ITU-(International Triathlon Union)-World-Championships-2009-Tongyeong Weekend

May 2-3, 2009

Originally, Coach wanted to drive to Tongyeong together, but since he was an official for the pro races and had certain responsibilites, he was asked to come earlier than I was able to because of school. Thus, his second plan was to have one of my teammates drive me there in Coach's car; however, this plan didn't work out either, as unexpected responsibilities popped up for my teammate. So I called Coach on Friday to ask him what we should do, and he told me that I would have to come myself. With my bike. To a place 2.5 hours away. That would require 4 different forms of transportation.



I wasn't sure this was going to work out, because with my new budget for Kona, I only had a certain amount of money allotted to spend for this weekend, and that money was mostly allotted for food, etc. But after asking Coach how much the intra-city train costed, I was pleasantly surprised at how cheap the tickets were. So, my plan was to ride my bike to the closest subway station about 2.5 miles away (in lieu of taking my bike on an inter-city bus, which is difficult because the space on the bus is very narrow) with my gigantic backback and bike bag on my back, take the subway (involving a line transfer), take the intra-city bus from Busan to Tongyeong, and then take a 20 minute taxi ride to the hotel to meet Coach. Luckily, the overall expense was affordable, and the experience was a good one. Now, I know how to take intra-city buses, and next time I do so it will be much easier because I won't have to lug along my bike :).



So I woke up at 5:30am to get started so that I could meet Coach around 11am. Since there was a bit of traffic, I got to the hotel around 12p, which gave us just enough time to put my bike in his car and have some lunch before he had to start preparing for the Women's Pro Race which started at 2pm. It was a beautiful day, so I decided to venture around the area, scoping out what was to be part of our race course the next day.



After about an hour and a half of discovering that the hills in our race course (a course which was different from the Pro Field's course, because the Pro Field had 5 loops of 8km whereas the normal race only had one loop) were going to cause most athletes a decent amount of agony (although the beautiful scenery was sure to make up for at least some of the pain :) ), I returned to the transition area to watch the Pro Women get ready for the start. There aren't many specifics that I can give about this race - the nuts and bolts of it are that the Pro Women's race and the Pro Men's race was downright inspiring. It was so great to be able to see such great athletes so up close and personal. Seeing Emma Snowsill and Emma Moffatt come in first and second place respectively, a duplicate performance of the Beijing Olympics, was amazing. I can't imagine being that amazing of an athlete to be able to reclaim a title with such a talented field at my back.

After watching the race, I got my bike out of the car, rode around to get a feel of the hills, and then registered and put my bike in transition. Along the way I met a lot of triathletes and triathlon-officials because Coach seemed to know everyone and their mothers. After we had dinner, one of his good friends (whom I had met earlier) called him up and asked him to come out to dinner with some friends. Although we had already eaten, we agreed to come for a little while.

This outing was extremely interesting, because not only were there some pretty important Korean people present (the mayor, or second-to-the mayor, of Tongyeong, for one example), but there were also some Chinese politicians there. They had all already imbibed a decent amount of alcohol, so that made it even more fun :). After eating and drinking (just a little for me because of the race the next morning), they asked us if we would go to the Norebang (karaoke) with them. Since it is culture to accept such invitations if you want to foster good relationships, we accepted, to go for an hour. I was not super psyched about this though, because I don't like to sing or dance when I am sober...and all of these men had one-up on me in that respect. But, whatever. I tried to suck it up and kept telling myself that it would all be over in t-1 hour.

After the Norebang (which was very fun but I would have been more fun to be around if I was in a similar state as my companions), I drove Coach's car home (he had asked me before hand if that would be ok, because he was going to be drinking and since I was racing I would not be). That was a fun ... : )

Race day! I was not mentally at the top of my game because of the unusual activity that we engaged in the night before (normally I like to mentally prepare but in this situation I didn't have much of a choice), but we got there with plenty of time to prepare. The water was extremely cold, so I'm glad I warmed up, because if not I probably would have been at least 5 minutes slower. During the warm up I hyperventilated for most of the time in the water, as many other people seemed to be doing (it was definitely pee-in-your-wetsuit temperature water).

Because of the cold (16 deg C, around 60 deg F I think), I was thinking the swim was going to be a bust - especially because there were so many athletes in the race, and given my predisposition to have trouble in crowded waters...let's just say I was not looking forward to the swim. However, I surprised myself when, after diving into the water, I hardly hyperventilated at all, handling both the cold and the constant splashing much better than I ever have - no comparison. My time wasn't incredibly fast, but for me, the swim was a victory, because I have now crushed the mental barrier that was always lingering, making me wonder when or if I would ever be able to overcome my body's unfortunate response to open water swims.

