Well as off-seasons go, this has not been my most productive. I have been doing a lot of lifting, but my cardio has all but fallen by the wayside. This has largely been due to a persistent, nagging ankle injury sustained the weekend after my last race of the season (dancing barefoot is to blame. Go figure.)
There has been some excellent news, however. I received my first of three emails from USA Triathlon regarding my performance at Nation's Triathlon. I then received two more emails concerning SheROX Philly and Waterman's Half. I have qualified for age group Nationals at the Olympic distance (thrice)!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, I know absolutely nothing about my 2013 season yet, except that I will be racing in Milwaukee in August at Age Group Nationals!!!!!!
I've been too bummed out about my ankle and now a raging cold to do much else towards this season. I did just spend 10 days scuba diving in Honduras (YAY!) so maybe my swim fitness is magically up? Unlikely. Once I can breathe again I'll worry about planning a season. And once I can run again I'll actually believe it's happening.
That Girl Who Sang the Anthem
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Waterman's Half Race Report
Greatest Support Team |
Gillian!! |
Back at the hotel, Gillian watched with great interest as I set up and checked all my gear. I felt like a pro might while being interviewed by Triathlete Magazine, like my opinions and rituals were actually fascinating to someone. She's my new favorite spectator. Erin eventually got to the hotel around 8:30 pm, and took Gilly out for some normal person fun while I went to sleep.
Anne attempts to keep me warm before the race start |
I did run to warm up before the start (fully bundled) and I kept my sweatshirt, socks and gloves on until I walked down the dock for my swim wave. (Special thank you to Anne and David for picking up after me when I hurriedly stripped 1 minute before my wave) All of the women in the race were in the second swim wave, which made it pretty easy to figure out where one stood overall throughout the race. The start was supposed to be in-water, but many of the women chose to sit on the edge of the dock until the horn went off. I decided to get in because I wanted to get the brain-freeze feeling over with before attempting to swim.
Mid- lake grass removal |
Unfortunately, although my full results were up on the board after the race, the online results don't list all of my splits. Just my run and overall time. Everyone elses results are fully split. Apparently I am special...My spectators tell me I was the 3rd of 4th woman out of the water. The woman on the results with the fourth fastest swim split, not counting mine, swam a 36:11, so I think that means my time was faster than that.
Awesome sign #1 |
Numb hands make dressing extremely difficult |
Gilly wins the "best dressed" award, and holds another excellent sign |
I wanted to pull on gloves too but there was no way to get my fingers in in their current state, so I scratched it. I immediately regretted not having them. Within minutes my hands were in excruciating pain, and I was barely able to shift. The course was beautiful but very tough and hilly. All of the "flats" were false and there were many long, slow climbs, and even a few steep ones. I couldn't stand on the pedals because my feet were so numb I didn't trust them.
I don't know how my hands came back, but eventually they did. Not before I dropped my chain though, fumbling to shift. I had to get off to fix it, halfway up a hill. I think I saw three women on the bike course and one was on a relay team. One caught me right after I dropped my chain.
Erin's camera skills have improved significantly over the season |
Bumbling out of T2 |
Still feelin' good out there |
I swear this was supposed to be a smile... |
Finish line relief |
On the podium with the second place finisher |
My legs were sore almost instantly after the finish and I went to the post-race massage tent after a slice of pizza and plenty of fluids. During the awards ceremony it became clear I was not the only one feeling the race almost instantaneously. Watching people struggle to get up onto the (high) podium blocks was amusing. I used a two step approach by first climbing up onto third... And when it was all over I got to eat apple cider doughnuts, courtesy of my wonderful athletic support team.
Posing with the third place finisher, Lauren, whom I know from my old bike shop |
I was planning on running some races this fall, but now I think my legs might need a break after this unexplained injury popped up. We shall see. I may still get in a 5 or 10k but the half or full marathon plan is on hold for now.
David and Anne both ran the half marathon as relay team members (Dave, Me, Anne and Erin) |
Sunday, October 7, 2012
October Heartbreak: When a season ends, some old flames get left behind...
One of my favorite, high-calorie, post-long ride snacks is a peanut butter, nutella and banana sandwich on whole grain bread. When I've been on my bike for more than 3 hours (or 4..or more...) I allow myself this delicacy. Calorically I probably deserve it, but there is a mental and emotional side to this too: when I've put my bum and undercarriage through hell, my mouth and tastebuds deserve a bit of heaven as a reward.
I'm sharing all of this because Thursday was likely my last 3+ hour ride of the season. Which means that the delicious sandwich I consumed that evening was maybe the second to last (the last being after my race next weekend!) I deserve in 2012. Maybe I'll do something for which I allow myself that kind of reward, but it definitely won't be as regular of a treat as it has been for the past few months.
This realization was almost enough to make me vow to complete some sort of crazy cycling endurance event over the winter.
