Vikingman...er...woman

I heard about this triathlon a few years ago when some friends did it. It's called the Viking man 1/2 iron man. It's a small local event that coincides with the Skandidad festival in Burley, Idaho. With a swim downstream in the snake river and a fairly flat course for the run and bike, it sounded like the perfect event to get started on long course triathlons.

So, I registered for it in December and spent all of January training to get up the minimum fitness level required for my chosen training schedule. In mid February, I started training (for real) and kept it up all through the crazy weather we had this winter and spring.

Last week, in anticipation of the big event, I began religiously checking the weather. On Monday, the weather forecast for Saturday in Burley, Idaho was 80's with thundershowers. On Tuesday it was 70's with thundershowers. On Wednesday it was 60's with rain, then thundershowers. I didn't want to check on Thursday for fear that it would say 30's with snow! Weather became a really big distraction for me because I wanted it to be perfect. But that stupid Doppler radar thing was not giving me good news.

On Thursday night my cousin and his wife and daughter drove up from Las Vegas and stayed the night. Friday morning we left for Burley together. My cousin was the reason I signed up for the thing in the first place, so we decided to carpool. We made our way north and as we got to Burley, the skies opened up, the temperatures dropped and it started to pour. I was trying to be hopeful that the weather would be good, but things were looking fabulous.

We checked into the Burley Best Western, had the buffet pasta dinner, got our race packets and listened in on the mandatory pre-race meeting. They went over a few key things, but the one I paid attention to was that it was going to be cold, so they were going to provide changing tents in the transition areas. Luckily, I had thrown in an extra sports bra and race short, so I was going to be able to change into dry clothes before the bike. I was really excited all of a sudden because this was a huge worry. Riding in cold conditions is already one of least favorite things to do and riding in cold, windy, wet conditions in wet clothes is unimaginable because I have an indoor trainer and that's just not something I do.

Saturday morning we decided to wake up at 4:30 so we could get to the transition area before 5:30. At about 4am I woke up on my own (didn't really sleep much the night before) and checked the weather on my phone. It said the current conditions were light rain and 45 degrees. I decided to check to see if it was right. It was wrong! It was pouring and the temp on the sign in front of the hotel said it was 42 degrees. So, we woke up and dragged our feet getting ready. I think we finally got to the transition area about 6am and were probably one of the last people to arrive. The official race start was 7am so we still had plenty of time for all the necessary preparation. Once at the race, the weather started to improve. The rain slowed down to a true light rain, just a few drops here are there. Really, just enough to keep things damp. The wind was kind a bummer because it was chilly and wet and it just made things that much more uncomfortable.

I got my bike racked and I got a place right next to the fence so I could sort of spread my stuff around which was nice. Of course, all my stuff was in plastic garbage bags so it wouldn't get soaked while I was competing. After getting all set up in the transition, me and my cousin drove to the swim start, got our wet suits on and waited for the start. The swim was in the Snake river and we were starting from a boat ramp in the backyard of some generous Burley resident on the north side of the river. The water temp was around 61 degrees, so not terribly cold. I was in the last heat, but there were only 3 so I didn't have to wait very long. I waded out into the water with the rest of the women and aqua/bike competitors when they called our heat. Now, I didn't know this, but not very many people do this event. In fact, I thought it would have more people this year than last because most events take off. But not this one. There were probably only 40 people in the water with me, so there was plenty of space for everyone. They started the countdown and we were off. I couldn't believe that I was finally doing the Viking man! This was probably the best part of the whole race. The swim was fantastic. I warmed up really fast and got into a really nice swim groove. Really, it went by too fast. It was the most comfortable, enjoyable, warmest part of the whole race. My feet were numb, but other than that, it was delightful. The water was a little rippled, but the current just kept pushing me right down the river. In 30 minutes I was at the dock and climbing up the ladder.

I only paused a moment to flash a swim capped, goggled brilliant smile at the Zazoosh photographer, then I was dashing up the dock to the transition area. But there were all these distractions which made T1 take forever! First, there was a table with water and heed. So I tried some of that. Then I had to run on this wet sandy trail that went on forever!! I finally got to the transition area and luckily, distraction #3 was wetsuit strippers. No, they don't strip, they help you strip. So I dropped my butt on the wet ground and someone yanked my suit off. At least that helped speed things up for the longest transition of my life.

