DNF

The Harvest Moon HIM was a disaster for me. Temps were a chilly 47 outside before the race. The water temps were 61 at the shore and upper 50's at the turnaround. Only I never made it to the turnaround, or even the first bouy for that matter. After standing around for about 1.5 hours before the race, I was frozen. The water was actually warmer than the outside temps. The water felt ok, but I could not breathe. I slowed down, kept my head up, tried to relax, etc... but it just was not happening.

So I did the unthinkable. I waved my hand for the boat to come pick me up. After 4 minutes in the water, I was done. My first DNF. Ever. After the boat let us off at the docks, I packed my gear and headed home frustrated, humiliated, disappointed, and thankful that I was not going to spend the next 3.5 hours freezing my tail off on my bike. I had never quit anything before in my life. But I can't say that anymore. After all is said and done, I believe I made the right decision. This race was for training only and not that important to me. So instead of being miserable, getting sick, or possibly worse, I lived to train and race another day.

I went home, cleaned up, warmed up, ate, slept, and watched the Denver Bronco's (our new team) beat San Diego. So I wasted a week of resting for a race when I could have been training. At least I am well rested for the last 10 weeks of training for IMAZ.

Lessons learned: 1) select races more carefully, and 2) pre-swim the race water, especially if it is a wet suit legal race.

It's not too late to make up some ground training for IMAZ. But there is no room for error. I have reviewed my training plan with my tri coach for the last 10 weeks. She really helped a lot by reducing some shorter week day workouts and making the weekend workouts longer. Makes sense. There really aren't that many long bikes and runs left, so each one is critical for my success at IMAZ on Nov 23.

Cheers.