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Date/Location: |
5/30/2021 Granite Bay, CA |
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Distance: |
1.2mi Swim – .75mi Run - 52mi Bike – 3.25mi Run |
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Time: |
4:36:05 (41:06-13:28-3:09:08-4:02-28:21) |
Today I'm repeating the virtual Wildflower half I did at the beginning of the month, minus 9 miles of running at the end. Troy calls it the “Save The Legs” Tri. I was supposed to do this yesterday but something came up and Troy is unable to support today but Anna is filling in.
We head down to Granite Beach after church. With later start, and being Memorial Day Weekend, we are expecting large crowds. We thank God when we easily enter the park with no traffic. It’s hot today.
We drive down to the water’s edge (.75mi from the main boat ramp). It's funny to think where we are parking should be under water right now. We bump into some swimmers I haven't seen in a few years. They swam without wetsuits and say it’s great and that it's not too shallow. That’s a relief to hear because another concern was that I might run into some underwater boulders.
I hope to swim faster (average 2:02 per 100yd) and bike faster (average 15.3 mph) than last time!
THE SWIM
Anna counts down to 0. Go! I jump in and it feels great! I soon realize I forgot to bring my orange floatie to be more visible to boats. Fortunately, there are no boats in this area at all. And it’s 5mph for boats on the entire lake now that it’s so low. I should be good. Thanks Lord!
500yd. I am already going faster than last week! Yay! I am swimming along the 5 mph buoys for boats.
1000yd. I'm still faster and now no longer have buoys to look for. I need to turn around soon so no prob. And I haven't seen any boulders! Yay!
1100yds. I turn around and head back. I pause for a moment to sight my route back. Got it!
All the way back I'm even faster! I think I might be five minutes faster overall!
2000 yds. As I get closer, I can see the car and Anna. I see some rocks under the water coming back. Glad I missed these going out.
2200 yds. I finish four minutes faster! I feel a bit dizzy while taking off my wetsuit in the water and fall back a bit.
T1
I run up to the car, get my running shoes on and bike jersey.
RUN (.75MI)
I start the run to the parking lot where I can use the bathroom and get my bike. Cannot ride in the sand!
Anna follows after me in the car. She’ll get there ahead of me and pull out our bikes. She'll bike 5 miles with me as well.
T2
I get there just after Anna. We get ready and leave at the same time.
BIKE (2 loop course)
Anna starts out the first loop with me. We leave the park and head out towards Auburn Folsom. Up to Joe Rodgers. We have to wait for traffic to turn left. We get going and enjoy the shady, scenic Itchy Acres and Oak Pine Rd. We turn on Cavitt Stallman. This road is sometimes busy but seems quiet now. I’ll turn left towards Auburn while Anna will continue back to the park.
Anna gets quite a bit ahead of me. She's got a lot of energy! One more hill to go. I can hear the cars slow down behind me, waiting to pass on this blind hill. I suddenly hear a truck horn blaring.. not letting up all the way up the hill. I get really scared as I crest the hill and the cars pass. I can hear the horn get closer and closer to me. I have no where to go and I pray. The driver honking goes by in a red truck really close. Almost close enough to hit me with his side mirror. I see Anna biking ahead and I'm terrified. I cry out loud to God and ask Him to protect her from the turck. I see she's made it to the stop sign but I fear he's going to do something terrible. I quickly wave her to move off the road and she does and waits for me. The truck turns the corner and speeds into the first driveway in a cloud of dust. Thank you Lord, she's safe now! As I reach her, I grab her hand and thank God for protecting my baby.
After a minute of waiting to see if the driver is going to come back, I let her go and I continue on. I pass the house and see the truck but no one inside. I am relieved, thankful, and cry. It takes a bit to settle down into racing again.
The ride is now peaceful. As I get near the top of the course I decide to switch off my Auto Pause on my bike Garmin. Every time I stop, the Garmin pauses. That’s fine for training but not for racing. I want to know my average with stops. While ridng and trying to change it, I somehow turn off my GPS. I have another Garmin on my wrist but it doesn't show average bike speed. So now I have no idea about my speed. I pull over and get it all figured out. I actually do an online search on my phone to learn how to fix it.
Even with the stop, I make it to the top of the course in about 1 hour, 5 min. I am going to try to get there in an hour or less next loop.
This is the fun part flying down Auburn Folsom Road! After a bit I get to Twin Rocks and easily make the left. Back to Anna I go!
26mi. Anna joins me again on the 2nd loop. This time at Joe Rodgers we cannot even get across to the left hand turn lane. There are so many cars. I wave to her to keep riding past. I'm hoping it will calm down so we can do a U-turn. It takes a couple of minutes for things to settle down enough for us to circle back to Joe Rodgers.
This time on Cavitt Stallman it is quiet and safe. Thank you Lord! Anna again heads back to transition and I finish the loop. This lap I have no technical difficulties or issues. It's going to be close trying to get 1 hour at the top of the course. I get there in 1 hour and 2 minutes. It probably would have been 1 hour without the extra minutes at Joe Rodgers.
I fly down Auburn Folsom and think about the run ahead. It's getting hot!
T3
I make it back to Anna and she puts my bike in the car as I get my shoes on and take a pit stop.
RUN (3.25MI)
We run out together. Even though Anna has already run 2 mi, she’s doing the 3.25 mi with me. We follow the original virtual Wildflower course (earlier this month). I want to run sub-9 min pace. It takes a bit for my legs to feel ready to run. Anna is helping point out things I might trip on. We go up some steep short hills.. tough! But now we continue mostly in the shade for a bit.
Mile 1. 9:16. The heat is tough but I have had a chance to acclimate recently. Anna is doing great and encouraging me all the way. We head back towards the parking lot where most of the TBF Races finish. The trail undulates along and we are more and more in the sun. Eventually it totally flattens out to a dirt path along the parking lot. We cross the TBF "finish line"
Mile 2. 8:46.. yay. We run back towards our parking lot. It's another flat trail for a bit and then back to the single track trails.
Mile 2.6. We’re back to our parking lot but still .7 to go (we mis-calculated). We have to run around the parking lot in the sun. This is hard.
Mile 3. 8:38. We do 1 more smaller loop and finish at the car.
Mile 3.25. I finish and point to God! I averaged 8:51! Thank you Lord! And thank you Anna for all the encouragement! She's a great supporter!