And, as they say in the films, that's a wrap, folks! Barrelman 2019 was this past weekend and with it, the end of the 2019 tri season. I wish I could tell you I have a crazy fast race report for you to relive the day, but this is gonna be a long one, folks. So long, I give to you, part 1 of 3 - pre race and swim! Settle in, caffeinate, grab some chocolate, and I hope I don't lose ya - lots to tell!
Pre Race
When we last left our intrepid heroine (that would be me, nice to meet ya), I had decided to deal with my pre race anxiety one way - to turn Barrelman into a freaking celebration of a day! My goals scared the hell out of me and were getting in the way, and with such a long season, it was time to have that A-hhmazing race! Right? Now with that being said, of course I had time goals. OF COURSE I DID. Now that the race is over, here they are for your perusal:
Swim: 36-38 minutes
Bike: 2:50-2:55
Run: 1:43-1:47
I went :37, 3:06 and 1:47 at Musselman, so this seemed to work for me. My coach warned me that the swim was long, so :38 was reasonable. He thought I might go faster on the bike, and the run was doable. This put me at a time committed goal of 5:15-5:25, with transitions. Gulp. My coach also told me he might wet himself if I went 5:15, so this immediately became my goal. I'm a good friend like that.
Saturday morning, Greg and I headed out to Welland to rack our bikes, pick up our packets and do some course recon. We met up with my buddies Bruce and Ryan (Outlaw) who were staying with us at the Air BNB. Checked in with little fanfare then did some course recon. The course was flat as can be, with about 500 feet elevation gain for the whole thing. There were quite a few turns in the early part, and probably the best part of the course, aside from the gorgeous view of all the hotties out by the lake Lake Erie, was the addition of some frisky bears about 30k into the ride. They were positioned inside a kids sized jeep, probably one to be riding in the front and one in the back but instead they were....riding each other. It immediately became "Bear Hump Road" (I'm sorry to say they moved the damned bears race day) and we all cracked up in the car like the teenaged boys we are.
We finally hit the course end for the bike at T2 and checked out the finish line - I had to pee and hit the fresh porta potties....so fresh, apparently, they were in transit. Mid pee, two men tried to pick up my porta potty and move it...with me in it! I yelled out "Holy Shit" or something like that and heard "Oh! Sorry!!" and a bunch of laughter. OMFG. Thanks for saving me, guys, really. (insert sarcasm).
Post race recon, we checked into the Air BnB, the boys went to go find Canadian ketchup chips and breakfast foods, and I cooked us up our pre race dinner. We applied out race tats after dins (I get a big fail on that - Ryan is actually 33, not "EE". Whoops.)
As we packed our gear up, Ryan offered me his trisuit to race in the next day and I jokingly tried it on with no intention of wearing it - who races in a 5 plus hour race in a kit they've never worn? Well, that would be me. The kit fit well, it immediately became a joke about Ryan picking up chicks with his magic suit, and I figured hell, maybe I would get some swim and bike magic off of it. Plus, doing something new for an A race is always good, right? (Insert sarcasm again).
As I was finishing up race prep, I hit my big toe on the bed and started screaming in pain. Somehow, I had lost part of my big toenail and the rest could not come off. Oh, for real?!? I tried to but it with scissors with no success. I couldn't get the whole toenail off, which freaked me out for being barefoot into T1, and running in it. Bruce offered meone of my ex's toe condoms (so cute!) and I stuck it in my running shoe for T2 in case I needed it.
Time to sleep! Yeah, right. The Air BnB we stayed at was awesome - about a half mile off the run course and 3 beds, plus it was really well priced. Unfortunately, there was only one real bedroom, which Greg and I shared. Ryan's bed was in the living room, and Bruce's was between the living room and kitchen, which meant if we had to pee, we had to go through Bruce's room. Poor guy. We all slept like crap, were up by 4:15, and ready to go. Kinda. The weather forecast had promised aglorious fall stupidly hot summer day - temps up to mid eighties F (28 Celsius) and winds up to 20-25 mph, which would be a headwind for at least the first 30k of the bike. Oh well. What can we do now but RACE! We loaded up our goodies, drove one car to T2, and headed over to TI to set up. I configured my bike quickly, calibrated my power meter, spun out and tested brakes, and peed 700 times. As we were hanging out, the official race photographer came up to our group and staged a pic of me looking fierce in my Ryan's Reaper kit, which we thought was hilarious - this would continue all day - people loved that kit so much!!
I grabbed a few minutes pre race to sit out by the water and collect my thoughts. I was all kinds of amped, nervous, and jittery - as usual - before I race I start to doubt myself and my ability to even finish it. I called up a recent favorite song (you all know how I love my music) and got The Score's "Born for This" stuck in my head....
Don't care for the critics
My words are like physics
A force that they can't stop
They just don't get it, I think they forget
I'm not done till I'm on top
I know I was born for this
Before we knew it, it was time for the Anthem and we were off!!
