The fall is around the corner and days are getting shorter pretty quickly. I thought this is a great time to talk about safety on the road, especially when it’s dark outside. We all got spoiled by summer months when we are rarely on the road before the sun is up and we are usually done with our workouts before sunset. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case. The weather is still nice and I fully intend to bike until it’s too cold, rainy or icy on the road. I probably have another couple of months before that happens. So for now, I need to make sure I stay safe on the road.
I might sound like I’m venting, but I promise: I’m not angry or even overly frustrated with anybody. I just want to discuss how we can all stay safer out there.
Yeah, it’s hard to see the road when you’re blinded by the light. I am one of those unfortunate souls who bike a lot on the paths surrounded by trees and with few lights, so without a light, it looks a lot like this:
So a lot of people think about headlight when they run or bike outside when it’s dark. It’s great! At least that’s a n easy sell. One note on this though: if you are coming towards somebody moving in opposite direction, lower or cover your light. PLEASE… Otherwise, this is how much of a road I see:
For all the talk there is out there about good headlights and flashlights, they are mainly addressing only one concern: so that you can see where you’re going. Don’t get me wrong – that’s really important. It’s helpful to know where the path is going or if there are obstacles on the road. I like knowing when somebody is coming head-on. But the real issue is people (and dogs) you are passing, especially when going full speed on a bike. Here is what unlit people look like to me from the back:
Yes, it’s hard to see, especially from further away. I have noticed a lot of people rely on reflective items. Here is something they may not realize: I have to be pretty close for my light to reflect off of it. That means I won’t have much maneuvering room when I finally notice you. Sadly, when it’s dark, that means that I can’t see clearly which way is safe to go. I actually noticed recently that when groups are together, quite frequently the least lit person is the closest to the middle of the road. Not the best approach… A couple of times I actually didn’t realize that there was somebody in there until I was pretty close.
So far, I have managed to dodge everybody in my way, although I have had a few close calls. My personal favorite was a construction worker on a bike whose clothes used to have reflective patches. He has no lights on the bike or himself. Unfortunately, I was riding on the bike path by a very busy road and I was already somewhat blinded by the light. He decided to turn across the path and he was against the trees with large number of headlights showing me the outline of the tree. I managed to dodge him by less than a foot.
Let’s talk solutions! They are obvious for the cyclists with the headlight and rear light:
Runners and walkers can wear lights, too! And light up the stroller. Have you seen the light-up collars for your dogs? They are cute! They will help you keep track of your fur-baby and keep them safe. You do want your puppy to be safe out there, right? So here are some suggestions on making yourself and your family (whether on 2 legs or 4) visible out there at night:
This is just my opinion… Feel free to disagree. You can even drop a comment, so I can see how others feel about unique challenges of each section of a triathlon.
Swim
Comfort in the water. I will argue with anybody disagreeing with me on this one. When you are doing a triathlon in open water, the most important part of the swim is to make it through it. Time differentials are relatively small on this part, since it’s the shortest one. It’s easy to panic and withdraw from the race when you are in the water. There is also a chance that you will require rescuing if water is not your thing. I’m assuming that if you made it to a starting line of a triathlon, you are a decent swimmer. However, open water is not the same as your neighborhood pool. It’s easy to swim in ‘suboptimal’ direction (yeah: no line on the bottom of the pool to follow). There are other people who can kick you and push you around. Water can be choppy or full of critters. There can be a current to struggle against. And, at the end of the day, you can just have a good, old-fashioned panic attack. So the most important thing to practice for the swim: being ok on the open water.
Bike
I would say this is where speed actually matters the most, since it’s the longest part and the speeds are higher, lending themselves to larger finish time variations. So for a successful race, your speed on the bike is crucial.
Personal: getting better at taking corners at higher speeds… but that’s a story for another day 😉
Run
Experience! I know this doesn’t sound quite right, but hear me out. By the time you get to the running portion of your triathlon, you will be tired. Your legs may be shot from cycling. A lot of those carbs you ate for the few days prior to the race are gone. You are tired. You have been at it for a while. You feel like a turtle in molasses comparing to your bike pace. When you start running, you need to know your body well enough and be good enough pacer to pick a speed you can continue during the run portion. As one of my friends (Ironman Lake Placid finisher) once told me: once you start walking, you know you’re done! During the race, I heard a number of other competitors telling me to speed up. Except I am first and foremost a runner, so I know exactly what my body can do. I chose a pace and stuck to it (with minor adjustments for terrain) and just put one foot in front of the other for those 13.1 miles. And I did pass plenty of those people who told me to run faster: they ran out of steam. Hence: experience in endurance running, meaning skill in choosing the right pace under the circumstances, is what you will need most to get to the finish line in one piece.
Bonus
At all times, it helps if you are driven/ stubborn. I have never done a short race (they don’t appeal to me). But on longer ones, you will need to rely at some point on that ‘stupid’ voice in your head saying to keep going – and it needs to be louder than the one advising you to quit!
I wrote a post before about choosing a race, but it focused on running. After my first Ironman 70.3, search for a full Iron distance (ok, I want it to be Ironman because I want to hear those iconic words: you are Ironman!) and talking to other fellow triathletes, I came up with a number of triathlon-specific considerations.
