70.3 World Championship Race Bike & Run

56 mile bike – 3:03:47

Normally I’m excited to get on the bike but I was not looking forward to becoming even colder. I had dried myself off as much as possible but my legs were mostly exposed and my tri kit was wet. This was certainly not how I’d normally dress for riding at 40F. I accepted the situation for what it was, knew my goosebumps weren’t going anywhere and that my feet would be numb the whole ride despite the socks and toe covers.

A mile or two into the course, I passed a woman lying face down in the middle of the road getting medical attention. My biggest concern on the bike course is not that my legs will feel horrible or that I’ll get a flat. My concern is that I’ll crash. This was a strong reminder of that concern and that I had a bike failure only a week ago. But I got back into a positive mindset and told myself “it’s going to be a good day” because I truly believed it would be.

I like a challenging bike course. I’ve done flat courses and they just don’t have the same appeal to me. This course was right up my alley. There were a few sections where you could settle into a nice rhythm but also lots of short climbs and descents. My legs were feeling good or maybe they were just feeling numb so I didn’t notice if they were feeling bad. I rode stronger when I needed to for hills and conserved my energy when I could.

Honestly, had I not known it was a women’s only race, I would have thought there were a bunch of dudes on the course. Somewhat because I was surrounded by a lot more strong female riders than you would typically see at any 70.3. But mostly, it was because everyone was so layered up that we all looked bulky. Visuals aside, it was such a unique and fun experience only racing against women. The women’s race didn’t have as many participates so the course was never crowded. There was always room to pass and I never saw any drafting. It was the most civilized racing course I’ve ever seen which made me laugh. It didn’t matter if we had one, two or even four lanes of road to use, everyone rode in one lane the majority of the race. No one ever rode three abreast while passing. The course even seemed quieter.

The other enjoyable part about the two-day event was that it allowed the men to spectate while we were racing. I think there’s something different between someone supporting their crazy athlete spouse/daughter/friend vs someone spectating who does triathlons as well. They understand what you are going through. Like normal, most of the bike course didn’t have spectators. The few sections where there were, it was mostly fit looking men. There was even a group that were loudly cheering in only speedos which was good entertainment.

The miles ticked by quickly. There were several times where I stopped thinking about racing and instead focused on being grateful. I took the time to look around at my surrounding and soak up the experience of racing in such a beautiful place. I was there to have a good race but mostly to have a good experience. I stayed on top of drinking and eating. I never did anything stupid with my effort, nor did I take it easy other than when descending or trying to pee.

Around mile 40 we hit the Snow Canyon climb which is about 1000ft gain in just under 5 miles. It was slow as I knew it would be from riding it a few days prior. But I was happy to have an excuse to sit up and take in the surroundings some more. I took my gloves off and unzipped my jacket because I was starting to heat up at that point. There was a guy in running shoes and a cowboy hat, holding a sign that said “ride faster or I drop the sign”. I told him maybe I wanted him to drop the sign, to which he did (obviously had underwear on) and said he’d find me on the run. It was a good distraction. By the top of the climb, I could tell my legs were starting to feel tired but I knew the long descent to transition was coming soon. I passed my friend towards the end of the ride and told her not to worry because she should run at least 20 minutes faster than me. I struggled to pull my gloves back on and zipped my jacket back up as we rounded the corner at the top.

The final 10 miles were mostly downhill, reaching up to 40mph. I made sure to take in extra fluids during the climb knowing I wouldn’t want to drink as much during this last section. We turned left onto Diagonal and saw the runners on the other side of the road. The crowds started getting thicker as we got closer to the roundabout with the Ironman statue. There was a lot going on rolling into transition, with the cyclists, running and tons of spectators all in one area.

T2 – 3:21
 
I said a little thank you to the bike gods for getting me safely to transition. They had bike catchers at this race which I am always thankful for. I quickly grabbed my bag and sat down to start delayering. I took the time to change my socks since I knew my cycling pair would be a little pee soaked and I wanted a lighter pair. I had to take the time to put on my watch since I couldn’t do it while running and holding a bottle.
 
