Swiss Gigathlon 2007 Day 1

SWISS GIGATHLON

Day One—well I was up late prepping night before with Peter my coach on all my cloths and picking up what to wear .  This should have been done before 10 pm but life goes on.  I woke up at 4:30 am or and had to catch a shuttle to the start.  Dirk was the one to wake me and he was all smiles. My alarm did not go off so I only had a little time to get ready.  I think I was pretty quick and we made it to the bus in time to get to the start. I was not really nervous going to the start.  I was in good spirits and ready to start the race I have been training so hard for.  I was looking forward to a great swim since that is my sport but I did not want to get into the freezing cold water.   We got to the start and I put my cap on and then put the warm Zoot cap on over it.  I had someone inform me that I did it wrong.  How was I supposed to know how to us the neoprene cap?  I always pick my races where it is hot. I switched the caps around so that would not look like a dork.  There was some announcing on the microphone but I had not a clue what they were saying but it would have been nice to know what is going on. I got up in front of every to get a jump start on the swim. I hate to be in the back.

The Swim-  The announcer quit and next thing I knew there was some music going on and everyone was jumping in the water. They were not starting to swim but they were getting in position. I always hate the part of getting into the cold water! I worked my way in and then the next thing I knew people were taking off. I am not sure what the sign was to begin but off we went. There was no gun or anything. The night before I had talked to a girl at dinner and she was telling me that we would get out on the right side of the river.  We entered on the left side so this meant I needed to cross the river sometime.  I also had some people tell me the strongest current was in the middle so this is where I swam and I was all alone.  I just thought that I might be in the front or something but boy was I wrong!  The next thing I new I had a girl in a boat yelling at me that I was wrong.  I looked up and sure enough everyone was getting out on the left side where we entered and I had to swim across the river and up stream to get out.  When I got out I could not believe how far back I was. I think I was last and this was supposed to be the thing I did best at the race.  WE had about a 1k run to do and then we got back in the water.  This was the fastest part of the swim for me. I was running fast in those rubber shoes they gave us. I was trying to make up some time for such a bad start.  Before I entered the water again I did ask a guy as we were getting in what side of the water we were going to get out on and he told me “the right.” I assumed that this was going to be correct this time.  Just so you know why we got out of the water in the first place….there was a wall in the river that we could not swim through so we had to get out and run around it.    Anyway I decided that I would try to make some time up and once again I was swimming alone  to the right side of the river and sighting off a object on that side.  Here we go again!….I had another girl on a boat telling me to stop and I looked over to the left and that was where everyone was getting out.  This was not easy swimming against a steam and to give you an idea of the current and how hard it was I will tell you that I think I was out in 1.5 hours for an 8 mile swim and at ultraman, a 6.2 mile swim I do in almost 3 hours.  We were moving pretty good for a 12k swim.  As I got out of the water I knew that I had a lousy swim.  I might have been talking when the announcer was giving us directions and should have paid more attention.   Life goes on.  The directions were in German so don’t think I would have known what to do anyway.

The Transition-  This was the pits for me. I also was stunned to see so many people in the transition area naked. I think I was the only one that was trying not to expose myself.  Peter was there to give me my stuff.  I was cold but in good spirits.  The transition did take longer then what it should off.  Most of the athletes had chairs to sit on and I did not so it was pretty darn hard to put the skates on standing up.  I am sure that I stuck out as the American girl since I was the only one hiding my body.  I had a way of taking my top of and sliding the other one on over it so that no boobies were exposed.  I also had Peter hold a tarp up around me while I put on my shorts. I know I was the only one doing this.  THERE WERE NAKED BODIES EVERYWHERE!!!

The Skate-  At the beginning I was a bit confused and there were a lot of people coming out of the water.  There were some curbs and a small downhill right off the bat.  I was hanging on to a wall and freaking out as some people passed and asked if I was Shanna Banana.  I got a good but of press before the race and I can’t read the articles but I am pretty sure that they did mention that I was a rookie skater.  It was real obvious that I did not know how to skate so it was clear to most that I was the Shanna Banana.  It was nice to have people calling my name as they went by.  I think that we were in some kind of a neutral zone and next thing I knew it was time to stop.  Well I never really learned how to stop so I just ran into the other competitors and asked for help.  I think that most everyone got a laugh out of this.  We were not stopped long and then we started again. We did go over a timing mat so I assume the race was on.  I was pretty much dead last from the very beginning of the skate.   I was skating along and then I had someone skate up to me named Georgio Allessi.  He is from Italy and is also an ultraman.  Now I do not want to seem cocky but he was catching me a little to soon.  At ultraman I beat him by almost 2 hours on the swim so I should have been a little more ahead of him then this.  I was glad to see him and really did welcome his company.  He is such a comedian!  He could have skated away from me but he hung with me..  When  Georgio caught me I was knew I had a horrible swim. 

We were skating along dead last and having a good time.  This was really nice pavement and I felt like I was doing pretty good.  Next thing I knew there were tons of people passing us in pace lines.  These must have been the teams.  It sounded like a train was going to run over me and I got really nervous.  Georgio was laughing at me. Next came some railroad tracks.  This was a real obstacle for me.  I did wipe out and it was right in front of a car.  I flew like superman and was flat on my stomach laughing about how pitiful of skater I was.  Georgio and I kept going and I think we did pass one girl but in the end the girl passed us back.  We skated into the transition and I am not sure why but the race had hay bails for you to go around.  I got to my transition and just ran into some people to stop.    I think everyone was getting a laugh about this.  I am not sure but I think all the women skated 1 hour faster then me. I did not know that I sucked that bad.

