Pre-Race
Morning started off at 4am when I promptly started eating
breakfast. After showering and getting ready, Bill and I left the hotel and
drove to the race site. Did the usual body marking, chip pickup, transition set
up, blah, blah. Always enjoy starting
out when it’s still dark out because being near water when the sun rises is
always beautiful.
With transition area all set up and the clock ticking
down to go time there was nothing left to do but warm up. I put my music on to
help pump me up and went out. About 30 seconds into my jog a car pulled over
and someone opened the door right in front of me. In my attempt to avoid the
door my foot landed half on the road and half on the grass which was a bit of a
drop down. This of course resulted in me tripping and falling. As I bounced
back up and said “shit” loudly the girl who opened the door just looked at me. Thanks
a lot. So that was a great way to kick the day off but at least it wasn’t
during the race and it was just surface pain. I told myself this was my one
thing for the day, nothing else was going to happen. Moving on.
We headed to the dock where I watched the first few waves
head out while I tried to clear my head. My first half. This will be a fun day,
right, now get in the water.
Swim: 43:36, 26/50
Water temp was low 80s so not wetsuit legal. This was the
first time I swam in my tri kit and my 60 sec warm up in the water made me
realize the top acted like a scope probably because I have no boobs to fill it
out.
I was in the fourth wave with all the females minus the
super-fast ones that went in the first wave. Some of us were talking about
aggressive swimmers and joking how there’s no need to kick or grab us, we will
gladly get out of your way. Nice way to lighten the mood before go time. 3…2...1…
and we were off. I tried to find feet to draft behind but no luck so instead I
focused on my stroke and keeping my effort steady. I was also very focused on
sighting often since I have a tendency to go off course. Before the race
started I counted the number of round buoys between triangle turn buoys so I’d
have an idea of how far I’d have to go and what to look for.
Before I even got half way I was starting to pass green
caps from the wave before me. I was feeling pretty good! So I’m swimming along
feeling so good about myself and thinking “I’ve made such good progress with
sighting during OWS” and “look how I’m passing people” which then turned into
“where the hell is everyone?”. Somewhere between the last turn buoy and the
finish I’m pretty sure I’m hearing someone yell so I finally stop and hear a
guy on a paddle board yelling I’m way off course and that I’m heading back
towards the start. DOH! Apparently I remembered the number of round buoys on
the last straight section incorrectly so I started looking for another one when
there were no more left and instead found the very first buoy near the start
which I was swimming towards. It didn’t help that my goggles were fogged up and
a bit scratched on the inside so I was just having troubles seeing anything in
the first place. Just a tad bit in the wrong direction…
All and all this really was not that big of a deal and I
knew that while I was swimming to correct my mistake. I like swimming and the
swim takes up such a small percentage of the day so if there’s one place I’d
pick to waste time, it’s there. However, in the back of my mind I kept thinking
bad things happen in 3s. First the fall, now swimming off course, what’s my
next little hiccup?
Once I looked around for a few seconds and found out
where the dock was I picked up the pace (or at least effort) a bit. I didn’t
really get back on course until the very end when I started swimming near other
people right before the dock. Got up the ladder and started running down the
dock. I saw a man with a camera at the end of the dock that looked a lot like
my husband but Bill was definitely wearing a bright pink Disney princess half
marathon shirt and this man was in a white shirt that said Race Crew. Right as
I passed him I realized it was Bill and somehow while I was swimming he became
part of the crew? I later learned that the race director approached him about
the photos he was taking because they couldn’t find a professional photographer
being it was a small race. Bill agreed to give him the photos as long as it
gave him access to anywhere which included places spectators were not allowed.
T1: 3:23, 22/50
I was extremely fortunate in where my bike rack was
located. I was pretty far away from the swim finish and run start but it was
very close to the bike start and finish. Plus I was on the very end of the rack
so I had plenty of space. I really couldn’t have asked for a better spot.
Nothing terribly eventful during transition. Dumped my stuff, put stuff on me
and in my shirt and then I went.
Bike: 3:02:08,
14/60
As I left on the bike I once again saw Bill in his Race
Crew shirt and asked him how he got it but had no idea what he said. I started
out the ride closer to the upper part of my HR range. I had my screen set to
show HR, cadence and time. Occasionally I would flip screens to see average
speed and boy was I surprised to see upper 19mph. I really had no idea what to
expect for speed because long rides tend to be at an easier pace and what
little racing experience I have I know you ride surprisingly faster during a
race. This however was faster than I expected. I knew a 3 hour bike split would
be about 18.6mph and for a while I was feeling pretty confident I could do it. This
became a sort of goal I set as I was riding but in the end no matter what I was
thrilled with how I was doing.
A few miles in a passed a female with 27 written on her
leg. This was one of two other females in my age group. I was thrilled because
I wasn’t sure I could pass either. I worked through my nutrition plan perfectly
and had zero stomach issues. In fact the food went down easier than it does on
long training rides. I had to pee and I decided that stopping to use a porta
potty would be bad all around for me so I tried to pee while riding. I came so
close but I just couldn’t. Something about pedaling and hitting little bumps
made it impossible for my body to let go. I backed up on effort to see if that
would help and it didn’t. So I picked it back up and went my merry way.
Around mile 40 it started to rain and by mile 46 it
turned into a downpour. Having a flat, pretty straight course with not that
many people at least reduced the chances of crashing. It still slowed me down a
bit though. I decided this was my third bad luck and that nothing else would go
wrong from then on out. Given that the three things were all pretty minor, I’ll
take it. At this point I really had to pee and I figured since it was pouring
it wouldn’t make any difference since it would all wash away. Success was found
but at the expense of getting out of aero and I had to stop pedaling. I figured
that little time I lost was time well spent. The rain let up finally and pretty
much stopped by the end of the ride.