13.1 mile run – 2:07:02

I finally got feeling back in my feet as I started to run. However, I could tell within the first mile that my stomach felt off. I waited over 10 minutes before I tried drinking from my bottle.  A few minutes later I ate some chews. Big mistake. As I was afraid, there was air trapped in my stomach. I had been so careful during my last race to eat and drink slowly and only while sitting up while riding and this race I threw caution to the wind. I paid the price. I’m sure people think I’m crazy when I say I have a tendency to swallow a lot of air, especially while racing and that it can cause a lot of sharp pains in my stomach. There’s nothing I can do but either try to burp it up or wait for it to work its way out the other end. Sometimes at home I’ll go into down dog or a handstand which helps but that didn’t seem like a good mid-race solution. The problem is the air blocks anything else in my stomach from passing into my intestines.

Less than two miles into the race I was walking a bit to see if that would help at all. It did not so I went back to trying to run through the pain. While running uphill was not enjoyable to my fatigued legs, the downhills were actually more painful on my stomach from the harder pounding. I was determined to never walk downhill though since I wanted to take advantage of the gravity assist. I wasn’t concerned about my pace as I was only thinking about my stomach. The occasional walk gave my stomach the break it needed to get a burp out here or there. Around mile 5 it was starting to feel better so I risked drinking a little from my bottle. It was ok for a bit but then it started to revolt again.

When I passed Bill, I tried motioning to him that I had a stomach budge since he would know exactly what I was dealing with. Most other people probably thought I was motioning to being pregnant. At this point it was midway through the run, I was starting loop two and in the 4 miles uphill portion. My stomach pains were taking away any drive I had to worry about hitting a certain pace. I always knew I wouldn’t place well at this race given it was the championships. I also knew the terrain would make for slower times. My main goal was to have fun, and the sharp pains were taking that away.

There was a lot of walking breaks during those uphill miles since my legs were feeling very fatigued as well. After a while I threw away my bottle, accepting I couldn’t take anything else in. I continued to grab water cups at each aid station to pour on myself to keep cool. In the end I drank maybe 12oz and took in 1/3 of the calories I normally do during the run. Once I got back to the downhill miles, I kept running steady. Certainly not fast, but I was moving. 

Could I have pushed harder? Absolutely. No question. The desire or drive wasn’t there though. And I’m ok with that. It was honestly amazing to simply be surrounded by so many strong, fast women, fighting their hardest out there. When you think about it, the majority of people will never be in the presence of that kind of determination. As a triathlete, it’s easy to think we are normal but we are the exception. Most people try to keep life as easy as possible so it’s a gift to be surrounded by people trying to make it as hard as possible.

I eventually made it to the finish chute and I made sure to enjoy it versus sprinting to the finish. My run time was several minutes slower than I would have liked but as I like to tell athletes, no one really cares what your time is other than yourself (and hopefully your coach). This was the hilliest run course I've done, so all things considered, it wasn't horrible. It was firmly in the middle of the fastest and slowest run times I've had in the past.

Overall – 5:55:10
 
A volunteer met me at the finish line and walked with me through all the different stations making sure I got everything and was in decent shape to send me on my way. St George really does put on an amazing race. I like to race in different locations but I could see myself returning one day. As soon as I found my family, I laid down on the ground for a while trying to get my stomach to settle. I didn’t manage to eat anything until about two hours later.

Overall, I’m happy with the day despite a bad run. It was a great experience and that’s what matters. I did manage to squeak by with a small swim PR so that’s something. As always, I’m thankful for my family and friends who support me at the race and from afar. I always feel the love and think about it while racing. 2022 racing season is now officially over and I’m recharging to start prepping for 2023!

