After all my smack talking and over-the-top confidence about yesterday's race - I sucked. Let's all say it with an Ahmed accent: "When you do good, you do good - when you suck, YOU suck." And boy did I suck. We are talking epic, mind-blowing suckiness. I'm not posting splits - you can look them up if you like - because after this blog, this race is over, done, and I'm not thinking about it again. But before I close the topic entirely, let's review the timeline of suckiness, just for kicks.
I should interject here and mention that I still qualified for Beiking - I just had a crappy race. Just in case you were wondering.
So, timeline of suckiness, here we go:
All of 2009 and 2010 - inconsistent training, lots and lots of it, and insufficient recovery (not a great basis for spectacular athletic performance). Plenty of decent showings in local races, but not a lot of real improvement.
1 week before USAT 2010 Sprint National Championship - I decide I am going to kick ass at this race. I'm almost cocky about it. Danger, Will Robinson!
Day before the race - I feel pretty good, though a bit nervous, and I think I might be ready to really beat up on some people tomorrow. Ignoring the doubt creeping in.
Race morning (here's where it get's fun)
-Arrive at the race site about a half hour later than I would have liked
-My mp3 with my pump-me-up music has decided not to work
-I realize my back brake is rubbing
-We have a 1/2 mile walk just to get to transition
-Takes 10 minutes just to figure out how to get around all of USAT's barriers to get to the bike mechanics - finally I awkwardly jump a barrier, no pictures, sorry
-I'm more nervous than I've been since my very first triathlon years ago - freaking out
-Finally get into transition
-Get down to the swim start and finally figure out the swim course
-Get in water, warm up
-Start
-Have a sucky, SUCKY swim, no draft, ridiculously slow, no where even near the pack
-Get out thinking this is a really bad way to start a race, I need to swim more...
-Finally get on the bike (my part of transition is already empty of course)
-It's starting to rain, lovely
-My quad muscles start to seize up within the first mile of the course
-I can't even see anyone from my age group
-My chain falls off, so I have to stop and put that back on
-Back on the bike
-Still not catching ANYBODY
-Starting to get a little depressed here...
-1 mile left and it starts to POUR, hard, stinging, blinding rain - SO AWESOME!
-NOT
-Finally dismount (I did that right at least)
-Start the run
-My shoes are squeaky from sitting out in the rain
-My legs are done
-And... where is everyone in my age group?! Do I really suck that much?!
-Apparently, yes
-I start to feel a little weepy
-But I keep going
-Where are those 6:40 miles today?
-Finally, FINALLY the finish line
-Please everyone, look away, this is too shameful
-I walk straight away from the crowd because I have to collect myself before I do something embarrassing like throw down my water bottle, or cry
-Please just don't let me have gotten last
-11th - oh thank god
-We have to ride our bikes back to the car up a giant freaking hill IN THE RAIN, then go back for the awards
-It starts to rain harder
-Cold
-Wet
-Generally miserable
-And it's actually more pleasant to run back to the car than to walk, because we're so far away and we're freezing
-I've never been more happy to see dry clothes in my entire life
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I qualified for Beijing 2011.
So the lesson - don't trust your feelings, because they'll tell you you're gonna do awesome when really, you're just gonna suck. From now on, I trust my training and I trust the plan. That's it. I'm done being cocky, and I'm done placing any significance on how I place at local races because they really just don't count.
Lesson learned.
Until next time, compadres.
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