One week of apparent insanity

Remember how about umm four days ago I said I wasn't sure if I was even going to race an olympic in July?

Yeah.
Woke up in the morning, registered for that olympic.

Then, in searching for races in August and September after I move to Colorado - I found a sign. All this year I have wanted to do a half ironman, but none of them fit too well into my training schedule or knowing where I'd be when. Then I found this one: Sept 9 (one month after I move to CO) just outside of Denver. Accessible from Boulder or Colorado Springs and at least $100 less than all 70.3 races.

Registered.

Then I texted about 20 of my closest friends.

Am I out of my mind? Why yes! yes I am.

Scarlet & Grey... err Columbus Triathlon?

Yet again, it was a race weekend. Though it CERTAINLY didn't feel that way. Regardless, I somehow figured it out.

Kendyl and I laughed as we waded in the water, realizing our bodies were definitely NOT in race mode. The swim looked like a short out-and-back, thought I tried pushing hard, on the way out I was definitely zig-zagging QUITE a bit. As I came out of the water to see 31:09 I KNEW something was wrong with the course. 33 minutes would be an excellent day, 31:09... no way.

The run to the mount line from the transition area was RIDICULOUSLY long, but there isn't much you can do about that but run faster. I knew the bike would be fast as I set out feeling the wind at my back. The bike was generally flat - a mild incline here and there, but all in all it seemed like a pretty easy course. I took the first lap very fast, to find out we had to bike back down to the mount line and make a tight 180 to start the course over. I sucked it up, did ok with executing my 180 degree turn, only to have the kid in front of me end up too far right and in the grass. I quickly unclipped and came to a stop. Grrr. My second lap was definitely slower than my first, but not by much. I came in feeling pretty good off the bike but certainly not in the mindset to run.

I mentally prepared myself for heading out to the last leg: the run. We started on pavement but quickly ended up on a trail. I hoped it would end soon, and it did, but then we were on grass, in heat, and it was awful. 2 miles on grass, then back to the short path of pavement, then back on trail, then back on pavement and made a loop to a trail I had done a run workout on the day before. Until mile 5, I was on pace to run 8:55 pace for my 10k... and then it hit and I walked. I began to feel the blisters killing on the bottom of my feet. The trail was just miserable. My breathing was labored while walking. I ended up finishing the run in just under an hour... not exactly ideal. When I took my shoes off, I had two of the largest blisters I've ever had in my life on either arch.

In the end, short swim and tough run, I came in at 2:46:30, though if it had been a normal 10k, I was on course to go 2:43 high. That being said... the swim was epically short so maybe the tough run made up for it. It was nice to come in second in my age group behind Kendyl - seeing that clearly all the girls had suffered like we did. As I usually do the night after a race, I think I may need a little break from triathlon racing. We'll see what I decide to do for July.

Truly Treacherous Time Trial

I had high hopes for this weekend. I was scheduled to complete two back-to-back 20.6 mile races.

Well, I arrived at the race and looked around to see a handful of fellow racers, all of whom looked pretty legit - expensive bikes, race wheels, aero-helmets. I was very overwhelmed, but the best part of TTs is that they truly are your own race. As I got ready, I heard a few people muttering about the wind, but isn't that always the case on flat open roads?

I didn't have a ton of time to warm up, but I hoped to get in a little quality spinning. I ended up starting 10 min later than my preliminary start time, but I suppose that's why it's called "preliminary." While waiting in line I heard number 18 (two in front of me) mention that the first two and last two miles would be covered with pot holes. I mentally envisioned Sheridan Road, where I bike all the time... which is pretty choppy. As I started, I didn't noticed too many pot holes, but I did notice a seam in the road every 25 yards or so. I was clunking along when I saw orange cones lining the left side of the road... there was no one there, but I assumed it meant to take a left turn... which I did.

There were no cyclists ahead of me. I looked back: none behind. I kept glancing back to see if number 21 would make the turn. He didn't. AWESOME. Took the wrong course about 1 min in. Good job.