70.3 World Championship Race Week & Swim

Race week excitement began mid-ride, the Friday before the race. I was becoming re-familiarized with my carbon wheels and making sure the bike was running smoothly after a tune up. I road over a poorly patched up pot hole, heard a snap and then my upper body dropped. My aero bar assembly broke off my bike and was being held on by the shifter cables. Luckily, I stayed upright and was only a few miles from home. After many rounds of feeling surprisingly calm and then swearing out loud about “why did this have to happen three days before flying out for a race”, I made it home. I quickly showered, ate and went to the bike shop, assuming the worst. Turns out a bolt had snapped and the other half of the bolt was stuck inside a small piece. It took a few hours, help from a random guy who went home to get tools, a few broken drill bits, and me going to my father-in-law’s house desperate for help, to carefully drill out the bolt and remove it. The bike was put back together and I felt saved. I rode the bike later that weekend to confirm the bike was once again in working order, before taking it apart and packing it up for the flight.

Monday, I flew to Las Vegas with Bill and his dad, then drove to St. George, where my dad had already arrived. Tuesday morning I went to the lake where Ironman was holding a practice swim with a shortened swim course. I tried to quickly shimmy into my wetsuit in the parking lot while watching other swimmers shaking post swim. The water was 65F which was chilly but felt warm compared to the air. A lap was less than 700m and I was feeling good each time I came back to the start. I ended up swimming five laps with some stronger efforts mixed in. My body was warm enough minus my hands and feet. By the time I made it back to the car, both were numb, I was struggling to get my wetsuit off and I was starting to shake. It was a good preview for race morning.

Later that afternoon, I rode about 22 miles of the bike course, including the main climb up Snow Canyon. Utah is probably the state I’ve visited the most in my life, between visiting family and sisters in college, and attending weddings and funerals. This was my third trip to Utah in a year and I’ve hiked in all the “big 5” parks over the years. I love the varying terrain and climate of Utah. This park was no exception. While I’ve hiked all over the state, this was my first time riding and it was such a great experience. In many parts of Utah, it feels like a different planet, perhaps Mars. The slow climb up Snow Canyon really gave me a chance to soak in the surrounds and feel appreciative for the opportunity to race there.
 
Wednesday, I met up with a friend, Sarah, to do athlete check-in and do a run on part of the run course. I ran down Diagonal on a trip earlier this year but it was good to run both up and down to get a feeling for the elevation. Rest of the day was spent doing mobility work and relaxing, knowing that Thursday would be more hectic.

On Thursday, I met back up with Sarah to do a swim at another part of the lake. This time, it was windy which made me even colder and made for choppy water. We were both miserable during our slow 20-minute swim. I was so cold on the return walk to the car, that I drove back to the rental with my wetsuit on. After drying off and changing, we rode straight from my rental which was located on the bike course. The ride confirmed which layers I wanted to pack for the race. In the afternoon, I made a stop at Walmart to buy throw away layers for race morning. There were probably a dozen other athletes I saw holding a variety of blankets, sweaters, socks, slippers and gloves. I decided on a cheap pair of gloves, fuzzy socks and koala bear slippers. I dropped my bike and bags off at T1 and T2, then tried to relax as much as possible rest of the day.

Race morning, Bill and I got lucky with a parking spot near the run course. Following the swim and shuttle schedule, I got on a shuttle bus for my age group, about three hours before I was supposed to start. It didn’t take long to get my bike set up with nutrition and then there was nothing to do for almost two hours than sit and freeze as the temperatures continued to drop. Eventually my family made it on the later shuttles, arriving after I hit the point of shaking when it was 39F. I waited long enough to go the bathroom one last time, did a short run to get warm and loosen up, and then de-layed half my body at a time to get my wetsuit on. I did another short run to warm up again, then put my koala slippers on and said goodbye to my family. I loaded into the swim start chute with my age group and after several minutes, we started loading into the water, 10 athletes at a time.

