San Jose International Triathlon
Sunday, June 25, 1995
Lake Almaden

1k swim, 24 mile bike, 10k run

What was destined to be the hottest day so far this year dawned
clear and mild.  A 40-45 minute drive brought my faithful tri "crew"
Skippy and myself to Lake Almaden Park, ready to do battle.

Arriving around 6:50 am, I was dismayed to see how full the
transition area already was.  Since the racks were not numbered, it
was basically first come, first serve, so I figured I was just out
of luck.  Opting to take an end spot on a rack in what appeared a
less than optimal location, rather than fighting my way into the
middle of a better located rack, I resigned myself to lousy
transition times.

By 8:00 it was already getting pretty toasty.  I decided to forgo my
wetsuit, figuring that the swim offered the only opportunity I'd get
all day to actually get cool!  Besides, the thought of yanking the
neoprene on was rather distasteful as the day was warming up.  The
majority of other racers chose to don their wetsuits anyway, but I
held firm; slow or no, at least I wouldn't feel like a lobster in
the pot out in the swim!

The in-water start was a trifle haphazard and disorganized, and the
first quarter of that swim was probably the most rambunctious I've
ever experienced.  I don't think I've ever been pummeled so much in
a swim start in my life, not even in a coed wave, and this was all
women!  To tell the truth, it was actually kind of fun!  You know,
sort of rough and raw and free for all.  Besides, I was one of the
"tough" ones, I didn't need no stinkin' wetsuit! ;-)

As expected, forgoing the wetsuit did cost me a bit of time, but
it's hard to say just how much.  However, I came out of the water
just behind my pal Deb Smith, an awesome tri gal, so I figured I was
ok.  19 minutes for 1 kilometer did seem a bit much, but I decided
not to worry about it, and plowed on out of the lake blissfully
unhampered by neoprene!

I jammed on up the slope through the narrow chutes and under my
breath cursed the guy from the wave before ours who was sauntering
casually along and blocking the way.  I pushed my way past him as
"gracefully" as possible, breathlessly gasping "Excuse me!" as I
slipped past.  A pleasant surprise awaited me.  The entry to the
transition area was *not* at the end closest to the end of the swim,
but rather at the *far* end, which was precisely where I'd racked my
bike and figured I was hosed!  All the athletes had to run along the
outside of the transition area for its entire length before turning
in at the far end.  YES!!!

No wetsuit, excellent transition spot, and no yanking on lycra
shorts for the first time in a race made this probably my fastest
transition yet.  I also did the pan-of-water-to-rinse-my-feet trick
this time (after Vineman, I'll never set up a transition spot
without one again!), so that saved me time trying to brush the sand
and gravel from my feet.

Leaving the transition area, I caught sight of Skippy with camera in
hand and heard her hollering, "Go, Tricia!" as she snapped yours
truly cruising onto the road with a packet of Gu flapping from her
mouth!  Boy, can't wait to see how *that* one came out....

Deb was just ahead of me on the bike, and I caught her in less than
a minute.  We rode practically side by side for most of the first
half of the bike, trading wisecracks as we zipped along.  At one
point we were passing this guy who heard our chatter and grinned at
us with a shake of his head, "You guys have got too much energy!"
We just laughed and cruised on by.

The bike was fantastic, mostly pancake flat with not too much wind.
There was one nasty little hill at about the 12 mile mark that had
me huffing and puffing in my 39x23 for the first part, but I shifted
to the 21 for the last 2/3 of it.  Deb, having probably 1% body fat
;-), had a distinct advantage when the road went up, so she got
ahead of me for a while.  At the top of the hill, I grabbed a water
bottle from the aid station, dumped it in my JetStream, and barreled
down the backside intent upon catching her.

Unfortunately, at this point I got stuck behind a van towing a boat
that simply could not figure how to handle all these bikes on the
road.  It was so frustrating, there were some great slight downhill
stretches in this part of the course where I could have really
flown, but I couldn't get around this guy.  Since I'm a good cyclist
and a lousy runner, it was particularly aggravating to lose my one
advantage!