Almost.
Right now I am actually in a love/hate relationship with my bike. Once again I've found that the saddle I thought maybe I could learn to love has turned into an instrument of torture. Sitting on it for more than an hour at a time is more uncomfortable than it should be. At the end of a long ride it's damn near excruciating. I hate that thing. So maybe the vow will be to save up enough money for a new fit and saddle. And I'll just have to forgo those sandwiches till next season winds up...
But I am getting so far ahead of myself!
In less than a week I will be out on the half-iron battlefield, trying to capture a new PR and finally nail this distance to the wall. The previous two half distance races I've done have not been stellar performances, the first due to nutritional mistakes and the second due to serious heat and humidity. Having figured out the nutrition, and having scheduled a half in October, I am hoping that I can pull together everything I have learned through this season of triathlon (complete with coaching!) and put out one great performance!
This is also a make or break performance for the half distance race itself. The distance has to treat me better this time, or else I might break up with it. Having two other, not-so-enjoyable experiences under my belt with this distance, I am contemplating leaving it out of my repertoire. I love sprints. The Olympic distance has been courting me for some time and has finally won me over. But the half? The half has yet to prove we're meant for each other.
I am ready to put it all out there and see what I come up with. And if it doesn't go well, I'm ready to cut my losses and specialize in the shorter distances. This year I basically sacrificed podium finishes in the shorter distances in order to set myself up for two halves. I want some hard wear people! And if halves won't do it for me, I'll move back down!
All that being said, I am really excited to race. I love racing and I want to see what I can really do. So keep your fingers crossed.
Great run today, btw. Even if it was rainy. I love the fall.
I'm sharing all of this because Thursday was likely my last 3+ hour ride of the season. Which means that the delicious sandwich I consumed that evening was maybe the second to last (the last being after my race next weekend!) I deserve in 2012. Maybe I'll do something for which I allow myself that kind of reward, but it definitely won't be as regular of a treat as it has been for the past few months.
This realization was almost enough to make me vow to complete some sort of crazy cycling endurance event over the winter.
Almost.
Right now I am actually in a love/hate relationship with my bike. Once again I've found that the saddle I thought maybe I could learn to love has turned into an instrument of torture. Sitting on it for more than an hour at a time is more uncomfortable than it should be. At the end of a long ride it's damn near excruciating. I hate that thing. So maybe the vow will be to save up enough money for a new fit and saddle. And I'll just have to forgo those sandwiches till next season winds up...
But I am getting so far ahead of myself!
In less than a week I will be out on the half-iron battlefield, trying to capture a new PR and finally nail this distance to the wall. The previous two half distance races I've done have not been stellar performances, the first due to nutritional mistakes and the second due to serious heat and humidity. Having figured out the nutrition, and having scheduled a half in October, I am hoping that I can pull together everything I have learned through this season of triathlon (complete with coaching!) and put out one great performance!
This is also a make or break performance for the half distance race itself. The distance has to treat me better this time, or else I might break up with it. Having two other, not-so-enjoyable experiences under my belt with this distance, I am contemplating leaving it out of my repertoire. I love sprints. The Olympic distance has been courting me for some time and has finally won me over. But the half? The half has yet to prove we're meant for each other.
I am ready to put it all out there and see what I come up with. And if it doesn't go well, I'm ready to cut my losses and specialize in the shorter distances. This year I basically sacrificed podium finishes in the shorter distances in order to set myself up for two halves. I want some hard wear people! And if halves won't do it for me, I'll move back down!
All that being said, I am really excited to race. I love racing and I want to see what I can really do. So keep your fingers crossed.
Great run today, btw. Even if it was rainy. I love the fall.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Double Whammy Part 2: Dewey Beach Triathlon Race Report
So much to write and so little time! I guess it wasn't very fair of me to call the last post "Part 1" of a "Double Whammy" and then wait several weeks to write "Part 2." My mother called me yesterday to give me a hard time about the non-existence of a race report for the Dewey Beach Triathlon. Sorry Mom, this is what I was doing instead:
But I have decided to take a quick break from my dissertation and give you that long-awaited race report.
As I explained in "Part 1," Dewey Beach Triathlon was not originally on my race calendar. My mother and two of her friends were supposed to race Dewey Beach as a relay team, with my mother as the swimmer, her friend Starr as the cyclist and her college roommate Debbie as the runner. Life had other plans, however, and both my mother and Debbie were unable to participate in the race. My mother was ill and Debbie could not make it down from Massachusetts, which left Starr without a team. Of course when my mother asked me to participate, I jumped in happily. I always love another opportunity to race, even as two thirds of a relay team.
