Camp Pendelton Sprint

Race report: Saturday morning, snoozed 3 times at 5am and somehow managed to crawl out of bed after staying up way too late watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics...I have a feeling this will happen a lot in the next 2 weeks. Drove all the way up to the base, parked, checked in, walked all the way to the transition area, got organized, and then waited. Forever.
I was in the 2nd to last wave at 8:47am. Our heat got off and it was quite a swim. I'd say probably the hardest 500 yard race I've been in. The surf was pretty crazy as were the currents. I somehow managed to not catch any waves on the way in...just my luck...but was the first out of the water, battling it out with another girl on the 200 yard deep sand run to the transition. T1-holy crap I was out of breath! "Relax. jeepers! socks, shoes, helmet, sun glasses; now go! Oh crap! I didn't check to see which gear my bike was in and the start of the bike was an uphill ramp. lovely. shift. ok, go. You are breathing way too hard. You need water. Slow the breathing, get some water. Overpass hill, don't push too hard. Ok, get in the groove."
The bike was interesting. I saw 7 people with flats. Not including my friend Farah who got one in the last 2 miles of the race. I felt crappy the entire first 5 miles of the 18 mile out and back course. I was alternating drinking my powerade endurance with water. At the halfway point I had the volunteers splash me with water to cool off which felt amazing. I started feeling stronger. I ate a hammer gel at mile 13.7 which made my stomach feel not so great. Luckily that passed. Finished right around an hour (official splits aren't out until Wednesday) and was feeling ok going into T2. Switch shoes, number on, helmet off, hat on. Go!
Run: ramp again. lovely. an uphill run for the first half mile. I was literally shuffling my feet, thinking to myself, "Is this going to end?" Got some water at the first turn and dumped it on my head, which i proceeded to do at every aid station, and I feel was smart choice to help me from overheating. Mile 1, as usual I felt like crap. Mile 2, ok I can do this. Seriously, Rachel, it's only 3 miles. pick it up. Mile 3, alright, I'm finally feeling good. Stride is stronger and quicker. On the final push a 50 yr old man passed me. But he started his kick way too soon. And there was no way I was letting that happen. So about 10 seconds later I started my push, and passed him in the final steps. I was sprinting. wow. I didn't know I had it in me. 1:39 was my final time. Paul and I estimated that my goal time should be under 1:40... woohoo! :)
The usual lightheadedness set in. Then I had to cross a hovercraft with a steep up and down ramp. It was pretty neat actually. Drank more water, ate some orange slices and walked back down the ramp to the transition area to clean up. I went to the awards to cheer on my fellow TCSD winners and ended up hearing my name! The women's results hadn't been posted, so it was a nice surprise to hear that I placed 3rd in my age group!
Afterwards a bunch of TCSDers went to Oceanside Ale Works for a beer tasting event. Yummy! I then went to Bethany's and took her for a walk and watched Juno. Back at home to watch Phelps kick some a$$.
Sunday I slept in...mmm that was nice. Then I biked to the Cove, swam 3 miles, and biked back. (20 mile bike). The swim was cove/pier/cove and it was super choppy and pretty freakin cold. The currents were crazy. 35 min out going easy and 47 on the way back with considerably more effort. On the way home I got a flat on my rear tire in the middle of a bridge. Great. However, I fixed it myself and made it home! (yes I'm proud of myself) It was my 3rd flat, but my first time changing it without help/supervision. :) Sunday night I went to a Tri Club BBQ/Olympics watching party.
Kyle's challenge: Rachel has to run at least 30 min every day and Kyle has to swim at least 500 meters. We'll see how this goes. Club Race on Saturday.