What kind of open water are we talking about?
There is open water and there is OPEN water. What do I mean? Well, thank you for asking! All that is required of the body of water to be eligible for open water swim is that it’s outside and is not a pool. That leaves you with wide variety of possibilities from calm lakes to the raging ocean. If you are a beginner triathlete or a not overly confident swimmer, go with lakes and such. Actually, I heard (second hand) from a man who is a pro open water swimmer and did sprint triathlon in Gdynia a few weeks ago that the water was so awful that he wanted to withdraw several times and had to keep talking himself out of it. Seas and oceans are very unpredictable and you may get yourself into a quite dangerous situation. I’m not saying you should never do a race with swim portion on the ocean. But you should definitely make sure you understand what you are signing yourself up for.
As I was looking last weekend for Ironman races in North America, I tried to pick ones with relatively flat bike course (more on that later) and looked at swim portions of those races. I remembered seeing an ad that Ironman Florida is flat and people come there for their personal bests. I clicked on swim course description and here is what I saw:
And this is the image that immediately appeared in my head (maybe better executed by my imagination than my hand 😉):
Wetsuit legal?
Most race pages will tell you whether the race tends to be wetsuit legal or not. How you feel about swimming in a wetsuit is a matter of personal preference. First of all, you may not own a wetsuit, so you would prefer not having to experiment with that. I also doubt that anybody would argue that swimming in a wetsuit is a pleasant experience. You get to choose between them being too big and ineffective or feeling tight (mine made me think I would suffocate at first, but after a couple of minutes I got that under control) and possibly chafing. On the other hand, wetsuits add buoyancy, making you swim faster and tire less. There is also one more benefit of a wetsuit: it protects you from touching the ‘marine life’. In Gdynia, there were jellyfish in the water. The ones in the Baltic Sea don’t really sting, but that doesn’t mean they are fun to touch. I really appreciated the protective layer between me and jellyfish and their friends.
Ability to bring your own bike
You may have an option to rent a bike, but no matter how fancy it is, it will never be YOUR bike. In case of my race, I couldn’t pick my bike up until the day before the race and there was some discomfort in there. Also the sizing wasn’t quite right…
Whether you can bring your own bike depends on a number of factors. One example: are you flying all the way destination or will you need to load it into a rented car? (God forbid) take it on public transportation? Another example: will it be prohibitively expensive?
Hills on the bike course
I think we can all agree that hills on a long bike ride may be a killer, especially if they are steep ones. If you are just a beginner, you may want to look for a flatter course. Something I find important to keep in mind: you lose more time on uphills than you gain on downhills and they don’t change cutoffs based on terrain. At least majority of races doesn’t. If you’re trying to just finish, flat course increases your chances of making it past the bike part and having enough left in your legs for the run.
Wind
This is a common concern whenever you have to ride a bike. Check typical weather in your race’s area during that time of the year. Getting hit by a gust of wind from the side when you’re trying to grab food or water can be deadly! And headwind is about as great as uphills, so I will refer you to the previous section. I think majority of races are picked reasonably, but it’s better to check and be safe than sorry. You don’t want to look like this:
I don’t think that you need any additional considerations for the running portion of the triathlon past what you looked at when choosing a good bike course or for any sporting event.
Selection process is part of the fun! Choose wisely and enjoy!
Let’s face it: this race was a baptism by fire. I did an olympic distance on a lake not far from where I live 3 years ago. It didn’t prepare me a single bit for this race. I finished Ironman 70.3 Gdynia, but not without learning a few things along the way. So here they are:
Borrowed and rented gear
They always say ‘don’t use new stuff during the race’ and they have a point. I had two items which were not mine. The first one was a tri watch. It was lovely! It had awesome functions. However, if you read my post about the race, you have read that during transition, I went totally dumb and couldn’t figure out how to change it over to bike mode. Not exactly a disaster, but it’s a good example of issues you may run into. Also: because I didn’t start the bike on it until much later, I had issues figuring out how far/ fast I went. Speaking of fast and far: it was in metric system, while I use miles in training. It caused some confusion and frustration to me along the way. On the bright side, it kept my mind busy, since I was trying to convert units.
I also had a rented bike. It was perfectly lovely and the gentleman who helped me was great. The bike was in top shape and even had tires that don’t go flat when you have a small hole. But… It wasn’t my bike. When I was working on renting a bike, I had to pick a size and it turned out that I was somewhere in between the two sizes and went with a smaller one. Sadly, it was a bit smaller than my regular bike and gave me sub-optimal position. It also felt just different. It led to me taking turns and such a bit differently. I don’t think I really lost much time on this, but I wished for comfort of my own bike.
As you can tell, none of my borrowed/ rented stuff was really bad. I just wished for comfort of my own ‘stuff’ during the stress of the race. It’s better to be able to rely on muscle memory.