1.2 mile swim – 31:51

I think this was the first time I got to do a running start into the water which was fun. The water was around 63F and I was happy to get in it and get this show started. As I knew it would, the sun came right over the mountain around the time I started. It made sighting the yellow buoys a little more difficult, but I didn’t have any issues staying on the simple course. Given I was going to be dealing with pulling on and off layers later in the race, I decided that having a watch on my wrist would just get in my way. Based on that, I didn’t wear a watch for the swim and instead had it packed in my run bag. I’ve done other races including an Ironman without a watch, so while it doesn’t bother me not knowing my time when I’m finished, I don’t like that I have no sense of time while swimming. I finally resorted to counting buoys to at least gauge my distance.

This was the first 70.3 World Championship race where they split the men’s and women’s field across two days. Having women only, made the course a lot less congested with only about 1,900 racers. I rarely felt like I was fighting to hold my space in the water. I felt like I was moving well through the water and passing plenty of swimmers. Towards the end, I was swimming side by side with another, each of us holding our ground. I didn’t feel the need to be competitive and beat her, more like use her as a way to hold a steady, strong effort. I was truly enjoying myself during the swim and honestly didn’t want it to be over. My feet were numb, but I felt good otherwise and wasn’t looking forward to the cold air that awaited me. I got to the boat ramp with a herd of other swimmers and up we ran.

T1 – 9:20

This was a long transition due to the temperature. I debated before the race if it was worth using the wetsuit strippers. On the one hand, I knew from my practice swim that I would struggle getting it off with not fully-functional hands. On the other hand, it meant my body would be fully exposed to the cold for longer. In the end, I could tell how quickly my hands were going numb so I decided to use the strippers. This was not a good race to have Reynolds syndrome. There was a warming tent which I skipped and a changing tent which is unusual for a 70.3. Before the tent were lines of chairs which I decided to use since I wasn’t changing. This was the one place I was really hoping there would be volunteers helping but there weren’t any nearby while I was struggling to pull on layers. Most female triathletes know the difficulty of trying to pull on a sports bra while wet. It was a similar struggle but trying to pull on quickly socks, arm warmers and a jacket with useless hands. I had hand warmer packets I wanted to shove in the back of my gloves which I couldn’t get open. Luckily, a volunteer was finally standing idly nearby and I asked for help. I eventually got everything on, got my bike and made it to the mount line.

Build up to 70.3 Worlds

It was never my goal to go to the 70.3 World Championships. I still feel like I have no business being here. But when I got the opportunity with a roll down slot, I decided to say yes.

I’ve always said I like training more than racing. It’s not that I don’t enjoy racing, but I love training, day after day, week after week. Some people need the carrot at the end of the stick to get them moving. Not me. However, when I am training for a race, I do alter my training accordingly. Most of the time I’m fit enough to jump into a 70.3 swim and bike but not the run. The run is always where I have to be most careful with my body and I don’t ramp up running unless it’s for a race.

The build up to this race felt good. Honestly, the last year and a half of training has been better than normal for me. It’s not lost on me that I’ve been coaching myself for the last two years and that it’s the best my body has felt injury wise in many years. Sure, I still battle pain in my right knee but that will be a life long battle due to a surgery I wish I never had. I occasionally had a niggle here or there but nothing that prevented me from training. I might not be as fast as I was a few years ago, but I’m healthy which is way more important.

My build was slow and steady over the last several months. In September, I got to train in Italy. I was home for 2 days and then back on a plane to Colorado. Unfortunately, my bike did not join that trip. While it was sad to be driving up to Ward instead of riding up it, it was nice to be with Bill and show him why I love the state. We spent several days in Estes Park, exploring the area and hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. Then we drove to the Aspen area for a friend’s wedding. Our last stop was Colorado Springs with a pit stop driving up Pikes Peak. We saw bears, a moose, long horn sheep and lots of elk. Our hikes were filled with mountains, lakes and some changing leaves. 