The bike - was...entertaining. I actually thought I had done well after finishing that leg, because on the flats I was averaging between 29 and 31kph, and while the hills were IMMENSE, there were also some great downhills on which I picked up some serious speed. But alas - the omnipresent, extremely difficult hills must have just killed my overall speed, because my average was under 26kph!!! I could not believe that- but - I guess it just gives me more motivation to train super hard for Kona and to not embarrass myself. However, the bike was not a total bust, because while there was a decent amount of people walking their bikes up some of the hills (yes, that's how hilly this course was), I never once got off, despite the fact that I was using Coach's cassette which had a more difficult smallest gear than my bike. Plus, I made it through the hardest bike course I have ever ridden. So there is the silver lining.

Once I finished the bike, I was pretty tired, because I had really tried my best on that course. Since IM was two weeks beforehand, I knew my body was still recovering (especially from the burns, so I was actually wearing a jacket during the race), so I had made a decision before the race to take it easy on the run. I wanted to just run the whole leg, something which I cannot say that I have accomplished in any recent triathlons (there has been a lot of walking in the past few triathlons, and even a bit in some of my last Olympic distances). I accomplished the no-walking part, but the pace was not fast - 50 minutes for about 9km - basically, wayyy too slow for a race pace. However, considering everything (especially 2 weeks post-IM), I think the race went relatively well. Although Coach and I had agreed that this race was just going to be a fun thing (particularly after I had to be bandaged up for more than a week and not able to do any exercise), I still think that he didn't exactly share my sentiments on the outcome of the race. I think despite the fact that I was just going to race this for experience, he was still expecting me to do well in my age group, so I felt bad about the fact that I only came in 5th out of 9. But again, I can't do anything about that now. I tried my best on the bike, made a lot of personal progress on the swim, and finished the triathlon without burning out, and now we have results from which we can create a more appropriate training plan to help me prepare better for Kona. All in all, it was a great weekend, and a great experience.

After my race, I went to the sauna to shower as Coach got ready for the men's race. After watching the men's race (which, as I mentioned earlier, was fantastic), we headed out for a 4.5 hour drive home (at least 2 hours more than it should have taken, despite the last 30 minutes of speeding). Traffic was so bad that people were selling food on the roads to people in cars, and lots of people were buying. We got some as well - warm chestnuts. They were delicious, but definitely the most overpriced thing I have ever paid for in Korea. But a great experience!

Upon our Busan arrival, we headed to a restaurant for a quick bite. While I knew Coach's brother was in town, I was surprised to see all of his family already at the restaurant waiting for us! It was such a nice dinner - I met his mother, father, brothers, and nieces and nephews. They are all so nice! What a great end to a great day.

Now I am in the midst of a great adventure, showing my parents around Busan. But details will have to wait!

Post-Race Discussion; Burn Treatment

We awoke to our 4:20am wake-up call, and started to get a move-on.

I can’t believe I actually slept 1 hour and 40 minutes after that race and made it through the next day – but I made it through with flying colors. I was in a decent amount of pain after waking up, but the bed was so comfortable that it actually didn’t bother my burns much while sleeping. But I focused on the task at hand – finishing packing and getting downstairs by 5am so we could make it to the airport on time – and gave my burns secondary attention.

After waking and realizing the pain and the burn development, my attire was decided to be a tank top, my new IM jacket (for instances of wanting to cover the burn, not for chills, because the burn was actually keeping me quite warm) and shorts - in the absence of having gauze to treat the burns at that point, I didn’t want pants rubbing up and causing infection. Plus, I know everyone wanted to see my awesome-turning-disgusting burns. I’m limping through the airport (because my foot is hurting pretty bad now too from the swim-cuts) in shorts and a tank top with my bike. Coach took a video of my to capture the moment forever. : )

While waiting for our flight, we had some Japanese ramen-type food and started to discuss the race a little bit. I won’t go into our conversation much, but the gist of it was that he had a very bad overall impression, which was due almost entirely to the way the swim course was handled. Yes, it’s true that the swim course was extremely difficult, but that doesn’t excuse people from swimming the course as it was laid out (I’m conveying his thoughts here, although I agree with his mentality). There were multiple buoy-marks which people ignored, with some people seemingly intentionally ignoring them. Apparently he also saw some people cutting across the diagonal of the almost-rectangle so as to completely cut off two main buoys of the course, which really upset him. He told me that he mentioned this to the race director and said that it wasn’t right, and expressed his mind about the way he felt the race was being handled.

