Military Champs (aka Last Race of the Season) Race Report

To continue where I left off... I didn't end up going to Eagleman for the Aquavelo, and instead spent the day out on my friend Liz's boat with our other friend Colette.  Turned out to be a pretty awesome day, the only real downside being the loss of the $200+ entry fee for the race.  Unfortunately, my "A" race, the Armed Forces Triathlon, was coming up in 2 weeks and it looked like I might not be able to run.  Since the pain didn't abate much over the next 2 weeks, I actually only did one short 1.25 mi easy run, just to make sure I could still run, a few days before the race and that was it.


So how did the race go?

Bottom line: I think my tri season is over. Here's the race report:

Swim - 2 loop course with a run around a bouy on the sand, water was ~60, face and feet were frozen.  Drafted the 1st lap, but unfortunately chose someone a bit slower than me, tried to speed up a bit on the 2nd lap but wasn't able to find someone to draft and ended up coming out a bit further back than I'd hoped, but still with some of the faster girls, so overall swim wasn't too bad.

Bike - 4 loop course, flat and windy -  The girl I was hoping to ride with got thru transition a bit quicker, and I had issues mounting my bike and got a bit behind, but managed to catch up with a small pack of 4.  Unfortunately they were too slow so I felt the need to drop them.  Rode by myself for a full lap, then on the next lap saw 2 girls behind me working together so I slowed a bit and worked with them.  Lost 1 girl along the way, the other girl was Canadian and since this was only a practice race for them, she was kind enough to take longer pulls.  Overall felt pretty good on the bike and did pretty well on that leg and was told I was 5th overall (not counting the Canadian - they raced with us but were scored separate) at the end of that leg. 

Run - 2 loop course, mostly flat and windy. Tried to moderate my pace to keep my calf from tightening up.  One girl passed me on the first mile, which put me in 6th, and I needed to be 6th to go to Switzerland for Worlds.  During the 2nd loop I heard a girl behind me and was trying to hold her off.  She passed me and I attempted to pick up the pace. At that point something snapped like a rubberband.  My right calf cramped up as though I had a major charlie horse (oddly enough, it was the left one that was hurting me more prior to the race).  Faced with the prospect that my season was most likely over the moment I heard something go "pop", I managed to force myself to finish, albeit at a pretty slow pace (it must have been pure adrenaline seeing as how I can't even walk right now)... on the bright side I think I still came out Top 10 overall, and the Air Force women's team won. 

After the race a doctor examined me and said that my achilles wasn't fully torn but she thinks I tore some of the fibers.  I iced my calf and went to the clinic and got crutches.  Currently I can't walk (or drive, yikes, not sure what I'm going to do about that) and my calf hurts like crazy.  Not sure how long I'll be out for, but at this point I'm thinking my season is over.... and I don't particularly trust military healthcare to do what is necessary for me to get well...