As the ride went on, my average HR started getting lower
and I could watch my average speed drop from high 19s to ending at 18.4mph. Could
I have pushed harder? Yes. However, that could have resulted in a slower run
and I said going into this that it was all about the run. Therefore I’m happy
with my decision to not push too hard. I will say there are positives and
negatives about a small local race. On the bike I realized for me the lack of
people was a negative for motivation. It was nice not having too many drafting
issues though. For the most part I could always see someone but a lot of times
they were far away. But once I started getting close to someone that’s when a
competitive side of me kicked in and without even noticing I’d start to pick up
the pace because I’d want to pass them. If I was around people more often I
think that would motivate me to go a bit harder the whole time.
T2: 1:47, 6/50
First thing I noticed getting off the bike was wow the
outside of my feet really hurt. It might be from the shoes I rarely wear? I
re-racked my bike and sat down to change shoes one, because everything was
soaking wet and it was difficult to get my socks on and two, I tried to pee but
couldn’t. Stood back up and debated for a few seconds about what to bring. I
changed my plan last second and decided to leave the hat, keep my glasses and
not bring the packet of Chomps (still had a full pack from my ride in my shirt)
or GUs (which was originally intended as a backup). Started running and once
again noticing foot pain and now butt pain.
Run: 2:00:22 11/50
My plan was to start out no faster than 9:30 and then as
the race progresses see if I could go faster. As the miles went by I was
thrilled with my progress because I kept negative splitting. That turned into
my goal to keep going a bit faster each mile. However, I knew that could only
last so long. For the first 10 miles though, I was doing VERY well and I was
very happy with myself. My average paces were: 9:37, 9:43, 9:38, 9:26, 9:21,
9:16, 9:12, 9:12, 9:11, 9:08, 9:17, 9:20, 8:45. According to my watch I only
ran 12.92 which is how I ended up with a 2 hour split.
My stomach was feeling solid. Although it was cloudy and
not really hot I could feel myself warming up fast. The cold towels were nice
in theory but I learned after the first one I grabbed that it wouldn’t stay
around my neck and holding it did me no good. I instead would grab them at the
start of the aid station to dump water over me and then drop it at the end of
the station. I had 24oz OSMO which I drank over the first hour until it was
gone. After that I switched to whatever cola made it in my mouth plus a lot on
me and water which mostly was thrown on my face and down my shirt. I slowly ate
my Chomps over the run for only 200 calories. Towards the end my stomach was
feeling iffy so I only took in enough liquid to get me through the last few
miles.
Around mile 10 I was starting to go downhill and I knew I
was. This was around the time when I passed a female and I think the only time
I didn’t check her leg for her age. A few seconds later she passes me back. I
check her leg. 29…shit. This is the other female in my age group I’ve been
wondering about and she’s right in front of me running about the same pace as
me. This is the only time I’ve truly known what it means to “race”. I was
hurting and the negative thoughts were coming in. I was doing all I could to
stay a few yards behind her. She knew I was there too, she kept looking back to
see I was there. During age stations she wouldn’t stop and I would slow down
for a second to grab coke and water to dump on myself and then had to force
myself to catch back up. Picking it back up really hurt. At this point I was
thinking, this is your first half, this is supposed to be fun. Just let her go,
who cares what place you get, it’s your first half. Then my head started
yelling back. NO! Screw this! First place is RIGHT THERE! You have been at this
for over 5 and half hours, you can do this for 2 more miles. You are NOT giving
up now!
And that was that, I did not give up. I ran a few yards
behind her for almost 30 minutes. Just as we were nearing the final turn to
come back into the finishing area I knew this was my time to use whatever I had
left in my tank and I took off. I quickly passed her and I kept looking behind
me so afraid she was going to pick up the pace as well to pass me back. But she
didn’t. At the final straight away into the finish I tried to pick it up even
more just to be safe. Finish line crossed, first half done! I got first place
in my age group by 7 seconds.
Overall: 5:51:14,
1/3 AG, 10/50 overall
After I stopped running I realized just how much I hurt
all over. The one thing they don’t tell you about getting 1st place
is the tallest box is really high when you are already hurting.
And as my reward the pig feast started (and is still going
on 3.5 lbs gained later). Looking back the combo of OSMO Preload, OSMO Active,
cola, water, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, milkshake, mojito and sangria was
probably a bit too much in the liquid
category for one day. Would probably explain why I was woken up the next
morning with horrible stomach pain.
Overall I’d say this race was a total success. Despite my
few hiccups I couldn’t be happier with how my day went. A few months before the
race I calculated what I thought I could do the race in and I beat that by an
hour. I was convinced my run would be in the 10-11 pace and surprised the hell
out of myself that I managed a 9:19 pace. I have Katie to thank for a lot but
especially for making me feel confident that I could push for faster run time.
She did an awesome job getting me ready for this race. My swim time was slower
than expected (even taking extra distance into account) but I honestly don’t
care one bit. When I realized how far off course I went I actually started
laughing, in my head of course otherwise I would have choked on water. I wanted
this to be a happy day and it was. This is a feeling I want to hold onto. This
is why I race. I’d like to think my mom was watching over me and I hope I made
her proud.
My dad asked me if I was relieved it was over. Relief is
the opposite of how I feel. I now understand the racing blues. I’m sad it’s
over. I’m been working up to this for so many months and now it’s done. Which
is why I did this a few weeks ago…
Oh and I might have just done this…
Super excited for spring and what rest of next year will
hold for me! Now I have to wait until next spring… it’s so far away!
