Steelhead Race Report by Elite Team Member Caryn Nath

Caryn
Steelhead Triathlon 7/9/11

Sometimes how we picture an outcome isn't how it really turns out. That is what happened to me this last weekend at the Steelhead Sprint Triathlon.

The morning of the race I wasn't exactly feeling on my game, as I had been sick the whole week leading up to the race. Despite this feeling, I continued with my usual pre-race rituals. 15 minutes before the start of the first swim wave, I got in the pool to warm up. Lucky me, I got to swim in the last lane, which had the pool slides hanging over one side of the pool. I found out that since I don't flip turn I pulled the lucky card to swim in this lane (Now I MUST learn to flip turn!). During the warm up, I was able to figure out how best to turn around on the side of the pool with the slides, which was good. The first wave started right at 6am, and I cranked out my usual 12 minute ish 800 yard swim.


T1 was pretty fast and I was excited that I saw a bunch of people from wave 1 still in transition. The bike part of this race is deceiving. There is an initial downhill, then some slight rollers, then a false flat for about 4 miles going out. I have done this course before so I knew what I needed to do. At the turnaround, I was paced exactly where I needed to be. Coming back I was flying until I hit the rollers the last couple of miles. At that point, things immediately starting going south. My stomach started to hurt and expand pretty rapidly. I tried to just crank out the last mile of the bike as quick as possible, so I could get on the run. As I got to transition and got off my bike, things worsened. I felt like I was going to be sick at any moment. In the 5 years I have been doing triathlon, I have never felt this bad.

T2 was slower than T1 as I tried to get my mind off my stomach problems. As I started to run, I knew this might be the first DNF for me, but I had to at least try to run before I called it quits. As I shuffled (literally) my way through 1.5 miles, things just kept getting worse and worse. A few feet after rounding the turnaround, I threw up. At first I thought...gross (the girly girl in me), then I thought well maybe I'll feel better now. Well, no. I literally shuffled my way back the final mile to the finish line, feeling horrible the whole way back and wanting to quit. Finally, I finished.

My overall time was one of the worst ever, but I did learn a few things....(1) every race can't be a great race, (2) sometimes our expectations of ourselves are unrealistic, and (3) I can finish a race even if I throw up. Good news is there are always other races, so I am looking forward and not back. :-)