Harris Lake Nuclear Swim + bike + run!

On a last minute whim, I decided to do the Harris Lake 1 mile Nuclear Swim.  The reason it’s called “Nuclear Swim” is that Harris Lake is the cooling lake for the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power plant.    This is the same lake that hosted the Triangle Triathlon I did in July.  It seems clean enough, and I didn’t see any strange creatures except my swim buddy, Scottie.  hehe.  This is what he looks like in a wetsuit, according to his girlfriend’s blog.

I saw both Jennifer and Scottie before the race.  We chatted for a little bit.    I also saw more buddies from the swim group: Tracy, Doug, Chris, Ginger, and Nicole.

My training plan called for a 2 hour bike ride, plus 1 hour brick run today. I decided to do those immediately after the swim, sort of making this a race simulation day.  It was a perfect opportunity to test race nutrition and also some ideas I had on how to solve the headache problem I get during the bike leg of races.   I won’t talk much about that, other than to say that, I’m pretty sure it is sinus related.   I took some sinus meds today and also rinsed my nose with some saline spray after the swim, and I was fine. No headache today.

I wanted to do the run on the flat ATT trail.    So, I got up at 5 am, loaded all my gear into my car and headed for the ATT trailhead, at the New Hill Holleman mile 0 end.  I parked my car. It was still dark.  Crap, I didn’t have my blinky lights on my bike.  I took them off for Triangle Tri and never remember to put them back on.   I pumped up my tires, filled my water bottles, and all the other crap that goes along with race prep.  Sheesh, this was just supposed to be a workout, but it was feeling like a race.

By the time all the prep stuff was done, it was light enough to feel safe for riding.  It was 6.4 miles down the road to get to Harris Lake.   I rode real easy, as this was not part of my workout plan!   I got to the race site at about 7am. I went directly to pick up my packet, chip, get body marking done.  They said they were cutting those things off at 7:15 am (but they didn’t!)  Since I registered so late, I did not get a T-shirt.  Darn, they were really cool looking shirts, too, with a nuclear reactor symbol on it.    Oh well.

Then I scouted around for a good place to lock up my bike and set up a little transition area.     I found a nice tree near the parking lot, and set everything up.  I wanted to wear the aero helmet today as part of the headache testing.

Then I went down to the lake, did a warm up swim, chatted with some more folks.    A woman named Chris (I think) asked me about my Zensah sleeves.  Alot of people ask me about those.    I told her that I love them.  You can wear them in the swim, bike and run, and they keep my legs from swelling.   Chris was new to triathlon and asked me some more questions.  Her enthusiasm just tickled me pink!   Go Chris!

Then the swim started.    130 women all started together.  I was worried it would be a washing machine, but it wasn’t too bad.   I did get punched in the face once, tho. First time that ever happened to me.   I swam like I always do in my races: as hard as I could without killing myself or losing form.   I was feeling great.   After about 10 minutes, I swam into a patch of seaweed or kelp.  Ewww, it was so nasty getting tangled in my arms and brushing across my stomach and face.     I kept telling myself that it was just a small patch, and soon I’d be through it.  Nope.   More and more seaweed.    I thought as soon as we turn the buoy, we’ll go into deeper water, and there won’t be any more seaweed.   ACK, it got thicker and more tangley.  At that point, I convinced myself that it was nice clean seaweed, and could not hurt me.  That helped alot, and I swam the rest of the way without thinking much more about it.

Aside from the seaweed, I was enjoying the swim.  So much so that I was disappointed when I rounded the last buoy and saw I was close to the finish.  How funny. I am usually so glad to be done with the swim.     I ran up past the timing mat.  I handed my chip in, and then jogged over to my mock T1 area.    I cleared my nose with “Simply Saline” spray solution,  then blew some snot rockets.   That must have been a pretty site to see.    hahaha.    Luckily nobody was around.  I hope.

I put on all my biking gear and headed out for the bike ride.  My plan was to do 40 miles or so of the Duke 1/2 bike course, since Harris Lake is right on the course, at about the midpoint.  All I had to do was head south out of the park and start riding.  It was  a good plan.

I ate a Smuckers Uncrustable in T1, so went easy Zone 1 for 30 minutes to let that settle.   That is part of my Ironman nutrition strategy, so I test it out on pretty much every bike ride.    I hoped to push up the pace to Zone 2-3 for the rest of the ride after that.  And keep my cadence up on the flats, work the hills, and remember to rest on the downs.   I had no trouble staying in Zone 1 for 30 minutes.  In fact, I had trouble getting out of Zone 1 at all.    My legs were toasty from a long ride I did yesterday, and I guess I just didn’t have alot in me.  I was actually breathing kind of hard, and my legs were kind of burning.   But my heart rate rarely got above 140.  Very strange.    I wondered if I was just doing the hardest part of the course.  There were rollers and some short climbs and some windy sections.  It felt harder than I remember it from prior race days.

