That’s right folks! This is a race report! Some of the
most boring, long blog posts to read and yet a very happy one to write. And
since it’s been so long since I wrote one of these, I’m going to take way too
many words to do it!
Over the last many months, I’ve been quietly, patiently,
building my fitness. I didn’t want to make a big fuss. There was a certain
amount of social media posting about finally running a whopping 10 miles in one
week or breaking 10 miles in one run but nothing that said, I’ve come back, I’m
ready to race. I wanted to come back to racing on my terms and without
pressure. In reality, the only person putting pressure on me is myself but the mind
can turn constant questions about “how is training going and when are you
racing?” into pressure. I was also afraid. Afraid my body would fall apart
again while trying to build my run up and I wouldn’t be able to race. I didn’t
want to have that conversation with people. I didn’t even sign up for the race
until 2 weeks before race day.
Once I signed up, I finally let it sink in… I was going
to race again! Then came the nerves. It had been so long and I didn’t know what
to expect. I’ve been doing triathlons for 4 years but despite the amount of
training I’ve put in during that time, I have raced surprisingly little. This
was only my 3rd 70.3(ish) which is a fact that often surprised me
and my husband who seems convinced I’ve done more. Despite this, I was ready to
face what felt like the unknown.
Swim – 1.2 miles, 34:31, 7th overall female
Unfortunately, this was a point to point race. This meant
driving an hour to a lake for the swim but at least it was a nice lake. It was
a small local race with less than 200 participants. I was in the last of 4
waves with the female age groupers and some other random categories. The plan
was to swim HARD from the start and then settle in. I’ve never started a swim
like that so I was apparently a little too excited to start. I accidently
jumped the gun and dove in after he counted down to 1 but before the gun went
off… oops!
Off we went and I pushed hard to stay in the front with a
handful of women. Eventually we blew apart and then most of the swim I was
nowhere near anyone other than when passing. It didn’t take long for me to
catch up to the blue caps from the previous wave and then some pink caps from
the wave before that.
One day I will learn how to hold a harder pace
consistently throughout the swim but as always, I let myself slow down. I was
still moving well and making good progress though. This was probably the best I’ve
ever done staying on course and swimming in straight lines. Given it had been
over 2 years since my last 70.3 in the choppy waters of New Orleans, this was a
big PR. Almost 9 minutes faster.
T1 – 2:09
Oh transitions… one of my weaknesses. Such a simple task
in theory and yet I always waste so much time here doing, I have no idea what.
The T1 time doesn’t even look that bad because my wetsuit struggles were
included in my swim time. I wasted at least a minute with the help of two volunteers
trying to get my wetsuit off. Katie is going to bang her head on the desk if
she reads this. I decided to wear a watch during the swim and I can’t get my
wetsuit off my arm while wearing the watch. So I had that sleeve half pulled
down when I remembered this and started the struggle of trying to take the
watch off. Then I had my watch, goggles
and cap in my hands while trying to pull both sleeves off which meant I kept
dropping stuff when I got to the volunteers who helped me get it off my legs.
Then one leg got stuck on the giant foam timing chip I didn’t make tight
enough. It was a struggle. Then I was stupid enough to shove the watch in my
jersey pocket to later in T1 waste time putting it on my wrist. I’m banging my
own head against the desk just writing this. Probably another reason I shouldn’t
wear my watch during the swim.
Bike – 59 miles, 3:19:01, 5th overall female
Race week included constant checking of weather for
several days, watching the chance of rain change between 40 and 80%. Race
morning it actually dropped and I was hopeful. I still have very limited
experience on my carbon race wheels and zero experience with them in the rain.
Katie managed to make me even more worried with warnings about them the night
before. On top of that, my brain still struggles with fears of flatting and
crashing again. Most of the time I don’t think about it but if I’m descending
on a bumpy road it brings back flashbacks of New Zealand and my brain goes a
little haywire.
This bike course was certainly a new racing experience
for me. Louisville was somewhat hilly but my 70.3s were flat. This race started
at the lake and traveled along the foothills of the mountains to downtown Greenville.
It was a very hilly course. Perfect, I love hills! My Garmin showed 3100ft, the
race info said 3400ft and my friends Garmin showed 4300ft. Whatever it was, it
was totally the course for me… expect in the rain on different wheels.
So here is how the bike went for me. I spent the first 10
miles convinced there was something wrong with my wheels. At first, I thought
maybe I didn’t tighten my front wheel on straight because I was convinced it
felt wrong when I was going around a corner. Then I thought I got a flat on my
rear wheel. I even slowed down to ask a guy if I flatted and he reassured me
no, the roads are just really bumpy. Eventually I accepted that my wheels were
fine and yes the roads were in fact complete shit at times. Then it started
raining. Just misting at first and then a pretty solid rain. Overall, I’d say
it rained at least half the ride and the roads were wet 95% of the time. Anytime
I got over 30mph downhill on one of these bumpy wet roads my brain was going
WARNING, WARNING, DO NOT CRASH!! Then I got to a section that was a bit more technically
with lovely curvy downhills and my brain was going to explode. I was the
biggest chicken with braking waaaay to much and I’m sure I was driving anyone
near me absolutely crazy. There were a handful of people flying past me on
these downhills and then I’d catch up on the uphill. I didn’t care though, safety
first. But this meant I was giving away a lot of free speed with all the
coasting and braking I was doing.
