Racing Webster Lake

Ok so here goes, putting my thoughts and experiences, mostly pertaining to triathlon training and racing out there. It’s a new endeavor for me and is pulling me out of my comfort zone and I kinda like it.

Hope you enjoy!

I wanted to start a few weeks ago but I could not come up with a title that excited me and captured what I'd be blogging about.  I finally fell in love with Training...Racing...Living and immediately thought, what if I come up with a better one next week, I was told by a friend never ever...ever...engage in self doubt-that's rule one, so I committed.

The week leading up to my first triathlon of the season was not ideal mentally and physically. I had been thinking about looking to local businesses for sponsorship for about a month now and things fell into place last week, which is awesome but not for the week leading up to my first race. I put together a contract and made some appointments. I felt really good about my meetings and earned enough support to cover my registration fee for the US National Triathlon Championship in Burlington VT mid August.  Oh yeah for those that don’t know I qualified for the Nationals! I moved from my apartment in Randolph to my summer cottage at work, we all know how fun moving is! I also met my new roommate, Allison. My friend and manager Regina and I planned to leave work around 4 on Friday but didn’t get on the road until 5:30, which put us home in CT at 10:30pm- it was a long day. We stayed at my Gramma’s, she and her husband Gene just moved back home from North Carolina, so it was perfect and relaxing. 
After breakfast at Zips Diner with Gramma and Gene, Gina and I traveled to my moms and went for an easy 30 minute road ride in the afternoon. I enjoyed a small cook out with my family while I put together my sponsor board. I was in bed by 9:30 with my alarm set for 4:45am to be in Webster MA for 6:30. I’ve raced the Webster Lake Triathlon for 6 seasons now and could do the course in my sleep but I travel home every year so my family and friends can watch me race. 

I wake up to Corn Bread and Butterbeans a song by the Carolina Chocolate Drops a Bluegrass/Folk group I’ve come to love. A quick shower followed by the daunting task of fueling my body. I have a very hard time eating first thing in the morning but somehow I seem to choke down oatmeal. I really don’t like it, but it makes a difference. I’m going to need to change that. I double check to make sure I don’t forget anything and we are on the road, Gina has to drive everywhere because of severe motion sickness. Works for me, I can focus on the race and work on that darn oatmeal! 

We arrive early enough for great parking. I check in and notice the transition area is quite a bit smaller this year due to low registration –the date had been moved away from Father’s Day.  I prep my race gear-number on bike, timing chip on ankle and number on race belt. The belt holds the number around my waist so I’m not bothered by it in the water and on the bike. 

I headed out on my warm up-a 12-15-minute spin mixed with some quick bursts. I clear my mind by envisioning each leg of the race. I return a little more relaxed and start the transition set up. Seems simple: mat for gear, bike, tri shoes, helmet, sneakers, sunglasses, hat, and race belt, but it has to be perfectly organized for a flawless transition. A quick run through of the actual transition lets me know everything is in place. Next I walk through and figure out the entire transition area: where to enter and exit for each leg, this is crucial. I learned the hard way last year when they changed the exits. I ran to the wrong corner finding myself trapped by fencing, it must have been pretty funny to watch. The last visual: locate my spot in the sea of bikes and hope my things are exactly how I left them. In the chaos of transition other racers are focused on their spot. I’ve come in to T1 (transition from swim to bike) with a wetsuit covering my gear, it threw me off, but now I’m prepared if it happens again.  Down to the water with my mom, dad and Gina. A quick check of the water exit headed up to T1 and I find it changed from last year, good to know. After warming up in the water the National Anthem played and a few minutes later the men were off.  In three minutes I would be starting. I am always nervous before a race but this time it was different, I had the support of my sponsors. Don’t get me wrong I always give 110% but now with sponsors there is a bit more pressure.  Women and teams were next, we approached the water up to our knees, there was no official start line and normally we start waist deep so this threw me off a bit.  I took one last look at the first bouy and hear the count down. My heart kicks into overdrive. 3! 2! 1! GO! Starting with more than 40 people in a wave is quite overwhelming. Hands, feet and arms are everywhere. It’s like a washing machine, oh and you have to figure out how to breathe above all the mayhem. A few minutes in I can settle into my pace and around the first buoy, most everyone has spread out. Not this time, with the very large wave it was a cluster most of the course. I keep myself occupied by focusing on technique, sighting the next buoy and breathing. After 13:33 minutes I was running out of the water. Not very happy with that time, but I was ready for my favorite part of triathlon- cycling!! With more than 2 football fields to run from the water to the transition area it’s a challenge but I knew what to expect and was able to make up some time. I completed T1 in 2 minutes and 44 seconds (third fastest in the entire race) No socks, tri shoes, helmet, sunglasses and I’m off. I push it pretty hard from the start and settle into my aero bars. I ease up just a little before the 3-tier hill at mile 4 where there is always a jam. To the top and down the other side in highest gear but I know I have to down shift and get on the brakes for the 90º turn at the bottom. The rest of the course is pretty flat from here on out. At mile 11 of 12, the run course overlaps the bike course so I can see who is ahead of me. I checked my watch it read 43 minutes- I knew I wasn’t going to beat my best time, but I don’t give up, I just went harder.  As I approach the transition area I quickly run through T2 (transition bike to run) in my mind; sunglasses off, helmet off, shoes off, hat on, sneakers on, sunglasses on and race belt on while running.  I go hard right to the dismount signs, unclip and run in. I rack my bike, make the switch to run- I’m guessing in about 30 seconds as no T2 times were recorded nor were bike times for that matter. On the way out of T2 my coach Gina yelled, “you’ve got 2!” referring to the two women in my age group ahead of me, -I’m third, that’s ok but not good enough. I also knew I only had 4 or 5 women ahead of me including them, so I felt awesome about where I was for the women. I see both women in my age group, they had already passed the turn around point so I knew I couldn’t catch them. I put my head down and repeated to myself as I always do during the run “just a bit faster, just run a little bit faster” I felt pretty strong and tired. Coming into the homestretch the crowd always pulls just a little more out of me, I give it my all and finish the 3 mile run in 19:27 a personal best for this race!

It was over in 1 hour and 13 minutes, just a minute behind my personal best of 1 hour and 12 minutes.  I caught my breath, hugged my mom, dad and Gina. I was excited about where I finished but deep down, I know I can do better.  I drank some water and recovered while Gina checked the results, I was third in my age group, 6^th overall female . While we waited for the official results, I gathered all my things from the transition area and got photos with my sponsor board. It had been hanging on my car all morning and got quite a few looks!  Awards got underway by starting with the top 3 female and male finishers, then went on by age group beginning with ages 75-79 and continued to the youngest. I waited patiently to be recognized. As my group got closer a tingling feeling ran through my body I did it again, I placed in the top 3 in my age group! I hear over the PA -“Female age 25-29 from Randolph NH in first place –Meg Skidmore!” I was shocked and confused. Because the top 2 overall female finishers were in my age group the awards get bumped down. I stood on the podium in the first place position wearing the first place medal knowing I finished third. To make it more uncomfortable, I was alone, the 4^th and 5^th place females left not knowing they would be bumped up to 2^nd and 3^rd. 

Gina took a photo of my mom, my dad and me. I don’t remember the last time that has happened. It made me so happy they could be there for me and agree to be in the same photo.

More sponsor board photos with my medal and we were on our way back to the mountains of New Hampshire.

As we drove out of the parking lot, my emotions were all over the place. I finished 3^rd, I was recognized as first and I spent the morning with my parents.