After about 1.5 hours, I took a pit stop because I needed water.  I stopped at a little gas station on Old NC 1.    Wow, kind of scarey looking with bars on the window. I was glad I had a bike lock with me today!  I don’t usually carry one, either.

After filling up on water, and peeing, I checked my average speed.   It was 18.3.   Not too bad for tired legs, really.   Still, I wanted to do more of a race pace, which should be closer to 19mph.    I decided that the rest of the Duke 1/2 course must be easier, and if I did the whole thing, I’d see that average speed go up to 19.  Right?  hahahaha, wrong!

As soon as I turned onto Pea Ridge road to head north, things felt really hard.    It’s like a long gradual climb and felt like more headwind.  All day I was feeling the wind against me, but that is impossible, so must have been my imagination.     I trudged along Pea Ridge for what seemed an eternity, then turned onto Beaver Creek.    I checked my average speed again, and it was 18.3.   Was actually surprised that it did not go down.

At this point,  I was committed to doing the whole thing.  So more riding.    Except for feeling fatigued, I was enjoying the ride.    It was a nice day, a little hot, but that doesn’t bug me too much on the bike.

Why do I write so much?    Does anybody really read this stuff?  I feel compelled to keep telling my tale.  It gets funny in a little bit, just wait and see!

I was getting pretty tired, and actually passed the ATT trail parking lot.  I saw my car.  I was tempted to stop the ride right then and there and skip the last 15 miles.   I looked at my average speed.  Still 18.3.   No, I still have time to redeem myself.  Maybe that Shearon Harris loop is fast and flat and I can pick up some points there.     I am stubborn, if nothing else. I kept going.  My butt was hurting. I was tired.  I wanted to stop.

Finally, got to the Shearon Harris loop.    I do like this road, because you ride right past the reactor.  Something kind of mysterious about that.  I stopped and snapped a picture of it.

No such luck redeeming myself here either.  My avs went down to 18.2. I was getting a bad cramp in my right quad.  What?  I never get cramps.  What’s up with that?  How do the Tour de France guys ride those hard stages day after day for three weeks?  I can’t even do two days of much easier and shorter rides.

I contemplated cutting the ride short by continuing up Shearon Harris road, rather than doing the turn around and going all the way back to Harris Lake (start point).   That would have saved me about 8 miles.  What do you think I did?  Stubborn HTFU girl had to at the very least get back to 18.3 mph!    It must be mostly down on the way back to Harris Lake, right?    Actually, it was, and I did get it back to 18.3 mph.  Not a bad pace at all for a Zone 1/2 ride on dead legs.      Fresh legs make such a world of difference, let me tell you.

I rode the 6.4 miles back up to get back to my car and the ATT trail for my run.   I packed all my bike gear into my car, and got ready to run. I look pretty hot and tired at this point.    What do you think?

I was not having high hopes for a good run.  I started out running through the gravel parking lot, and immediately, my left foot felt very stiff.   Oh crap, that can’t be good.  What’s up with that.    I looked down at my feet.   This is what I saw:

Hilarious!  I had started running with one bike shoe still on!    What a total freakin blonde I am.   Hahahaha.   Went back to the car and remedied that problem.

Jogged to the start of the trailhead. Hit start and was off running.  I didnt’ feel too bad really.   I kept chanting the usual stuff in my brain: fast feet, good posture, butt running.    Got the the first mile marker in 8:57.  Whoo hoo, I was really happy with that pace on these legs.   Then the wheels fell off, and I started to slow down and struggle.   Mentally and physically.       Here are my mile splits, and what I was thinking:

8:57 – WooHoo, I’ll take.  “Fast Feet, Butt Running”
9:30 – This is getting tough. Still, 9:30 is an acceptable pace. “Fast Feet, Butt Running”
10:15 – crap, that sucks. i wonder if I’m going slightly up? pull it together.  My butt is tired.  “Fast Feet, Good Posture”
10:20 – NO!!!  I have to run 13.1 hilly miles at Duke 1/2.    Today I am only doing 7 flat miles.  You can’t slow down now, Pretend you are doing 13. Pretend you still have a long way to go.

That didn’t really help.

Then I remembered the Cervelo Commercial, where Ignatas Konovalovas says, “You must forget about the love for yourself. You must be a masochist. I want more pain, more pain. Go, Go, Go, Go. When you like suffering – when you like all the pain in your legs and your body – it means you are good.”

9:46 –  Pain. More pain.  “fast feet, pain, pain”
9:30 – “fast feet, pain, pain, pain”
9:55 – “fast feet, pain, pain, pain, pain”  Yay, I can see the end of the trail.     Yippeee!  I am done!!!!!

Phew! That was a hard workout! I ate almost a whole Red Baron frozen pizza when I got done. And alot of other stuff! Yay food!

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to mention this. When I got home, I looked up the race results for the Nuclear Swim. I was 3rd for my age group, time of 33 minutes. That was a sweet surprise! If you read this far, you are my BFF!