Race weekend I was coming off the high of a great race at Nations. I drove up to my parents' place and then over to Dewey. At packet pickup my mother and I had to spend some time explaining the situation, but eventually we got the registration all sorted out and picked up our nice long sleeve tech t-shirts and packets. The race was held in the state part at Tower Road, which is less than a mile from my family beach house, making for a very convenient race morning. Starr arrived later in the evening on Friday, with son and dog in tow, and we talked about our "race strategy" some (I swim. She takes the timing chip. She bikes. I take the timing chip. I run). Then, as usual, we all hit the hay early to be ready for the pre-dawn transition opening.
Saturday morning it was a little chilly out, but the ocean was as flat as glass when we first arrived at the race site. The transition area was much larger than I had expected, as was the race itself. Over 1000 participants were there, and there were 13 waves of swimmers, including a wave designated for first-time triathletes. My swim wave, for relay swimmers and Clydesdales, was 10th (in navy caps). As the morning drew on and race announcements were made, the race director started to issue reassurances that although the wind was picking up in one direction, the current was actually going the other direction and the course, meant to be down-current, was set up correctly. These reassurances became more and more frequent as the wind gusts picked up speed and racers grew restless.
Now, I am an extremely comfortable ocean swimmer. I've been swimming in the ocean since I was small. Waves don't scare me. Currents don't scare me. The fishies and the sharkies and whatever else don't scare me. I was in fact, a picture of calm. I laughed at the people fretting over the current and the growing waves (needless to say, the ocean was far from glass at this point). I found the race director and volunteered to sing the anthem. Apparently my mother arrived before I started to sing and was out on the beach waiting for me to come over the dunes for the swim. She heard my voice over the loud speaker, said "Shit, that's my daughter!" and ran all the way back to transition to catch the last few lines of the anthem. When I found her she was coughing and laughing, not only at her antics, but also (like me) at all the racers grumbling about the swim. "You've never heard so much whining!" she was saying. We had a good laugh together.
If you can't tell, I am setting something up here about the swim.
Out over the dunes and onto the beach we went, many many wetsuit-clad triathletes in various colored swim caps. The ferocity of the wind was increasing with each swim wave. Looking around me at my fellow navy-capped athletes, I told my mother I was far less concerned about the waves and tide and far more concerned about the Clydesdales I would be swimming with. Some of these guys were very large and very serious-looking. I'm talking guys who just missed the NFL and have decided triathlon is their new calling. Big dudes.
Turns out I should have been worried about both. As our horn sounded and my wave sprinted into the water, I tried to jockey myself out ahead of these gorilla-men and almost immediately was kicked in the face. I quickly got my goggles back into place and went to work on the waves. And now we were talking serious waves, rolling almost perpendicular to the shore. This means you would swim up one, and then FALL down the other side. If you looked up to site at the wrong time (which was basically all the time) all you would see was a wall of water in front of you. At first I still felt pretty good, like I was moving fast despite the craziness. But I was having a horrible time staying in a straight line, given the aforementioned siting dilemma. And then things got worse. About halfway through the swim, I could basically feel the current change. Suddenly I felt like I was fighting to swim in one place rather than swim backward. It became the most epic 800m I have ever swam. It took me almost as long to finish as a full mile. By the time I got out of the water I was pretty sure I was going to puke, either from the rough seas or swallowing too much salt water or both.
Most difficult swim of my life.
I ran up the beach and into the parking lot of transition area, found Starr, and handed off my timing chip. My parents had somehow managed to sneak into transition and were there to hear me rant and rave about how crazy that swim had been. I took stock of the other relay teams, however, and saw that almost all of the bikers were still there waiting for their swimmers. I wasn't the last! Actually, it turns out I was probably the 4th, and the 2nd female. As each swimmer staggered in, new tales of horror were told. No one had a good time out there. And as the bikers finally trickled in, we all learned that the wind had been just as influential on the flat, out and back course on highway one. "30 mph on the way out, 12 on the way back!" people kept saying.
I felt really bad for that wave of first time triathletes. They had been the 12th wave.
When Starr came in, she was the third female biker and she was only a minute behind the second. I knew that if I hadn't miscounted, we had a really good shot of making the podium. Once I was out on the run (going into that headwind) my legs felt great. I zoomed by the girl in second and kept up a nice clip for the entire 3.5 mile (3.5?! random...) course. I came in feeling happy and good, although still thinking I might puke up seawater.
Starr and I hung around and got massages while waiting for the awards ceremony. Ours was the very last category announced, and our relay results hadn't been posted on the board, so we had no indication of where we stood other than my counting. I seriously hoped I had counted correctly and hadn't made Starr wait around (for hours) for nothing. But my hopes were not dashed! Starr and I got second place in female relay teams! Go team "Tri-Tri Again!"
Overall, we of course had a complete blast. But that swim. Wow.
So now, here we are, several weeks later and I am two weeks out from my last big race of the season. I'm in the beginning of my two-week taper, and as you readers know, I hate the taper. It just makes me feel like I'm not accomplishing anything. Luckily I have a lot to accomplish with my dissertation, so I am keeping myself distracted (or relatively distracted...).
