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Scary Stuff - Chattanooga Waterfront Aquabike

“He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.”
― Shannon L. Alder

Chattanooga Waterfront Olympic Distance Triathlon (Aquabike)
Date of Race: June 29, 2014
Total Race Time = 2h 14m 11s
Overall Place = 6/10

Pre-pre-race: Mid-March, I was riding my bike at Silk Sheets when something got caught in my back wheel causing it to lock up.  I fishtailed and crashed, breaking my hand.  I had surgery to have 3 pins put in for 5 weeks.  During this recovery process, there was no training.  Any sweat could cause the pins to get infected.  Once my bike was inspected, there was 2 cracks found on the frame.  The cracks were determined by the manufacturer to have been from riding hard on the trainer.  My new frame came in about a week before the race.  It was fit to me on Wednesday, with a race on Sunday.  I was sick Thursday and Friday --this lead to the first time being back on a bike being the race itself.

Pre-race:  The Friday before the race I decided to go for a 2 mile run.  I had barely been running and could do about 3 miles at a run/walk interval and it wasn't too terrible.  .8 miles in, I sprained my ankle.  I walked the rest of the way home.  On the drive up to Chattanooga Saturday afternoon, I spoke with my coach and was advised to switch to the Aquabike Category.  No sense in overdoing it at a race I am doing with zero training.
ATC "crazy" shot pre-race

I had dinner with the group on Saturday night, along with 2 beers.  I have found that pre-race beer seems to help me out.  I woke up Sunday morning, got my gear together, and headed out for the mile walk to the race start.  I wasn't prepared for nutrition, so I had a buddy fruit and some water for breakfast followed by a gu right before I got in the water.  Once at the swim start, I chatted with ATCers.  Since I had switched to aquabike, my nerves were fine.  Without the run, I can do anything!

Headed to the swim start
Swim: I can count the number of times I have swam since I broke my hand on half of my hand, so I wasn't expecting anything from this swim.  It was all about experience.  I divide the swim up into 4 parts and set my watch to buzz at each part.  This allows me to know exactly how much I have swam, how much more is left, as well as to know what effort I should be putting out at each point in the swim. I find this helps so much on any open water swim, no matter what the distance.

I was number 24, so I was in the water pretty early.  There were a few people that passed me, but for the most part, I had my space in this race.  I started off slow and never really found a good pace.  I hadn't trained, so I just took it easy, keeping  my rhythm with each stroke.  The swim was over before I knew it and I was decently happy with what I had done. I actually expected to take a few breaststrokes or tread water for a few just because my arms are not prepared to swim the distance, but I didn't break stroke and for that, I am thrilled!

Swim Time: 24m:26s  (1/10 Aquabike)

Oh those stairs.... 
T1: I started to run right out of the water until I hit the steps in the park.  My ankle hurt and I remembered that I shouldn't be running.  I walked/slowly trotted my way into T1.  I took my time at transition. I just wasn't in a hurry.  Again, the day was all about getting the race experience in.

T1 Time: 3m:58s (5/10 Aquabike)

Thrilled to be finished!!!
Bike: This is the part I was most nervous about.  I figured as long as I didn't have a panic attack, then I would be ok.  I think that having my first time riding a bike since my accident be a race actually helped me out.  There was no time to question or second guess myself.  I just clipped in and started riding.  I got passed by soooooo many people on this race.  As I gathered my confidence, I was so slow.  Once we got on the highway, I had a little more confidence and I was actually able to get into aero, which I didn't think I would be comfortable doing.  I did get scared on the downhill sections as they were long and fast.  I stayed in an upright position with my hands on the break.  I didn't allow myself to go more than 26 miles per hours.  I was scared of going fast, crashing, and then getting hurt again.

Mentally, this bike ride is up there with Ironman.  It took a lot of willpower to get back on the bike, stay on it for the entire race, and not freak out.  Many ATCers passed me and said hi and told me I looked good.  Even though I didn't feel like I looked good, the encouragement was so appreciated.  Those of you who saw me had no idea what was going on in my head and just how scared I was.  At the very end of the ride, I get a "hey sweetpea" from Sara and also some encouragement from Krystle.  It was just what I needed to push me into transition.  Thanks guys!

This bike ended up being about 18 minutes slower than last year's ride, but I didn't care.  There was no time goal on this.  It was all about getting it done and getting back out there.

Bike Time: 1h:45m:48s

Anticlimactic - re-racking my bike in Transition
With Hilary pre-race
Post Race: An Aquabike is a little anticlimactic.  You come into transition and you are done.  That's it --no hoopla.  I handed off my timing chip and snuck out of transition.  I grabbed a banana and then headed to the finish line to collect my medal and a bottle of water.  I headed over to the ATC tent, where people were starting to gather.  I cheered on my teammates and just had fun being at a race again.
Debriefing with Coach post-race
What would you do differently: I wouldn't recommend do a race without training.  I hurt so much the next morning.  My shoulders were sore and my inner thighs were killing me.  I would also prepare for the race the week prior.  I had no breakfast food and I was hungry while I was swimming.

Rate your overall experience with this race: This race is a 5.  I still haven't done the triathlon though since last year the swim was cancelled and this year i didn't do the run.  For those doing the race, I would recommend booking your hotel early.  The closer you are to the start, the better it is.  I booked a little late this year and the walk was not fun in the morning

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