I turned around, got back on course - a little bummed that I messed up in my first race. I continued on, waiting for the seams in the road to stop. They didn't. The whole way I went over a bump every 25 yards, which KILLED my wrists in my aero position. I tried to not even hold on to my bars and just sort of let my hands dangle there to be sure I wasn't pulling up on the bars or putting too much pressure on my hands. Didn't matter. With every bump, my wrist jostled and killed. There was a cross wind and my speed was kind of low, but I thought back to Memphis  - it would probably be to my advantage on the way back, so I gave it all the strength I had, hoping it would pay off when I turned around.

When not focusing on my wrists, the bumps, or the wind, I was also focusing on how badly I had to pee. I thought it was just a nerves thing.... apparently not as it lasted all 22 miles.

After a long straight stretch, the course became a series of left turns, each turning harder into the wind, each making my speed a little slower and my hurt a little worse. I hoped we would finally make enough lefts that I would be heading away with the wind at my back. It never really happened and for about 75% of the ride I was really fighting the wind.

As I began the straight shot back to the finish, I kept looking out for when I knew I was almost done. There were about 4 times in which I was totally convinced it was almost over. I ramped up my power and pushed harder... only to realize there was more. It was incredibly difficult to have 4 hard "finish" effort moments in succession. Not to mention, drinking water from my aero bottle was incredibly difficult, because every time I'd dip down to get the straw in my mouth, I'd hit a bump that sent the straw into my gum. ouch.

Once I finally shot through the finish line, 5 minutes over my goal finish time, I just kept biking. I wasn't kidding when I said I needed to pee. I biked straight back to the car, trying to remember to spin-out my legs on the way there, then ran to the bathroom. All the while, debating whether or not I wanted to go through that again.

As I walked back to my bike I saw I was 3 minutes away from my next start time, but I needed water and fuel. I took my time eating a banana and some sports beans as well as drinking some water. Then I got myself together and got back on my bike... My quads were in excruciating pain. I biked to the end of the parking lot before realizing I had forgot to put my helmet back on. WOW. Maybe I shouldn't do this again...

I got back to the start and heard the man managing the start line say "and that was 199" (which was my second number). I said "oh, that was me..." He asked if I wanted to go again, I said no thanks, and pedaled back to the lot.

When talking to my teammate Nick, he reminded me that experiences like these are what we can call on later to remember that, this moment we are racing through may suck, but at least it isn't as bad as that one time I raced a tt into the wind, feeling like I might die, and made the course longer than it had to be.

Test Week

This week ended up being a test week for NU triathlon, which for some reason I found to be totally unexpected. We're racing in 2 weeks and just raced 3 weeks ago. I guess it makes perfect sense to be smack dab in the middle, but when I saw our training drop from 12-ish hours/week to 7, I immediately knew that meant it was time for a test set.

I had already planned to finish off this week with a TT in Harvard, IL - that's tomorrow. One of my friends on the team was awesome and lent me her car so I can drive down. It's a 33.3k course and I had the option to register twice, at a discount for the second race, which I am pretty excited about. I wanted the experience of racing all out (the first 20 miles) and then racing when I was tired, like, oh you know after a swim :) (which is how I plan to use the second 20 miles). I think I haven't been pushing myself as hard as I can in the bike course because it's always in the context of "I have to get off and run." Even in my last TT, our coach had us get off and run. Well tomorrow I ain't runnin' nowhere.... so this will be fun...

Test weeks always start well because we have an easy swim Monday and then Tuesday off. When we train at VQ, we usually have our power test that day, but since we haven't had power data in over 3 months, we had a brick which finished with 2 miles all-out on the run. I was pretty happy to run those 2 miles at 8:25 pace. I felt very relaxed and like I was flying. I definitely think I have trained my body to fall into pace off the bike, which I suppose is a good thing for a triathlete.

When Thursday rolled around (swim test day) I had spent my whole day focusing on my nutrition and hydration, ready for performance, but nothing went right. I got to the pool to find I didn't have a cap. In the process of trying to buy a new swim cap from the gym, someone stole my goggles off the table where I had left my stuff next to the pool. While this was all going on, I was informed the pool was closing at 8:30 (when our team normally has practice) and ultimately, I didn't get to do the test. Geared up for a workout, I was debating going out and doing the run that wasn't scheduled until Friday, despite the fact that it was 9:30 pm. Upon leaving the house for my 10 min warm-up run, I immediately felt the food I had eaten 2 hours before stabbing in my stomach. That wasn't happening. Instead I relented and went to bed early.

