Brineman 70.3 Race Report

Brineman 70.3 was my last race of the season, and my 5th attempt at the distance.  I have been super excited for this race, but also nervous given my run related injury of tendinitis/plantar fascitis that has been an issue since I got back from Alaska.  I simply have not been running anywhere near where I would want to prevent further injury to my dang foot.  This has been an incredible patience tester and very frustrating to say the least.  Leading up to IM StG 70.3 in may I was averaging around 25 miles a week of running.  I was lucky to break 10 a week for Brineman.  

I spoke with Ben, my coach, a couple of nights before the race.  He suggested we try something a little different given the circumstances of the injury.  He wanted me to just roll the dice and have fun.  I was to do the swim like I normally would, but really try to push harder on the bike than I might normally.  We have done tons of biking lately to make up for lack of running and it was essentially a chance to see where we were with it.  The run the main focus was to take walk breaks at the aid stations and to just focus on one station at a time and practice good run form between them.  I liked this idea because I was pretty sure I could do a swim and bike PR if I wasn't too worried about the run, and I kind of like the idea of racing with a "what the hell" attitude and just seeing exactly how much I could push.

Other than the actual race strategy there was a few other cool factors leading up to this race that made me really excited.  One, this is a hometown race.  I could literally bike 3.5 miles from my house to transition if I wanted to.  I train on this course almost daily and have for 8 years.  Two, my parents were in town and staying with us for the weekend.  My Mom came to my first triathlon ever, but my Dad has never been to any of my races.  This was going to be cool to have them there to cheer me on. The third factor was that my swim team were the volunteers for the race.  This was our fundraiser for the year.  We provide 40-50 volunteers and the race director cut us a check.  Awesome!  It also meant that every single aid station I had a built in cheering section yelling GO COACH or WE LOVE YOU COACH each time.  That was amazing!

SWIM:

This was a self seeded rolling start.  I love these!  If people seed themselves well it works so smoothly. I got towards the front of the group.  This turned out to be fine.  Our group had to do a small loop around one buoy and come back, then we had to do a larger loop around the other end of a long narrow lake.  The first small loop was chaos.  Typical of me, I started off too fast like apparently every other swimmer did and it was the whole washing machine effect for that first loop.  We were able to spread out as we made the half mile trek down to the larger island to circle around, and it thinned out and I finally got into a good rhythm,  It seemed to take forever to get to that turn around!  It was cool to pass the water support on kayaks and SUPs because they were all my swimmers serving as lifeguards :).  Once I made that second turn and headed back to the start, it was much easier to sight and seemed to go much faster.  I swear I tend to swim too wide towards the right. I  need to work on that.  I still stayed pretty straight, just too far to the right.  I was second female out of the water with a swim time of 32:01, a 3 minute PR for the 1.2 mile swim.

T1:

There were no wetsuit strippers for this race.  I HATE dealing with my wetsuit but had  sprayed the bottom of my legs with TriSlide prior to putting it on to see if it would  help get it off.  It did!  Why did it take me so long to do this?  Pretty slick.  I still had to dry off some because air temp was 46 at the start of the bike.  It was a longer transition than I would have wanted with a time of 2:54 :/

BIKE:

As I ran with Ivy to the bike mounting area Ken was there with my Mom and Dad.  I swear my Dad cheers louder than anyone!  It was so awesome to hear him yell GO KATE! as I got on my bike and headed out.  I was trying something new this race.  I timed the swim with my watch, but was using my new bike computer, a Wahoo Bolt for the bike portion.  I did this for a few reasons.  One, I am not convinced my watch (Suunto Spartan Sport) would have the battery life to get through a 70.3.  I am sure if I messed with the settings it would, but I didn't want to chance it.  Second, I have wanted a way to have the data from the ride right in front of me on the bike without having to change my position and turn to see what's on my watch.  Our club has a sponsorship with Wahoo, and I picked one up a couple of weeks ago.  It is mounted to my torpedo bottle between my arms and turned out to be pretty slick.  I loved seeing all the data there the whole time. 

The first part of the course is flat and fast though some of the roads have chip seal and that is just a pain.  I was riding much faster on these roads than I normally do (keep in mind, this is practically in my backyard) and but I felt great, so why not push some?  I watched my HR and tried not to let it dip below 150ish.  On the causeway to the Island I played leap frog with several people.  We didn't have much of a wind, which was nice.  My nutrition was all right on, every 15 minutes drinking a few ounces of my Infinit.  I tried a new flavor this time, watermelon, and dialed it down some since I do a concentrated bottle, and it was actually really good!  I came to the first bike aid station at the end of the causeway and my swimmers were there with their arms stretched out with the water or Gatorade.  I yelled WATER at them and they ran over and did a perfect hand off! YES!  The day before How to Be a Great Volunteer 101 lecture had paid off :)  They also had their car stereo blasting and were dancing and having fun.  That made me happy to see and made me smile.  

The ride down to the ranch was going well.  I saw several people with flats (I was praying I wouldn't get one.  I can change a flat, but I hate it,and on my tri bike its even more of a pain).  I made it to the turn around at the ranch and one of my swimmers was there with a Red Bull for me. I laughed and told him to save it for the run course.  I don't usually drink that crap in real life, but on the race course, it's amazing, especially on the run.  The way back from the ranch we had a headwind and the rollers.  Not fun, but I am used to it by now.  The wind is the greatest variable out there.  It either works for you or against you and you never know which it is going to be.  I really wanted a sub 3 hour ride, and was calculating how fast I would have to go or maintain to get it.  I knew I could do it if I really pushed, but it would be close.  I just kept pushing, my quads were yelling "Enough already!" but I really, really wanted a sub 3 bike split.  As I rolled into the last mile of the bike, I saw some weirdos in speedos, suspenders, cowboy boots and a Make America Great Again flag.  Oh my hell, those are some of my swimmers!  I really, really tried to just ride by unnoticed because I wasn't sure I wanted to claim them at the moment, but no such luck.  They saw me, and ran along side my bike yelling GO COACH!!!!!!I'll admit it was pretty funny.

I rolled into the bike dismount area with a bike time of 3:00:39.  My bike computer had it at sub 3, but this was the official time.  Don't care, close enough and still a bike PR by 4-5 minutes.  I knew immediately when I got off the bike that the run was going to be rough, my legs were stiff and completely trashed!

T2:

I was so stiff I suddenly didn't care about my T2 time.  I sat down to change shoes and put on socks. I only use socks in a race for 70.3 and up because of blisters, so I took my time to put them on.  Getting up was humorous at best.  I threw my gels in my back pocket because I couldn't find my favorite race belt the night before and was using another one with no pouch on it.  I hobbled out of T2 with a time of 1:51.

RUN:

As I mentioned, I was really stiff already. I way overcooked that bike, but that was kind of in the plan.  Ben challenged me to walk the first minute or so of the run anyway to just get my bearings and let my HR come down.  As I got walked out of T2, my swimmer had a cold Red Bull for me.  It was the 12 oz and I knew I couldn't have the whole thing then, but I drank about half of it that first minute then left it at the turn around sign (the half had to do 2 loops of this run) and hoped it would be there for the second loop.  I swear that stuff helps!  I then managed a slow jog but my legs were so heavy and already hurting.  I knew this was going to be a sufferfest, and it was!  I just focused on one aid station at a time.  It was so nice to see my kids at each aid station.  They were so encouraging and helpful and they made me laugh when I wanted to quit.  The first 1/4 of this run was quite possibly the hardest I have ever done. I just hurt everywehere.  I got to the turn around and it was less than  mile from my house. I'd be lying if I didn't think about just keep going and head home :)  I then saw a competitor not far behind me and that motivated me to pick up the pace.  My legs had loosened up some by now, and made it easier to run.  My pace was dismal, but I didn't care, I was just happy to be moving.  I walked the aid stations, took the chance to high 5 my swimmers and then go again.  I really had to go to the bathroom, but there weren't any!  I thought for sure the turn around would have one, but nope!  (yet again, another reason I wanted to go home).  I kept seeing  athletes running out of the weeds because nature was calling them too!  Now, here's a little triathlete TMI, but this is a sport with little boundaries anyway, but I REALLY had to go both 1 and 2.  My only concern was my swimmers seeing me drop my 1 piece kit to go.  I couldn't care less about other athletes or random strangers.  I jogged along looking for the perfect place out of sight range of the aid stations and offering some privacy.  There was a giant tree surrounded by weeds just off the trail, so I went for it.  Yeah, it would have been a great idea to notice that giant tree was a Russian Olive with giant thorns.  My butt now looks like it got in a fight with a cat. I took care of business and ran out of there as quick as I could.  Another racer saw me coming out and said he had done the same thing and now had goat heads in his chamois and was trying to dig them out as he ran.  It made for a good laugh for sure!