Speaking of rented/ borrowed stuff: I believe that plenty of people rent wetsuits. Don’t! I don’t get to use mine much and it was a bit uncomfortable. When you rent, you have to tell them what your size is ahead of time. You also probably are not getting to practice wearing a wetsuit. That’s just asking for trouble. You will be uncomfortable. You may have a hard time breathing because it’s squeezing you. Or it may be too big and leaking water. Either way, it will make your race that much harder. As far as I know, open water swim is the hardest part mentally. I can attest to that… You don’t want to make it any harder on yourself than you absolutely have to.
I had one more borrowed item… the strap you hang your number on. They had them in the envelopes and when I was trying to put the number on it, I tugged on something and it fell apart 🤦♀️ . So I had a borrowed one. I don’t remember if I tried tightening it before checking in. Either way, when I put it on, it fell off. Lesson from this issue: try your gear on. Anything you won’t be putting on until the running part: make it tighter. You will burn through water and calories, which makes you leaner. Yes, I totally put the strap with the number on, got up and it fell off 😆
Checking in your gear
They will make you wear your helmet. Things will go faster if it’s already on your head. They will check your bags for your racing number – make sure they are easily accessible. Mine were nicely packed into my backpack and unloading was a bit embarrassing. It also wastes time. Line is already long enough. Make sure to have all of your stuff ready before you get to the check point. Also: be ready for them to take a picture of you with your stuff. So heads up to look presentable… This is not how I like my hair when wearing a helmet. It makes me think of Lady’s (from Disney’s Lady and the Tramp) ears 😅
fot.Pawel Naskrent/maratomania.pl
Waiting to start the swim
It got pretty warm there and we waited for a long time to get in the water. Make sure you bring water or something to drink while waiting. Otherwise you will start dehydrated. For larger races, you may be waiting for a long time.
Turns during the swim
Freestyle may be the fastest and the most common stroke during the race, but breaststroke is helpful. It’s easier to see where you are going, especially when you are turning. During turns, people get closer to each other and things get messy. Breaststroke helps you navigate safely through it. Also: when something bad happens (like accidentally taking in water), breaststroke is helpful in regrouping and calming down.
T1 disorientation
I have nothing… I came out of water looking confused and stumbled around a bit. I could use some words of wisdom on how to do better on that. Just look at that confusion:
fot.Pawel Naskrent/maratomania.pl
Ok, maybe it’s not that clear. But they did have to tell me to move off the stairs when I was coming out of the water. It’s a good thing I didn’t fall back in 😬
Preparing to get on the bike
Bring a towel. I had one and tried my feet before putting my socks and shoes on. It may not make much sense to you, but you will appreciate it when you start running. As a runner, I always make sure my feet are well taken care of. Running in damp socks is unpleasant and can lead to chafing, blisters and general misery. Wiping feet before you get dressed for the bike can go a long way to make you happier on the run.
Hydration before you start riding
One good idea: drink some water. You are probably already a bit dehydrated and it will take a few minutes for you to get going on the bike. For me, it felt really crowded in the beginning, so I needed my focus on the road for the first few miles.
Water and sport drinks along the bike route
Take one water bottle at most. There was plenty of stations with water and sport drinks along the way. Having one bottle cage available for those will be nice, so you can drink gradually. It also saves you the weight of unnecessary drinks.
Caution: during that olympic triathlon I did a long time ago, there was nothing on the bike route. Check on that before the race…
I don’t think I mentioned this before: I admire people hading stuff to cyclists during the race! People (not really me, but other people) were zooming through! It takes guts to stick your hand out towards a bike coming right at you!
Food while biking
Make sure it’s easily accessible. Mine was in the back pocket of my tri suit. It’s a tight, hard to reach spot. I had to give up on grabbing the candy a couple of times because side wind hit me. Or I hit turns. Or an area with bad potholes. I eventually got to them, but I had my doubts.
T2 (and general transition wisdom)
If you lose something, remember that it will most likely reappear in the transition zone at some point, possibly after the race. My helmet disappeared during T2. I am pretty sure I knocked it off the bench while changing and somebody moved it out of the way. I was stressing about it and wasted time. Stuff can’t leave transition zone without a competitor taking it. It’s unlikely that somebody will steal your gear.
There are literally 3 stickers with my number on it and they make people show their helmets when coming and going. Why did I ever worry about it???
Keep a reasonable pace while running
A few people tried telling me to run faster. Uhm… I’m first and foremost a marathon runner (rather than triathlete)… I know what I’m doing with running, thank you very much. I had a lot of satisfaction seeing those same people walking because they ran out of steam. I had exactly the amount of energy it took for me to maintain the same pace through the finish line. Moral of the story: know what your body can do on the running portion and do it. Pacing is important. You don’t want to bail that far into the whole deal!
It’s all in your head
I panicked in the water, but talked myself out of that.
I got demoralized on the bike when hundreds (literally) of people passed me, but I did my best and never gave up.
I was tired on the run and considered just walking to the finish line, but decided I’m too stubborn to do that.
Making sure your head is in the right place is probably one of the most important (if not THE most important) part of endurance sports. Before you show up at the starting line, learn how to deal with yourself. Maybe it’s cursing yourself out (worked on the swim…). Maybe reminding yourself that you are here for your own satisfaction and what others are doing doesn’t matter (worked on the bike…). Maybe it’s something completely different. You need your own arsenal for coping with problems. Come well armed! Here is one of my ‘weapons’:
How can I give up when this smile is waiting for me? Or even better, I hear her little voice telling me to keep running in here:
It’s supposed to be fun!
