Swim 54:46, 2:50 pace - better but not where I want it
T1- 5:01- yikes!
Bike- 4:00:24 L - 13.9 pace- slow!
T2- 3:31
Run- 2:25:18- 11:05 pace- shuffling!
Total: 7:29:01
(I think this course was about 1mile short on the bike and 0.5 short on
the run, so not confident It was a full 70.3) Here are the profiles:
Wins, Lessons Learned, Things to Remember
I write this two weeks later as I haven’t had the chance to
sit down and write. Would’ve like to do this as race is still fresh in my mind,
but the lack of sleep has caught up to me. Things to remember, I’m not 21
anymore. Can’t run on 4 hours of sleep like I used to, I need to stop
pretending like I can. After a terrible day of riding on Saturday (the heat,
and wind on the course got to me, and 20mile run from the night before) trying
to reflect as I’m in a higher volume push for the next weeks before CdA. Before
Wildflower, I was already getting sick of training and just wanted to race, so
this was a good chance for me to “reset”
Here goes, I’ll try to incorporate nutrition info into the
recap as well. The last two weeks before the race, I had been cramping a ton.
Every time I went in the water. Calf, shin, foot, hamstring, Melissa told me my
muscles were pissed off at me and it made sense. She started having me take
MG/Calcium pills, and I am horrible at taking vitamins. I need to remember to
leave them out so I take them at night. She also had me put on MG lotion to
help with. Even a week later I need to remember to take zinc so that sniffles
turn into full blown colds with lack of sleep and travel.
The week leading up to the race, I basically tried to load
up on calories. Probably not the best calories, but for some reason I thought I
needed calories- Tried to still stay away from soy, dairy, and gluten, but
culprits still snuck themselves in occasionally- I noticed in some post race
pictures some pinchable belly fat that never used to be there showing through
my tri top, so going back to really cutting back on the sugar for the next 6
weeks. When I was on top of it, energy was much better. Time to cut waaay
back. So really tried to eat more at
meals, and suck down 2-3 bottles of coconut water a day. I took the salt in the
form of salt stick vs putting it in the coconut water and also tried to add a
few bottles of low cal Gatorade.
Friday am (day before race) Tara picked me up and had pizza
waiting for me- took a little bit to be polite, I had eaten protein enough in
the am to make sure that I wouldn’t be hungry later on. Everything bagel with
egg and turkey with a coffee, apple juice banana
I actually felt good vs instantly hungry and didn’t feel the
need to eat.
The journey wasn’t bad on the way down there- middle of
nowhere California- get there and objective was to get organized before getting
a brick in.
Got packet pick up- got my bike, yay tribike transport. Had
a pretlze, a low cal large Gatorade and ½ a chicken burrito with rice and beans
(no cheese)
Tried out the
blueseventy and hated it, felt heavy- Orca it was going to be- swam about 15
min total- actually felt good to be in the lake. It made me think about how far
I had come since my first disaster race open water swim in 2008. I was actually
looking forward to getting in the open water.
We took our bikes for a “spin” up Lynch hill and then down-
got pretty nervous with turns and conditions and new wheels. I realized that I’m
a big wuss and flying down descents still make me nervous.
Packed up and made our way to Motel 6, King City- WAY
further then we thought- if doing a hotel- try Paso Robles, if not CAMP- we
should’ve camped- next time, also next time we’ll know what we’re doing and
we’ll make a weekend out of it. Several people do the long course on Saturday
then the Olympic on Sunday which actually looks pretty fun. (We drove back to
San Fran right after the race)
For dinner we had a lovely Denny’s Dinner, I had my
traditional spaghetti and meatballs, no cheese, salad, no cheese, and chicken
soup- pancake balls for dessert- again, this race was going to see how much my
stomach could take without getting sick- Still sucking down the coconut water-
2 large liters and the low calorie Gatorade because I didn’t want to cramp. Felt
good
Woke up early took medicine, made coffee- got bottles ready.
