Tri the Midlands

Tri in Columbia SC June 20-21, 2014 Tri the Midlands Friday woke up sweating in the morning heat - Truck camping.   Drove to Columbia on SC76 then it became 176. A slower, sightseeing route this was, but then I got onto I-20 and then I-77 to get to the venue. The  midlands is a general term for the region around Columbia. The event is held at Lake Carolina near or in Blythewood, SC.  Registered and attached my number (245) labels to helmet, bike and race belt.  Rode the bike course plus some for about 17 miles. Easy pace ave 129 bpm. My right knee was not 100% but I hoped it would be ok tomorrow.  After the the ride changed wheels to my race tubulars.  Headed to a bilo grocery, used the Internet and relaxed.  In bed right after 11 pm. Still so hot and muggy. Noise of hundreds of peeper frogs in a retaining pond nearby.  Also bullfrogs croaked.  Got up around 5:45 after 15 minutes of alarms. My body was revolting at the idea of an extreme workout. Ate an energy bar, went to bathroom, got dressed and headed to the venue.  Hundreds were already there by about 6:45 am. Ride the bike with my gear  a mile or so to the busy transition area. Set my spot up, got timing chip and body marking, ran slow for maybe a mile then headed to the swim start. My wave started at 8:06 am. After urinating in my wetsuit last fall at B2B I have now moved to doing it in my Tri suit prior to the swim. I don't think I got anyone wet. Ha.  To summarize: Poor swim as usual but I did real well on the bike and run. Very hard on the heart. I wore my heart monitor on the bike and run only. More on that later.  I lay flat on the grass for about 4 minutes after the finish due to extreme exhaustion.  I then got up and got a big wrap and lots of ice tea.  Later As I watched some people come into the finish I cheered them in. Then an unusual thing happened. Jeremy the announcer and race director, did a marriage proposal over the PA for a guy running with his girlfriend. She said yes.  I went and found Abbey Russel from Taylors who I met on FB. She was a volunteer that was supposed to be helping with the timing system. I just wanted to meet her and say a few words. She was helping a guy (George) that had pushed himself too hard and was nearly in need of the ER.  So that is how I found out she is a physical therapist. She was holding a 10 lb bag of ice on his head and back. He had blurred vision and was trying to vomit as he sat on a park bench. He was fine after a while. We triathletes are so graceful.  I have not checked the Setup Events website for my split times but estimate 13 minutes to swim, 38 minutes to do the 14 mile bike and 22 minutes for the 3.1 mile run.  Took just over 1 hour and 15 minutes for me total.  So over 22 mph for the bike and my ave HR was 167 for that. The run of maybe ave 7:06 pace and my HR was 177 ave but last 1.1 mile ave 181 with max 188.  Was very happy when I discovered on the results screen I was first in my age group. After i Ate and drank more went to TA got my bike and gear and came back to the finish. Awards ceremony took place and got my reward (Tri the Midlands towel) and stood on the podium with 2nd place finisher (guy i passed on the run). 3rd place guy was Frankie Valle. His name alone is kind of funny in itself. Is he the singer?  But the announcer said he couldnt stay but was just in nations capital and shook hands with POTUS. Military award of some kind.  The guy who came in 2nd to me I remember passing him half way thru the run. I saw his age (53) on his calf before I passed him and just shadowed him a minute till I was sure I could pull away. Told him good luck as i inched past him.  I had no idea how many others in my AG were ahead.   By 11:30 am my heart had dropped to 100 BPM.  Left the venue about noon.   Could have been at a local pub drinking cold beer, but spent a good deal of time at a local Publix on Internet and drinking a cold Bolthouse chocolate protein plus drink in the cool AC.  Left about 2 pm and headed home. My heart was now down to 70 BPM.  Took interstates as much as possible (77,20,26,385) Lots of wrecks on crowded interstates. Had to detour and get gas. Got home at 430 pm and unloaded the truck.   Then watched " this old house" etc. and vegged out, fell asleep. Noticed I got sunburn on shoulders before I took a shower and went to bed.