I finished the first loop and there was my Red Bull still waiting under the sign. I chugged the second half of that and away we went.  It was still painful, but my legs weren't quite as heavy.  My ankle was starting to ache as well, but I knew to expect it.  The motivation to just be done kept me going the second loop and it was more enjoyable than the first.  I cheered for my teammates. I laughed with my swimmers at the aid stations when they had busted out the Eminem songs.  It seemed to go much quicker than the first loop.  

Because I didn't have one device timing the whole race and only roughly knew my splits for bike and swim, I calculated that for a race PR I needed to keep the run under 2:40.  I was well under that. I knew for a run PR I had to keep the run time under 2:24.  I then was thinking I could manage a run PR, but like the bike, it would be close.  I could see the red blow up finish line in the distance and started skipping aid stations to get there.  I came in with a final run time of 2:22:29!

POST RACE:

The final push to the finish line had me in tears.  35-40 of my kids working the finish line stopped what they were doing, lined the finisher's chute and cheered me in with Ken and my parents there as well.  I felt like such a rock star!  It was so very cool!!  I had no clue what my final race time was and just about fell over when I realized it was 5:59:56.  Sub 6 by 4 seconds for a 21 minute PR.  I was also shocked to learn that I had placed 3rd in my Age group and 12 overall female out of 48.  Not bad for a race that felt like death! (In all fairness, I felt really good until I started the run).

I was so proud of my swimmers today.  I got so much positive feedback on how well they did from other athletes and members of my club.  They worked hard and had fun at the same time.  I am pretty sure we will have the opportunity to do this next year as well.  From a coaching stand point, this is an ideal fundraiser because we don't have to sell anything, and one weekend of hard work and we are done!  Winning!  Plus, it exposes the kids to triathlon and maybe will inspire them to enter the sport.  Double win!

Having my parents there was awesome as well.  My father was my inspiration to get into the sport after watching him as a life long runner turned cyclist.  It was so nice to have them there!

I was disappointed to see that some of the distances were shorter (swim was 150 yards short, bike was almost a mile short, and the run was .5 miles short) and that sort of took away from the excitement of such a PR.  However, race distances tend to vary from race to race as do GPS units, and I calculated what my times would have been given my avg pace for each discipline, and I still would have had a PR, so I am satisfied with that.  

I am glad it is the off season.  I have the next week completely off from training (thank you Ben!!) and then let my stupid foot heal and build into a bike focus, build the run up again, then push for Oceanside 70.3 in April.  In the meantime, happy racing and training!

Alcatraz Crossing Swim

 Ever since I first heard of the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, I have wanted to do just the swim portion.  You swim from the famous Alcatraz Island/former prison, to the shore.  The bike and run held no appeal for me, I just wanted to do the swim.  I heard that they have a swim race of just the swim portion called Sharkfest, but I didn't know much beyond that.  In Ken and I's long standing tradition of working our way down the family line with who picks the vacation every year, Ken picked San Francisco for this year.  I immediately started wondering about doing the swim.  I had heard that there was a local swim club that does monthly organized swims, so I Googled it.  Sure enough, Water World Swim Sports does just that.  I looked at their calendar and they were doing one the week AFTER we were scheduled do be there.  So, I did what any normal person would do and changed the dates of our vacation so that I could be there for their June swim.  Luckily Ken didn't mind me high jacking his vacation :)  I immediately signed up 6 months in advance.

Fast forward to last week.  I had told several people I was doing this swim.  It is on my bucket list of items I want to do in the crazy world of endurance sports. The response I got from most of them was "you know there are sharks in that water, right?" Or, "why would you do that?"  Or "Now we know you've lost it."  I found this funny because I think Ironman and some of the other stuff I've done is way crazier than this.  Yes, I know there are sharks in the water.  I want to do it because I am terrified of oceans swims and I want to overcome that fear.  And yes, I probably have lost it, but this is nothing new :)

As we arrived in San Francisco, I was starting to actually think I was crazy for doing the swim.  I saw Alcatraz from the Bay Bridge and noticed how far it really was from shore.  Then I noticed the chop in the Bay every day we were there.  Then Wednesday we went whale watching on a boat in the same area as the swim.  We saw about a dozen different humpback whales in the same area or not far from where I would be doing the swim.  Cool, but.....

Friday we went to the beach.  The water was FREEZING.  Even though I have done plenty of cold swims, this was way cold.  Oh great, lets just add that to the list of fears and obstacles on Saturday!  I will admit, I was starting to freak out a bit.  But, as this is my 8th season in endurance sports, I have noticed a cycle with me when I freak out or get nervous.  Once I am there, and get going, I do fine.  I kept telling myself that once I attended the briefing and spoke with others doing the swim, heard from the coaches directing and running the swim, I would be fine.

Saturday morning Ken and I got up at 4:45.  We ate a quick breakfast and I gathered my things I would need for the swim.  We left the kids at the hotel because they were more interested in sleeping in.  We grabbed an Uber to take us to Fisherman's Wharf and we were the first ones there.  I met Mike, one of the coaches, and he gave me my waiver.  I love signing stuff that says, "You realize by participating in this swim, injuries could occur including death/drowning."

We had 24 swimmers signed up to swim and about 3/4 of us were doing it for the first time.  They gave us the run down of what to site (the battleship, Fort Mason, the Gold Dome of the Palace of the Performing Arts, then the red brick roof of the Yacht Club), and stressed that this was NOT a race, it was an organized swim.  They would have kayak support and SUPs out on the water with us, as well as 4 swim coaches in the water with hot pink buoys if we needed them.  They stressed not to follow other swimmers, because if they got off course, they didn't want us to follow.  We got on the boat, rode it out to the middle of the bay just a stone's throw from Alcatraz (fun fact, we actually couldn't swim off the beach at Alcatraz because it is a protected wild life refuge, so we jumped from the boat) they then started playing the Rocky Theme song, lowered the back gate of the boat, and said, "See you on the beach!"  It was at this moment I let just about everyone else go in front of me.  I was in my wetsuit, had double capped for the cold, but wasn't quite ready to jump.  Ha!  No time to wallow in it!  The captain pointed at me and said, "You next!"  I didn't even have a chance to think about it and I jumped.  Everyone was staying right there in the water and I took a moment to look around me. It was surreal.  First off, the water wasn't near as cold as I was prepared for.  I have definitely been in worse.  But the view is what truly took my breath away.  I could see both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the whole city skyline with the fog just over it.  I looked down the shore and spotted what I would need to be sighting.  One coach was near me and said, "Not a bad way to spend your morning, huh?"  She was right!  By then the last person had jumped in the water and everyone started the swim towards the battleship.  Immediately the salt hit me.  No big deal, but not what I am used to.  Then the chop started to get to me.  It was crazy!  I swim in land locked reservoirs and lakes, nothing like this.  I have swam in boat chop and canyon wind kind of chop, but nothing quite like this.  Every time I went to sight, or breath, or just get my bearings, I got smacked in the head with another swell.  I felt like I wasn't moving though I was swimming as hard as I could. A few times I stopped and just went with it trying to see where I was.  With the chop I couldn't really see the other swimmers.  I could see the people standing on the SUPs, but that was it.  I asked them where everyone was, and they just pointed.  I couldn't make out most of what they said, so I gave up trying to.  This kept going and I was getting pretty frustrated, but then I would look over and see I was past what I was sighting, so I knew I was at least moving even though it didn't feel like it.  A giant tanker came through and really stirred it up more.  I remember saying to myself, "You have officially reached the end of your skill set."  Then I remembered to focus on what I could control.  I could control my stroke.  Then I remembered Ben telling me prior to StG that if the water got choppy, shorten my stroke to be more efficient in the water.  Well, that definitely applied here!  That was very helpful information to recall at that time because it gave me something to focus on.  I continued on but it was frustrating that I never at any point felt like I could find a good rhythm like I normally do. On the other hand, the challenge was kind of fun.  I had several flashbacks to playing in the swells along the beach as a kid in Galveston.  The difference was I was close to the shore and could always touch the bottom back then.  I never got scared, but I was frustrated many times because it was unlike anything I've ever done.  I had to just Dory it and "just keep swimming."  Finally I saw the final object they told us to sight, the red roof of the Yacht Club.  I remember them saying we would end at the small beach on the side of that building.  I got around the building and headed into the beach.  The first person I could recognize was Ken, standing there waiting for me. I swam harder because I was just ready to be done!!  I got out and put my head down to catch my breath.  Ken's first response? "Man, you look beat up!"  No kidding!  I felt it!

