Race Result

Racer:	Gwen Corley
Race:	Triple-T
Date:	Friday, May 23, 2008
Location:	Portsmouth, OH
Race Type:	Triathlon - Other
Age Group:	Female 45 - 49
Time:	14:34:37
Age Group Place:	3 / 6
Comment:	What a wild ride!

Race Report:

Triple T Race Report
Warning: Long report. But hey, it is 3 race reports in one.
I had signed up for this race because I did not race last season and was looking for an opportunity to train and practice. The idea of doing something different seemed to be a good one at the time. I am also on the list serve for FCA-E (Fellowship of Christian Athletes-Endurance) and was looking forward to meeting fellow team mate, Adrienne O'Day at the race. We'd never met so I was going to just keep my eye out for the FCA-E hat she said she'd be wearing. God had already gone ahead of us and in His typical fashion, we ended up racking our bikes right next to each other! My bike has my name and business logo on it so when Adrienne came up to me and introduced herself, I was a little surprised until she pointed out my bike. Adrienne was traveling with friends from Michigan, and I got to meet the rest of her crew. We had a blast the entire weekend! Even when we were suffering through the last few miles of Race #4, it was great to pass each other and give an encouraging word. Here's how the weekend unfolded...
Day 1: Friday 5pm Prologue
250M Swim: 6:13
Swim seemed long. The water was 56 degrees. I made the mistake of not getting wet first. The cold really took my breath away and for the first time I could now understand how folks panic in the water, as I found myself almost hyperventilating. Regained composure after the first turn.
T1: 1:23
Long run into T1 allowed for halfway stripping off wetsuit.
5 mile Bike: 14:40
This was within the park. One long climb and I was very conservative on the descent.
T2: :47
1 mile run: 8:21
Mostly on grass and gravel. One little hill, gradual uphill on the way out.
So now I'm primed for the races on Saturday. I was in second place in my age group but was pretty sure I wasn't going to stay there. There were only six of us in the masters age group. This should have been my first clue that this was a race for the true endurance athletes.
Overall place: 237/282
Age Group Place 2/6

