We arrived early, though certainly weren't the first there, we got a pretty good parking spot that meant not a lot of trekking to/from the car in preparation (or after the race!).
Jaclyn accompanied me to transition where they didn't seem too concerned about non-athletes being in transition. I set up while we talked and then I headed out for a warm-up. My run warm-up was good, though a weird twinge/tightness between my outer knee into my calf made me a little concerned. I also noticed I'm starting to get little holes on the outside of my Pure Flows. Maybe I need a new pair. I jumped on the bike for maybe 3 miles, which at least allowed me to adjust my brakes, which were rubbing and settle in to get my spinning under me. I left my bike in a solid starting gear, set-up my shoes, rubber-banded on, and left the bike in transition where I took the rest of my junk back to the car.
It never fails that I find myself minutes from the swim start jumping into the water for 3 minutes just to get the feel in my arms. It kind of blows, actually, but once again, got MAYBE a 150 of swimming in before clearing out of the water, finding Jaclyn, grabbing my gatorade, and getting in line. A few minutes thereafter, before I could think about much, they said "10 seconds until you start" counted "5,4,3,2..." and I found myself bounding into the water.
My swim started out alright, but apparently my definition of "straight ahead" is to the left because as people pushed right, I looked up to sight and found that INDEED was the direction of the buoy. Oops. Sighting these buoys going out was really really hard. I rarely saw them until I was about 100 yards away. Thankfully, hanging with the group was a good idea because I guess someone saw the buoys (hint: it wasn't me).
I thought I was going fast on the way out, but I think the two times I had to stop and look up to orient myself at ALL probably did me in. At least once we hit the turn buoy things got a LOT better. It was easy to sight to the next turn buoy and then I was easily able to see all the buoys and just swim my
Once my hand hit sand, I pushed out, only to see about 50 yards of water ahead of me. Knowing I still had enough depth to swim, I flopped right back into the water and swam until I was scooping sand in my hand, which meant still at least 25 yards of water to run through. I wasn't very happy about this. Also it got gross really fast as I sploshed out through soft muddy seaweed yuckiness. I looked down during this run to see 35:18. Not my best. Not my worst. Pretty on par with every other swim I'd been doing. I guess I should be happy, but I really was hoping I could knock this one out just a hair faster. I have work to do. Hopefully Jaclyn's knee recovering, being able to go to Rocky Mountain Tri Club swim practices, and a little time in lakes will get me swimming paces that I actually should be in the water.
We had a moderately long run, up the beach, across the lot into transition for a final swim time of 36:29. I always get a little aggravated over the runs into transition, but hey, what are you going to do?
My T1 was apparently great and my transition practice with Joel paid off - 1:14. BAM! Wetsuit off, helmet on, ready to go. I had a great position down the 5th aisle but very close to the bike out/in. I jumped on my bike to hearing Jaclyn yelling at me to have a strong bike. Nice reminder... I left the swim behind me and told myself it was time to hammer.
I hadn't forgotten the hills per se, but I'd forgotten just how numerous they were. After a few sizable rollers out of the reservoir, Jay Road is enough of an incline to slow you down, only for you to turn on to 36 which slows you down even more. After about 4.5 miles it finally breaks into more rollers with some sweet descents. Then you turn down a big old descent that almost makes all the freaking climbing worth it. Then more rollers.
My goal for this race was 18.5 mph which, in the midwest would've been a laughable goal for me. Apparently, it was perfect, because I found myself pulling through 1 hour at 18.55 miles. WOOOO.
I actually made a friend on the course with this girl who kept passing me on the uphills while I passed her on the descents (tt bike, what can I say?). We went back and forth like this and started acknowledging it because it was getting hilarious. It was nice to always be looking for her and an extra motivating force.
After a powerful first hour, things slowed down. While I wouldn't say they got "more hilly" the downhill recoveries lessened and it was a lot of low grade climbing or flats. My average dropped to a little over 18.3 by the time I made it in. I was still really happy with this. Given that my previous average on this course (when they cut it down last year and it was a normal distance instead of 26.5m...) was 17.5 (which was also what I held for the Boulder 70.3 course last year), I'm glad to see my pace finally coming back to what I'm used to. While it isn't 19.5-20 mph, it is a BIG step in the right direction.
I came up on the right turn into the reservoir really fast. Thinking "crap, I have to get my shoes off" so I reached down and managed to unvelcro both before the turn. Then I wiggled my feet out with perfect timing to make the left turn, and dismount about 2 feet off the dismount line. Sweet. It's funny how fast this snuck up on me. After so much distance training for 70.3 and half marathons, I found myself pleasantly surprised by how short this race was! Getting off the bike I thought, "wow, only an hour left!"
T2 was apparently pretty good too. 1:06. Man. When it comes to transitions, I've got it down.
Running out, my legs were definitely feeling the beating they took on the bike, but the good news was that I didn't feel the tight twinge from earlier during my run warm up. I clipped on my race belt and was out of there, stuffing my gel in my back pocket. I could feel as I got onto the course that lead-weight leg feeling. My knees didn't want to lift - not one bit. I just kept pushing forward knowing that stopping would only make it worse. I thought about what Kristina said in her blog about smiling. I know smiling often makes me feel better when I'm hurting/running. I tried that. No luck.
I saw Jaclyn and Christina this time, around 2 miles. I wouldn't say I felt strong. My stride length was short, my knees weren't driving and now I could feel the shoes start to rip up the insides of my arches. I came through the 5k point at 29:25 thinking that it wasn't too bad and I just had to maintain. Heading back for the only notable hill on the course, I reached back for my gel. Guess what? Not there. Awesome.
Jaclyn and Christina were there again, cheering me on. This time, I expended a little energy to acknowledge them. I'm really bad at acknowledging people cheering for me because I'm always just spending every ounce I have on the activity. Plodding back out onto the dirty path, I could feel my abs really getting tired/cramping. Coming through the next water stop I let myself walk and drink a good bit of it. I then hit the turn around and said to myself "this is it, you're done, just run it in." Easier said than done, apparently. I hit the water station and again walked but mostly just took a mouthful of water and dumped the rest on my head. Brrrrr
I could really feel my feet ripping apart now. I came to a small hill and let myself walk for 30 seconds before I ran it the rest of the way in. It was definitely not my best run, but definitely not my worst either!!
I ended with a 3:06, which had it been a regular distance course, at my given paces, would be a 2:59. This is of course assuming the additional miles in no way affected my ability to be more speedy. It is only an extra 1.5 miles, so I believe that that is probably a safe assumption (unless of course that means 1.5 miles of less climbing, then I probably could've run 7 min/miles - haha jk).
Overall, pretty satisfied with this race as a season opener and it has given me some drive to continue my training. Also, I have to tell you - Your Cause Sports makes some pretty sweet medals.
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