70.3 – 13.1 = Amazing Day

Mid-September I made the decision to pull out of a 70.3 I signed up for in October. I wasn’t running due to a leg issue and there was no way I’d be able to run 13.1 miles a month later. I made that call right before going to Colorado to visit friends. While I was there someone asked if I was still going to swim and bike. That thought never crossed my mind. I was so focused on what I couldn’t do that I hadn’t stopped to think what I COULD do.

Fast forward a month, I was in Wilmington North Carolina ready to race. The race plan was pretty simple. Swim hard. Bike really hard. Or as the person who suggested I still race put it, race it like I stole it.

The race was over a 4 hour drive. I had to go on Friday morning due to packet pick up and driving all over town to drop gear off. Given I knew I wouldn’t finish the race, I had everyone who planned to spectate, cancel their plans. I wanted to do this by myself, for myself.

I’m not a big fan of point-to-point format races but this was a point-to-point-to-point race. Which meant waking up even earlier to take one bus from T2 to T1, then another bus from T1 to swim start. Upon getting to swim start I immediately got into the porta-potty line where I waited for 40 minutes. I had to start putting my wetsuit on while in line because I was running out of time. Then I slipped and slithered my way through the sea of black wetsuit seals to drop off my morning bag and get as close to the front of the 30-33 minute sign.

The swim was a self-seeding rolling start. We weren’t allowed into the water beforehand to warm up. So I happily plodded my way up the ramp, did an awkward little trot into the water and dove in as soon as possible. I was ready to go. No pressure, no expectations, no finish line.  The problem with self-seeded is either people are oblivious as to how fast they swim, or they purposefully place themselves around faster people hoping to catch a nice draft. Or perhaps part of it was me underestimating my skills. Either way, I spent the entire swim feeling like I was plowing through people. Which I will say…it’s a great feeling.

Since I didn’t get a warm up, I didn’t go out guns blazing. I did swim strong though from start to finish. I was determined to hold that effort. I have a habit of eventually settling into an easier effort and I really wanted to keep the gas on the whole time. The swim was fast. For everyone. It was salt water, wetsuit legal with a slight current. I’d been working on sighting in the pool more recently regarding how I physically move my head and breathe while sighting. I felt I made improvement in that area.

Overall, I was very happy with how the swim went, my time and my place. I came out of the water 4^th AG and a PR. Unfortunately, I can’t count that since I didn’t finish the race. However, I know I swam at the same effort I would have even if I did the whole race. Really happy with the progress I’ve been making in the pool. It’s always nice to see solid results of the hard work I’ve put in.

Then came transition. Still an area I’m horrible at and it’s probably time I really start working on improving that area. Given I haven’t been running, was not thrilled that it was about 1/3 mile run through transition. Since I knew this race was going to end in a DNF, I really didn’t care how slowly I went. I took my time jogging into transition. I attempted to put on my aero top then gave up because it would not unstick itself from my wet forearms and I was hearing the threads break. Managed to get socks on at least since it was overcast and low 50s. Took the time to put a little extra chamois cream which did me no good in the end. Then I slowly jogged my way out.

Ahhh the bike. I started the year sick of my bike. But oh buddy, I did not feel that way about my bike entering this race. I was really excited to experience a race where I could just let it rip. The thing is, the run is where I’ve always struggled. They say you should only focus on the part of the race you are in but to a certain degree, there are always thoughts about the run in my mind. Mostly it’s logically reminding myself to follow my race plan so I don’t blow up my legs and make sure I eat/drink enough to prep for the run. But sometimes, it’s that nagging thought that I still have to run a half/full marathon and the concerns that tag along. Running has always been my biggest struggle and the biggest question mark of the race. Removing that question though…it was liberating.

Given I wasn’t going to be running, I was fully prepared to destroy my legs. I was ready to take risks. The race was fairly flat and straight which meant it was harder to avoid drafting. Not as difficult as normal for me though. I did a lot of surges in the beginning while everyone was shuffling around trying to find their pace in the race. I saw power numbers that would normally terrify me in a race and it only spurred me on further. After the first hour of riding like an ass hole, I decided I should race smarter for a while. I settled into a more conservative effort for a while trying to recover from all my random hard efforts.

My goal was to start picking it up in the last 10 miles. Around this time, I had found a nice stretch of road by myself so I was laser focused on my task at hand. Right as I was getting in a solid groove I got swallowed by a draft pack. Over a dozen riders came out of seemingly nowhere, riding nice and tight and three wide at points. I had no choice but to ease off on power as they slowly made their way around me all while mumbling under my breath and visibly shaking my head. I try not to let drafting piss me off in racing but I couldn’t not be. Especially the one female who had nicely sardined herself in the middle and told me “good work” as she passed. I wanted to throw a bottle at her. I literally sat up at one point and soft pedaled hoping they would pull far enough away so I could get back to doing my own thing. I even had a nice conversation with a gentleman about the situation who was stuck in the back with me. After they finally got far enough ahead of me, I was elated when I saw a motorcycle slow down next to the group. Unless I missed something though, none of them got a penalty. Grrr.

Anyway, after that I happily got back to work, back into my zone. Then I decided I wanted to turn it into a 20-minute power test all-out effort at the very end. I estimated roughly how many miles I could go in 20 minutes and got to work. Of course, no race is actually 56 miles so once I got past those 20 minutes I really struggled to hold on during that last extra mile. I was happy to finally get to the end since my legs were dead at that point. While everyone was flying off their bike running into T2, I slowly walked my way in. All the awesome spectators were yelling “you can do it” and I smiled back and nodded. Found an official to turn my chip to after confirming I was fine several times, all part of the plan. I was really confusing everyone rolling out of T2 with my bike, clearly having pulled out of the race, all while looking overly happy about the situation. But I was, in fact, truly, deeply, happy.

As I walked my way back to the car, I was thrilled with how the race went. I had a way better finishing time on the bike than I expected, obviously in part because I was riding harder than I would have if I ran. I came in 4^th off the bike for my AG which showed me how competitive I could be if I could keep my body in one piece. I joked it was a good thing I didn’t even pack running shoes because I probably would have made the dumb decision to try running. Even with a horrible run/walk time, I probably could have had an overall 70.3 PR.  

With this race I feel I turned my lemons into lemonade. Or maybe limes into margaritas? Sure, it’s not what I originally signed up for but nonetheless, it was the most fun I’ve ever had in a race. And that my friends, is a true win in my books.

North Carolina 70.3 minus 13.1
Swim, 1.2 miles - 26:15
T1 - 6:33
Bike, 56 miles - 2:37:56 
DNF