He was so bothered by this that he was nearly denouncing the Ironman, saying that Ironman is not a sport, but a commercial event. This comment really bothered me, because I know how much he used to love Ironman, and at that moment I felt like our friendship and relationship would be forever tarnished, because a) I was one of the people who did not conquer 100% of the buoys (although I did not make severe violations, but that doesn’t change the fact that I did not complete the course as laid out), and b) although this race (due to the swim course) was poorly handled, Ironman will still be, second to friends and family, the passion of my life. (I have to admit, if this was my first Ironman race, my thoughts about Ironman and the passion I have for the sport would not nearly be the same, because of the allowed violations as well as the severe race conditions.) What bothered Coach most was that these people, who did not complete the course, would now be calling themselves ‘Ironmen’, and he did not feel this was right, given the violations.

I’m so glad that he can speak his mind and be completely honest, especially when I was one of the people who also committed violations – for I think other people might not have said those things to me given I fell into the same category as what he was talking about. I’m not going to go into how I feel about my performance on the swim because my previous post explains my mindset during the race and my post-swim thoughts, but I think it goes without saying that I felt pretty crappy (deservably-so) upon hearing his thoughts. Thus, there was a nagging question that had to be asked. I said to him: “I completely understand your opinion, and agree with you. And to that end, I need you to be completely honest with me when I ask you this question, because I really respect your opinion. Considering the fact that I did not swim the swim course as exactly laid out, do you think that I should still accept my spot at Kona?” The frustration of the past half hour that was discernable on his face (an emotion that I had never seen Coach display) seemed to turn to serious pensiveness for a brief moment, and without much hesitation, he replied: “I think you swam long enough that it is ok.” While the last three words of his opinion do not seem like convincing words in the English language, considering the fact that he is an honest person and that I emphasized the importance of honesty, I can say that I do believe that he believes that.

Thankfully, the passion of his opposition (at least the evident passion) faded as the days passed, and now, 2 weeks later, I can speak about Ironman Hawaii without feeling nervous or anxious that he is going to think negatively about me, Ironman, or worse, Ironman World Championships, because I know how much he used to revere IM Hawaii (as any avid triathlete does) before this weekend. I hope in his heart that Ironman will remain as something he respects and considers a sport, with the knowledge that occasionally there are instances where the sport is a bit tainted in certain races. While this is unfortunate, I cannot in my heart believe that Ironman is a commercial event not worthy of being deemed a sport. I’m going to go ahead and quote wikipedia here on the definition of sport, because it has the best definition I could find that relates to the definition sought at hand:
“Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome…, but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports…where mental acuity or equipment quality are major factors. Sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play….”
While I could make many arguments why a race such as this one could not be classified as a sport, I could also make arguments why it should be. As I said before, my last blog posting argues some of these points (at least from my point of view from my personal race experience), so I will not waste space reiterating. But, I think the words ‘commitment’ and ‘fair play’ and physical capabilities’ and ‘rules’ are important here, and while IM China certainly offers more oppositional arguments on being classified as a sport, Ironman races in general do not offer nearly as many arguments. So I can rest easy and know that, at least in my heart and my head, that I raced my best, followed the orally-altered rules that were given to me during the race, and gave it my all. I’m not going to look back and have regrets, but only learn from the situation so that I am not put in a situation where I have to permit myself to follow the last-minute altered-rules.

After a decent amount of nodding off on the plane trips, we arrived in Busan around 5p. We hopped in the taxi-van that Coach had reserved, and then he said that he was going to take me to get gauze, after which we would have dinner together with his family. However, after going to the pharmacy and asking for gauze, they said that I should really go to a doctor. So off we went, and ended up spending over an hour getting bandaged up – and by bandaged up, I mean BANDAGED UP (Coach took pictures of that too which I will at some point post for viewing pleasure…haha). We ended up not being able to eat until late, so Coach suggested that I stay at their apartment for the night so I could rest and then just get an early start in the morning.

The burning sensation during the night was pretty noticeable so it was hard to sleep on my back, and legit took me about 2 minutes to turn over when I made the decision to do so; but I slept a decent amount, and woke up around 6:00 am so I could get home in time to struggle into some clothes before heading off to school. I gave a brief account of my weekend to the Principal, Vice Principal and co-teachers, taught a bit, and then made my way back to doctors in Coach’s Dong (village). After another hour there, I met Coach, S, and a few of the younger teammates who will be racing in the big youth race in May for dinner.