Swim - 35:37 - 1:39/100 yd
I went off in wave 3 - 5 minutes behind Ryan and 10 minutes behind Greg and Bruce. As I treaded water for the race to start, I had the biggest smile on my face. I had no idea what I was gonna do today, but it was going to be epic, and a blast! Before I knew it, the gun went off and we were ready to rock!! This swim was fantastic. It was staged ina rowing basin, so like Placid, there was an underwater cable that you could follow if you were brave enough to face the scrum. I am. I got kicked and pushed around a bit (there were about 150 people in my wave) but about 5 minutes in, settled into a decent rhythm and swam the cable. I was so relaxed and....um....not spotting....that I found the turn 950 meters in by hitting the buoy head on. Whoops. I made the turn, had to spot for 100 meters (WTF lol) and then was headed back. The way back got pretty congested, as I had caught the wave before me and had to zig zag to pass people. I got kicked in the head and my goggles got pushed in, so I stopped to adjust, then swam a bit wide to get past the scrum. No big deal. Aside from a few spaces, I was out for an easy swim, and as I saw the dock, I was really sad that it was over! My feet hit the ground and I ran through the swim exit, hit my watch and noticed I beat my A swim goal with a time of 35 minutes! I was totally floored - this was much better than I had hoped for. I raced up the bleachers to T1 and heard a "Go Reaper!" yell from the stadium and grinned....it was time to hit the bike and get this race really started!!!
Pre Race
When we last left our intrepid heroine (that would be me, nice to meet ya), I had decided to deal with my pre race anxiety one way - to turn Barrelman into a freaking celebration of a day! My goals scared the hell out of me and were getting in the way, and with such a long season, it was time to have that A-hhmazing race! Right? Now with that being said, of course I had time goals. OF COURSE I DID. Now that the race is over, here they are for your perusal:
Swim: 36-38 minutes
Bike: 2:50-2:55
Run: 1:43-1:47
I went :37, 3:06 and 1:47 at Musselman, so this seemed to work for me. My coach warned me that the swim was long, so :38 was reasonable. He thought I might go faster on the bike, and the run was doable. This put me at a time committed goal of 5:15-5:25, with transitions. Gulp. My coach also told me he might wet himself if I went 5:15, so this immediately became my goal. I'm a good friend like that.
We finally hit the course end for the bike at T2 and checked out the finish line - I had to pee and hit the fresh porta potties....so fresh, apparently, they were in transit. Mid pee, two men tried to pick up my porta potty and move it...with me in it! I yelled out "Holy Shit" or something like that and heard "Oh! Sorry!!" and a bunch of laughter. OMFG. Thanks for saving me, guys, really. (insert sarcasm).
As I was finishing up race prep, I hit my big toe on the bed and started screaming in pain. Somehow, I had lost part of my big toenail and the rest could not come off. Oh, for real?!? I tried to but it with scissors with no success. I couldn't get the whole toenail off, which freaked me out for being barefoot into T1, and running in it. Bruce offered me
Time to sleep! Yeah, right. The Air BnB we stayed at was awesome - about a half mile off the run course and 3 beds, plus it was really well priced. Unfortunately, there was only one real bedroom, which Greg and I shared. Ryan's bed was in the living room, and Bruce's was between the living room and kitchen, which meant if we had to pee, we had to go through Bruce's room. Poor guy. We all slept like crap, were up by 4:15, and ready to go. Kinda. The weather forecast had promised a
I grabbed a few minutes pre race to sit out by the water and collect my thoughts. I was all kinds of amped, nervous, and jittery - as usual - before I race I start to doubt myself and my ability to even finish it. I called up a recent favorite song (you all know how I love my music) and got The Score's "Born for This" stuck in my head....
Don't care for the critics
My words are like physics
A force that they can't stop
They just don't get it, I think they forget
I'm not done till I'm on top
I know I was born for this
I was born for this, baby. Let's do it!
Swim - 35:37 - 1:39/100 yd
I went off in wave 3 - 5 minutes behind Ryan and 10 minutes behind Greg and Bruce. As I treaded water for the race to start, I had the biggest smile on my face. I had no idea what I was gonna do today, but it was going to be epic, and a blast! Before I knew it, the gun went off and we were ready to rock!! This swim was fantastic. It was staged ina rowing basin, so like Placid, there was an underwater cable that you could follow if you were brave enough to face the scrum. I am. I got kicked and pushed around a bit (there were about 150 people in my wave) but about 5 minutes in, settled into a decent rhythm and swam the cable. I was so relaxed and....um....not spotting....that I found the turn 950 meters in by hitting the buoy head on. Whoops. I made the turn, had to spot for 100 meters (WTF lol) and then was headed back. The way back got pretty congested, as I had caught the wave before me and had to zig zag to pass people. I got kicked in the head and my goggles got pushed in, so I stopped to adjust, then swam a bit wide to get past the scrum. No big deal. Aside from a few spaces, I was out for an easy swim, and as I saw the dock, I was really sad that it was over! My feet hit the ground and I ran through the swim exit, hit my watch and noticed I beat my A swim goal with a time of 35 minutes! I was totally floored - this was much better than I had hoped for. I raced up the bleachers to T1 and heard a "Go Reaper!" yell from the stadium and grinned....it was time to hit the bike and get this race really started!!!
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