I will do my best to make sure I get a race report, and maybe some pre-race stuff, up here in a reasonable time-frame...
Happy, Mom? :)
But I have decided to take a quick break from my dissertation and give you that long-awaited race report.
As I explained in "Part 1," Dewey Beach Triathlon was not originally on my race calendar. My mother and two of her friends were supposed to race Dewey Beach as a relay team, with my mother as the swimmer, her friend Starr as the cyclist and her college roommate Debbie as the runner. Life had other plans, however, and both my mother and Debbie were unable to participate in the race. My mother was ill and Debbie could not make it down from Massachusetts, which left Starr without a team. Of course when my mother asked me to participate, I jumped in happily. I always love another opportunity to race, even as two thirds of a relay team.
Race weekend I was coming off the high of a great race at Nations. I drove up to my parents' place and then over to Dewey. At packet pickup my mother and I had to spend some time explaining the situation, but eventually we got the registration all sorted out and picked up our nice long sleeve tech t-shirts and packets. The race was held in the state part at Tower Road, which is less than a mile from my family beach house, making for a very convenient race morning. Starr arrived later in the evening on Friday, with son and dog in tow, and we talked about our "race strategy" some (I swim. She takes the timing chip. She bikes. I take the timing chip. I run). Then, as usual, we all hit the hay early to be ready for the pre-dawn transition opening.
Saturday morning it was a little chilly out, but the ocean was as flat as glass when we first arrived at the race site. The transition area was much larger than I had expected, as was the race itself. Over 1000 participants were there, and there were 13 waves of swimmers, including a wave designated for first-time triathletes. My swim wave, for relay swimmers and Clydesdales, was 10th (in navy caps). As the morning drew on and race announcements were made, the race director started to issue reassurances that although the wind was picking up in one direction, the current was actually going the other direction and the course, meant to be down-current, was set up correctly. These reassurances became more and more frequent as the wind gusts picked up speed and racers grew restless.
Starr fights the ridiculous head wind |
If you can't tell, I am setting something up here about the swim.
Out over the dunes and onto the beach we went, many many wetsuit-clad triathletes in various colored swim caps. The ferocity of the wind was increasing with each swim wave. Looking around me at my fellow navy-capped athletes, I told my mother I was far less concerned about the waves and tide and far more concerned about the Clydesdales I would be swimming with. Some of these guys were very large and very serious-looking. I'm talking guys who just missed the NFL and have decided triathlon is their new calling. Big dudes.
Starr killin' that bike |
Heading out for the run, trying to keep my seawater down |
Most difficult swim of my life.
I ran up the beach and into the parking lot of transition area, found Starr, and handed off my timing chip. My parents had somehow managed to sneak into transition and were there to hear me rant and rave about how crazy that swim had been. I took stock of the other relay teams, however, and saw that almost all of the bikers were still there waiting for their swimmers. I wasn't the last! Actually, it turns out I was probably the 4th, and the 2nd female. As each swimmer staggered in, new tales of horror were told. No one had a good time out there. And as the bikers finally trickled in, we all learned that the wind had been just as influential on the flat, out and back course on highway one. "30 mph on the way out, 12 on the way back!" people kept saying.
I felt really bad for that wave of first time triathletes. They had been the 12th wave.
When Starr came in, she was the third female biker and she was only a minute behind the second. I knew that if I hadn't miscounted, we had a really good shot of making the podium. Once I was out on the run (going into that headwind) my legs felt great. I zoomed by the girl in second and kept up a nice clip for the entire 3.5 mile (3.5?! random...) course. I came in feeling happy and good, although still thinking I might puke up seawater.
SPRINT FACE! |
Overall, we of course had a complete blast. But that swim. Wow.
So now, here we are, several weeks later and I am two weeks out from my last big race of the season. I'm in the beginning of my two-week taper, and as you readers know, I hate the taper. It just makes me feel like I'm not accomplishing anything. Luckily I have a lot to accomplish with my dissertation, so I am keeping myself distracted (or relatively distracted...).
I will do my best to make sure I get a race report, and maybe some pre-race stuff, up here in a reasonable time-frame...
Happy, Mom? :)
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Double Wammy Pt 1: Nation's Triathlon Race Report
Wow. Back-to-back race weekends means that I am pretty darn tired, and also very far behind in my race reports!
This wasn't my original plan, by the way. I was planning on racing Nation's Triathlon on the 9th and then on the 15th going to Dewey Beach to watch my mother and her relay team race. Athletic support. Maybe I would have even volunteered! But then things changed. Due to unforseen circumstances and a generally rough summer for my mother's set, two of the three team members (including my mother herself) had to back out of the race, which left the team in need of a swimmer and a runner. Of course I am always happy for another race, so I headed down there and signed the release forms to be 2/3 of the "Tri Tri Again" relay team.