(One bottle- four scoops carbo pro- 6 capsules salt stick- salty!) packed
enough gels for one an hour- plus a Performance brand endurance/vanilla crisp
bar. Other bottle was water- forgot to bring a “throw away” for the water, oh well, I’ll get another get a grip bottle. At
5am I ate- 1.5 cups apple sauce with 2 scoops Melissa protein. Still feeling
good. 15 min before race- 2 salt stick- 10 min before- 1 gel- Tara already
urging me to get going as I was still fussing.
The waves let out every 5 min, so the only chance to get in the water was right before your wave- Was able to swim about 100 yards, then stand there waiting for the gun to go off- I saw Elisa Litora and said a quick hello, nerves were pretty good. I was trying to keep in mind- this is a training day. Race hard. Have fun. I knew I had been working on the swim, and Coach Kris told me to shoot for 45min. I knew that would be hard, but it gave me a boost to know that she thought I could do 45min. I never panicked (win) and even was aggressive when people tried to swim into me, not letting my form get compromised (win). I did realize when I tried to start to “swim hard” , my form would go to mush and I would zig zag all over (lesson). After meeting with Marcia we worked on my head position when breathing to keep myself in balance. As I stretched it out and thought about strong and steady- lots of voices in my head, Fitz, Marcia, Melissa- I knew I just needed to focus on every stroke. When I got out of the water I immediately looked down at my watch and was disappointed with my 54min time- but realized it was 6min faster than my PR (win) and 10 min faster than Racine (win) I shook it off and tried to remember what to do in transition area! First race of the season leaves you a little out of sorts- Oh and no cramping (win!) I felt twinges in the calves but nothing pulled, very relieved. I wasn’t exhausted coming out of the water, giving me confidence that I could keep it up for another loop. CDA goal is to come in under 2 hours-no more of this “I just want to make the cut off times” crap- that’s not enough.
Got settled into the bike, trying to remember to stay on the
nutrition. I ended up taking a gel every
½ hour instead of hour, eating the power, and sipping the bottle every 15. It
ended up being a good combo and never felt hungry (I notoriously feel hungry on
the rides, and once you feel hungry you know you’re in for a long day- cycle of
low nutrition, slowing down, etc) I also took in 2 pieces of banana when
offered- no nausea, no GI issues (win) The bike took way longer than I wanted,
but tried to maintain a decent pace, while catching up to others in my wave
that passed me on the swim. (Two bathrooms stops- with the heat of the day- I
knew this was good because that meant I wasn’t starting to get dehydrated)
T2 much better-Took in another gel, and got going. I’m glad
Kris told me not to walk, there was shuffling for sure, but didn’t walk- MUCH
slower run than I wanted- but hell of a course- mile 4 I was on my toes,
pulling with my arms, determined to not walk- it was a slow shuffle up, but I
also knew that if I started to walk I would cramp, so glad I didn’t- well one
bathroom stop-
I took one gel every 4 miles, and ½ Gatorade ½ water when I
could, plus electrolytes from a spectator, again tried to take in more than I
usually would versus staying conservative.
Overall a good day. BEAUTIFUL course and a part of the
country I don’t get to hang out in too often. It was just me and Tara- I knew
that Dan Litorwa was racing so in my head pictured him yelling at me to have a
higher cadence on the bike, and that helped, but not knowing anybody on the
course actually wasn’t terrible- I focused on what I was doing, very different
from marathons in the past where you know a ton of people and it’s a fun day-
and in Racine where you have a ton of people racing with you. This was a
different kind of race, friendly conversations here and there- but stuck to
keeping my feet going. I was shuffling up a hill while others were walking,
when one guy said “now there’s a hill runner, keep it up girl!” (win) People
don’t say things like that about ME J
My friends win things while I try to not get DNF next to my name. Every person
racing participates for their own reasons. As I start the season, and I get
tired of training or just want a weekend, I remember that I love to participate
and I love this communityJ
I’m ready for CDA. No doubt , no fear, only logistics. You can only hope for a
perfect race day, and who knows the bumps that can get thrown at you, but I’ll
be happy and grateful to line up at that starting line!
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