Ultraman Day 1
November 27th, 2009 Posted in Shanna's Blog EntriesWatch this first http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9uAKMnst68
Sorry for not blogging. I actually do have blogs done on my computer but did not have time to get online at the coffee shop. I was doing my mental preparation of socializing. I just love Ultraman and it is like a treat to be here after working my butt off in the real world the past 3 months. OK…maygbe fire school is not the real world but it was hard for me to deal with so much structure after flying around the world like a free little bird.
The past two days have been busy. Yesterday I booked up the whole day with appointments to eat. My crew thought they were going to pop last night. We ate breakfast at the prerace breifing, pinapple fried rice at my thai place, turkey at Gary’s, and then Italian with my friend Georgio. I just wanted to hang out with as many people as possible since i wont get to after the race.
Ultraman…..guess that is what you really want to hear about.
The swim-s0 today started out with a 6.2 mile swim. I had no idea how in shape I was for this but I was ready to get it done. We all have our own kayaker with us and are pretty spread out….at least in years past. The gun went off at 6:30 am. We all started at the same time and there was a little congestion at the start but we all are nice to each other and dont get into the kicking each other like at ironman.
I was swimming next to my kayaker minding my own business. I could see some water spashing on the other side of her and was wondering what it was. Could it be that she was on an outrigger and the water was hitting that bar? could we be close to some r0cks and the water was crashing on them? could it be a whale and water was coming out of its spout? These are the quistions that were popping into my head. My kayer then put on the brake and it was another competitor in a pink cap cutting her off. I kepy my pace and this girl ended up in between me and my kayaker. Ok it is not like there was not enough room for us. She was in between me and my nutition. I delt with this for about 5 minutes and did not change my pace at all. Our faces were facing each other each time we took a breath. After about 5 minutes of studying I decided I did not like the idea of a rat race for 6.2 miles. I had to end this nonsense and tied to hook back up with my kayaker. I got kicked and swam over in the process. This did seem weird to me.
I do best when I do my own thing and dont worry about the other girls. My kayaker and I stayed closer to shore while the others stayed out further in the ocean. The risk in swimming so close to shore is jelly fish and rougher water but i prefered that. There is a current after the half way point I always save myself for. This is why I was not going to rat race in the beginning of a 3 day race. I could feel the current and asked my kayaker if we were in it. This is when I began to swim harder. I got some jelly fish stings but nothing i could not handle. My low back was tight in the beginning of the swim….still is but I think I forgot about it in the current. I made some time up in my rough waters and got the second fastest swim course record. i hold the record now so i was excited to have my name down twice. I also made time up on the girl that was swimming in my and my kayak
so why the funny link to the cannon ball commercial? well that is how I could describe what happened in the swim…minus the beer. I was really enjoying myself and just minding my own business. It was nice and tranquil and then…….well you get the picture. I AM smiling as I write this so I am not pissed. I think it is rather funny. It made me think of this commercial that I saw in fire academy.
The Bike- well the transition was my fastest ever! I got right on the bike and climb this huge steep hill that i have had a wiener dog beat me up in the past. no kidding there was a weiner dog loose running beside me on the bike. i would have kicked its butt today. i did not hammer and took it easy. i did not feel to bad but at the top of the hill I burped and…well some stuff came up. It was stomach acids and not my food. This has never happened before. I decided to let my stomach settle and not take to much in. This sort of kept up most of the bike ride. I was not sure if I should just pull over and puke or what. It was not affecting my biking s0 I decided to deal with it. It was probably from the Italian food last night. I dont eat tomato based products much anymore. My ulcer does not take it to well. The rougher water I swam in to avoid the crowd of 35 people in the huge ocean did not help much either.
The bike was feeling strong but not fast. I think I stayed steady all day. My crew seemed to be taking a little while to see me in the beginning but they were tracking my competition for me. I asked them to just hang with me. I dont like to race someone elses race. I just had to have faith that my legs would deliver. I always race my best when I do my own thing….like in the swim. There were horrible winds for most of the bike ride. I was feeling sorry for the little girls getting thrown around. I did not mind the wind….it was just like riding in Lubbock. This bike day has 6000 feet of climbing. WE got some drizzle and rain coming into volcano but not to bad. I crossed the line first and kept my lead. I think i am 14 or 15 minutes up.
The gigathlete champ came in and had the fastest bike of 605, mine was 603. That would be hours and minutes. I did today for gramps and had a nice pleasant day. Tomorrow my plan is to ride with the other girls and if i can perhaps see what I can do in the end. Plans do change. I have been told i am bigger ( i have a blog I will post later about me being bigger)so perhaps I will use that to my advantage on the downhill. I do still have chicken blood (fear) of wet roads. Right now there is rain but i am in hope sit will not be in the morning.
We are staying at Johnnys sisters house and had a great thanksgiving dinner. My stomach is gurgling and stuff but I am not letting it bother me. I have had a great evening. I had a great day!