So now I have two race reports to write, and half the time to do it (don't ask me how that math works, I don't know). This means you lovely readers get a DOUBLE WAMMY (in two parts...)!
NATION'S TRIATHLON
Nation's is a huge race. There were about 5000 registered participants before the start. The expo and race are a who's who of the DC Tri club, and the Mid-Atlantic triathlon community. It was fun and exciting to be a part of, and although I had a less than stellar experience with it's sister race, the now-defunct Washington DC Triathlon last summer, this race was relatively well run. There were a few minor things I would have liked done differently, but that was mostly due to the ridiculous number of participants in a crammed, urban setting.
My cousin Anne was supposed to race Nation's with me, but a few days before the race she crashed her bike and ended up with a concussion and a broken nose. She couldn't race, but her boyfriend was still in, and she was going to come watch, as were Erin and some of her hockey friends.
Nations is one of those races that makes you rack your bike the day before the race. It also just so happened that the night before the race there was an epic wind/rain/hail/possible tornado storm while everyone's bikes were on the rack. In the MASSIVE transition area, I covered my bike with a poncho and several trashbags and just hoped that it would end up ok.
It was weird going through my usual pre-race rituals in my own apartment. I am used to setting up my gear in a hotel room, finding a local italian place for dinner and sleeping on an uncomfortable hotel bed. Instead I made my own pasta with meat sauce, crashed as early as possible and essentially told Erin that she had better not wake me up or she risked a horrible fate. I should have been more comfortable with this situation, given that I was at home, but it stifled the excitement to some extent.
Apparently several bikes flew off the racks during the storm, and there was some damage, but when I arrived on race morning my baby was unscathed and still sheathed in plastic. Nation's Triathlon is affiliated with Team in Training (TnT, a charity group that raises money for research on blood diseases and also trains up triathletes and runners), and there were several first-time-triathletes with TnT surrounding me in transition. The girl girl next to me shyly asked a question or two and it was soon clear that she was in need of assistance in setting up her bike rack and transition area. We chatted (her name was Annette) and I helped guide her through effective transition technique. Soon all of her TnT friends were swarming around us, asking a million questions and calling me to their bikes to examine their transition area set up. Of particular difficulty for these ladies, and likely many first-timers, was the concept of directional bike racking. Rack your bike on YOUR side of the rack, so when you come up, you put on your shoes and helmet, and then pull the bike off the rack, towards you. You don't want to have to run around the bike rack to get your bike, or try to pull the bike under the rack, knocking over your neighbors' bikes and possibly the entire rack in the process.
Anyway! I did manage to get my own transition set up, and to get in a warm-up run. Before they closed transition I found Anne's boyfriend, David, and we headed out. Nation's, again due to the huge number of participants, does a time-trial swim start. The swim is broken up into waves, as is done traditionally, but you don't mass start with the wave. Instead the waves are systematically ushered down to the water (through a tunnel of corrals that makes you feel distinctly like cattle) and six athletes are sent onto a tiny dock at a time. Every eight seconds another 6 athletes jumps into the water. Your timing chip is punched in to start by a race official when you jump. I was in the 31st (I think? I can't remember now) wave. The first 6 athletes entered the water 1.5 hours before I did. The air temp was 62 degrees, but the water was 82, so we were not standing around in our wetsuits. Instead we were all wearing our skimpy little trisuits, tri tops and tri shorts. Barefoot on the pavement. Pre-sunrise. I realize that it shouldn't have seemed that cold at 62, but everyone around me was shivering and had goosebumps and I was no exception.
Somehow during all of this, friends picked out my profile in the sea of pink and turquoise caps, and I heard familiar voices calling my name. Christa (hockey player on Erin's team) and Jake (fiance of said hockey player and my score-keeping buddy) had come to see me off! I was so excited to have fans at the race! Later, Erin showed up with two other hockey players, Morgan and Andi. A cheering section!
Eventually my wave ended up in the corrals, and heading down the chute to our swim destiny. This next part may come as a surprise, but I like swimming in the Potomac. It makes Erin crazy, she seems to think I will emerge with a third arm or an eye in the back of my head, but the water is relatively clear (although murkier than last summer because of the recent storm) and it's not salty or full of strange algae (as are the ocean and most lakes, respectively). We swam up under a bridge, turned around and swam back under another arch of the bridge. The course was in the shape of the Washington Monument (pointed out to us several times by the announcers), with the in and out about a quarter of the way up one long side. So we swam upstream, turned around three buoys at the point of "monument", came back down a long side down stream, turned around two buoys at the base of the "monument" and swam back up stream for a bit before exiting. Strange course, but well marked with the actual distance traveled painted on each buoy. I put together a decent swim of 30:29. I wanted to go under 30, but really it was pretty on the money.