Before you take off, remember why you’re doing it. Unless you are competitive elite, you are probably out there to have fun. Enjoy it! And keep in mind that stakes are low. We all want to do our best and that’s to be applauded. But remember that bragging rights are probably the only thing you will be winning. So don’t stress yourself out too much. Otherwise you may end up like me: making somebody laugh. I know that your pride will be hurt if you don’t finish or do poorly. It’s not the end of the world. So just take a deep breath and have some fun!
Starting there, since that’s probably what everybody’s first question is. But now let’s go in proper order.
We arrived in Gdynia on Thursday evening and I got my race number (and all that stuff) on Friday. I first tried doing it at noon, but the line was insane, so I left for lunch and returned later. It was a smart decision – there was minimal line when I came back. I think it had to do with the IronKids race – people came with their children, so decided to pick up their stuff at the same time. It turned out I couldn’t get anything else done on Friday, so I did a bit of shopping and took the ‘mandatory’ picture with my name on the car and the IronMan sign 😊
The weather was bad Saturday morning, especially on the sea. I heard that 120 people quit the sprint distance in the water (I don’t know out of how many). My anxiety was in high gear the whole time. I did get my bike rental though (logistically, bringing my regular one that far would have been a nightmare, so I opted for a rental). I thought I would quickly drop it off before going to the pre-race briefing in Polish (it was earlier and Polish is my native language, so I thought I would get done earlier). Well, ‘quickly’ didn’t happen. The line was absolutely insane! I also completely did not anticipate that they will make me put on the helmet and take a picture, so results are as one could expect. That hair! 😆
fot.Pawel Naskrent/maratomania.pl
I was already starting to freak out and I was really trying to figure out what to do. And oh, the anxiety of being fully convinced that I forgot something and it will make racing impossible! Fortunately, there were other people around and they were happy to chat and joke around. I agree also with the bike just a couple of feet from mine – there was no fear that I would be so fast (or slow) that I would be all alone at any point. Just follow the crowds! The weather had a nice surprise for us, too: a rainbow over the sea. I decided to take it as a good omen. I am not superstitious at all, but I really needed something to cheer me up and that did the trick:
I did eventually make it to the briefing, although I heard only the last couple of minutes of the Polish one, so I stayed for the English one. Sadly, it rained a bit and I didn’t bring an umbrella… Oh, well! The briefing was full of entertainment, courtesy of some drunk guys. I am pretty sure they were not the competitors… As far as I am concerned, only one important thing was said during the briefing: wetsuits were mandatory. I even asked if it’s ok that mine is sleeveless and they said that it was fine. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. Well, they allowed it. More on that later though.
I will skip talking about the pasta party the night before… Suffice to say that when I was there, the pasta was cold and they only had sparkling water. This was probably the only part of the event I could complain about. And I won’t complain – they fed me after all! (I am always hungry, so feeding me is always a good way of getting on my good side LOL).
I was so stressed about the race that I didn’t manage to get any sleep! I actually had a minor meltdown in the morning, which actually made a family member of mine laugh. I was doing it by my own choice with nothing depending on it. The day before, I got to have lunch with a family friend who used to be my English teacher when I was little (she was a family friend long before I was born and she will remain one for all eternity) and she told us the story how I used to freak out every time I would get something wrong when trying to speak English. Mind you: it was extracurricular with only 3 kids there, there were no grades or anything else at stake. She said herself: stakes couldn’t have been any lower if we tried. Yet I would still freak out if I got something wrong. Apparently that’s a permanent personality trait of mine 😅. Between those two things, my mind went to a much better place, although I was still rather stressed.
I made it to the beach way before the 8am start and got to take a couple of pictures. There were a lot of other competitors and their personal support around. It was really cool!
But I got to see one very Polish thing that made me laugh really hard. In Poland, people coming to the beach tend to bring their own screens and put those around blankets. They stake out a piece of the beach for themselves that way and it tends to get obnoxious. It’s not exactly a high class thing (if you know what I mean). As we were all getting ready to start the race, there was a family in the middle doing it. We call it ‘parawaning’ and it was absolutely ridiculous (I probably owe them a thank you note for providing comic relief):
Well, we did eventually line up. Good news: there was no waves. I have seen lakes with worse waves than what was there! Please excuse the lack of corral pictures… I lined up based on my anticipated finish time of 40 minutes. Something I did not expect: out of ~2000 participants, only 250 were women. Translation: I was surrounded by men. I couldn’t see another woman in that corral. It doesn’t help that I’m 5’3″ (on a good day). At the time, I actually didn’t know how male-dominated the race was. I was just trying to figure out what happened to all the women.
