First off, this was my end goal for the season. Every race I did was trying to get here. When I finally had an awesome race at Dinotri and qualified and got the much awaited email with the the registration link, I was thrilled!
I ended up making this trip to Omaha solo. Ken had some meetings at work he couldn't get out of and the kids honestly have no interest in my racing, plus, who would watch them while I raced? I tried to get a girl friend or someone to come along for the company, but anyone that could come, couldn't. I was bummed at first, and then I started to think about the advantages to going solo, and realized it would be fine. Plus, come hell or high water, I wasn't missing this race.
I left SLC with the kids and dropped them with my parents in Denver. They get time with Grammy and Pa, and Mama gets to focus on her race and do what she wants when she wants it over the weekend. Ken gets peace and quiet for 5 days. This was win/win for all involved!
I arrived in Omaha on Thursday. I got in a quick bike ride and run as was in Training Peaks for me to do. Luckily the hotel is close to everything, including a quiet road around the airport to ride on. I immediately noticed how humid it was here. It hit me like a 2x4 when I got out of my car. I haven't been in this kind of humidity since Texas!
Friday was very chill. I got up early for another ride and run to just turn the legs over, had breakfast, then went and got my packet and check in Ivy. I went back to the hotel and slept for 2.5 hours! Blissful! I went to dinner with some women in the Women for Tri Facebook group I'm in. It was awesome! Got to bed early so I could get up early to get to transition early.
A side note here. I had a start time of 10:02. Total crap time to start. I was going to be doing the race in the heat of the day, along with the humidity. I wasn't thrilled with this, but what do you do? In my pre-race talk with Ben he suggested that I try to get to transition early to set up and then go back to the hotel to be out of the heat and humidity. He also told me to plan on tampering the efforts for the day due to the weather forecast. I was also given the instruction to take in 150-200 calories on the bike and then another 150-200 early on the run. I was also to keep my heart rate under 160 until I got to mile 4 on the run and be patient. Um, I don't do patient well. I'm sure he knows this by now, but I was determined to follow his instructions as close as I could.
I got up and got to transition and had a sweet parking spot. Too bad I could give it up to go back to the hotel. I got back, went back to bed for an hour, ate breakfast, and then headed back to the race. So glad I did this earlier than I planned because the roads were all closed and I had to walk in about a mile to transition. I still had plenty of time though, so no biggie.
Swim:
Water temp was 86.9. It felt like it too. It was like bath water. This was even warmer than IMTX! The gun went off for our age group and I was off. Immediately I felt sluggish. Ben wanted me to ease into this, and it looked like it wouldn't be too hard to do. The start was crazy, I was hit, kicked, swam over, grabbed, you name it. I don't mind, I've come to expect it and at Nationals in Milwaukee two years it never got better. Here it did, and I had clear water most of the swim. The swim felt long. It started to feel like some kayaker had a rope tied to the yellow turn buoy and they were just pulling it further and further from me. It was the epitome of the "Are we there YET?" feeling. I felt like I was sighting well and with keeping buoys on the right, and me breathing to the left, I made sure to sight diligently so I wouldn't get off course. When I finally got to the buoy, the next one was pretty quick. Thank heaven after that turn we headed into the swim exit and it went way faster than the first half. I was actually thrilled to be out of the water. Final swim time was 29:50. Not thrilled with this, but it was a no wetsuit swim in very warm water. Not as bad as it could have been!
T1:
I was stoked to be getting onto the bike. This was my first time riding Ivy in a race, so I went as quick as I could. Total time in T1 was 2:38. This is a huge transition area and it had a long run to get into it. Pretty average for my group.
Bike:
Like I said before, I could not wait to get on the bike. I noticed right away she was in the small ring, and I don't remember putting her in that gear, but whatevs. I seriously love riding this bike. So smooth and easy! The bike course was fairly flat but there were a few rollers and one pretty good hill. The first half of the bike we had a tail wind and I felt like I was flying. The first half, other than on the hills I was at 20+ mph with what seemed like little effort. It was awesome! I loved the smooth and freshly paved roads that were the entire course. I was thoroughly enjoying myself for the sheer joy of riding. I was in a goofy mood, I decided to try goofy poses and faces for the course photographers, made sure to whoop and holler on the down hills, that kind of thing. It was just plain fun! I also enjoyed the course scenery! You may not picture Omaha as scenic, but it really was! I can't get over how green it is here and the rolling farm land and picturesque red barns and corn fields are straight out of a Norman Rockwell photo! Gorgeous!
The bike turn around seemed to come quickly, but that meant a head wind and back up the hills. They weren't as bad the second time around but I definitely didn't have the speed I had the first half. I didn't care, I was still enjoying myself. My heart rate was around 160-163 most of the ride. I couldn't remember what Ben wanted me to do HR wise for the bike, so I tried to stay there but more go off feel. I tried to ride comfortably hard, yet still be patient because I knew I had a run ahead.