Then I turned around and saw all the swimmers coming into the beach.  I saw Alcatraz off in the distance and thought, "Yep, I just did that.  Check that box off the list!"  I was probably the 6th or 7th person out of the water out of the 24 who did it.  I finished the approx 2 mile swim in 39 minutes.  I am not completely sure my watch was accurate on the distance, and there is a current in our favor, but I am almost certain I didn't swim the 1:07 pace my watch said I did.  We then swam back to the boat just off the shore and they took us back to the starting point.  Many people who are veterans of this swim said this was the roughest day they had out there in a long time.  One girl mentioned that she was glad they didn't see sharks this time.  Wait, what?  She mentioned that they were getting ready to do a swim once and a great white had attacked a seal about in the spot they normally have people jump in the water, so they cancelled that day.  I am glad I found this out AFTER the fact.  However, it is pretty rare to see sharks in there with it being a major shipping channel.

I can now check that off my list. It was the single most challenging swim I have ever done, but also pretty amazing.  I would do it again, they were talking about how they do another event called the "Bridge to Bridge" swim and it goes from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate.  Its about a 10k, so I would have to work up to that, but no hurry for sure!

 I texted Ben about it at the end and his response cracked me up. "You're half nuts, but awesome too :)"

I can't say enough good things about Water World Swim.  They did an excellent job with this, from organization to making it a safe event for us.  They were incredibly encouraging and helpful.  Loved them!  If I was in the Bay Area, I would probably try to get more involved in their activities.

So what's next for me?  I have the Deseret News 10k in just over a month, then the Brineman 70.3 in September.  Training since StG has been pretty chill and nice at the same time as I have had a ton of family stuff going on, and more in the next few weeks.  Onward and upward!

Ironman 70.3 St George 2017 Race Report

 72 hours post race and I am still on a post race high!  Where do I begin to sum it all up??

PRE-RACE:

I headed down to St. George on Thursday morning and caravaned down with Jason and Cristin, who I talked into signing up for this race with me about 8 months ago.  We got into town, went to the expo, and it was super hot!  I kept hoping that we would not have this heat on race day!  I picked up my packet, went to the merchandise tent and bought the infamous race "name shirt" with all participants names on it.  It was the only thing I bought!  Ken was shocked.  This is my third Ironman branded event, so I just don't feel the need to go crazy on Ironman gear anymore.  It is still cool, but my tradition now is to just buy the name shirt, unless there is something else I just can't live without!

Friday I laid low.  I took the time to pack my gear bags to get them ready for gear and bike check in.  I had a late breakfast and it did not set well with me.  I was almost immediately sick to my stomach and this lasted the rest of the day.  I was not happy about this!  Please don't let me be sick before the race!!I went ahead and headed out to Sand Hollow to check in my bike.  I visited with some friends while there, did a very brief spin on Ivy to make sure the gears were all good and she was ready to roll, then I checked her in.  I was getting ready to leave when was pretty sure I saw Ben, my coach, speed by on his bike.  I have worked remotely with Ben for the past 18 months, but never actually "met" in person as he is in Madison, Wisconsin, and I am in Utah.  I couldn't pass up the chance to meet him.  So, I went over and said hello.  Thank heaven it was him, or that would have been weird!  Ben is just as cool in person!  I've always known he was a great coach, but he is also a cool person!

I wanted to get out of the heat, so I headed back into town, quickly checked my run gear bag and headed back to the condo.  Ken and the kids were in town by this point, and it was good to see them!

Saturday morning I woke up super early and was over the moon excited!  No race nerves, just plain excited!  I was riding to catch the shuttles with Jason and Cristin, so I met them at their hotel for breakfast.  I had listened to my "race inspiration" playlist on the way over and was just ready to get this thing going!  We ate, got on the shuttles, then it was a matter of airing my tires, loading my bike nutrition, and then waiting for the swim start!

SWIM:

I had high hopes of a swim PR for this course. The water was smooth (which is actually unusual for Sand Hollow, this area is known for the wind).  I was in one of the very last swim waves, so it was a hurry up and wait kind of game. I was in Wave #18, with a start time of 7:31.  I got up  and was going to try to hug the inside buoy line, and start near the front of my group.  We swam out to the start buoy, the gun went off, and it was time to get to work!  I stuck to my usual sighting every 8 strokes or 4 breaths, and kept telling myself  "reach long, pull strong".  I found a good rhythm right off the bat and was sighting well.  The first third of this went way fast.  When we went along the west side of the Island, that part lasted longer!  It was all good, but I was starting to catch the slower swimmers from the waves ahead of me and it started to get more congested and harder to stay right with the buoy line as I was trying to avoid the slower swimmers and go around them.  When we made the final turn where we swim into the boat dock, it was CRAZY!  Now you have every breast stroker, back stroker, and hanging-on-for-dear-life-stroker, and it made for just utter chaos. The water got choppy from all the congestion and I started to get nauseous.  Uh!  Can we just be done?  I was relieved to get out of the water and let out a HUGE burp.  My sister Lisa and father would have been impressed!  I immediately felt better though!  I unzipped my wetsuit, took off my cap and goggles, and ran for the strippers!  They had that sucker off faster than a prom dress!  Final swim time was 36:43 (24 out of 116 in my division), only 45 seconds away from a PR!  I blame the chaos at the end for that!  Either way, I was thrilled with this swim.

T1:

As soon as the wetsuit was off, I ran over to Ivy, threw all my swim stuff into the bag, threw on my shoes, helmet, and sunglasses and headed out of there.  I was super thrilled with my T1 time of 3:12. This is over 3 minutes faster than last time I did StG, but I was way happy with it.  Ken caught the pic below as I had exited the water.

 BIKE:

I was both super excited and nervous for this bike.  It was on the bike that my race went so horribly wrong 3 years ago, but I also had a couple of good training rides on this course just a few weeks before, so I was excited to see it all play out on race day.  Ben had told me to make sure I kept constant tension on the chain.  Pressure on the pedals. I get into a habit of just spinning or coasting at times on the "easier" parts of the course.  My training ride here two weeks ago I spent well over an hour of a 2:45 ride in Zone 1!  What the?  Not okay for race day!  I quickly found that by doing this, I was passing lots of people on the flats and descents.  I am not a strong climber, but I found that many people that passed me on the hills, I caught up with or passed right after the hills.  This was just so much fun!  I would just shift into the "hardest" gear on the flats or down hills and just keep tension on the chain as Ben said.  I threw a lot of caution to the wind as well and stayed in aero on these down hills instead of on the breaks.  With the roads closed to traffic, I felt confident doing this. It was just so much fun!  I loved it! I hit some new high speeds of 45 mph on my bike on more than one of these down hills.

My nutrition plan was working well.  I had two concentrated bottles of my Infinit + Base salt.  I found that making more than a two hour bottle the flavor is way too strong, so I went with two 2 hour bottles.  Every 15 minutes I took in a mouth full of it and sipped on water every 5-10 minutes in between. It was warm, but over cast, and I felt like this was the perfect amount for the conditions. I grabbed a water bottle at every aid station as well. I took in about 750-800 calories during this ride and around 100 ounces of fluid.

When we got to the bottom of Snow Canyon, I was starting to feel the anxiety set in.  It was at the bottom of Snow Canyon that I literally sat on the road and cried in the red dirt thinking my race was over 3 years prior.  As I passed that spot, I felt strong and was so grateful to not be there today.  I said a quick prayer of thanks for my good race so far and prayed for continued luck!  I found that it was a pretty ride! I  loved it.  Though technically Snow Canyon is a slow gradual 4 mile climb, it is only the final mile of that is bad.  I enjoyed being there, talking to the other athletes and just settling in and getting ready for the big push at the end.  When we got there, it was the first time during this ride that fatigue set in.  Many were starting to walk their bikes.  I just kept telling myself to keep my legs moving, I was NOT going to walk.  It somehow seemed easier than it had been two weeks ago!  Before I knew it, I was at the top!  This was also the first part I noticed the head winds.  Holy crap, were they bad!  Luckily that last stretch into town is downhill, but still no fun in those head and cross winds. I just got low in aero and kept pressure on the pedals. I didn't break for a single down hill into town.  Just tuck low and let her roll! I had a ton of fun on this part of the course, though it was scary a few times :)

As I was in the final half mile, I heard Ken yell at me.  I was so happy!  I just not only conquered the bike course, but the demons and associations from this same ride 3 years before!  I literally was crying as I ran my bike into T2.  Final Bike Time was 3:28:26 (#38 out of 116 in my division).

