Lake Logan Olympic Race

Lake Logan Olympic was another race that I ended up skipping last year due to my mom's situation. It happened to fall the weekend between my birthday and when she passed away. I hadn't paid to defer this race, but thanks to my husband who gave the race director photos from White Lake Half, he gave me a free entry to this race. This was my last race before my Ironman so I was excited to see what I could do especially with a tiny bit of run fitness coming back. I was actually allowed and able to race this start to finish. It was also the first time my husband's family had seen me race which was nice to see them and hear their cheering voices during the race. My dog Nikita was also there whose cute face made me very happy to see on the course! 

Swim - 1500m, 27:43

Normal goal of swim hard! Still struggling during races with finding the right effort to swim at and holding that effort. I went out hard like I was supposed to but about halfway through I could feel myself slowing down. Whether that was from going out too hard or not trying hard enough to hold on, I'm not sure. Still work to do there. It took almost the first full leg of the swim for it to break apart and then I was swimming almost alone. Normally that would make me think I was off course but for once that was not the case. This was an easy course to navigate. Go straight for a while, make two right turns and head back under a bridge to a different dock. The long stretch back I was able to sight off the bridge the whole time instead of buoys which made it easier to see. Best job I've done sighting while OWS. Maybe the week at the beach paid off. 

 

They warned us the water would drop once we went under bridge and whoa they weren’t kidding! Earlier I felt like I was over heating a bit but at that point I was really happy I had the wet suit.The bridge was a great spot for spectators to set up and actually see the swimmer. Also a great place to capture pretty swimming faces and over rotation while breathing.

Towards the end I got closer to a few men and made it my goal to catch up to them which I managed to do. People started standing up early once we were under the bridge and in the river as it was very shallow and a few times my fingers scrapped bottom. I was determined to power it all the way to the dock though. Two men helping lift people onto the dock but I had no interest in waiting my turn so I hoisted myself up onto the dock instead. Jogged it into transition, did the usual and then jogged my bike out which I hate doing because it feels awkward.

Bike - 23.5ish miles, 1:11:46

My race plan had a 15W range I wanted to stay in. Then Katie said I could go up to 15W above that range. That turned in a much larger range than I would prefer for a race as it gives me too much wiggle room to slack off or hammer too hard. That said, I really had no idea what kind of power number I wanted to stay around so I did it partially based on feel while keeping an eye on my numbers to make sure I didn't do anything crazy. 

The bike portion was by far the best part of the race. It started with a short climb, nice descent and then lots of rolling hills before heading back. It was a gorgeous view of the mountains and I made sure to take it all in. After having raced both 70.3s on very flat courses, this race reminded me where I really belong... in the mountains. I've come a long way in my cycling abilities this year and climbing is one of my strengths. I didn't let it get to me that people were hammering uphill and passing me. In fact it made me laugh because I knew what was to come. On the downhill they would coast trying to recover and I'd go flying past them holding a steady effort the whole time. I knew I was racing smart.

I held a strong effort the whole time. My random checking of my numbers told me I was mostly riding steady and I felt good about my effort. I was passing several people and only got passed a few times, mostly by men. The one female I actually remember passing me in the very beginning I caught up to on the last big climb. That climb was a good way to finish off the bike leg before doing a quick descent into the crowds and transition. 

Just like the sprint, it felt hard and it felt like it was over very fast. I made sure to suck down as much liquid as possible, ate a bar and a few chomps for an extra sugar kick before the run. I came off the bike feeling tired, but good. Most importantly, happy. And yes that is sweat dripping off my face, not lake water.

Run - Long 10K, 59:03

The run was a short flat section then uphill until the turn around. I run in hilly areas often so I’m used to hills but not 3 straight miles uphill. It made my pacing vs effort a little bit difficult to nail down. I would feel good and start to pick it up only to slow back down and this happened several times. Definitely not a very steady run. There were several times where I wanted to walk. I would nicely tell myself that it’s supposed to feel hard and to keep going with promises that I could walk the aid stations so I could actually get the fluid into my mouth and not all over me. 

On the way up I kept telling myself I just needed to get to the top and then it was all downhill from there, literally. The downhill didn’t feel that much easier though. That’s when I really started noticing the back pain although I have no idea when it officially started. The pounding from going downhill was wearing on my body that was not accustom to running for an hour and certainly not running that long hard. Several times I had thoughts of holy shit I have to run 20 more miles on top of this in 9 weeks. Obviously at a much slower pace but also after having swam and biked all day. Slightly scary thought.

I could tell my lack of run fitness was catching up to me but I didn't back down. I kept my head in the game, ran my best and only walked at aid stations. I had somehow convinced myself that it might be short of 10K since I was passing the mile marker signs before my watch would hit that distance. When I thought I had just a few short minutes left, I started to pick up the pace to run to the finish line hard but the finish line wasn’t coming fast enough. Turns out I picked it up WAY too soon as my watch said I ran an extra quarter mile. So while I was still running a lot faster at the end, my pace did drop off a bit because I couldn’t sustain that effort the whole way into the finish chute. While it's never fun to pick it up too soon, the fact that my pace dropped off a bit tells me that I was really putting it all out there.

Overall: 2:44:15, 2nd AG

I didn't know how I placed until they were calling names at the award ceremony. Obviously a happy surprise to hear my name called for 2nd AG. Another good race in the piggy bank I'd say! I came into this with no expectations. I've learned to stop guessing what my swim times will be because it varies so much. I had no idea what kind of speed those power numbers would be on a hilly course. I had no idea what kind of pace my legs would let me run. Not exactly thrilled about my swim time but certainly not disappointed. Very happy with the bike though! And of course, I'm thankful my body let me run the longest I've done since NOLA 70.3 in April and at a hard effort.  My run fitness is nowhere near where it was earlier in the year but at least I'm running again! Although I was in a bunch of pain in various places rest of the day and my back is still bothering me. Oh well, something always has to be bothering me it seems. Nikita seemed to be about in the same shape as me after th race. It was a tiring day for her spectating! Less than 2 months until Ironman!