks, training has been all over the place. Some days I felt fine and managed to train almost normally, some days, I just couldn’t do anything. Eventually, I was diagnosed with an ear infection, was given antibiotics and told to not do any training for a week, it seemed to do the job.
About 2 weeks before the race in Farragut, I got back into normal training, I did noticed that the day after a swim, I would get headaches, but overall I was feeling much better. I was pretty excited to get back to training, and racing. I knew that I would probably not be ready for the race in Farragut with only 2 weeks of training behind me, but the racing opportunities in the Pacific Northwest are limited to about 3 months of the year so you take it when it’s there!
On the Friday before the race I headed East to Idaho, taking the slowest most scenic route! I don’t really enjoy interstates so when I travel to a race, I also like to enjoy the drive getting to it!
My hotel was about 40 miles from the race site and having done this race last year, I decided to skip the pre-ride and just relax instead…Race morning was pleasant, since the race didn’t start until noon! I was feeling still pretty good when I arrived at Farragut State Park. I ran into teammate Tim Holland at registration, it’s always cool to see teammates at races…
I got set up, then went for a warm up ride and then a warm up run. Then it was time to suit up for the very very cold swim!
We headed down to the beach, I was prepared for the cold water with my Profile Design Goldcell, my neoprene cap and booties! However I wasn’t quite ready for the cold water, it was announced at a balmy 46 degrees! I knew I had to get in the water before the start to “get used to it” , it took me a few minutes to master the courage to actually put my head in the water, the result: instant Slurpee brain freeze! Because of the cold water, the swim was shortened to 750m (instead of 1500m)…in my opinion, 750m in these conditions is plenty!
The race director fired his shotgun (it’s Idaho) and we were off! As I ran from the beach into the water, I tripped over a rock…my foot was partly saved by the booties but it did hurt anyways… then I started swimming and amazingly got into a pretty good rhythm. The tricky part about this swim is the current, or whatever is going on in this lake (which is a 1000′ deep), so you really have to pay attention to where you are going…
I got out of the water in 13′ and then started the long trek up to transition (up the stairs, across the field, it’s far). Once in transition, the first sign of “something’s wrong” appeared: I had to sit down to remove my wetsuit and put on my bike shoes! I never do this, ever!
Once on the bike, I go cranking like I usually do but it felt a lot harder than usual. I could not generate and speed or power, and my heart rate was thru the roof, almost like I had heart palpitations!
About 15 minutes onto the bike, my heart rate was still super high, even thou it had a few descents to “recover”, but that’s when I started getting dizzy! Then the headaches appeared…the bike course felt incredibly long, turns out it was a bit longer than last year and totaled 23 miles… I was doing my best to keep going, and as I was approaching the end of the first loop, I was starting to wonder if I should continue or not? My condition was getting worse as the race went on… but against my better judgment, I continued onto loop 2…
During loop 2, I got passed more than usual, had to pull over to puke twice, and I was getting so dizzy that I crashed head & shoulder first onto a tree that should have been avoided pretty easily under normal circumstances … I was feeling so bad at that point that I couldn’t eat anything to get ready for the run, and I was now very seriously considering throwing the towel … but, I hadn’t seen anyone from my age group and I knew I could be leading it (or be dead last).To top it off, a DNF meant no points… so I got back to T2, racked my S_Works Epic, put on my Avia Bolts, and went for the run …
bike: 2h09 (15 min slower than last year! Yikes)
The run was extremely unpleasant, the view was nice, but I had to concentrate hard to not fall, stumble or trip. The pressure in my head was unbearable and the dizziness was still very present. It took all the willpower I had to actually finish the race…The run course felt super long too, but it’s probably because I was feeling like crap! Finally, I had the finish line in sight! I finished in 3:28. I could not longer stand up, I had to lay down, someone got me some ice and 1/2hr went by before I could stand up again…
At the awards, I found out that I won my age group! Good thing I kept going and finished!
I find it a little ironic, I had tons of great races last year where I didn’t win my age group, and for once a super super bad race translate into an age group win … it’s too weird…
In any case, this is my 9th Xterra/triathlon season and to this day, I have finished every race I started.
WAY TO GO ALEXIA! Great job. Amazing report.