Run out of the water, up a bank, across a road, over some more grass...OK NOW I'm in T1. Another race without a wetsuit and without socks on the bike = another fast T1. 46 seconds. Boom! And that includes running a LONG way in my bike shoes to get out of the grand, muddy transition area. And by muddy, I mean swampy.
Off on the bike I go (I'm noticing a pattern in how these races work...teehee). I expected a flat course, but was actually surprised with the number of small climbs and false flats. They were generally, and interestingly, highway on ramps. The use of big roads meant that although it was still a crowded course (it would have been impossible to hand out any drafting penalties) it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the Washington DC Tri had been last year. I did have to stop twice on course though, once for a serious crash ahead of me, and again to let the ambulance turn onto the course to attend to those crash victims. I had two "boomerang buddies", as I like to call them, on the course. In case the name isn't self-explanatory, a "boomerang buddy" is the guy or gal on the bike who passes you, and then whom you pass a few minutes later. You then proceed to take turns passing one another for the rest of the bike leg, and if you're me, you usually end up chatting with that person and giving each other a friendly verbal jab with every pass. My boomerang is inevitably either 1. a guy who is a decent cyclist but a slow swimmer, or 2. a gal who is a strong cyclist, battled her way up to me from a later swim wave, is really giving me a run for my money on the bike, usually leaves me in the dust after a few boomerangs, and then usually comes back to me on the run because she's really a cycling specialist. Anyway, at this race I had one of each. We all were chatting and exchanging friendly trash talk. Eventually the other girl and I left the guy behind, and at the end of the bike she left me behind too. I was happy with my split, although I always wish I went faster. 1:16:50 for an average of just over 19 mph.
T2 was not as fast as T1, with those pesky socks to pull on. Next year I will learn to go without them.
Onto the run, and quickly past my female boomerang, with a few encouraging words. I think her name was Bridgette, but now I am having trouble remembering...Also of note on the run course was the segway crash I witnessed as a tour group attempted to speed across the crosswalk between runners. Hilarious.
Ok, so I settled into a nice pace on the run. You may or may not remember my revelation concerning my nutrition and my general mood/performance during the run, but I suddenly realized (duh) how directly correlated these two things were after my last half. Specifically, I realized that keeping a steady flow of Gu or other carbs/sugar into my system, starting just before the run and at short intervals thereafter kept my mood high and my performance on track. So about 4.5 miles from the end of the bike I had a pack of Stinger Chews (in addition, of course, to my usual Infinit Drink mix). I had Gus at miles 1 and 4, both BEFORE my mood and performance began to crash. Voila! A chipper runner Jo! Amazing! From start to finish, I felt fine! I mean, I was still running hard and tired, but the peaks and valleys of my previous performances were gone. I ran 51:50 and was happy the entire time.
Putting it all together, I had an olympic distance PR with 2:41:22. I placed 17th in my age group of 239 athletes. When I figured that out, I was pretty darn pumped. I was 83rd out of 1126 women and 595th out of 3138 finishers. Not a podium, but hey, this was a huge race and a PR to boot. So I am happy.
PLUS I did end up on the podium the very next weekend... But that story will have to wait for Part 2...
This wasn't my original plan, by the way. I was planning on racing Nation's Triathlon on the 9th and then on the 15th going to Dewey Beach to watch my mother and her relay team race. Athletic support. Maybe I would have even volunteered! But then things changed. Due to unforseen circumstances and a generally rough summer for my mother's set, two of the three team members (including my mother herself) had to back out of the race, which left the team in need of a swimmer and a runner. Of course I am always happy for another race, so I headed down there and signed the release forms to be 2/3 of the "Tri Tri Again" relay team.
So now I have two race reports to write, and half the time to do it (don't ask me how that math works, I don't know). This means you lovely readers get a DOUBLE WAMMY (in two parts...)!
NATION'S TRIATHLON
Nation's is a huge race. There were about 5000 registered participants before the start. The expo and race are a who's who of the DC Tri club, and the Mid-Atlantic triathlon community. It was fun and exciting to be a part of, and although I had a less than stellar experience with it's sister race, the now-defunct Washington DC Triathlon last summer, this race was relatively well run. There were a few minor things I would have liked done differently, but that was mostly due to the ridiculous number of participants in a crammed, urban setting.
My cousin Anne was supposed to race Nation's with me, but a few days before the race she crashed her bike and ended up with a concussion and a broken nose. She couldn't race, but her boyfriend was still in, and she was going to come watch, as were Erin and some of her hockey friends.
A transition sea |
It was weird going through my usual pre-race rituals in my own apartment. I am used to setting up my gear in a hotel room, finding a local italian place for dinner and sleeping on an uncomfortable hotel bed. Instead I made my own pasta with meat sauce, crashed as early as possible and essentially told Erin that she had better not wake me up or she risked a horrible fate. I should have been more comfortable with this situation, given that I was at home, but it stifled the excitement to some extent.