After about 5 minutes, we finally lost the boat, or he lost us, but
anyway, I was free!  I quickly flew past Deb and proceeded to hammer
the final 8 or 9 miles.  I felt really strong, and kept pace with a
couple of really nice guys right back to the transition area.  I
racked my bike after an hour and 2 minutes, averaging nearly 23 mph.
Yanked on the running shoes, grabbed my hat and another packet of Gu
and staggered out onto the run.

As I left the transition area, I suddenly realized I had a piece of
gravel in my left shoe.  Ouch!  Well, it wasn't so bad, so I decided
to just live with it until/unless I couldn't stand it.  After the
obligatory first couple minutes of muscular rebellion, I settled
into a slow but steady pace.  Both Deb Smith and Deb Melnikoff (sp?)
zipped past me and we exchanged words of encouragement.  Off the
bike, I was out of my element and they were just entering theirs!

The first half mile was tough, then I slowly started to feel good.
The only problem was the heat!  By now it was about 10:00, and the
sun was relentless.  The temperature was rapidly approaching 100
degrees, yow!  At each aid station I drank as much as possible and
doused my hat as well.  I had done a good job of keeping myself
hydrated on the bike, so I kept it up on the run.  Nearing the
turnaround, however, I noticed that the aid stations seemed to be
running awfully short.....

The run was on a paved path off the street, and, fortunately, about
half of it was shaded.  Unfortunately, the other half was *not*
shaded!  It was flat, though, which was a blessing.  Deb & Deb came
by, headed for the finish, and we hollered to each other.  RSTer
Eric Roseme shot past and, recognizing me before I did him, called
out "Go, Tricia!"  Thanks, Eric!

At the turnaround, I walked a bit while downing some Cytomax and
throwing ice into my hat.  Another girl was doing the same at this
point, and we walked together for a few seconds and discussed the
aid station shortages and how bad it was going to be for those who
were behind us.  She picked up a run again and said, "Run with me!"
I tried to stay with her for a bit, but then said, "It's ok, go on!
The heat says, 'NO!'"  She pulled ahead, and I took up a safe jog
that felt about like a 10' pace.

About a mile later, she was walking as I jogged past her.  I touched
her shoulder as I went by.  "Don't worry about it, it's smart not to
push your luck." She replied, "Yeah, I've been through heat stroke
once, it's not pretty!  Keep going!" And I kept going.

The last two miles were tough, and I found myself walking quite a
bit, especially in the shady spots.  The last couple of aid stations
were nearly out of water.  The pavement felt like a stovetop through
my shoes.  The frustrating thing was, I felt very fit, very capable
of running and running well, but the heat dictated otherwise.  At
one point, I started to feel a suggestion of chills, and I
immediately slowed my pace.  No, heat stroke was *not* worth a fast
time.  I wasn't alone, either; dozens of others were forced to walk
as the heat sapped their strength.

Finally, the last 200 yards!  I was able to pick up a kick for the
finish, and crossed the line looking strong.  I'm not sure of my
exact time, but I believe it was something like 2:26:xx.  Nothing
spectacular, but, under the circumstances, quite respectable.  And
anyway, I had a great bike!

Overall, a really enjoyable race.  If only it hadn't been *quite* so
hot!  This was the first race this year where I really felt ready to
run, darn it!  Well, there'll be more races, and because I was smart
and avoided imploding in the heat, I'm healthy enough to train for
them!  What's really satisfying is that I survived a race in such
tough conditions and felt great afterwards.  I would have expected
to feel particularly drained and exhausted, but on the contrary, I
felt really good.  The heat didn't even seem too bad once I'd
stopped running!

Experience really paid off in this one.  I made sure I ate enough
before and during the race, I added a touch of salt to my Cytomax to
keep my sodium up, I drank constantly on the bike.  This was my
first race with a JetStream, and I *highly* recommend using an aero
drinking system!  I think it made a big difference in keeping me
both streamlined and hydrated.  It was also a plus to find that I
*can* race without yanking on shorts for the bike/run; vaseline
makes all the difference!

There seemed to be quite a few organizational "hitches" at this one,
but I'd guess those were due to a larger than expected turnout for
the race and the *much* hotter than anticipated temperatures.  In
any case, hitches or no, I had a great time at San Jose.  I'll be
back at Lake Almaden in a week and a half for the Danskin.  Then
it's the big one in August:  Alcatraz!

Cheers--

Tricia