I got to stand next to guy named Maciek. If he reads this: Thank you for keeping me entertained! The wait for the start was LONG. They were doing a rolling start every 10 seconds and I was quite far back. I got to watch everybody around sweating like crazy. I am used to heat (thank you, DC summers!), so I was fine, but others around me weren’t doing so great. Eventually, my turn came. I ran into the water and that’s where the trouble started! The water was 16C (so ~60F). Remember how I said my wetsuit was sleeveless? Yeah, I regretted that. I was FREEZING! Well, my arms were. My wetsuit is pretty thick, so it kept the rest of me warm. But it felt tight around the neck. And when I started swimming, I immediately started to panic. How was I going to do it for 1.9km??? I am not ashamed to admit it: I was seriously about to quit within first 200 yards! I had no idea what I was doing. Water had zero visibility. There were jellyfish in there. And have I mentioned that it was cold? Most of my body was covered by the wetsuit, but my hands and my feet were sticking out, freezing and touching the gross critters. All I wanted was to get out of there, take a warm shower and get some sleep. I know that those moments were nothing to be proud of. But I also think it’s important for others to hear about it, since it is something that might happen to you and it helps to know you are not alone with that feeling. It’s scary and discouraging.
Based on the fact that I finished, you must have figured out I found a way to deal with it. Here is what happened next: I told my inner voice to shut up, I have done other open water races, although none of them in a wetsuit. I reminded myself that I have trained a lot in the pool (not in open water – probably a mistake, but open water is not exactly an option around here). I love the water. I’m good in the water. I can do it. To be honest: this is a VERY sanitized version of what I told myself. And then I slowed down my moves, started counting my arm stroked (I tend to do that even in the pool – it keeps my movements well paced and I don’t care if anybody thinks it’s stupid since it works for me). I quickly learned one thing: I started way too far back. I spent the entire swim portion of the triathlon on passing people. It’s a good thing that those tall, strong dudes couldn’t see that the person passing them was a tiny woman… It actually turned out for the best for me though: I got to swim a lot in between groups of people and I didn’t get kicked too much. As I was getting pulled out of the water, I glanced at my watch. It said 35 minutes 😮. Then I started to stumble around trying to figure out what I was doing… That’s when I heard voices of my family cheering me on. It really helped! I think that importance for support and cheering is way underestimated!
Can you tell where I heard them? Well, my swim time ended up being 38:02, so I clearly bounced around for a while before I got to time check there (I have no idea where that happened). I moved through T1 slowly. Partially on purpose, too – I was trying to catch my breath before biking, which is the hardest part for me. I eventually got on a bike and it started ‘uphill’ immediately: it was on cobblestone and I couldn’t clip into my bike. The whole time, my family was cheering for me (great) and filming my attempt to take off (embarrassing, considering all the fumbling!).
And then, it was off! I am a pretty slow rider, at least relative to other competitors. You can see how much I dropped in general classification on the picture at the end. I just kept seeing people pass me, especially every time I hit an uphill. But I kept going. I had a borrowed triathlon watch. It was an awesome watch, but I fumbled it. You could see on the video above that I wasn’t doing well out of T1. And then on top of it, I was trying to remember how to get the watch from T1 to bike. It didn’t go well… I started it about a mile after getting out of the gate. No matter, the watch was there just to have a general idea of my progress. This is where the issues started actually: it was in metric system, but I train in the US and my watch is in miles 😅. For better or worse, it kept me entertained for those 3:20:11 – I kept trying to convert kilometers into miles and miles into kilometers pretty much the whole time. Objectively, this time isn’t great. Subjectively, this was my best time over the 56 mile distance. I was proud of myself and looked good for pictures when I knew they were taking them:
Although this is probably way more representative of the look on my face during the bike stage of the race 😆:
Couple of notes on the ride:
I’m impressed by people who hand out water and iso to cyclists. I would have been scared! Actually, I was scared trying to grab that stuff from them. But I did and I am glad I did.
Wind sucked. I was told that the wind wouldn’t be bad. In Gdynia, there was basically no wind. Inland, on the other hand, had some pretty serious gusts.
I got HUNGRY along the way. Fortunately, I packed some candy. I can’t stand all those nutritional stuff they give you. I am yet to find one that’s not 🤮.
Taking candy out of back pocket when you are getting hit by gusts of side wind isn’t easy. I actually had to abandon a few attempts and hold on for dear life. I eventually made it through one pack.
The route was gorgeous!!!
Apparently I am still scared of high speeds on turns. I slowed down a few times when I probably didn’t need to. Or at least not quite as much. It was a rented bike I didn’t know as well though and I still have that crash from a month ago on my mind. One of the turns was objectively really dangerous though. I am not speaking from experience – they padded the outside of it with bales of hay. Also: clearly a lot of people didn’t make it through some of the turns. I know because I saw them covered in blood later on. I am pretty sure I would have had to have another serious talk with myself if I crashed because I would have been tempted to withdraw.
You know how I said that I was convinced that I would be always next to somebody? Well, by the end, people stretched out so much that I was alone. I ended up yelling on some turn asking which way to go.
I got passed by a lot of people on bike, but I am still happy with my time. I rode with average of 16.8mph and that’s good for me. I made it in one piece with plenty of time to spare. I can improve, but then: who can’t?
