It's been a very busy 3 or 4 weeks. A great deal of work, work travel and training thrown in the mix....obviously I've been slacking in the blog dept.
First week of April had me running an 1:40 in downtown Milwaukee then home for a long ride and another long run. The next week I was in Boston running side by side with the Charles River and trying to figure out how to get a ride in with no bike, my solution, a longer ride the following weekend. The last weekend of April was one for breaking a few more barriers, got in my first 90 mile ride and 2+ hours on the run.
After last Sunday's baseball game and 2 hour run the table was set for this weekend, my first race, a half Ironman in Bradley, CA called Wildflower. An awesome event where thousands of athletes, families and friends camp out at Lake San Antonio for the weekend and either participate in or cheer on 3 different events, the long course (half ironman distance), the mountain bike on Saturday and the olympic distance held on Sunday.
I woke up Monday to sore legs, expected, and the beginning of what felt like a cold, unexpected. I was ok with it as Monday was an off day and I began the precautionary Zicam and Airborne doses. On Tuesday I found myself with confirmation of a cold, not much relief from the Zicam, but still got through the easy 50 min spin on the bike. Made final preparations on Wednesday for being out of the office again Thursday and Friday... and, um, did a portion of 4 weeks of laundry.
Thursday morning I made the drive up to Wildflower and continued to battle this awesome cold. Made it to camp, set up the tent and got a few items in place for the arrival of some PowerBar athletes. I was met shortly after my arrival by a fellow competitor from PowerBar's event Marketing agency, Steve. Steve and I went out for a 35-40 min run and followed with a quick swim. During the run I found my self laboring to breathe, now I began to hate this cold. Although the swim went alright I struggled a bit to get warm again aftewards, but didn't think much of it. Friday, the day before the race, I went out and rode the first 5 miles of the course and headed home. In the first 2 miles of the bike course there's a decent size climb to get out of the park, once again I found myself struggling to breathe when I know my fitness is at a much better level and my heart rate seemed high as well, but I don't have the fancy gadgets so I'm kind of guessing at that point. After being heckled by overly concerned joggers that I need to put on my helmet (I forgot it at camp, was completely aware of it, and if I had it, it would be ON) I headed back down to put the bike away and get to work.
Friday was a full day, first day of the expo, Chris Lieto (super triathlete, could be top 10 in Kona this year) signed at our booth for a bit and then we had a Team Elite function at the PowerBar campsite. After all was said and done on the work side I began to think about race day, I put everything I would need for transition into my bag, put my kit in the tent along with warm clothes for the walk down to transition in the morning then headed to dinner. At dinner I found myself unable to focus on conversation around me and on the walk back to the campsites, which is uphill, it hit me a little harder, I can't breathe and this is getting worse. I tried to stay up for a bit but couldn't hang so I went to bed in hopes that one more night of sleep would have me feeling much better and ready for race day.
Race day morning comes. I continue to delay my rise from the tent knowing the questions I must face, but finally with the rustling of race day preparations around me I get to my feet and out of the tent. This new day, however, did not bring with it health and as it grew close to time to head down to set up I had to make a decision, can I and/or should I race? If the answer is yes then great, but there's no way I'm not finishing it if I start it, even if I'm helping shut down the final aid stations on my way in. The decision I come to feels like the right one, unfortunately it's not the easy one and not the one I wanted to even entertain... no.
Facing that decision has been tough. I feel like I was asked to go to battle and I said no. There were those who understood and said it was the right decision which helped a bit, but there were also some who felt that I needed to hear why it was good that I wasn't out there like, It was hot out there, the run was brutal, atleast you don't have the sunburn everyone else has, etc. See, that's just it, I want that sunburn, I want to work that hard, I want to be in there with the troops.
The drive home Saturday night was tough as I left the park on some of the same roads that over 3000 triathletes were just racing on. On those roads I began to think of the many conversations I've had or heard where an athlete was asked to describe their toughest race, toughest game or most challenging moment of their career. Those questions where always answered with some awesome and at times incredible stories. It was over 100 degrees, I forgot my nutrition on the run course, took a spill on the bike, etc. Although I've not yet heard this response, after this weekend I truly feel that the worst race, most challenging game or toughest event is the one you can't start.
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