Yesterday was my DD's multi-sport debut! She finished 1st in her AG. (Shhh, there were only 27 7~10yrs duathletes and she was easier to find from the bottom, but hey she showed up!) I was so proud of her - her efforts and inner strength not to fear a challenge/unknown and doing her best. She said she would do it again!

And today was my Oly race - first in two years due to the hip injury last year. It was just a perfect day - a little cool before the swim start and never got really hot. I was having some nausea for the last few days, not sure what it was - just a fear of getting a similar nausea/heaves at this race, bad sushi I ate in Canada, or "P" (I had to rule this out - sigh of relief!). So I wasn't expecting too much. Also, though I compete against myself, I knew the competition would be tough due to this being the Mideast regional club race's double point race as well as a qualifer for World (1st in each AG) and National (top 1/3 in AG).

<Swim> 1500m, 28:24 (7/20)
I didn't like the swim. I focused so much on my breathing because now I am positive that a swim causes a nausea/gas/heaves later in a race. Totally out of rythm, off the course.... I felt nauseated and thought it would be a long day for me.
<Bike> 40K, 1:19:00 (15/20) at 18.9mph!
My strategy was not to eat/drink anything for the first 5 mile just to settle down my airway/stomach whatever a location of my issues. I had a water and sports beans, but I could take only a few sips of water here and there, and couldn't take the beans. Felt queasy, though I was riding around 20mph to my surprise. By mile 12 or so, I knew it was coming. Made lots of gagging noise (gee, what did the athletes behind me think...) letting air out, but the nausea stuck with me. Boy, 'quitting' came across my mind - it was just very painful and uncomfortable. Tons of people passed me. Finally at about mile 21, a big air came out of my mouth and I was done! Felt good afterwards and I told myself now that I wouldn't have to deal with this nausea during a run and I would have a good one. The ave. speed was the same as 13mile ride at the sprint race 2 weeks ago, so I was thrilled!
<Run> 10K, 49:51 (6/20), 8:02/mile
My legs were heavy and regretted a little that I biked hard. By mile 3, however, I got my rhythm and felt really good. Took gu and water for a change! Each mile marker came and went quickly. Passed lots of runners. The pace was 6 sec faster than the 4 mile run at the race 2 weeks ago. Felt really positive about what I could do without dealing with the nausea.

The last oly was 2:50 and change, so I wanted to break that. As the run went, I wanted to get 2:40, but couldn't dig deep enough. Final time: 2:40:07! I was happy. It was a little surpise/dissapointing to learn that put me 10/20 in my AG.

At the award/lunch, a nice looking young man came to sit next to me. A while later, he asked me 'are you Yoshiko?' That was Mike (mplatzke). It was cool to meet him. Thanks for spotting me!

As my bike legs develop, my running is getting closer to a stand-alone running time (though it is still quite a way, but no more 1.5min/MILE slower!) I am excited about the progress I made this year. Looking forward to a consistent cycling in fall/winter to build upon next year. Thank you for all the training tips, guys. I was also very thankful that my hip issue hasn't be an obstacle for my training/race. I am seeing a PT, who identified my weak/under-utilized quad + glutes med. were a culpit of my hip issue.

As for the nausea/heaves. This will be a huge challenge. At least I like to get that part done during a bike (as I move forward) instead of a run! All I had on a bike was about 12oz of water....this won't take me too far. Gu saved my run (and probably from bonking). Also, it was good to know I could eat/drink after the ordeal. So I could probably survive HIM.

With that, my tri weekend is over. Now will see if I encouter a shark at a beach near Charleson, SC next week

Thanks for reading.




http://This message has been edited by Yoshiko (edited Aug-12-2007).