My training during the trip was mostly focused on running but the running was all easy. Or as easy as I could make it, running on average around 7,000ft elevation. There was plenty of mouth breathing, trying to suck in more oxygen. I’ve always done fine training in the Boulder area but I knew from hiking Kilimanjaro that my body does not do well at higher altitudes. Every time we went above 10,000ft, I’d start to get a headache. That headache hit me a few times during hiking but luckily the rest of my training was below that threshold.

One of my favorite parts of traveling is being able to explore new areas on two feet. Each run was in a different location. Several gravel runs and I even did one trail run on difficult terrain. Twice during my long run, I came close to packs of elk. I stopped to take in the moment but kept my distance. I made sure to fully immerse myself in the moment and my surroundings. I found gyms with pools at each stop so I could do an hour swim, followed by an hour on a spin bike. Not my ideal riding set up but I made it work with some hard intervals. In a two-week timeframe, I got to swim in one pool in Italy, three in Colorado and two in SC. It helps keep training interesting instead of always being in my same pool.

After a busy few weeks of traveling, it was nice to be home and settled back into a normal routine. I had a solid three week build up in training. By the time I hit my taper, I felt exhausted and ready for a rare full rest day. There are times I hate tapering and there are times I look forward to it. This time I was definitely looking forward to a little less training. Over the last several months we have been renovating our kitchen. Naturally, the time it involved the most work from me was also when I was peaking for the race. I was more productive at the house with a few less hours of training and a rebound in energy.

Now I’m in St. George, prepping for the big race day. Except to me, it doesn’t seem like a big race. It’s just a day to push myself and have fun. I will not measure my success in the race based on times or placement. It’s a harder course so I know my times will be slower. And it’s the World Championships so I’ll be sharing the course with a lot of athletes who are way stronger than me. I like surrounding myself with people who are better than me though. Yesterday I did an hour practice swim which felt great, although a bit cold. I did a ride up Snow Canyon to get a feel for the hardest climb of the course. I was passed by almost everyone else riding and I didn’t care. I swallowed my ego years ago. This race isn’t about other people and how fast they are. It’s about what I can do with my body. Two more days until the women race. Now all I have to do is endlessly debate about how to dress for the very cold conditions and my body will take care of the rest.

La vita è bella!

For the second time, I had the chance to join my husband on a business trip to Italy. The first trip we stayed in Desenzano on Lake Garda where I explored on foot during the day while he worked. I visited churches, ruined castles, multiple gelato shops, bars (equivalent of a café) and took a ferry to Sirmione. We added a week of vacation afterwards for a day trip to Venice, visited multiple locations throughout Tuscany (think the Italian scenes in the Twilight series) including Florence, and a few days in Cinque Terre. There were boats rides on the lake, horseback riding through vineyards, wine and oil tasting and lots and lots of pasta. Your typical Italian trip.

The trip this past month was not as typical. For him it was a business trip and for me it was a train-cation. When you have the opportunity to ride your bike in Italy, you take it! This time we stayed in Salò on Lake Garda which became my home base for training. Admittedly, majority of my exploring was via running, riding and hiking and I was more than happy with that approach. I had no issues being on my own all day long while Bill worked. 

Runs were a mixture of running along the lakefront, through cobblestone streets and up the hills around the lake. My first long run it absolutely down poured and I had a blast. I’m sure I looked like a crazy American, running in the rain, splashing through streams of water and laughing. While I choose to actually wear shirts while running, I still felt I got a lot of judgy looks for what? Being in shorts and active? It’s certainly not your American culture of everyone running errands in yoga pants and crop tops.