Final bike time was 1:26:48. I'm sorta pissed about this. I felt like it should have been faster, but there it is. I have no idea why it is like to, other than perhaps that the humidity was affecting me more than I realized? It was hot and humid for sure, but I didn't feel it too much, and definitely not like I would on the run.
T2:
Nothing to report here. I had a ton of grass on my feet so I took my time to try to get it off so it wouldn't rub or give me blisters. In and out in 2:11.
Run:
I hit the lap button to start the run on my Garmin and my heart rate was almost 180. Well crap. Looks like we will be starting this run off with a walk to bring that down. It took longer than it should have to come down and when it finally got into the high 150s, I would "run" and it would shoot right back up. This would go on for the first 3 miles. It was so frustrating. I just couldn't get or keep it down. I was about to ditch what Ben told me to do with this heart rate business, but then I saw people ending up in the med tents and decided following his advice would keep me out of there. There was also tons of people walking, so I was in good company. The heat seemed to be radiating off the pavement and there is absolutely zero shade on this course. And it was ugly! It was all in an industrial area of the city, so I didn't even have that going for me. I just decided to focus on my heart rate and make sure I took in Gatorade at each station and dump a few cups of water over my head to attempt to stay cool. I remembered that at IMTX I had dumped ice down by bra at each station and it worked well to keep me cool and my HR down. That would have worked swell if they hadn't run out of ice at all of the aid stations except one, which were every mile.
The run turnaround was the coolest part of the run. We actually got to run into the TD Ameritrade stadium and run around the perimeter of the baseball field and see ourselves on the Jumbotron. It was pretty cool. I needed the mental distraction at that point as well. I was officially half way done with the death march!
I finally noticed that my heart calmed down a bit. I was able to manage a jog of sorts. I decided to focus on what I could control. I could control my run form. So I kept telling myself "run tall. Slight forward lean. Relax your shoulders. Arms at 90 degrees." Well, wouldn't you know it, by running efficiently, I could actually sort of run and keep my heart under control. Coach is right again! Then I thought he must continually bang his head against a wall at what a slow learner I am. Well maybe not slow, just stubborn :)
I finally felt decent. Not great, but decent. I happily hit the mile 4 part and decided I could really push if I wanted to, and I sort of did, but it was also so hot, I didn't think I could push much more. I did push the last quarter mile but it was painful! Final run time 1:12:57. Ugh. That's awful. I believe that is my slowest 10k ever.
Final race time was 3:14:26. My heart sank when I saw this. I so thought I would and could be under 3:00, and since I hadn't looked at the time at all during the race, it felt like a slap in the face.
Post-Race:
I knew that Ken and my family and Ben would want to know how it went. I was so bummed I couldn't bring myself to call or text any of them. I went to the food tent, but couldn't eat. I got a plate anyway, but it tasted like crap. Not that it was bad, I just had zero appetite. I made myself drink a bottle of water, but that was all I could keep down. I went to get my bag, and my bike. I remembered I wanted to buy a tshirt and water bottle from the TriSports tent, so I went and did. While I was there, a woman whose hadn't raced and whom I don't know asked how my race went. I told her I've had better. She asked what went wrong. I told her I guess it was the conditions, I just didn't know. She then said, " If you can make it here surely you can figure it out." The she rolled her eyes and walked off. What the hell was that? Who does that? Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound! I was so over this whole thing, I quickly got my shirt and bottle and left.
I had to ride my bike back to my car. No biggie. When I getting to my car another athlete asked where I was staying. She had ridden to transition and now had a flat and was having to walk back. Turns out she was staying in my same hotel. I told her she could have a ride, and we finagled both bikes and all our crap into my car and drive back. It was a nice diversion because I was about to completely crumble into a sobbing mess when I saw her.
I have now had a few hours to think about it all. I did have a good experience. I loved the race. It was well done, as I expected. The swim wasn't great, but wasn't bad either. I loved the bike regardless of the split, it was just pure fun and the best part of my day. It is fun and humbling to race the best in the nation from all over the nation! I met people from all over and it was humbling to see some super fast talent out there. It's awesome to be considered one of them and have the opportunity. It gives me hope that I can continue to grow and improve in the sport I've come to love, especially when I see an 80 year old woman out there kicking trash.
Regardless of the tough race and the butt kicking, there was so much good heading into it and about it. I have an awesome support system. I have a good husband. Good kids. A good coach. I've had some good training and consistent training leading into this. This is a great opportunity. Every finish line is a gift, no matter how painful it may be to reach them.
So, what's next? This is the end of my Tri season. I'm going to start a run focus training block with the goal of doing a half marathon later in the fall. I'm excited about this for many reasons. One, I need a change of focus. Two, my run needs the work. Three, even though running is my obvious weakest link, it is also the one that I enjoy the most lately in training, regardless of the not so great performances.
In the meantime, I'm going to head back to real life tomorrow and school starting soon. Happy racing and training!
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