Apparently several bikes flew off the racks during the storm, and there was some damage, but when I arrived on race morning my baby was unscathed and still sheathed in plastic. Nation's Triathlon is affiliated with Team in Training (TnT, a charity group that raises money for research on blood diseases and also trains up triathletes and runners), and there were several first-time-triathletes with TnT surrounding me in transition. The girl girl next to me shyly asked a question or two and it was soon clear that she was in need of assistance in setting up her bike rack and transition area. We chatted (her name was Annette) and I helped guide her through effective transition technique. Soon all of her TnT friends were swarming around us, asking a million questions and calling me to their bikes to examine their transition area set up. Of particular difficulty for these ladies, and likely many first-timers, was the concept of directional bike racking. Rack your bike on YOUR side of the rack, so when you come up, you put on your shoes and helmet, and then pull the bike off the rack, towards you. You don't want to have to run around the bike rack to get your bike, or try to pull the bike under the rack, knocking over your neighbors' bikes and possibly the entire rack in the process.
This is the best photo Erin managed to get of me. I'm the one fist pumping. |
Somehow during all of this, friends picked out my profile in the sea of pink and turquoise caps, and I heard familiar voices calling my name. Christa (hockey player on Erin's team) and Jake (fiance of said hockey player and my score-keeping buddy) had come to see me off! I was so excited to have fans at the race! Later, Erin showed up with two other hockey players, Morgan and Andi. A cheering section!
The finishing sprint face we all know and love |
Run out of the water, up a bank, across a road, over some more grass...OK NOW I'm in T1. Another race without a wetsuit and without socks on the bike = another fast T1. 46 seconds. Boom! And that includes running a LONG way in my bike shoes to get out of the grand, muddy transition area. And by muddy, I mean swampy.
Thank you athletic supporters! |
T2 was not as fast as T1, with those pesky socks to pull on. Next year I will learn to go without them.
My cousin Anne, complete with black eye and broken nose! |
Ok, so I settled into a nice pace on the run. You may or may not remember my revelation concerning my nutrition and my general mood/performance during the run, but I suddenly realized (duh) how directly correlated these two things were after my last half. Specifically, I realized that keeping a steady flow of Gu or other carbs/sugar into my system, starting just before the run and at short intervals thereafter kept my mood high and my performance on track. So about 4.5 miles from the end of the bike I had a pack of Stinger Chews (in addition, of course, to my usual Infinit Drink mix). I had Gus at miles 1 and 4, both BEFORE my mood and performance began to crash. Voila! A chipper runner Jo! Amazing! From start to finish, I felt fine! I mean, I was still running hard and tired, but the peaks and valleys of my previous performances were gone. I ran 51:50 and was happy the entire time.
Putting it all together, I had an olympic distance PR with 2:41:22. I placed 17th in my age group of 239 athletes. When I figured that out, I was pretty darn pumped. I was 83rd out of 1126 women and 595th out of 3138 finishers. Not a podium, but hey, this was a huge race and a PR to boot. So I am happy.
PLUS I did end up on the podium the very next weekend... But that story will have to wait for Part 2...
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
SheROX Philly Race Report: Becky takes on the UNIVERSE
Well,
another race down and another race report to write! SheROX Philadelphia was an
awesome race, and I had a great day, but I think the real story was about the
perserverance of my friend Becky through the events leading up to the race. She
went through a few obstacles to get through the starting line that would have
had me completely losing my mind! So, I'll be interspersing the story of her
race with the story of mine.
This
is my friend Becky:
A
few years ago I convinced her to sign up for a race with me in Delaware. She's
been doing several running races since then, and is known for getting ambitious
when signing up and then slightly less ambitious with the consistancy of her
training... :) Anyway, I signed up for the SheROX Philly race because Becky
said she was going to race it and wanted me to do it with her. I waited to sign
up and made her promise that she would actually race.
I
didn't realize how hard she would have to work to keep that promise.
The
timing of the race fit perfectly into the rest of my schedule for the season,
setting me up for Nation's olympic distance in September and Waterman's half in
October. I was really excited to sprint again. With each race I complete it
becomes more and more clear to me that I am likely strongest at these shorter,
faster races. This season has been aimed at half iron distance races, so I
haven't done much speed work, but I think after this year that will change.
Even without the speedwork, I was excited to see if I could effectively dose
out my effort over this short race. Philly SheROX is a little longer than most
sprint races, though. The swim was 600m, the bike was 15.5 miles and the run
was the only standard, at 5k. A 15.5 mile bike meant that my time would likely
be nowhere near the sprint I did earlier in the season with an 11.5 mile
bike.