T2:

I easily found my stuff and bagged my bike stuff, took time to throw on socks (I usually race sockless sprint and olympics), shoes, visor and my race belt.  I grabbed two cups of ice water leaving T2.  Final time for T2 was 2:36.

RUN:

When I did this run 3 years ago, it was pretty much a walk.  I just wanted to run as much of it as possible. I knew that with the high mid day temps, wind, and hills, it wouldn't be realistic to run the whole thing, but I wanted to try!  As I left T2, I was still crying because I was so thrilled with my bike.  I saw Ken again right out of T2 and just said, "I did it!  I did it!"  He gave me a sweaty hug and said, "Yeah, but you're not done yet!"  I found that as I tried to run, I couldn't because my lungs were all tight from crying!  HA!  There's no crying in triathlon!  I took a minute to walk and calm down and found I could run after that. Ben had told me to stay within certain HR parameters, so I looked down at my watch and saw I had no HR data.  The watch wasn't picking up the HR at all.  Funny, because it had worked fine the entire bike.  Oh well, Plan B is run by feel!  The first 4 miles of this run are uphill.  They are a gradual false flat at first then by mile 2 you are going UP!  I settled into a decent, though slow pace for the first two and when I got to the Turtle Hill climb I had to walk.  I gave myself permission to walk on the uphills for a max of 30 steps at a time, and it worked!  It gave me just enough of a break to want to get going again.  I found that I was in good company on this rough run and saw many teammates along the way.  I was enjoying this run despite the toughness of it.  I made myself run the down hills and the flats, only breaking at the aid stations.  The aid stations were roughly every mile.  At each aid station I took in ice water, a couple of licks of Base Salt, and every 3 miles I had a gel.  There were also a couple of stations I would take in a Gatorade, Coke, or Red Bull based on what sounded good at the moment.  It all seemed to be working because I felt pretty good the whole time.

The second half of the run I was just ready to be done. I was still in good spirits, but I wanted to be done.  I ran most of the last part except for the couple of final uphills.  I ran into several more teammates and one of the newbies to our club Shawn.  We played leap frog from miles 8-11.  It was nice to have a familiar face at this hard part of the course!

The final 3 miles are basically down hill, so I went for it.  I looked at my watch several times during this downhill portion and was sub 10 pace every time. I still stopped at aid stations, but skipped the last one a mile from the finish line.  I just wanted to cross that finish line!  I bolted down the portion after the turn around at Diagonal and Main Street to the finish.  It felt so good!  I heard Ken yelling for me again and crossed the finish line.  Immediately I saw my friends Marianne and Meagan working the finishers chute!  It was perfect!  I completely lost it and Meagan was there to hug me despite me being a hot mess for a moment!  The only thing better than this moment was sharing it with such good friends!!

Final run time was 2:37:03 (#42 out of 116 in my division).  This is only 9 minutes from a run PR for the distance in a 70.3!  And on THIS course?  Heck yeah, I'll take it! Final race time was 6:48:00 (#42 out of 116 in my division). This is not a 70.3 PR, but then this is not the course for a PR!

POST-RACE:

I met up with Ken immediately after the race.  I went and got some athlete food and Ken went for the car.  I went with the kids to get my bike and ran into Ben there. Seriously, I can't thank him enough!  He is a great coach, and has pushed me further than I thought I could go.  I was glad to be able to give him a post race hug!  Then we loaded up in the car, got the kids food and played by the pool the rest of the day.  It was perfect!

I would be lying if I said I didn't have some goals time wise for this race.  I was right on them for both the swim and the bike, but not for the run.  However, when I see that everyone struggled on the run today, and I know that I honestly put forth my best effort, I am genuinely thrilled with the day I had.  This just gets me fired up and wanting more!  I have pretty mellow summer race wise...I have an Oly in a month, my Alcatraz swim, and then my 70.3 in September.  I am so excited to see what I can do on that FLAT course after this race.  It will be fun!

I've also decided 70.3 is my distance.  I love it!  The training is just enough to challenge me, but not overwhelm me or my life, and the distance is the same way.  I loved doing sprints and Olys last year, but this is a good distance for me.  I will probably stick with this distance for awhile.  I really want a sub 6 hour 70.3!

Onward and upward!  Happy training and racing!

Two weeks out plus some updates!

I fully intended to do a race report on Icebreaker this year, but I didn't.  It was something else...the weather was around 40-45 and pouring down rain.  I can honestly say I have never ridden in the rain prior to this, and there was standing water on the course and some slick turns, but it was actually kind of fun.  I walked away with a course PR, and took second in my age group.  Still need to learn to suffer more in general, but I was happy.  I also didn't taper for this, and I had a long trainer ride waiting for me when I got home.  This race is still a must do every year, it's a great way to blow the cobwebs off and get in a race when you're just getting antsy to race after the cold winter off season!

I just got back from Salt Lake Tri Club Camp.  It is really designed for people racing IM StG 70.3 as it is two weeks prior to the race and on the course.  However, many of my house mates and other teammates came down just for the heck of it even though they aren't racing it.  It was just plain fun!

I drove into town and felt immediate anxiety driving the part of the bike course just to get to the house we were staying in.  I was at the house a few hours before my roomies for the weekend got there and it started to mess with me a bit.  For those of you that don't know, my worst experience ever was the last time I did StG.  It was an utter disaster, so going back to this race has brought on race anxiety like I haven't had before.  I knew one of the biggest advantages to me of coming down this weekend would be to ride the course again and gain some confidence as well as build positive associations with the course to over ride the negative ones.  I was able to do both!

Friday morning we were supposed to go swim at Sand Hollow.  Since this was one of two OWS there, I opted to do a pool work out I wasn't able to fit in earlier in the week.  I loved the Washington Community Center!  It's a nice facility and they seem to have been able to manage to let lap swimmers and the pool noodle water aerobics  coexist in peace.  This doesn't happen anywhere up here, but don't get me started!  I swam 3000 yards and felt great.  Then we had a break prior to riding Snow Canyon, we rode just a 21 mile loop that included the Canyon then we had a group run of the course.  Ben didn't want me running the whole thing, just an up and back of 8 miles, but it was enough of the course for me.  He then texted me that I had nailed the run!  Sweet!  I had to say, it felt really good overall and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Day 2 of camp was an OWS at Sand Hollow and a transition clinic.  I LOVED being back at Sand Hollow and back in open water.  The water was around 61 degrees, and though it was pretty cold the first 50 yards or so, it didn't last.  I loved it!  This is one of my favorite places to swim period, so I was in complete heaven for this part of the camp.  We then set off on a ride of most of the course.  Due to some road closures, we weren't able to ride the part through Hurricane, but still got 41 of the 56 in.  Man, I forgot how hilly this course is.  I ended up riding most of it with a new friend Brian who is new to our club and the sport.  It was great to have a friend and someone to chat with during this ride.  My legs were already fatigued from the day before, so I knew this ride would be hard.  Riding with someone makes it better!  He was talking all crazy like doing the "double loop" and doing Snow Canyon twice, as some were to make up for the lost mileage we missed by not doing Hurricane.  I knew immediately I wouldn't be up for it.  Climbing Snow was much harder the second day, but I did it without needing to stop or walk.  I dialed in nutrition and it worked well.  I have switched to custom Infinit and love it!  However, I found that the flavor is MUCH stronger in a concentrated bottle!  I can't say how much I love having just one bottle to use. The Infinit doesn't have as much sodium as I would like so I add a couple tiny scoops of Base Salt to the bottle, and it is still all one place. That and water and I am good to go.  No more million moving pieces to long course nutrition!I took in a mouthful of the mix every 15 minutes then washed it down with water in my torpedo bottle up front.  So easy!

