Race #3.....warming up is a good idea.

The 3rd race of the Triple T is a reverse tri (as they call it). First you bike, then swim and you finish off with the run. The swim is never last as there is a damn good chance of someone drowning.
I awoke from my 20 minute nap (needed like 2 hours) and made my way back to the race site with plenty of time. My main concern was finding a parking spot. There is not a lot of parking and a lot of the parking they had is wet and muddy. I am a car rental genius! I rented a Ford Edge and you know what....that son of a bitch is all wheel drive plus I bought all the insurance...so bring on the mud!!!! Having the AWD is coming very handy as I am allowed to park near the race site where it is muddy and wet. No long walks for me.
Bike: The bike was a time trial start from transition with 2 people going at a time about every 8 seconds or so. About 90 secs before JP and I get to the line I realize I have to take a wizz real bad and I already cycled this morning having to pee the entire ride. I wasn't doing that again (there were no port-o-jons on the bike course). JP grabs my bike and I haul ass in cycling shoes to the nearest head and take care of business. I jump out and we're about 15 seconds away from take off and we made it with flying colors. We bikes the same route as this morning and it was much of the same. The roads weren't wet but they were washed out a bit and a lot of loose gravel on them. I took it easy in those areas. My bike time was .1 mph off of my time this morning so I pleased with that.
Swim: This was going to be interesting. I have never done something like this before and a huge thanks to Todd and Joseph for telling me about the trash bag trick. Joe Blackistone brought it up a couple of years ago and I thought he was nuts but this shit worked. You stick your feet in 2 plastics bags and then they just slide through your wet suit with little struggle. Wicked awesome!!!! I wore my sleeveless wetsuit this afternoon as I did not want to deal with getting my hands in through the sleeves. Just knew i was going to be tired. As I took off out of T2, huge thanks the volunteer kid who told me I still had my sunglasses on. I rarely ever take them off so I didn't even realize it. Thanks kid. I run/waddle to the water and I make my entry. HOLY SHIT...... this water is freaking freezing!!!!! WTF! It felt great on my body but my toes and face were suffering. I almost stopped swimming to get my head out of the water so it could warm up but I knew I would have to stick it back in the water so I pushed through it.
The "adjusted" the buoys from this morning so now the swim was a little longer. Gee thanks guys. The swim was going fine up until about 250m from the finish when someone hit my leg from behind. My calf cramped up like crazy. I was very concerned because I couldn't kick (not like I kick much anyway) but I had to point my foot down instead of back because it would cramp again if I did. It was like I was dragging a dead body behind me.....not that I have done that. Also there wasn't a life guard in sight so if I got into trouble I was done for. Believe me.... I was a bit frightened of having some issues. But as you should always do, I didn't panic, slowed down and made damn sure no one hit the other leg. I finished the swim and was happy to be out of the water...back to it tomorrow. Ugh!
Run: The run was fine. I had a hard time getting my legs going but by the turn around I was back in the game. I jumped into a group of kids from MSU and they kept me going for the final 2 miles. I started to have stomach cramps around mile 5 but I rallied and finished off the run with a solid effort.

Checking the results from this mornings race I was 119th from just that race. I again started in 166th so I moved up a couple of slots. This isn't an RunFar operation so who knows when I'll actually know what I did for time. I have not been wearing a watch in the swim and I am too damn tired to do the math.

Post race was a massage (had to pay for it :() and then a run to my fav Italian food place in town. I called in the order and it was ready when I got there. Made it back to the not so Super 8 and sat down for a beautiful meal of bread, chicken parm without the cheeze and red win out of a Super 8 plastic coffee cup. I reek of class!