I really wish I could forget T2… I wasn’t moving too fast to begin with, since my banged up foot was bothering me when trying to run in bike shoes (I went to ortho today – I have a bruised bone from my accident a month ago). I changed, ate some more of my candy and got ready to go. That’s when I noticed that my helmet was missing. I spent a couple of minutes trying to find it… I will be writing a whole another article on lessons I learned during this race, but here is a free bee: if you lose some marked piece of gear, just go. It will turn up on its own eventually. But then I finally got on my feet and started running.
Based on the fact that I have already ran 5 marathons, I am pretty sure you can all guess that this is the sport I’m most comfortable with in competition setting and I knew exactly what I was doing. And you would be right. My foot was hurting some and I knew I wasn’t going to be fast, but I picked a pace and decided to stick to it. I know it wasn’t an impressive one and I didn’t really know how it related to my usual runs (remember – the watch was on metric system, which is not how I have everything calculated and committed to memory). A few people commented on my running that I should pick up the pace. I was happy to pass them later on… But unlike them, I have enough class not to comment on other competitors’ paces. Even when they were running out of steam and opting for walking. We all had our own work to do!
Since the run portion was in form on 3 loops around downtown Gdynia, there were so many people cheering, music and general excitement! I love hearing the crowds and it made it easier for my daughter to cheer for me. I waved at her and yelled back to her every time I saw her along the way! Here is the back of her head – she is the little girl in teal (not blue LOL) shirt and purple skirt. Sometimes I don’t understand her outfit choices… Anywho… It was so great to hear mini-me come out and cheer! It made me so happy!
I enjoyed running through this arch. They had an announcer there and he called me ‘pink obsession’ on my first lap. And the other two laps. It made me chuckle. I loved that – I was already like 5 hours into the race and any distraction from the pain and being stuck in my head was welcome.
So one more thing about that arch: have you noticed on the first picture that there was a mist? Apparently it was hot and they had cooling stations along the way. The high was maybe 85F! Probably not even it. The worst I could say is that it was really sunny. But again: that sun is nothing comparing to DC. So while other competitors were doing weird stuff to keep themselves cool, I was thinking that there is a lovely breeze and avoiding being sprayed with water (I didn’t want to have wet running shoes).
By the time I was half way done, I really did think of just walking the rest of the way. I actually got in my mind that maybe I could finish under 7 hours (my original plan was to just finish). I yelled at my family to figure out how much time I have left to make it happen. At 5km to go, I got my answer: I had over an hour left to do that. This actually gave me a new goal and boost of speed – I can do 5km in under half an hour, which meant that there was an off chance of me finishing under 6:30. I did my best on the run. I gave it all. I tried to speed up on the mat and that’s why I know I gave it all: I wasn’t able to pick up the pace a single bit. But I knew I made it to the finish line, so I was thrilled:
And then, I found out I finished in 6:29:47:
fot.Mariusz Nasieniewski/Maratomania.pl
No, jumping up for joy was not an option… But I was thrilled! I barely made it under the 6:30 line, but I did! I didn’t even dare to dream of that before I started! This was the payoff for a year of really hard work and I made it!
Here are my actual times (some parts are cut off):
I ended up placing 1663, which is great! I ended up placing 46 out 57 in my age group. I was actually 18th on the swim! Turns out I really underestimated my swimming prowess!
Next post will be on lessons I have learned during this race. There were a lot of them…
Now it’s time to look for a new challenge… I’m thinking a full Ironman race… The other 45 marathons… Maybe open water racing… I am pretty sure it will be all of them and the main question is how long will it take for me to get around to all of it 😉
Seriously… Which part of me sweating says I’m interested in some dude’s lame pick up lines? And it’s bad enough at the gym, where there are other people, so it doesn’t feel truly threatening. It’s way worse on the trail! I would really like to know what makes men think it’s a good idea. At best, it freaks a woman out.
Here is something men appear not to think about: how it comes off to a woman. Whenever I get catcalled on the road, I remember a part of Jerry Seinfeld’s routine, which goes something like this:
So a car drives past a woman and the driver honks. What does he expect will happen? She will kick off those shoes, run after her and say ‘Thank god you honked! Otherwise I would have never known how you felt!’
Yes, that’s how I feel every time I hear a guy bugging me when I’m on a run. I once complained to a (male) friend of mine about general harassment while I run. Background: I live in DC and summers get ridiculously hot and humid. It’s easy to start chafing, so I frequently run in knee-length leggings and sports bra (like the ones that are meant for outer clothes, not underweary or anything). When I was venting, the friend in questions told me that maybe I should just wear a shirt and cover up, so the guys won’t look. NO!!! In what world is my choice of wardrobe a permission for a random guy to approach me while I am clearly busy??? Let’s be adult about it: men need to be civilized human beings and control their urges. Mind your own business, gentlemen!
I have been harassed plenty of times, but one sticks out in my memory, mostly due to a happy conclusion. It was many years ago, when I was in Poland. I went for a run (back then, I used to wear baggy shorts and baggy t-shirts – clearly nothing to look at) and I was passing three guys sitting on a bench, drinking beer (mind you: full daylight, middle of a day, not far from civilization). Two of them started to catcall me and be general jerks. To my surprise, the third one told his buddies to shut up and leave me alone (which they did). I don’t think he will ever know or understand how much that little gesture meant to me. We definitely need more men like that!