I know that seemed like a lot of complaining about the rain
and it’s not so I can blame the rain on my performance. This was a slow bike
time relative to other races but it was also a longer and challenging course. I
knew it would be slow and despite the weather, I did very well compared to the
female field. I went into the race with the bike being the leg I wanted to
focus on the most. I’ve made good progress on the bike and I wanted to see how
hard I could push. Although I felt I handled the conditions to the best of MY
ability, I’m still curious to see what it would have been like on a dry day. I
love descending and riding on roads with some curves and I felt that the joy of
that was taken away and replaced with fear. I wanted to see how deep I could
dig in and what kind of power number I could pull off. It wasn’t about the
time, it was about my power number. A number no one else sees but myself and
Katie. And although I rode 16W higher than NOLA 2 years ago, I know I have
better in me.
There are pros and cons of a smaller race. Drafting isn’t
an issue but there aren’t as many people around to keep you in the competitive
zone. I spent a lot of miles not being able to see anyone in front of me and
worrying I missed a turn. Katie told me not to let any females pass me. It’s a
little easier to do that when you don’t come across as many females. I let a
relay female pass me early on but I was able to catch back up to her 45 miles
later. One random little goal I was able to check.
Once I got back Greenville I was a little confused
at times where I was supposed to be going. There were cops only at
intersections with lights but not stop signs so it meant I couldn’t go flying
through. There were no other volunteers on the course directing where to go so
I was relying on arrows and signs and hoping I didn’t miss anything. At this
point it had stopped raining but the rain meant I had no idea how much I’d been
sweating or how warm it really was. I drank almost 4 full bottles and still
felt a bit thirsty. But I was thrilled to have no signs of stomach issues after
what happened in the last two races. I came down the last big downhill into
transition and then got to walk with my bike through nice muddy grass into
transition. Bike leg done!
T2 – 2:32
Don’t think I made any stupid decisions or had any
struggles here. I was once again, just slow. Moving on.
As always, the run was the leg I was most nervous about.
I was worried how much riding harder would impact my legs. Although my run
training progressed better than I expected, it was still nowhere near where I’d
like it to be going into a race. I promise this is the last time I’ll talk
about rain! I actually like running in the rain when it’s warm so I was legitimately
smiling when it started raining towards the beginning. But then it stopped and
the sun started coming out. At this point it was humid. So very, very humid. Living
in the Southeast, I spend many months of the year doing any morning runs in
90+% humidity. It was like that but at 1 in the afternoon when it was also getting
warmer by the minute. Everyone was struggling with the conditions. The few
words people I knew exchanged with me were things like “I’m cramping everywhere”
and “it’s getting really warm”.
I tried to be careful not to go sprinting out of transition
thinking “this feels great!”. Several times I had to pull back on pace knowing
I was going too fast and it would come crashing down on me later. Miles 1 and 2
were right on target around 9:30. The next mile I got a bit slower but I wasn’t
surprised so I was ok with that. Next mile the same thing.
Then at mile 4 I started walking. And once you start
walking, it becomes easier and easier to allow yourself to walk some more. And
more. And more. And more. I wouldn’t walk long but I was walking often. I counted
24 dips in pace on my pace chart from the race. 24! It was run 2 minutes, walk,
run 3 minutes, walk. I kept telling myself, run slower and maybe you won’t walk
as often and yet I couldn’t stop myself from running in the 9s. My legs were
just tired, so very tired. My brain felt fried and I was dehydrated from the
conditions of the day. I didn’t even care that I was walking. Sure, there were
times where I thought “this is so stupid why do I do this to myself”. But generally,
I was happy and laughing at myself at times for walking so often. It was an out
and back course you did part of twice. I would give words of encouragement to
people I knew and lots of the females. Even the females that went whizzing by
me. Good for them for racing it out! I’m super content doing what I’m doing.
After I drank my bottle I spent every aid station at times literally standing
still while I chugged a coke, drank some water and dumped ice down my shirt.
Then it was back to chugging along in my run/walk style for 9 miles. It’s not
uncommon of me to make a random time goal while running as a way to keep myself
from slowing down. This time it was like, well maybe I can stay under 2:10.
Then under 2:15. Then thoughts of, well this is going to be my slowest half marathon
ever, which it was.
Towards the last half mile there were some thoughts of “well
this is a little ridiculous now, surely you can run 5 straight minutes”. But I
made sure to walk one last time until I knew I’d be in view of spectators at
the end. Then I picked up the pace for the last 200 yards. In the last 50 yards
I suddenly got a full-blown Charlie horse in my left calf and hamstring and
wasn’t sure I was going to make it. I pushed myself across the finish line then
hobbled around trying to get the softballs in my legs to go away.
Overall – 6:13:31, 2nd age group, 9th
overall female
It’s strange to have such a bad run and to be happy with
the race. I can see the confusion on some people’s faces when they ask how it
went and I smile while saying the run was horrible. But I had a good swim and I
had a good bike despite the brain/rain issues. Most importantly, I got to race!
I got to chase joy (with a side of misery at times) for 6 hours. It’s what I’ve
been working towards and wanting for so many months. I don’t care about the
time on the clock. I care that I finally got to do what I love! Nothing else
gives me that high and I’m trying to hold on to that feeling for as long as I
can.