Skate to Bike transition-  Well when I got into the transition there was no crew and I had a road bike leg to do.  I think I might of got out of the transition about 30 minutes after I arrived.  The crew was doing all they could but they had to take shuttle buses and pick up my road bike to meet me.  They got there and got me ready quick.  Georgio waited again for me and we were off. As soon as I got on the bike the aero bars were loose.  I stopped in the transition and we did not have tool to tighten things.  No one else in the transition seemed to either.  Georgio saved the day again by waiting and he had an  wrench and we were on our way.  Keep in mind that the bikes were transported to most transitions by truck so they needed to be looked at before each ride.  This probably happened in transport.  Dirk and Peter were doing all they could. Peter was really the one in charge of checking over the bikes but I think he was overwhelmed with all the logistics of the race and not yet in the hang of it. I know he looks at his bike before every ride.

I am just glad it was noticed before we got started.

The Bike-This was where Georgio and I began to have some real fun.  He is a great biker and so I just tried to hang with him.  We were passing people all over the place and climbing well.  This is the part of the race that did not count since we went into Germany.  Don’t ask me why but the time on the bike did not matter.  Georgio was riding with his passport since he thought we would need it.  He actually lost it on the skate and had to go back and get it.  He read somewhere that we might need it..  Well it was not long and then it began to rain hard.  I was without a rain jacket and all the other riders including Georgio had a jacket.  I was the only dumb butt without one. It got a little cold but Georgio  and I kept passing people.  There was one guy that looked horrible on the bike that we kept going back and forth with.  Sometimes you think that you are doing good and then you see someone that looks dorky on the bike and you really wonder.  We went back and forth with the dork until the end of the ride.  By the time the ride was  over I was soaked and cold.  I was really looking forward to dry clothes.  Oh yeah,  I am not sure how many of you read about me but I ride with a screaming monkey named booboo on my bike.  We were on a long downhill and poor BooBoo was screaming and fell off the bike.  I also felt my front wheel go over him.  I was tempted to go back and save him but it would have been uphill to do so.  My  lucky monkey was gone….boohoo!

The Transition-    As I mentioned before I was thinking that I would put some dry shorts on.  I saw Dirk and he was smiling like always.  He had my stuff Peter and I had packed the day before.  He apologized for not having my rain jacket and I was ok with it but still cold.  I looked in my bag hoping to see some dry shorts and there was none.  I was really upset about this.  Peter was not at the transition either.  He was getting ready for my run that I was not going to get to for at least another 4 hours.  Dirk and Peter were doing a lot with the shuttle buses and driving.  They had a 2 hour drive to meet me and Peter could have gotten some dry stuff out.  I am not sure if Peter knew that I got poured on but this is something to always have handy in ultra racing.  I guess this as a  lesson learned and that was to not ever leave the transition without a rain jacket and to always have dry base layers to warm up.  Dirk took care of me great in the transition and I was off on the bike.  Once again Georgio waited for me.  What a great guy!!!

The Mountain Bike-  Well this was muddy but not to technical.  We just got rained on the whole time and I really got to see Georgio show off.  Mountain biking is his best sport so I was having to work to stay with him.  He was rolling through deep mud at times and I was cracking up.  There were some places that were like rivers and he was pedaling though them. This was only my second time to ride in mud so it was quite the adventure.  There was actually one pool of water that Georgio went through and when I tried…I got stuck. The water was up to my mid-thigh and slimy.   Georgio did not know that I was stuck but I was laughing about how crazy this race was becoming.  Luckily this day we had lots of jeep trails and some pavement to pick the pace up.  Georgio was actually griping that it was not hard enough and it was not real  mountain  biking. I was glad to see that this was how it was and hoping it would stay this way.  It was not a technical mountain bike but it was slower since it was wet and it was hard to pedal through the mud.  We both had mud all over us and we were soaking wet!  I do not think I have ever been so dirty in my life!!!  I had lots of fun on this leg even though it was slow and still cold since I had those wet cloths on.  It rained the whole time for the mountain bike part.

The Transition-Like I said before Georgio and I were really muddy.  This transition was in a building and that made it really nice.  No one had a camera to take a picture of us.  Peter and Dirk were both there for me and had my dry clothes.  There was also a restroom to shower in but it was co-ed. I was not stripping down in front of all those guys. I decided I needed to wash off and just did it with my cloths on.  Georgio was washing with his cloths on to get the mud off of them.  I just closed my eyes so I would not see all the naked men.  I got out of there in a hurry. I saw Georgio starting to strip and did not want to see my friend.  I went to a little bathroom to change and got out of the locker room.  When I came out to meet Dirk and Peter…..Georgio had on a speedo.  I was thinking surely he was not going to run in that.  It turns out that he was just as shy as me and had it on in the locker room also. He was not into getting butt-naked in front of other people either.  Well be both got dressed and were off on the run.  Peter was going to run with us and hold my nutrition for me. 

The Run-  This is where I think I could have helped Georgio out and kept a good pace.  Running is not fast for me but it usually is strong.  Georgio likes to walk and I was ok with that today.  We were going to get in a couple hours before the cut-off even if we walked.  We walked a little and then started running.  I was having a good time and laughing but my stomach was really screwed up and I was having those puke burps.  I started thinking about all the calories that I took it and it was way to much.  Peter was trying to get me to take more in.  I guess you could say that I was slowing Georgio down again.  I would run until stuff would be coming up in my throat and then walk tell it went down.  I hated feeling like this.  Eventually I found a trash can and puked in it.  I needed to do this some more but we were about 3 miles from being done.  The course was flat so it was my type of running but my bloated stomach but not wanting to be banged around.   We were going to get in by 7pm and the cut-off was at 10pm so we were going to make it.  We walked a but and Georgio could have done better but he stuck with me.  Peter had never gone so slow in his life and you could see it in his face he wanted to get a workout in.  that was not happening with me!