I was undergoing a plan of everyday doctor’s visits, so on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I had to return to get de-bandaged, burn-creamed, and re-bandaged (the health care in Korea is amazing! I know I’ve said that a few times but it deserves to be said often), and since it takes about an hour to get to the doctor in Coach’s Dong, I wasn’t getting home til decently late (although the trip was definitely worth it because I didn’t want to change doctors and nurses, who were perfectly nice, and have to explain the whole situation over again without Coach there, so I just decided to stay put). All of this, along with very restricted movement, was the cause of my bike and suitcase remaining unpacked, sprawled all over my floor, until…Sunday? Yea, I think it was Sunday when I finally got everything cleaned up. And that was an amazing thing for me to have held out on (not the bike-unpacking particularly but the suitcase-unpacking) because I HATE looking at a mess – I can’t go to school without making my bed even if I am horribly late because it hurts my eyes. So that’s how much discomfort I was in. Haha. But anyway. Saturday I went to the doctor again, and met Coach there. I had made lots of healing-progress since Monday and was very excited about that, but I was still bandaged up the way-side. After the doctor, Coach and I went to eat with his family, and then they went to swimming practice as I went home (because I couldn’t swim with the bandages even though I felt much better).

Sunday is usually 8am bike practice with the youth team followed by running, but since a) I hadn’t gotten my bike together yet, and more importantly b) my helmet and bike shoes (helmet the more important item in this case) were still in China, I would not be participating in bike practice, so I came to practice around 9:45a. I did some running (very brief) with the team, which felt nice to finally enjoy some endorphins again (although the toenail falling off of my big toe was a hindrance to a more enjoyable run but that is an injury that I can definitely deal with – no problem!). After exercising, Coach had me tell the team a little bit about the race, after which I passed out some what-I-thought-to-be Chinese candy so the kids could try it. I had tried it before passing it out and knew that it didn’t taste good, so I prefaced them on that, but I thought it would be interesting for them to try it anyway. Once they put it in their mouths it was interesting to watch their faces contort. Coach came over and looked at the bag, and said ‘yea, not candy - Chinese natural medicine. !!! I don’t know! How should I know?! I asked someone that I was with in China what it was when we were in the store and he said probably some sort of candy – it’s not like it was in the medicine aisle or anything. But thankfully it didn’t make anyone sick. Haha. Oh dear.

After having some lunch, Coach, his wife and I went for a walk around the Busan Cultural Center area, where the Busan Museum and what seemed to be a War Memorial / Cemetery were also located. I had been there a few times before for the International Choral Festival, but both of those times were at night and I didn’t know the surrounding area well. This day was a beautiful and sunny, and we walked around, sucking in the vibrant nature. Let me tell you, I was sufficiently tired after walking for maybe 30-40 minutes, and ready to go home and rest. What a wimp! (Just kidding I know my body is probably pretty pissed at me still so I can understand it protesting any kind of activity longer than 15 minutes.)

Before going home I stopped at the bike shop to take care of my deficiencies, and then headed home. The only thing left to do today of consequence was to try and finish putting my bike together. I was having issues putting on my derailleur, which is sad because that shouldn’t be one of the more difficult areas of maintenance, but I didn’t have much experience (at least experience doing it correctly, which is basically the only experience worth counting) and the threads were coming apart to create an additional frustration. I was thinking I might have to take it to the bike shop, but before then I needed to put in at least a good amount of effort to try and do it myself (how will I ever learn if I keep having other people do it for me?) Sometimes you just need to remove yourself from a frustrating situation and start anew, because when I tried again I fixed it without much hassle, which was very exciting : ). So bike-having-been-fixed, I was able to relax for the rest of the night.

Monday was the last visit to the doctor, and so I was able to start training again on Tuesday. I will be racing in the ITU race this coming Sunday, so it will be nice to get into the water before that time (maybe ‘race’ isn’t the appropriate word here – ‘compete’ might be more fitting). I’m not looking to accomplish anything astonishing in this race, but Coach signed me up a week or two before Ironman (at that time my next goal was going to be training for the Olympics) because we thought we should get a feel for what I needed to work on for the short course. However, although I will no longer be training for short course, this is a great opportunity to get some experience with a very talented field, because the ITU will have some of the best triathletes in the world racing (which will also mean that I will probably be one of the last athletes to finish but that’s no problem – experience is what I am after. Also, it was a nice gesture for Coach to have signed me up so I don’t want to bail on him there, although I know he would have understood if I did because of the burns).

So this week will basically consist of some minor training sessions to prepare for the next race – my first race in Korea! : )