First Olympic Triathlon: Post 7 Recovery

After finishing the tri, I was helped over to the first aid tent (which wasn't really near the finish line at all, much to my dismay).

I sat down on the edge of a cot while the aid lady put ice packs on my chest and back. I suppose the packs were to cool my core body temperature but they didn't really feel that good. They didn't feel bad either, just kinda neutral.

She asked how I felt and if I felt nauseous. I told her all my miseries and that at points during the race I felt like I was going to throw up. She told me that a lady had already thrown up. I think she was trying to make me feel better and it did help a little to know that some other person was suffered from the same race that I was suffering from.

The aid lady then declared that she could see sweat beads forming on my forehead which was a good sign. I wasn't really sure I believed her but I wasn't going to argue.

Arial, the kids and Mrk and Mg came over next to me. They brought a Gatorade and water as well as bananas and grapes. That was really good. I ate and drank as quickly as I thought I could without throwing up.

The kids shared in the refreshments. It was nice that they were there and being chipper. They helped keep my mood up (or at least kept me trying to look like I was happy and okay, so I wouldn't scare them).

I lay down because I was getting a little light headed again. That didn't really make me feel any better but sitting up again made me feel worse. My abdomen injury hurt a lot worse laying down. It took me a bit to find a position the didn't put me into agony.

I started shaking. It felt more like muscle spasms in my arms and legs than regular shivers. I asked if it was cold because I was worried that it was some sort of symptom but they said it was a bit chilly. The aid lady gave me her sweatshirt to cover myself with (which was nice of her to do even though I was sweaty). That helped but I was still shaking. I eventually asked for more banana because I thought the potassium might help. The shaking did eventually go away, so maybe it did help.

At one point, I heard them announce that the final triathlete was finishing. There was a big cheer. I was glad to know that I wasn't last even walking the last mile.

The aid lady asked if I wanted the paramedics to check me out. I thought that would be a stellar idea. It would be pretty stupid to die from doing a race. At least it would be a lousy thing to do to the kids. I decided that any precaution was a good idea. Plus the aid lady seemed a bit worried.

The medics came and they were so professional that it was a little scary. It made me realize that if I needed rescue workers that I wasn't in very good shape. They took my blood pressure, took my pulse and asked me a bunch of questions.

By the time they were done with the questions, I was starting to feel a little better. I tried to sit up. I was successful and other than a bit of dizziness from sitting up, I was feeling a lot better. I didn't want to mention the dizziness to them since I didn't want to bother the medics anymore.

I told the medics that I was starting to feel better and they asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital. I said "no" and they made me sign a waiver stating that I refused a ride to the hospital. I was very grateful for the help from the medics and since I was a lot feeling better at that point, I just wanted them to be able to go back to whatever they were doing before my crisis.

During that time, Mrk was nice enough to gather my stuff from transition and bring out my bike. That saved me from a big hassle. Not only would have been hard physically for me to do that but I think the transition area was being torn down before I left the tent.

I thanked the medics and the aid lady. Pretty much everyone had left by the time I got up. I was near last off the course and had spent over a half an hour in the aid tent giving people a chance to leave. It made it pretty easy to find our car though.

We walked to the cars and then all went to subway where I ate more than I thought I was going to and it was good.

The rest of the weekend, I had quite a bit of pain from my abdomen injury. Strangely, my muscles weren't that sore but I hobbled about in pain anyway. But now I'm mostly okay (although I'm still trying to shield my abdomen from more damage).

mwz