That night I think our house we were staying at became the designated party house.  We had 15-20 people there and I was up way later than I have been in years.  It was just fun.  I love my tri club team mates!  I have to miss a lot of team stuff due to living an hour away from where most of the group functions and group work outs take place, so it was nice to have time with them this weekend!  I was exhausted coming home and still am today, but it was so worth it!

I am feeling good two weeks out from StG.  There is still some work to do, but after being on the course this weekend, I am feeling much better about it.  I have spent some time thinking, which is never a good thing, and am actively working on being more positive about life, racing, and myself in general.  After being called out on this lately by more than one person (Ken, Ben, Justin, and Nate, thanks for the reality check!).  It's not like me to be negative in general, but I think the anxiety and stress about this race has brought it out of me more than normal.  I am reminded that I don't HAVE to do any of this, I GET to.  It is a great opportunity and the negative self talk doesn't reflect who I am, who I want to be, and what I want to get out of it all.  I am grateful for people willing to call me out on it when I need it!

So, onward and upward!  This is going to be a fun couple of weeks!

Echo Sprint Tri Race Report

I don't know what my deal was this week, but I just couldn't get excited about this race.  Nothing at all to do with the race or the organization, I just wasn't feeling it.  I actually tried to bargain with myself and Ben to a small extent about skipping it for a training day. I finally decided since I was cheap and had paid for it, I would go and Ben felt that racing it I had nothing to lose and the fitness boost alone from racing it would be worth it.  I did all my pre race prep on Friday and though I didn't mind it, I still wasn't excited.  When my alarm went off at 4:00 am and woke me from a dead sleep I thought, "And why am I doing this again?"

I made myself get out of bed, but I was moving at a snail's pace.  I tried to put in my contacts and they just weren't working.  One eye kept feeling like there was something in it, and I kept taking it out to readjust or clean it and it just didn't work.  I pulled out a pair of one day ones I have and they were much better, but I thought, "Really?  Is this how things are going to go today?"  I then stopped for breakfast from Maverick because nothing at home sounded good.  I went to pay and the card reader wouldn't read my card...at all.  Great.  Luckily I had cash.  I got up to the race start and picked up my packet to see my number for the day was 333.  The gal handed it to me and said, "That's HALF as bad as 666."  She thought she was funny, but again, was this another sign this was going to suck?

I set up my stuff and chilled with my SLTC peeps.  Love my tribe!  Even seeing them though I couldn't get too excited.  My friend Justin said to me he was tempted to just not even get in the water because he wasn't feeling it either.   I told him I was just going to do what Ben told me, and push as hard as I could and if I blew up on the run, who cares?  I've already qualified and have nothing to lose.

I then went back to get something from my bag in transition (we had assigned racking spots) and I saw my stuff had been completely moved around and bike was facing another direction.  A girl there (#319 to be exact) had moved it.  She said I had it facing the wrong way.  She had also taken it upon herself to move 5 other bikes in addition to mine.  What the hell? Who does that?  Another guy noticed his had been moved and called her on it.  Finally a race official told her SHE was wrong and we moved them all back.  I was so glad I caught this before my race, it would have messed with me a bit finding my routine transition set up all mixed up!

SWIM:

I had done my pre-race warm up in the water and it felt good.  I have never swam in this lake before, so I was glad to get my bearings.  The course looked easy to sight, though the wind was blowing and creating chop.  Further out there were actually white caps.  I don't mind these swims, I actually look forward to them and like the challenge.  They announced that this was going to be a rolling start.  I had never seen this with short course before and thought it was way cool!  However, I was going to seed myself with the 1:30-1:45 group, but my friends were one group up in the 1:15-1:30 group so I decided why not?  Turned out to be just fine!

The rolling start got going and I hit my start button on my Garmin and took off.  The first buoy I couldn't see when I tried to sight.  All I could see was the people splashing in front of me, and the waves.  I finally spotted it, and I had swung a little wide on that leg of it, but it wasn't too far off.  Going to the next buoy was a further stretch and I had a hard time staying straight due to the waves pushing us.  It was fun though and I took in several mouth fulls of water, but it was hard.  Before I realized it, I was at that second buoy and it was straight into the  swim exit!  This part was the most difficult to sight because it was directly into the sun.  I just focused on following the people in front of me and it worked okay enough.  I was glad to be done.  The swim time involved a run up a ramp and then to throw my flip flops on since it was a rocky run through transition.  Final swim time was 14:17, which was a 1:33/100 pace (keep in mind I apparently added about 170 yards to this, or the course was off).  Very happy overall with this time!

T1:

Not sure what my problem was here, but this was slow!  This is a large race and the transition area was pretty big, and I had a decent run down to my bike rack, but my final T1 time was 1:34.  Really?  I could have knit a sweater!

BIKE:

On to the bike!  I was feeling really good though my heart rate was pretty high coming out of the swim and T1.  I fell into a good routine and tried to get my bearings.  I was truly racing this blind as I am not familiar with the area, hadn't done this race before, and I didn't drive the bike course beforehand.  I found it had lots of rollers and was a fun course!  It was also beautiful!  I kept thinking about how I had thought  I had pushed the bike at Dinotri two weeks ago, but when I got back to analyze my results, my HR showed it was mostly in Zone 3, which sort of makes me believe I could have pushed that more.  I made an effort to check my HR frequently during this ride to see if I was working hard enough.  Side note here.  Ben is big on RPE, or how it feels, not necessarily relying on the Garmin.  I agree whole heartedly with this philosophy in theory, but I find it isn't reliable.  Sometimes I feel I am pushing hard when in reality, I am not if you look at my cadence, or HR, or other data that shows I could probably push more.  I need to get more on board/in tune with all of that.  Not quite there yet.

I kept thinking I have nothing to lose so if I go balls to the wall, why not?  I didn't allow myself to use the small ring on the climbs, I just powered up them.  It wasn't too bad!  I passed a lot of people as well (why, oh why can't more people learn the meaning of ON YOUR LEFT?) and felt really, really good for this ride.  It was over far too quick because I was thoroughly enjoying myself and feeling great!

Final bike time for this ride was 39:48.  Fastest bike split ever in a sprint tri.  Average mph of 18.78. Finally a good bike split! Given the amount of hills, I was actually surprised by that, I am not a strong climber, though I love a good down hill :)

T2:

Nothing major to report but I passed my rack and lost some time finding the right spot.  With the gravel surface of the transition area I look my time to carefully throw on my run shoes to make sure none of those got into the shoes making for a painful run.  Final T2 time was 1:22.  Not great, but worth the extra time to not have gravel in my shoes.

RUN:

I sooooooooo wanted a good run.  I feel like the goal of a sub 9:00 pace run was been so close, yet not quite attainable all season (with the exception back of Icebreaker back in March where I ran an 8:47 with a downhill course).  I just pushed, and found that right away my legs felt great.  No awkward or heavy feeling like I sometimes have post bike.  YES!  I started off on the dirt rail trail  this was on and went about my run.  I decided to push, but not quite all out until the turn around for the first half.  My watch beeped at a mile and said 9:08 pace.  It was higher than I wanted it, but I figured I would just keep dialing it up a notch as the run went on.  I passed the aid station and decided against taking anything.  I got to the turn around and decided it was really GO time! My Garmin then beeped for Mile 2 and it said 9:06.  Okay, it was a little faster than Mile 1, but time to dial it up more! That last mile HURT!  My throat started to hurt, my hamstrings were tight, but I just kept going.  When I crossed the finish line, I was light-headed and wanting to puke and would have if I hadn't have put my head down and taken some deep breaths.  Final run time was 28:42, an average pace of 9:04.  DANGIT!  With that hard effort I really thought it might be better.  And again, that sub 9 pace evaded me.

Final race time was 1:26:05.  When I saw that I was thrilled!  This is a PR for the distance by 2 minutes! (I don't count the Icebreaker sprint tri for this, because it is all shorter distances than this one and the others I've done all season).  I was pretty stoked with that.  Every race this year my overall time has gotten a little better each race.  Today my biggest time drop was on the bike, which I am thrilled with :)

POST RACE THOUGHTS:

1)  I am glad that I made myself do this race.  It was pretty fun to not care about the end result and try something out of the box to see what happened.  Turned out to work okay!