I was told of a gym with a pool I could walk to from the hotel. It had a deep 25m indoor, medium depth 25m indoor and 50m outdoor pool. To my dismay, the outdoor pool was closed both times I went. Per the old COVID policies, I had to make a reservation for a time slot to swim. I’m still debating how many slots they gave out per lane because the pool was packed which seemed to defeat the purpose. Out of the ten lanes in the deep section, eight had red signs and two had green signs. Given my inability to read Italian, I decided that the red lanes were for masters/swim team and green was for open swim. I quickly learned that whether there is one, two or five people in a lane, everyone automatically circle swims. That’s fine when it’s a masters class and you can pick a lane with people of similar speeds. Not as much fun when it’s a variety of speeds and I can’t communicate effectively with the other swimmers. In the end it was a lot of slow swimming and long waits at the wall so I could maybe swim 50m at a decent speed before catching people again. There was a lot of breaststroke and struggling to swim slow enough to not tap feet. Not the best swim workouts but it was a new experience.

Cycling is where the real fun was though. I decided to bring my TT bike since I would be there for over a week about 7 weeks from my next race and then have a week away from all my bikes. In hindsight, I could have enjoyed a greater variety of rides with some climbing had I brought my road bike. I was warned that the climbs were not ideal for TT especially with rim brakes. My first ride was more exploratory and to shake out the long flight. There were a few rides going along the lake and some up the lower parts of the mountains. The main ride was on Saturday. One of my husband’s vendors has been living in the US, but is originally from Salo. He recently had the fastest bike split at Lake Placid in his competitive age group and he offered to take me on a ride. I was both excited and nervous. My riding up to this trip was more about preparing for this ride and preparing for 70.3 Worlds.

 

We rode 90 miles around the perimeter of Lake Garda. I described it afterwards as one of the most beautiful rides, more difficult rides and the ride I was most convinced I was going to crash with a car. The ride wasn’t difficult in itself but difficult because I was determined to stay on his wheel. I tried to not look at my bike computer but every time I caught a glimpse of my power numbers, I thought oh lordy this is not going to end well. It kills me I don’t have any photos or videos from the ride but I was too busy trying to hang on to that wheel for dear life. The lake was always on our right and at times I got to watch the wind surfers. We rode through all the little towns scattered around the lake and the tunnels that cut through the mountains. It was so different from the scenery of my riding at home. The manner of riding with the cars is also very different. Apparently, it’s acceptable to ride down the middle of the road when there is traffic and to weave left and right, right and left, around the cars. I wasn’t sure if it was more likely that a car would hit me or if I’d hit a car trying to keep up with his quick navigation around the cars. I held on though through about mile 70 at which point my legs were dead. He dropped me multiple times when he would surge. Those last 20 miles I was struggling to keep my legs turning over trying to keep up. The difficult rides are always the most memorable rides to me. This is a ride I will probably always remember for multiple reasons. It showed me I’m capable of more than I realize if I could just learn to push myself. Looking at my power numbers after the ride, I rode stronger for 4.5 hours than I did for 3 hours at the aquabike race just a month before. I wasn’t stronger, I was just more determined. The next day he took Bill and I, along with other vendor coworkers, on a hike which turned into 12 unexpected miles.

Outside of training, I went everywhere by foot since I didn’t have a car. Like many European towns, it’s set up in a way that you don’t need a car. Besides the pool, I went to three different grocery stores and walked to several different restaurants I knew had vegan options. Unlike America where everyone is stuffing down lunch to get back to work, food is an affair there. Meals often take hours and I learned that even schools give kids a two-hour lunch break. I had the benefit of joining for all the vendor dinners. This allowed for a variety of restaurants that the locals enjoy plus many hours talking with Italians and learning about their culture. When I travel, I like to experience different cultures and learn from the locals. We even talked about their politics and their views on American politics. Dinners normally took 2-3 hours and there were several courses. A course might be a chef special that was literally one bite of food but it meant you truly savored it. I was worried how my first international trip as a vegan would go but it wasn’t an issue, especially when the vendors helped out.

Before the trip I refreshed myself on some basic Italian so I didn’t have to 100% rely on them speaking English. While I do love the phrase la vita è bella (life is beautiful), my favorite Italian word I know continues to be bicicletta, for both the way the word sounds and what it means.