When I talk to men, most of them never give much of a thought to things women do when they leave for a run. Every woman has to take into consideration her safety. And I’m not talking just the cars and wildlife. It took me a long time to get over my discomfort with running around the National Mall in the morning. Honestly, what changed my mind was biking there and seeing how many other people are there. But I doubt any man ever gives it a second thought.
Solutions for women are relatively ‘simple’, such as run only in ‘safe’ places, such as well-lit paths where there are other people or carrying pepper spray. Sadly, that doesn’t always work – there are plenty of articles out there saying so.
What can men do? Start by not being creepy and don’t talk to women on the road unless you know them. Trust me: you aren’t flattering anybody and have zero chances of success with a female runner randomly seen on a road. Maybe try not to look like you are following them when there aren’t other people around? And most importantly: keep an eye out for shady people who may be dangerous to fellow runners and if you somebody in need of help, please help.
I can only dream that one day, women will be able to go wherever they want without being harassed. For now, please stay safe out there!
Here is some good news: peak training is over and it’s time for taper! My ankle is still bothering me from the crash a few weeks ago. Hopefully, two weeks will be enough to get it back on track. Yesterday, I was supposed to run actually 10 miles, but I started to get lightheaded due to dehydration and low electrolytes and had to call it quits. I do feel encouraged that I can do it though, even if the run will be more like a walk/jog at some point. I checked the weather for the race: it’s supposed to be partially cloudy with a high of 72F. That may not sound totally awesome for the swim, but it will definitely make biking and running a lot easier than the 90s I’ve been getting in here!
Hello all! I decided to open a shop with my various designs, including the logo, apparel, hats and water bottles. Please visit my shop at https://www.cafepress.com/apbtri 😊
A few weeks ago, I got inspired while sitting on a train and started to draw cartoons poking fun at us, triathletes and our experiences in training and racing. They are all here, but for today, here is some:
People will ask you:
And:
But we do get out there. And we work hard. Here is the harsh reality of biking on hills – you get so excited for a downhill until you realize that now you have to climb it!
How about some idiot insisting on giving you (usually wrong) advice at the gym?
I don’t know what about me sweating profusely and being dressed in worn-out t-shirts makes guys think I’m interested in being hit on…
Not so long ago, I saw a sign on the bike trail saying that the speed limit is 15mph. It sounded ridiculous! So I was talking with my friend and I found out that I am not the only one who sees speed limit signs while biking and immediately thinks ‘I have to beat that!’ 😆
Illustration to go with a sign seen during a marathon and one for a cyclist (since I always whine, at least internally) when I try to make it up a hill:
I have seen sharks in the water before, but they were always tiny… But when you swim, wouldn’t this be a better incentive to speed up?
My drawings of dogs leave a lot to be desired, so so far, I only managed to finish one cartoon involving a dog. This one was inspired by a woman walking her dog on an insanely long leash. I was running that day, but this image immediately came to mind:
Scorching week! The heat is definitely a killer and plenty of my workouts had to be done indoors. Unfortunately, my morning run on Wednesday caused more damage to my neck. Good news: it’s back to ok today. My ankle, on the other hand, still leaves a lot to be desired.
Back to heat: it was so hot that the indoor pool last Friday was uncomfortably warm. I still made it through my training. It got really bad over the weekend. I went to the pool with my daughter on Sunday and water there was so hot that I am still not convinced that it was any better than the hot air. And then there were nasty storms in the evenings that didn’t bring relief. We are promised some relief tonight, but it’s going to be back to ridiculously hot by the weekend. It’s my last week of peak training before taper, so it will have to happen, one way or another!
Isn’t riding on the road just the best? That’s at least partially sarcasm. Sadly, riding on streets and roads shared with cars is very dangerous.
Laws regarding cycling on the roads varies between countries and states, but in the USA, where I live, basic rule is that cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities (although there are roads, mostly freeways, that specifically prohibit cycling on them – but those are few and far between). You can verify that on NHTSA (National Highway Safety Administration) website. I wish more drivers knew this. Just the other day, a cab driver spent a lot of time sitting behind me honking and then flipping me off as he was trying to pass me (illegally, may I add). The thing about that situation: even forgetting that I had as much of a right to be there as he did, it’s not like he could go much faster – we were stuck in traffic and all that passing me got him was sitting in front of me on the traffic light about quarter mile down the road instead of behind me. Also, it was right next to the National Mall in DC, where there is no viable alternative to riding on the street in the afternoon. Yes, there are sidewalks. But they are packed by tourists, making it really unsafe for everybody involved to ride a bike in there. And it’s not like I’m 5, moving at speeds resembling walking!
I looked up some statistics on NHSA’s website and found them actually fascinating! (once again: I’m a nerd and I know it). Sadly, the numbers are from 2017, but they are still quite something. So here are the ones that really stuck out to me:
There were 783 fatalities among cyclists on roads. That’s more than 2 per day! How scary is that?
8 times as many men died in bike crashes as women (based on my observations of people on bike paths: that’s because there are significantly more men riding bikes over longer distances, so there may be actually fewer fatalities per cyclist – although I don’t actually know).