2)  This was a blind race in more ways than one.  As I mentioned before, I didn't know the course at all, so I couldn't get all wrapped up in analyzing it or worrying about it.  Second, this race does not put the ages of the participants or what distance they are doing on the calf muscle.  So guess what?  You have no idea who is passing you.  Are they in my age group?  Who knows!  Are they doing sprint or Olympic?  You'll never know.  It really made me focus on my own effort and race, which is a good thing :)

3)  This race is put on by TriUtah.  I haven't raced with them in almost 4 years since I did the Ogden Valley sprint tri.  I had heard nothing but good things about this race and it was all true. I loved the course, it was well organized, and the post race stuff was awesome.  Freshly made pizzas out of the back of a food truck,  Full cans of Coke ice cold waiting for you in coolers.  A shirt I will actually wear and fit well.  The medal was pretty cool.  Very well done event, I will definitely be doing more of their events in the future.

4)  Part of my issue with not wanting to do this race today is I just feel like I have been racing too much!  It was all fine and dandy when I was trying to qualify, but since I did that a few weeks ago, I really didn't want to do this one.  I never thought there was such thing as racing too much, but I think I hit that threshold.  I haven't had a build phase in training in weeks either due to races or me being out of town.  I miss that, oddly enough.  And wouldn't you know it, I am out of town again this coming week, then I thoroughly hope Ben kicks my trash for the weeks leading up to Nationals.

5) As much as I have been racing, I am still stoked for Nationals.  That will probably wrap up my tri season and I will find some running events to do in the fall to focus on my weak link.  I can't wait for that! Even though it is my weak link, it is still my most enjoyable of the three disciplines in training, so I am looking forward to that focus.

What's next? 5 weeks until Age Group Nationals in Omaha!  Happy racing and training!

Dinotri Sprint Tri Race Report

I finished this race last week and then left on vacation just a couple of day later with a million things to do in between and writing this report was not on the top of that list.  So, a week late, here it is.

I have been excited about this race because I have never done it before.  Now that I am into my 5th season of doing triathlons, I have done most of the local ones numerous times.  That isn't a bad thing, but I loved the idea of doing one I hadn't before.  Granted, this involved a 4 hour drive to Vernal, in Eastern Utah, but I am always game for a road trip.  Given the fact that our children have now reached the ages of being in a million different activities, Joshua had something on Saturday and Ken had to stay to get him to it, so I was solo for this race.  However, I was meeting Kim there, and other members of SLTC would also be there.

Once I got to Vernal I checked into my hotel and then went to meet Kim at packet pick up.  We then drove up to T1, some 20 minutes from town to do bike check in.  Two things hit me at this point, knowing this was the bike course we were driving.  First...this is surprisingly pretty.  I had several preconceived notions of Vernal, and this was not one of them.  The swim area looked like a mini Lake Powell.  This takes place at the Red Fleet State Park, and it is very pretty.  Second....holy hills! There is a huge steep hill coming out of T1 that isn't very long, but it was very intimidating looking.  But at the same time, what goes up must come down and I could also tell this was going to be a very fast bike course as well.

I asked one of the volunteers how many people were in my age group since this was a Regional Qualifier for Nationals.  He looked it up and told me 12.  Being a Regional Qualifier, the top 2 for every age group for the sprint distance would go to Nationals.  I knew that if I was smart about my race, followed Ben's advice, and also pending no getting off course (hence the Daybreak mess) I might have a decent shot!

Now to the actual race!

SWIM:

They allowed a swim warm up so I got in the water and swam easy with some sprints in there.  I felt really, really good.  I also was in love with this lake!  So pretty, water was clear, and temperature was perfect.  The course would be really easy to sight. I was super excited!

The swim is a deep water start off of a boat dock.  They only had four waves - Olympic Men, Olympic Women, Sprint Men and Sprint Women.  This put me in the last wave.  As we waited for other people to go, a guy from the sprint group said he heard it was good luck to do a cannonball into the water before your swim wave started.  Well, I needed all the luck I could get, so I did my cannonball.  Pretty fun because you rise to the top pretty quick in a wetsuit :)

I then treaded water until it was time to go, then I just went when I heard the horn.  I felt fast, but I didn't feel like I was working very hard.  I was passing many people and caught up to the sprint men and Olympic women waves.  It never was a very crazy swim except around the buoys where everyone was turning, but it went well and it went fast.  I loved every part of this swim..it felt fast and at the same time I knew I wasn't maxed out.  Before I knew it, I rounded the last buoy and was headed into the boat ramp to exit the swim.  Final swim time was 13:23 for the 800 meter swim.  This is a swim PR for this distance for me!  It was also the fastest swim for any of the sprint women :)

T1:

This transition involved a .2 mile run up a hill up the boat ramp and into transition. I thought that because of that I would have a slow T1 time, and also because I felt like I had a hard time getting my dang bike shoes on.  Final T1 was 2:23,

BIKE:

The initial hill out of transition wasn't as bad as I thought.  It was just a matter of grinding your way to the top, and it wasn't that long either.  It does suck that it is literally right out of transition though, so there is no warming up, or chance to get momentum before you are climbing it.  It was followed by a short down hill, then up another one before you hit the main road coming out of State Park.  I felt really, really good on these hills. I passed a few guys on these climbs and one of them wasn't too happy about it.  He said, "As if my swim wasn't bad enough, now I am getting passed by girls."  What. A. Tool.

I was happy to be to the top of the second hill, because I knew at that point it was basically downhill into town.  The down hill was sweet!  I looked down at my watch and I was easily with hardly effort ding 26-27 mph.  Very cool!  I tried to keep spinning my legs even though it would have been very easy to just coast. these easy miles.  Even when we headed into town, there were a few more rollers, but we had good momentum that they were no big deal.  I felt good the whole time, I tried to stay tucked into aero and push as hard as I could but still being aware of the fact that I would have to run shortly.

Final bike time for the 13 miles was 43:22.  Fastest bike split in my age group.

T2:

This was cake.  In and out in 52 seconds:)

RUN:

I was the first female to hit T2.  It was pretty sweet knowing that I had a lead on ALL of the other women, but I knew I would have to bust my butt to keep it, and the run isn't exactly my strength.  I left T2 and headed out onto the run course, which, if you ask me, is the only lame part of this race.  You literally run a half mile from T2 down to a round about.  Then you run another half mile down one side, turn around a cone, then run back to the round about, repeated 3 times (to where the run course looked like a T) until you head back home.  It was mind numbing and boring.  I was so glad that I was doing the sprint and not the oly, where you would have to run that twice.  Ugh!  Surely they can come up with something better for the future, especially after such a great swim and bike course.

Anyhow, I really felt like I was pushing, so much so that I felt I could puke.  It wasn't until the top of the "t" of the run that I saw another female.  At that point I had about a mile left of the run.  I had a good lead, but I knew I may not be able to keep it, she was FAST!  And here goes the story of my life..getting passed on the run.  This would be the case for the next mile as I dropped from first overall to 4th overall, or 1st in my age group.  The first two women that passed I couldn't have caught.  They were cruising.  However, the 3rd girl that passed only beat me overall by about 18 seconds, so I can't help but think maybe I could have tried harder?  I honestly felt I had nothing left to give though, and she deserved it!  Final run time was 28:26, or a 9:03/mile pace.  Dangit!  So close but not quite the sub 9 I had hoped for.

POST RACE:

I was elated to know that I was first in my division.  The three women who passed me all congratulated me and me them for a great race.  We all talked about how we qualified for Nationals and whether or not we would be going.  (Of course I am!).  We talked about our training, coaching, etc.  It was great to be there with great women/athletes.  I found several other people from my club and we enjoyed the post race food and waited for awards.  I was thrilled to see that my overall time was 1:28:25!

This was a great race.  I was thrilled to have all the pieces finally come together and get my first 1st place for my Division.  However, I still don't think this was my best race.  My swim was awesome, I wouldn't change anything there.  My bike was good, but I still think I could push harder.  My HR shows I was in Zone 3 for most of the ride, so I probably could have pushed more. How much more is to be determined, because I still don't want to sacrifice my run.  I still really want a run with a sub 9 pace!  However, it got the job done and I am thrilled to be going to Omaha in August!  Now to just wait for the email with my registration link!

What's next?  I do have Echo Sprint tri in a week.  I honestly couldn't care less about it now that I have qualified.  If nothing else it can be a good training day, but we'll see.  

Happy Training and Racing all!

Daybreak Sprint Tri - Win some, lose some

Ugh.  Where do I begin?  I am still pretty peeved at how this race went.  However, one of the ways I process things is to just write things down, and this is my blog after all, so if it comes across as bitter, negative, pissy, what have you, you can take it or leave it for what it is.  Not every race is a PR, a podium finish, or sunshine and roses.  Today was definitely not any of the above!

