10/6/12 Giant Acorn Olympic Tri: It sounded like a good idea at the time

Flashback: Sept 9, driving home from Cedar Point, basking in the endorphin-fueled afterglow of our respective races, warmly embraced by compression socks, miles of open road ahead of us. "You know, I'm not ready to be done for the season yet," Elliott muses. Maybe we could do another race? "Mmmm, yeah, that could be fun," I say, and begin to nap through Pennsylvania.

Fast forward nearly a month later. Thanks to a discovery that a) there was a thing called the Virginia Triathlon Series b) we were both ranked pretty high c) there was a 5 race minimum to receive an award and d) enough races remained for us to enter enough races, here we were, at check-in, again. Two weeks ago, we had both raced the Warrenton sprint, and less than a week ago, I'd completed my first 70.3, but yet again I found myself flashing my USAT card for the first of two races. That weekend. Yes, you did the math right: I had 5 races within one month. And if you think that's a crazy idea, where were you when I signed up???

Since Elliott has already kindly provided an actual summary of the race course, I'll just skip that and get to the juicy bits.

Swim: Hips don't lie, but legs do

I had overcome the sore legs/everything from Augusta by Thursday so I figured I was good to go for Saturday morning. However, after a 1500 m non wetsuit swim in which I tried to work the pace because it's "just an oly," I was ready to call it a day. Why was I stumbling up to T1? Do the rolling hills of Louisa County count as "at altitude"? Time: 26:19, 1/18 AG

T1: I was huffing and puffing, cursing the uphill run to bike start. Nicht gut. 1:44, 3/18 AG

Bike: In which my legs turn to rubber

Time to get my heart rate back to where it's supposed to be! Time to relax and let my legs fly! Not so much. Everything was more tiring than it should have been. Where was my fast cadence? My spring up the hills? My fearless descents? Still in Augusta, apparently. I did manage to pass people, especially on the uphills, always a nice confidence boost. And boy did I need it: a hilly 10k run awaited me. Cue the ominous music. Time: 1:11:58, 3/18 AG

T2: So tempting to rest, to walk for even a minute, but I knew E would give me a hard time for beating me. So on I went! 1:11, 6/18 AG

Run: Why couldn't this have been longer?

Does this mean I had an amazing run? Not at all. It means that if I'd even been able to keep the same mile pace as my half marathon last week, I would have won my age group. But I could not, and I did not. It was not pretty.
Time: 56:09, 7/18 AG

But I finished, and I got to see Elliott several times, our greetings progressing from "work it! I love you!" To "heyyyy" to a silent, supportive look when there isn't enough room in our lungs for words.

Final Result: 2:37:18, 3/18 AG and 19/143 female. Not what I was hoping to do, but at least I brought home another pint glass and trivet. Elliott and I should turn these into a tile backspash.