Majority of fatalities happen between 6pm and 9pm. Ok, this one seems rather intuitive and easy to explain: there are more people on the road at that time, both drivers and cyclists, so odds are not in your favor.
There are more deaths in the cities than in rural areas. I can see that – I have seen a lot of distracted drivers running into intersections and I have seen them hit cyclists. Hell, I have close calls every week because drivers really want to turn right in Roslynn and totally ignore people in the crosswalk (but I know it’s a problem, so I have been able to avoid getting physically hurt on that particular intersection).
The most important thing we can all do to improve safety on the roads is for all of us to pay attention to what we are doing. It means that as a cyclist, I make sure that I can hear people and traffic around me. I keep my eyes on the road. And I keep my mind firmly grounded and paying attention to what’s going on. I can’t even tell you how many times I have yelled ‘on your left’ or something else at people and they didn’t react! That’s not cool! And same goes for drivers: you have to obey traffic laws and always stay alert and aware of what’s going on around. Main culprit: people turning without first making sure that there are no bikes coming. Dear drivers: I am sure you will be unhappy about dents in the car, but most likely that’s the worst that will happen to you. For us, it’s a matter of life and death! And when passing a cyclist, give us wide berth. I think that some drivers think that if they aren’t touching us, they are doing well. Unfortunately, there has to be more space between a cyclist and a car. For one thing, we might hit a bump or for another reason veer a little bit. For another: if you are going fast enough, the air coming off your car can hit us hard enough to cause problems. So please, stay as far away as possible. Sharing a lane is definitely not cool!
There is a handful of things we, as cyclists, can do to help drivers see us, too. I wear neon yellow (pictures don’t do it justice) helmet. Wear bright, visible clothes. I know it’s not 100% effective – after all, some car once almost hit me when I was wearing my neon orange Marine Corps Marathon shirt that practically glows in the middle of a sunny day. But it helps. Use lights on your bike: white headlight and red light in the back. I have a strong preference for both of those lights being steady ones. Those blinking ones drive me nuts! So if I ever appear to be passing you at a strangely fast speed looking like I’m doing speed intervals and you have one of those lights – you know what’s going on. My friend Eric (frequently mentioned below when it comes to surviving your bike rides) said that apparently rear lights increase your chances of not getting hit significantly even during the day.
Now that we covered that, let’s talk accidents.
Your most likely injury from simply wiping out: road rash.
It was worse than it looks in the picture… It was actually a pretty deep scratch and it’s healing poorly. Whenever you have open wounds, make sure that you clean them out properly and apply Neosporin (or something similar – in different countries they may have different ointments to help keep the cuts clean). Remember that when you get road rash, you may have picked up little pebbles, grains of sand and other stuff with your would. It can cause a lot of problems if not addressed immediately. A useful tip from my old daycare teacher (she was talking about it for kids, but it works for adults as well): once the scab dries, put some vaseline on it. The reason for it is to keep the scab pliable. It’s most useful when the road rash is on joints, such as knees and elbows. When the scabs are dry, they can crack when you move around, which can hurt and it causes your injuries to take longer to heal. Vaseline prevents the scabs from cracking.
WEAR A HELMET!!!
This is my friend’s Eric’s helmet:
Eric is smart. Eric always wears a helmet. Be like Eric. Be smart. Wear a helmet.
Eric was wearing this helmet when on a bike ride in rural Pennsylvania. It was a nice day and the road was empty. He was doing everything right and riding along like many times before and after until a car came too close to him and side swiped him. The next thing he remembers is waking up in a hospital (which isn’t exactly close to where he crashed, either). He is alive today because he made a smart choice and wore a helmet. I remember years ago hearing a story from a friend about being a juror in a case where a kid got permanent damage from crashing on his bike – and no, he wasn’t wearing a helmet. I have a feeling I wouldn’t be writing this blog post today if I wasn’t religious about wearing a helmet while biking, either. About a week and a half ago, I was riding to work, minding my own business when I hit mud mixed with leaves on a turn at a bottom of a downhill and then hit a small ledge before I fully recovered from that loss of balance. I still have neck problems from it. Since there is a lot to be said about bike helmets, I will be writing a separate, full article on the issue in the coming weeks.
Whiplash is probably one of the more common neck injuries associated with sports and car accidents. It happens when your head is quickly thrown forward and then backward. My neck injury clearly is not that – it’s only on my right side and associated with hitting my head on the side. Either way, if you have neck problems, you may want to see a doctor about it. And most definitely don’t strain it until you recover. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience of being stupid: I went for a run with my backpack (part of commute to work) just a week after my bike crash. And then I couldn’t turn my head for a day and I can clearly feel a setback in my recovery. So: give yourself ample time to fully recover!
And if you are unlucky, this may happen:
This is again my friend Eric, who got side swiped by a car while riding nicely along the side of a road. That’s some serious injury! He is flat out crazy, so it didn’t take him long to be back out there (he was out there before the doctor even got a chance to voice his opinion), but let’s face it: something like that can mean the end of the season.
Let’s all try our best to fix the statistics: no more runners and cyclists dying on the roads!