I started the week very excited about this race.  I sorta forgot it was even race week, or at least couldn't really focus on the fact that it was initially since it was the last week of school and in all the craziness that is wrapping up a school year and graduation, it was in the back of my mind, but not my main focus this week.

I had planned to pick up my packet on Saturday morning before the race as I usually do seeing as how most races I do seem to be 45-60 minutes away.  I then went back and reread the race week email and it said that same day packet pick up was NOT an option.  Well crap!  I readjusted my Friday schedule and made the 84 mile round trip trek to get my packet.  I got there and they handed me my shirt, my bib number, and a bag with a bottle of water and a bunch of ads.  I asked about my timing chip and swim cap.  The lady replied that I would have to wait in line to get them the next morning.  Why exactly did I drive all the way down here again?  I was a little peeved, but it is what it is.  

I then went home and did race prep.  I always love this. I  pump up music, and listen to it as I pack my stuff, prep my bike, etc.  I don't consider it a chore at all, I thoroughly enjoy the process.  I started to get into race mode and get seriously excited.  I didn't sleep much the night before, and I didn't even care, I was just excited!

This morning Ken and I got up a 4:30 to get down there by 6:00 when transition opened.  I imagined there would be tons of people waiting in line for their chips and caps, and I had also heard that there hadn't been adequate racking space in year's past, so I wanted to get a good spot.  When we got there, neither situation was as bad as I imagined and it all actually went quite smoothly. I then enjoyed visiting with my SLTC friends and Kim, who came in from Wendover.  I love this part!  Nate Last, a sports psychologist associated with the club, gave an awesome pre-race speech to our team.  It was perfect for getting into the zone!

SWIM:

Ben had told me to do the swim in a way that I "had another gear available, but don't use it".  I think this was wise and probably because I started out WAY too fast at Salem, so I planned to do just that.  With this being a time trial start, I knew it would help me accomplish this without the craziness of a group start.  I got into the water and lined up along the dock til they asked my number, and told me to go. I started out smooth and easy, sighting the bridge. I fell into a good rhythm and tried to maintain it.  I passed a ton of people on this swim, but didn't feel like I was maxed out.  I wasn't using that extra gear as Ben said.  I had no problem staying on course, and the swim went very fast for me.  I came to the end and actually saw several people cut the course at the end by not going to the final buoy!  What the hell?  I really, really hope it wasn't intentional, but apparently those people were disqualified, so no worries there.  

I made a point to hit the lap button on my Garmin the second I left the water. I wanted my real swim time, not the official swim time that includes a run across the beach, across the grass, messing with the wetsuit, and into transition.  My Garmin swim time was 13:51.3 for 863 yards, or a pace of 1:36/100.  I am actually stoked with this. I can't ever remember being that fast in an OWS.  My official swim time according to when I crossed over the mats was 14:22.  Fastest swim split in my division!

T1:

Pretty uneventful.  I racked my bike, and was a little annoyed that apparently someone came in late, rammed their bike and crap, complete with 5 gallon bucket next to my stuff, shoving some of mine to the side.  Who does that?  Oh well, anyhow, I threw my cap and goggles down, ripped off the wetsuit, untangled my bike from the "let's bring the bucket" person's stuff, and made my way out of T1 and then made the run all the way down a cobblestone path to the bike mount area.  Final T1 time was 1:27.

BIKE:

I started off on the bike prepared for the first half being up hill then you turn around a cone and it's literally all down hill back to transition.  However, the mile or two to get to the main road where that uphill starts is a down hill.  It is a fast bike start.  I was cruising through the first couple of intersections, feeling pretty good about things, and I noticed none of the intersections were labeled. I couldn't remember exactly which street we were supposed to turn on, but I figured there would be a volunteer, a sign, the road painted, a police officer, SOMETHING to let us know where to turn.  Well, I supposed wrong.  I got all the way down to a very busy street and realized I was lost.  I had no idea where I had gotten off course, but there I was.  I turned around and started going back up the hill I had just flown down and I found an officer directing traffic.  I asked him where I was supposed to turn and he said, "Ah man!  You're way off!" Gee, thanks.  He pointed me 3 intersections further up to where to turn.  Are you friggin kidding me?  How had I missed it?  I was 50 shades of pissed.  I had a "screw it all, I'm just going back to transition and turning in my chip and giving the director a piece of my mind" moment.  As I pedaled to where I missed the turn, I came to  my senses and immediately thought what I have prided myself on.  I am not a quitter, plain and simple. I've certainly done things way harder than this. I told myself a long time ago I would never quit a race unless an official or medical personnel told me my day was over.  I am not going to give up this easily.  I thought of how much I admired Meredith Kessler a year or so ago in Kona when she was having a crappy race, yet still finished, when most other pros would have quit, and many of them did.  She was a good 2-3 hours passed her projected finish time, yet she still finished.  I sent her an email after that and she said something that has always stuck with me.  She said in her reply email, "you must honor the finish".  If she can do that in Kona, I can do that at a local sprint tri.

Now, just because I decided to keep going doesn't mean I was happy about it.  I was pretty pissy as I pedaled up the hills the first half.  I kept cursing myself, the race director, my bike, you name it.  Then I started to pass a few people, and it helped some.  I just wanted to be done. I wanted off the bike, I wasn't having fun in the least.  I started feeling glad I wasn't doing the Olympic distance to drag this crapfest out even more.  I was pretty negative.  I finally got to the turn around and my mood seemed to lift as well.  The second half of this bike course is super fast.  You can almost stop pedaling and just steer the bike.  I tried to push as much as I could on the second half, I wanted to make up for lost time and try to salvage what might be left of my race.  I flew on that second half, with a max speed of 32 at one point.  I got to T2 with a final bike time of 57:40, with 2.78 more miles than the 13 for the course.

T2:

I was a woman on a mission!  I wanted to get in and out as fast as I could and try to have a good run.  I was in and out in 56 seconds!  Heck yeah!

RUN:

You know your biking is bad when you look forward to the run.  At least that is the case with me as the two disciplines have switched places for which one is my weakest of the three.  But, all jokes aside, the run has been my favorite lately.  Not sure why, but in my training, I look forward to it the most, at least it's right up there with open water swims for being my happy place.  Anyhow, I was so grateful to be off the damn bike and on the run.  I felt like I was taking some control back in the race. I headed out and immediately noticed how good my legs felt right off the bat, especially compared to  my last two races where I felt like my legs were not my own.  Granted, they were not totally fresh, but they felt remarkably better than the past two races.  I tried to ease into this run, and be patient as Ben had said, but also try to not get too comfortable either. Eye on the prize, Katie!  I noticed as I made my way around the lake for the 3.1 mile run, there were several parts where the course wasn't labeled and runners were going all different directions.  Granted, none of the paths were drastically different, but I could see how if you took one of the other, you might be shortening the course.  I shook my head as it seemed to be theme for the day of poorly marked courses.  I followed the majority of the other runners and figured if I was on the wrong path, at least I was with the majority.

The run got hot, and I wished I had a small water bottle with me.  I usually don't carry any nutrition other than water on the bike for a sprint, but it was hot enough, it would have been nice to have a small bottle on my belt.  There was one aid station half way that I did grab a water for my head to cool off and a Gatorade.  I thoroughly enjoyed other people cheering me on simply because I had my SLTC kit on, whether they knew my name or not.  I got to the second half and Ken was there to take pictures and yell for me.  This was the first race of this season he has been able to be at, so it was nice to see him and hear him out there.  Before I knew it, I ran under the bridge and the finish line was just a quarter mile away. I tried to push that last part and crossed the finish line with a final run time of 28:03, with a pace of 9:03/mile.  I wanted sub 9:00, was hoping for around 8:45, but at least it was close.

