Dateline: June 25, 2015, Chester, Connecticut
The Cedar Lake Sprint Triathlon Series
Having spent several days bagging my last two states, Alabama and Pennsylvania, I felt the urge to just go and get me a quick state, kind of like I did with Vermont. Hit the road, work hard, go home. I feel guilty not devoting much time to certain states, but my time is not completely my own right now. My dad turned 85 on June 24, and I was there to give him a card and share ice cream cake with him. His big gift: a stuffed tiger from my brother Tony, who, like Dad and like me, is a Princetonian. Dad loved his college days and was the sports editor for The Daily Princetonian, covering the exploits of his Heisman-trophy winning classmate, Dick Kazmaier. I have also covered sports, though not formally, writing game summaries for my soccer team, Clinton United. And covering my own efforts in this blog.
Now that that Dad needs more help, my sister and I have a schedule that ensures that one of us is in NJ all the time, spending more time with him, and available in case of emergency. I had a window the day after Dad’s birthday, and I opened it, and drove to Connecticut to see if I could complete a triathlon.
I signed up for a triathlon in 2010, but I had plantar fasciitis on race day, and was unable to walk 5k, much less run it. I panicked in the water that day, and I couldn’t put my face in, so I turned over on my back and flutter kicked a quarter mile. That winter, I completed an indoor triathlon, swam well, but I still wanted to compete outdoors. June 26 arrived, and I was pretty close to injury free. Sore quad, that’s it. No excuses, no real training for this, but I wanted to do it. My goal- don’t walk.
I had recently come off a 241 mile bike ride, so I figured I could bike ten. I swam 40 or 50 laps in my backyard pool a few times, and I ran three miles, once. I haven’t been doing much running lately because it aggravates my foot injury. I would rather play soccer if I have to choose. And I do. I can’t do it all at this stage of my life. Bottom line, then, I was pretty confident I could do all three pieces of the triathlon. Whether I could do them all in a row remained to be seen…
I left NJ around 10 am for a 6 pm race. I wanted amble my way up the coast and see if I could find something interesting to do in Connecticut before competing. Exiting route 95 east of Madison, I saw signs for the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge. I remembered that I used to ride in horse shows against a girl named Lucy McKinney, and her mom was a noted rider as well. I could feel my past calling me to this park.
There was a lovely stone house and carriage house on the property, along with a log cabin, which was a bit mysterious, given the stone construction right next door. A good sized piece of coastal wetlands is forever protected here for the benefit of the birds. I stretched my legs by taking a short hike, then headed for the race starting point.
The Cedar Lake Triathlon series boasts seven Thursday night triathlons every summer, alternating weeks with another local organization. That is fourteen triathlons in Connecticut, all for fun, to promote an active lifestyle. Over one hundred people waded to the start line for my race, ranging in age from a young teenage boy to a woman well into her seventies.
Cedar Lake has a little town beach perfect for the swim and the staging areas.
I got lunch at the snack shack and met Nancy, who lives just across the lake and was also going to do her first tri, as the swimmer in a relay. While carbo- loading for the race, we got to chatting, and she told me that the log cabin at the wildlife refuge was built for Eleanor Roosevelt by her good friend Esther Lape, who owned the stone house. Having read a fair amount about Eleanor and visited her cottage near Hyde Park, New York, I knew of Esther Lape and was thrilled to find my intellectual and athletic life converging in Connecticut. Eleanor Roosevelt is one of my heroes.
Wading into the waist deep water just prior to the start, I was relaxed and determined to stay that way. Once the gun went off, I swam smoothly and easily for a little bit, then raised my head to check my position relative to the big orange turnaround buoy. That broke my rhythm and brought on the breathlessness, so I swam the 500 yards alternating between freestyle and breaststroke. Back in the day, I swam all strokes, except breaststroke. Needless to say, I wasn’t competitive in the swim. But I did it. I jogged up out of the water, went through my polished and efficient transition routine, meaning I put my sneakers on, and I climbed aboard my bike for the ten mile ride.
The course was hilly but not terribly so. I passed a few people, and I don’t think I got passed at all. After about 36 minutes, I got back to transition, and the last thing in the world I wanted to do was go for a run. It’s tough to get off a bike and hit the pavement, especially if one is racing and has never done the two events back to back before, and hasn’t trained at all. Walking was a temptation, but I told myself that if I did walk, I would fail to meet my modest goal for the race and then I would have to try again. If, on the other hand, I didn’t walk, I never ever had to do a triathlon again. Somehow, this rather negative mantra got me through the first part of the run. An out and back course, slightly uphill on the way out, down on the way back. I stopped for water at the turnaround, and I let myself drink it. And it got easier, and I started to feel better, and was able to finish strongly, running well.
Overall, I was 14th in the women’s race, eight minutes behind the second place woman, and 18 minutes behind the winner, Megan Pennington, 35 years young. After swimming and biking, she ran a 5k race in 20 minutes flat. That is FAST. That is fast if you run without swimming and biking first. She also just finished 24th in her age group in the Chicago World Triathlon Series, just 10 minutes behind the winner, at the Olympic distance. Armed with that knowledge, I feel I did pretty darn ok for 50 in my fifties.
I got a medal for being a first timer, and there was ice cream and chocolate milk at the finish. After a cooling dip back in the lake, I was ready to drive home.
I did it. I completed a sprint triathlon. I think it is kind of like childbirth. While you are doing it, you swear you will never go through it again. But afterward, when the endorphins flow and you have that baby in your arms or that ice cream in your belly, you forget how hard it was and how much it hurt and you consider another. If I do it again, my goal will be to swim freestyle the whole way. To that end, I spent the rest of the summer open water swimming Maine lakes and harbors. I almost got run over by a tour boat, but that is a story for another day.
Cedar Lake Triathlon Series is ideal for first timers. Friendly, small, very inexpensive, and multiple dates offered each season. Please check it out. Meanwhile, I am going to practice changing my clothes in a hurry. Transition training is the easiest to undertake!
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