Saturday
Race #2 Olympic Distance
Chilly morning. Slept o.k. At local campground. My husband, Robert, was a real gem. Made coffee at 5:30AM and helped me to stay calm about getting to the race. We were just down the road and there was no issue with parking.
This time I made sure to get in the water and “warm up.” While scoping out the course and being a wuss about getting wet, I noticed a man with a tatoo of the crucified Christ. I commented on how cool that was and asked if he would like to pray with me. He eagerly accepted; as we prayed another athlete joined in our prayer and we just asked God to be glorified in our efforts that day.
Swim: 750 Meters 23:50
Uneventful. What I like about this course is that the sun was never an issue and sighting was easy. We started 3 seconds apart in time trial fashion, which eliminated a lot of the thrashing you normally get at the beginning of a race. I did have one issue with a man who was passing me around bouy #2 and used my shoulder to push off of, causing me to go backwards a little. I thought, “How rude.” but remembered it is a tri and this isn't as bad as getting kicked in the face.
T1: 2:15
Not sure why this took so long?
Bike: 1:39:06
Beautiful scenery! Coming into this first section there were some culverts being installed which left dirt covered rows in the road that acted like speed bumps. I saw a man fixing a flat and thought it was Cascio. He looked focused as he was getting the rear wheel back on his bike. Sure enough, a short time later he came whizzing by me so fast I didn't have a chance to cheer him on. Loved the hills (so far). Thompson hill reminded me of a hill that I ride on next to the Shenandoah river. While going up this hill, I was caught by a team, I had met in transition the day before, Nevada and her team mate, Jerry. They gave me such great encouragement as they had done this race before, knew the course and coached me up the next set of hills. I was dropped by them on a descent and caught them again on another hill. They finally dropped me for good after that.
T2: 1:28
Run: 1:03:33
Nothing fast about this course. The first couple of miles are a gradual climb with a steeper climb around mile 2.5. By mile 3 we head down hill, hit a little flat then the aid station and turn around. Back up the hill and then go down again to the finish. This was mostly dirt fire road in the woods. Makes for a nice hike but a challenging run.
So far so good. Legs feel worked but not spent. Iced down in the lake before heading back to camp for a little nap. While icing down I met Kevin Paladino, from Nebraska. Turns out Kevin went to the ICTN training camp in Phoenix this year, and he's an awesome coach. We talked about my desire to go to that camp at some point. Lots of teasing about: Triathlons in Nebraska??
Overall Place: 250/282
Age group Place: 3/6
Race #3 Olympic Distance
Order of events was switched up for this race: Bike-Swim-Run.
Bike: 1:37:17
This was an out on back on Rt. 125. Again more hills. The locals were out to cheer us on. One screaming descent before a long flat section and then the turn around. Going back up the hill was very challenging. Someone told me this climb was 1.7miles long but it felt longer. I was wishing I had done Tour de Skyline by this time. I was still singing, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor to myself.
T1 1:57
I was amazed at how easily I got into my wetsuit, albeit my sleeveless suit.
Swim: 27:32
Same course as in the AM. Two loops of a rectangle making one right turn and three left turns. Had some issues with my goggles and had to readjust them about six times, UGH! Coming out of the water on the first loop my left hamstring wasn't too cooperative and tried to seize up on me. UH OH, this isn't good...I gingerly entered the water again and got horizontal as fast as possible. I mostly pulled the second lap, kicking only to help me sight and to test out the hammies. When I tried to exit the swim is when the ole hammies really protested and completely seized up. I screamed and fell back in the water, tried to stand and was assisted by another athlete. I thought OH NO this can't be happening, outside assistance, I'll get DQ'ed. I quickly thanked my angel helper, fought back the tears and stumbled out of the water. Walked to T2 and took my time getting ready to run.
T2 2:44
Run 1:10:30
Same course as the morning. Surprisingly I was able to shuffle along and my time was only one minute per mile slower than in the AM. I saw Adrienne near the turn around and we gave each other high fives as we passed each other.
Overall Place: 241/282
Age Group: 3/6
RACE #4
Half Ironman
Sunday morning was colder that Saturday. None of us seemed too eager to head to the water. I saw Nevada in transition and we both swapped stories about feeling bloated and cramping on the run in race two the day before. She gratefully accepted some Gas-X tablets and we prepared for the day ahead. This may be more information than you need but the camaraderie by Sunday was really charged, I'm sure we would have been promising to name our first born after each other, if we were going to have more kids.
Swim 31:24
Same course, just lengthened a bit. Two loops. Time trial start. Thankfully it was uneventful.
T1 ???
Bike 3:10:46
I tried to be conservative, knowing that this was going to be a long day. We rode through the Boy Scout Camp and enjoyed the butterflies and scenery. LOONG climb out of camp followed by a long steep descent with lots of switch backs. By lap two I was pretty familiar with which areas I could let 'er rip and where I needed to be cautious. The locals were out drinking their coffee on their porches during lap one. By lap two I had seen about half a dozen people stopped, fixing flats and I was just praying that I wouldn't flat and would make it to T2 in one piece.
At the top of the last hill (which we had done 4times all tolled by now) The race organizers had painted “Last one you are golden,” in yellow paint. I let 'er rip as best I could and made it back to the park, feeling like I was at the very back of the pack.
T2 ??
Run 3:20:07
Slowest run ever, but given the course and the previous day of racing I was not terribly disappointed nor surprised. I had to really play mind games with myself to keep my legs going. Run 2 minutes walk 1min, quickly deteriorated to: Run1 min. walk 30 sec. My Logic: at least I'm running more than walking. Walk up the steep parts of the hills. Aide stations were well stocked and I took full advantage of the second aid station on my second loop. The sun was pretty hot by now and I was grateful for all the shade. Adrienne seemed to be in good spirits every time I saw her so I did my best to stay upbeat as well. But the smiley award had to go to Adrienne's friend, Kelly, who was thoroughly enjoying herself and finished strong well ahead of us.
Overall Place: 230/263
Age Group Place: 3/5

Now the debate continues: Is Triple T harder than a full Ironman? I for one believe that it is, despite being broken into three separate races. This was by far the hilliest course I have ever raced on. Athletes that have done Placid, said the bike was as challenging if not more so here. Half a dozen of us who met up in the stream after the race to ice down compared notes and shared our race stories. Will I do this race again? Maybe but not anytime soon.