Final time for the race was 1:42:30.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

• I came home and analyzed the results (Type A, much?).  I took 5th in my age group out of 17, even with the additional miles on the bike.  Yes, getting off course cost me a podium, and very likely a qualification for Nationals, which is my primary goal this year.  
• I had the fastest swim split for my age group, and possibly my best swim in a race ever, not just looking at the time, but also considering other factors, such as staying dead on course, not starting too fast, execution, etc.
• I had the third fastest run for my division.  Shut the front door!! Me?  The run and I have a long history of a love/hate relationship, but apparently we are on the upswing :)
• There are many good races along the Wasatch Front and if Daybreak would like to see me back (not likely) they need to step up their game.  Races are not cheap, and others (Racetri especially, but also TriUtah) do a superb job without being cheap or cutting corners to deliver a superior product that caters better to local athletes.  I have emailed the race director my concerns, and in his defense, he offered what seemed to be genuine interest in the feedback and in improving. 
• You can't appreciate the good without experiencing the bad.  The longer you race, it is inevitable you will have a bad race. This was not my race for sure, but I have appreciated Ben's texts this afternoon helping me to focus on the positive and gain some perspective.  As he says, I have made progress, I need to focus on what I can control, and let this fuel the fire.  Wise words from my awesome coach!
• The best part of my day was racing with amazing friends.  I love the people in the Salt Lake Tri Club and the support they offer on and off the course.  I also LOVED seeing Kim!  She is my sister from another mister, and any chance I have to see her is a good day.  

What's next?  I have the Dinotri out in Vernal in 3 weeks.  Though I am not entirely sure what training looks like for the next three weeks, I am guessing 2 solid weeks of regular training, and a taper-ish week before the race.  The two weeks of solid training sounds heavenly at this point, because with the past 3 weekends either being races or out of town, I haven't really had what seemed like a solid "regular" training week, and I just want to get back at it, and now with school being out, that makes it all the more appealing!

So, Happy Training and Racing!

Salem Spring Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Any day on the block is a good day :)

My second tri of the year was Saturday.  This is my second time back at Salem Spring, I did it last year just two weeks after IMTX.  I knew that I had done it last year on a body that was still recovering from Ironman, so I went into it tired, mentally exhausted and expecting nothing from it at the time.  I somehow managed to land on the podium in that state.  Fast forward to this year!

I had talked with Ben just two nights before the race, and he really encouraged me to push this as hard as I could.  I know I am in so much better shape and have made progress across all three disciplines and this was attempt #2 to qualify for Nationals.

I wrote down last year's times and stared at them all week on my fridge knowing I could probably beat everyone of them, except maybe those transition times, those were pretty dang good!

PRE-RACE:

Just like last year, we had a million things going on this day, and Ken wasn't able to come with me.  He took Janae and Joshua came down with me.  I thoroughly enjoy having Joshua along.  He is a kick in the pants, a total blast to hang with.  Plus, he has become quite the efficient race sherpa!  He carries stuff, remembers things I might otherwise forget, and takes pictures!  Bonus!  We got up super early and made the hour and half drive down since I wanted to be there right when transition opened, and I still hadn't picked up my packet either.  Thank heaven for preferred racking for SLTC members, I was able to get a good spot to rack Belle and set everything up.  

SWIM:

This is a small race so there were only four swim waves.  Pro/Elite, Men 0-40, Men 41-100, and Women.  Women were the last wave to go.  It was pretty chilly and overcast out so I was in my wetsuit early for warmth, and I couldn't wait to get in the water since I knew it was probably warmer than air temp.  When the gun went off for our wave to go, I immediately started off way too fast and felt it.  My heart rate was crazy high, I was having hard time breathing, and people were  hitting, kicking, and all over each other. I just tried to reign it in some, but I almost panicked it was so crazy.  For a split second I actually considered rolling onto my back for a minute to chill.  What the hell?  That is SO not like me!  I was relieved to hit the first buoy and it seemed to immediately thin out and I was up with all the men from the previous waves.  It seemed like it calmed down and suddenly I was just fine.  I felt like I was going fast, but not panicked and I was where I wanted to be.  I got into my rhythm of counting strokes and sighting and stayed right in the buoy line.  This was good since I got off course last year.  This swim went extremely fast, and it seemed like I was at the swim exit very quickly.  I immediately started peeling off my wetsuit and a volunteer offered to strip it.  I was excited for this, but it was like she was scared of the wetsuit itself as she barely tugged it.  I told her JUST YANK IT and she did and it was off.  However, I lost time here for sure trying to get the dumb thing off.  FINAL SWIM TIME :15:00.  Beat last year's time by one second.  However, this wasn't just the swim, this was the wetsuit struggle, the run across the grass and the parking lot to the timing mat that starts the T1 time. I would be really curious as to the actual swim time, but guess who forgot to start her Garmin?

T1:

I really wanted fast transition times, so tossed my swim crap down, and went to get in my bike shoes, helmet, and sun glasses.  In and out.  One of these days I will be cool enough to try the whole flying mount thing, but not yet.  FINAL T1 time was 1:11, a twelve second improvement from last year!

BIKE:

Man, did I want a good bike time.  Ben had told me to push it as hard as I thought I could, and this would be an experiment to see how hard I could push it without it affecting my run.  Challenge accepted!  This course starts out fast as you round the bottom of the pond, take one quick turn, then it goes up THE HILL.  Anyone that has done this course knows which hill I am talking about.  It is not very long but it is very steep.  If you don't know it's coming and don't gear accordingly, it catches you off guard and many people end up walking it.  Today was no exception.  Both loops of the course I saw people walking it.  Not me though!  Belle seemed to struggle with the gearing, and she kept slipping and clicking.  I just prayed we would make it to the top.  We did, but that hill takes a lot out of you!  It took me a bit to get my breath back and get my HR manageable again.  Luckily it is followed by a slight downhill and I could setting into aero and regroup for a bit.  I started to think I was taking it too easy and immediately got my head back in the game and started to push harder. The weather started to get worse during the bike, it became cloudier and it started to lightly drizzle.  There was a few times I wished my sunglasses had windshield wipers. Then there is a few gradual hills and false flats until the turn around back to the pond where it is a downhill and you can fly.  It was awesome!  I so wish I could have seen my speed at these different times, but noooooooo! Stupid, stupid, stupid for not starting the Garmin.  I passed many people on the bike, mainly men, but a few women as well.  It was cool!  I felt very strong 98% of the bike, with the exception of right after the hill. Final bike time was 41:59, a 36 second improvement from last year.  I'll take it, though I had hoped for more of one.

T2:

I ran in, racked my bike, and tossed my shoes, slipped into my running shoes (I don't use socks for short course) and grabbed my race belt and visor to put on on my way out of transition.  In and out once again and I tied for last year's time with a :57 T2 time.  Sweet! I love it when I am under a minute!

RUN:

The first part of this run sucked,  I honestly felt like I had giraffe legs and wondered when my legs would show up.  I just kept pushing knowing I didn't want to lose any time and they would show up eventually.  The first mile was really a struggle. I just couldn't find a rhythm and it was frustrating. I felt like I was going so slow, but I have learned that when I feel this way, I am usually going faster than I think, so JUST KEEP PUSHING.  There are two hills on this run and they suck, plain and simple.  However, going up the first hill, I realized I hadn't been passed by anyone in my division.  That thought really encouraged me as I realized I could very well be in the lead for my division for the time being.  But wouldn't you know it...I got to the bottom of the second hill and some gal comes and blows me and the hill out of the water.  And, she was in my division. (How many races has this been the case?  That I get passed in the last portion of the run? So many I've lost count) Well, there goes first place.  I really tried to catch her, but I just didn't have it in me.  I was still pushing hard enough I had to suppress my gag reflex, but she was crazy fast.  I was glad to hit the down hill, and just push hard to the finish.  Final run time was 28:50, an average pace of 9:19, and with the hilly course, I am pretty happy with that.  It is also an improvement of almost 2 minutes from the previous year :)

POST RACE:

I quickly realized I was in second place.  I was thrilled with this!  Unfortunately, with only 10 people in my division, this wasn't good enough for a qualification.  I would have had to be in first for that, and I missed first place by 42 seconds.  Ugggghhhhhh!  Final time for this race was 1:27:58.  I'll take it, though it was frustrating to be so close! However, I am thrilled to have beat or tied every single time from last year, so that shows definite improvement.

I stayed for the awards and then Joshua and I quickly left since we were freezing.  I seriously think Utah races are cursed this year.  Every race I've done or been part of the weather has sucked.  Hopefully this trend changes quick! I have also come to the conclusion that I do better in heat.  Or at least I prefer it to the cold.  

I only have two weeks until Daybreak. I am excited to return to that race, it was my first open water triathlon 4 years ago and I loved it at the time. It is also a flat run course, which will be a good thing, and though there is an uphill on the bike, you immediately go right back down it.  If the weather holds out, it could be a very good race for me :)

In the meantime, Happy Training and Racing!