I got to my stuff after my wetsuit was off, grabbed my garbage bag full of dry clothes and ran over to the changing tent. Now, mind you, this was an 8x8 tent with tarp walls that kept flapping in the wind, so my inclination was to try and be as modest as possible, but then I figured, no one really wants to see this. So I started stripping and got my wet shorts off and the dry ones on. Then I got my sports bra off and just when I was trying to get my dry one on, the classic, sports bra on cold wet body thing happened...yeah, the sports bra wrapped itself around itself a hundred times and I was stuck. I couldn't get the thing on. I probably wasted 1 minuted trying to wrangle the thing on me. Finally, I felt a giant tug down my back and it was on. A merciful competitor had grabbed the back of the twisted bra and pulled it on for me. I reciprocated for her because she had the same problem. With that taken care of, I moved on to the many other layers I had to put on to make this ride as tolerable as possible. First my base layer tank, then my tri jersey, then my arm warmers, then my wind jacket, then my beanie, then my gloves, then socks and shoes. I got all my junk on and got to my bike. Grabbed it and started to run out of the transition area. Then I realized I needed to go pee. Luckily, there was an outhouse right there, so I ran in there, but you can only empty your bladder so fast and just had to wait until it was done. Finally, I got on my bike and started the longest part of the race. I found out later that whole transition took over 11 minutes...I think that's a record for the slowest transition in history.

The bike started out problematic. I have a Cervelo P1 that I just bought and for my hydration I went with the water bottle on the aerobars. The bike is awesome, the water bottle system stinks. About 2 miles into the ride I noticed my water bottle was coming off. I kept going for a few minutes, but I realized after monkeying with it that I was going to have to stop to fix it. 2 minutes later I get back on and start riding again. The bottle came off again a few miles later and I had to stop again. This time I took a little longer and got the strap on good and tight. Now, the real reason the bottle came off was not just due to my shoddy strap application, it was more related to the really bumpy road. The majority of the 28 mile loop (which we had to do twice) was rural farm roads. These roads were chip sealed, pot holed, sink holed, speed bumped and all around rough. The only good part was the tail wind. There were a few sections where we got to ride on relatively smooth highway, but we had to deal with a head wind on these sections. In fact, the last 8 miles of the loop were on beautiful road, but the head wind made it hard to go fast. So, pretty much every section on this course had some challenging aspect. I made it around the first time with only the water bottle incident and I felt really strong and fast. The second time around, I passed the transition area, pulled out my water bottle that I had on my water bottle cage and dropped it. I still had 27 miles to go, so I slammed on my brakes, fishtailed because it was so wet and turned around to go back and get it. Water bottles are my nemesis! After that, I didn't have any more water bottle incidents, but I did have more crappy road and lots of headwind at the end. I don't think I've ever looked forward to a run more in my life than I did during the last 5 miles of this ride. I couldn't wait to get out of the saddle. I finished the bike strong and didn't have any problems transitioning to the run except when I put my running shoes on, I realized my feet were numb.

So, I started the run with numb feet. I felt really strong and actually ran the first mile really fast. Which was probably because I had to pee again and I knew I had to get to mile marker 1 aid station for the next set of port-a-potties. So, 2 minutes later I got finished with the bathroom break and set out on my run. At this point my feet were thawed, so I could feel them and all was well. I ran on and mile after mile things started to deteriorate. With every mile I started to run slower and my heart started to let me know that it wasn't going to keep going at the pace I wanted to go much longer and my knees started to protest. Oh, how I wished I had some advil!

The run started with a 6 mile out and back which was flat and on a road mostly so it was pretty nice. Then at about mile 6 we had to pass the finish line and start an out and back combined with a loop that would take us the last 7 or so miles. Passing the finish line with tired sore feet and with the knowledge that I was going to have to go another 7 miles into a headwind that seemed to always be there no matter which direction I went was the most tortuous thing I've ever had to do. But I pressed on and ran. I ran by the airport dodging potholes, I ran through mud, I ran next to the river, I ran by a white trash rally where they were "burning rubber" which I could smell quite strongly. Then I had to walk to keep going. My knees were just dying and my little heart was just giving up. But I kept going with more frequent walk breaks. Finally at mile 12, I just couldn't muster up the energy to keep running and another woman came up on me and I don't know if she took pity on me, but she compassionately started walking with me. We talked all the way to the end, occasionally running. She totally distracted me from the pain and fatigue and made what could have been the most unpleasant mile, the most enjoyable. Thanks Janet!!

Finally, I made it to the finish line with a time of 6 hours and 20 minutes. Aside from the really long transition and the super slow run time, I think it went pretty well and I'm glad I did it. I think I'll only sign up for 1 of these a year though. Long course triathlons are tough and I can't believe I finished one.