I woke early the next morning for what would now (with my coach's permission) be a two-test day. Having gone to be early, I naturally woke at the the crack of dawn: 5:55 am. I fed myself some carbs, and about 50 mins later, hit the road for my 30 min run test. My goal for this in January - when we last had a run test in this format - was 8:20 pace for 30 min. It didn't happen amidst the wind and cold. In fact, I believe it was 8:40 pace - a HUGE difference. I set the bar lower on Friday knowing that a 20 sec drop/mile would be a lot, even in 5 months. I hadn't set my focus on working on the run. My goal was to at least make it past 3.5 miles. I was happy to find at the end of a very hard 30 min run, that I had. I ran 8:33-34 pace, which is not too bad. I'm fairly happy with 6-7 sec off every mile.

I think I'm coming at my running with unrealistic goals. I started this sport last year and watched my run pace drop drastically solely because I didn't know anything. I trained my body to be much stronger and a bit more efficient, but now I'm stuck. I don't think I'll be seeing any crazy improvements anytime soon. I'm learning to become happy with little chunks of seconds off my pace, like some of the more elite athletes on this team. More importantly, I have to remember it all adds up. 6-7 secs/mile in a 10k, is 37-43 sec off that time, which matters in a triathlon. I take a few seconds off here, a few off there - and suddenly I've got a couple minutes, and THAT is huge.

I was also comforted by the fact that I was truly unable to jog again after the run test. After our 30 minutes hard, and a bit of walking, our coach instructed us to jog a bit, but I couldn't hold it for more than a minute. I ended up calmly walk/jogging the whole way home, but I was ok with that, knowing it was a sign I worked close to capacity.

10 hours later, after a long day of work, sitting, and eating, I headed back to the pool, NOW aware that they closed at 8:30. *grumble* I was feeling pretty calm which I knew was important and told myself to focus on form and not speed. I have noticed, especially in swimming, when I focus on how difficult it is, or how fast I'm going, I mentally and physically crash. I did my 200 warm up in 3:55 and was pretty shocked. Breaking 2 min/100 that significantly is not something I was aware I had been doing. Then I did a 50 of backstroke felt strong. I thought, "All right, let's just do the test." I set a goal of 16 min for myself. My previous best being 16:04, and my previous test being disappointingly slow. I just wanted to hold 2min/100 for a significant amount of time.

It has been my goal this year to finally stop swimming 100s in the 2 min range. I just wanted a 1:XX. I didn't care if it was 1:59, it wasn't 2. I have struggled painfully with swimming since I started. No talent for it, what so ever. If swimming has taught me anything, it's taking baby steps. Most importantly, I would just like to get out of the water for an olympic triathlon in 33 minutes.

I recently got a new swim watch and decided I would take laps every 200y. As I finished through the first 100, I saw that I was quite a bit under 2min/100 which made me nervous. I didn't want to crash. As I came through the 200 and hit my watch, I saw that the first digit on my watch was still a 3, which meant I had held under 2min/100 for my first two. As I continued, I just tried to say focused and relaxed. As I came through again on the 400, my first digit was a 7 - still holding under the mark. At the 600, I hit my watch and thought I saw a 12, and I began to panic. I told myself not to and just keep swimming. By the time I was swimming my last 100, I caught a glimpse of the clock: I had 2:30 to swim my last 100 to reach my goal of 16 minutes. It felt awesome to be 30 seconds down but I also knew I have a tendency to miscalculate while exercising because my mind isn't entirely on the math. I looked up at the last 25 and knew I had a lot of time left, the question was how fast I could be done. When I hit my watch to stop the clock I had swam it in 15:28 - 1:56/100y. No great feat for any real swimmer, but a total accomplishment for me this week, this year, and in my career in this sport. This has certainly encouraged me to get the heck out of the water in 33 minutes.

Let's hope that 2 good tests bode well for my race tomorrow. Biking is supposedly "my leg." Let's see if I can keep it that way over 40 miles of racing. Update to come early next week!

Evelyn Stevens - the coolest

This woman is my new hero.

http://espn.go.com/espnw/olympics/8018151/2012-london-olympics-hollywood-script-continues-cyclist-evelyn-stevens