I
went up to the Philly area and spent some time with my family before heading
into the city itself to stay with Becky on Saturday night. A few weeks before
the race, however, Becky, who is a nurse, had found out that she was scheduled
to work during the race. As of two days before the race, she still hadn't found
anyone to cover for her and was sure she wasn't going to get to race. At 3pm
Friday, she found someone to switch shifts with her, and she ended up working a
12 hr shift Saturday so that she could join me at the race Sunday
morning.
Packet
pick-up was during her shift on Saturday, so when I went to get my goodie bag
and numbers, I found out that she had to be at the race site at 4:30 am to get
her packet in the morning. The expo was great, and when I went out to take a
ride and spin my legs out, I was fortunate enough to meet another cyclist who
showed me a route on closed off streets. At Becky's I took a little run, made
pasta for dinner, and watched the olympics while waiting for Becky to come
home...
Then
she called me to tell me that her bike, which she had ridden to work, had been
stolen.
Luckily
she had another bike locked up downstairs at her apartment building. By the
time she got home after 8 she was laughing and saying the universe really
didn't want her to race. Little did she know, her ordeal wasn't over.
We
were up super early on Sunday, and I had my usual oatmeal and coffee. Becky
planned to ride her other bike to the race site to get her packet. As I got
ready for my pre-race shower and to pack up my gear, Becky called me again. She
had snapped the key in her bike lock. Now she had no bike.
No
matter, she was tenacious. She called a friend and asked to borrow a bike.
Maybe most amazing is that her friend was awake at 5am. She and I ended up at
the race site around the same time, where she managed to get her packet, and
then went back across the city to pick up her borrowed bike. We got there
around 5:45. Transition closed at 6:45. Our swim wave was at 7:24. She had her
work cut out for her.
I
set up my transition and sized up the competition. The a few of the girls in my
age group looked seriously competitive. I knew I had a tough race ahead of me,
and I told myself that I had to push myself and run my race. I couldn't worry
about that girl over there who looked like she should be an elite. I got in my
run warm up and volunteered to sing the anthem, but they already had a singer.
They also told me we couldn't get into the water before the race, which I found
a bit disappointing. All the while I was listening to the announcer count down
the time left before we had to leave transition. I had some of Becky's stuff in
transition with me, so I set it up for her. At 15 minutes till the closing of
transition, I started to think she really wasn't going to make it.
Then
with 5 minutes left, I saw her bob into transition with her friend's bike!
We
set up her gear as quickly as we could, and hustled out to the swim start. The
water temperature was 82, definitely not wetsuit legal. We were the 8th wave of
swimmers, and when we waded in I was surprised by how large our age group was.
106 athletes in the Women's 25-29. Wow. We lunged from our in-water start at
the horn and I settled in well. I felt great and swam well, but was soon
climbing over ladies from the wave before ours. My swim was pretty quick, 12:28
for 600 meters. I came out of the water feeling good.
Enter
the fastest T1 of my life. First we didn’t have to strip off wetsuits, so that
of course made things speedier. I’ve also been working on riding in my new tri
bike shoes without socks, so I was able to slip those on much more quickly than
I normally would when wrestling with wet feet and sandy socks. I got in and out
in 1:04. Zoom!
Onto
the bike and right into a massive traffic jam. The mount line was in a narrow
chute, and the lovely ladies from the wave ahead of mine had all stopped, maybe
6 of them or so, right in the chute. I wanted to run by them, but they were
clogging it up and acting confused and water-addled. Bah! When I finally got
out onto the course I basically spent the entire ride passing people from the
earlier wave. I knew that when I came out of the swim there were maybe 8 girls
from my wave (of 106!) ahead of me, but for the most part I didn’t see them. I
passed I think two and one caught me, but otherwise everyone I saw was in an
older age group. The course was pretty nice, with one significant hill and
several false flats. It was a two-loop course, so all of that happened twice.
Wasn’t my fastest time, and the course was a bit crowded. I had 51:16 for 15.5
miles. (Long bike course for a sprint made for a long overall sprint time…)
Out
on the bike course I passed Becky at one of the turnarounds. I was happy to see
that the universe hadn’t taken her out yet. She was still racing!
My
T2 was not as fast as T1, but it was still respectable. I had to pull socks on
for the run, so it was 1:24. I felt great going out on the run and kept up a
good pace and cadence. Looking back I always feel like I could have pushed it
more than I did, but at the time I felt like it was a really good effort. I ran
the 5k in 25:12 and was happy the whole time, chatting up my neighbors. They
had ice-cold wet towels out on the course, which were a welcome treat at the
turnaround.
I
finished in 1:31:26. As always with a sprint, it's hard to compare that time
with any other because the distances are so variable. Looking at my splits, I
could have gone a bit faster on the bike, but overall I'm pretty happy with my
efforts. I was 31st out of 636 women, which I'm proud of. The fastest non-elite
time was 1:17 and the girl who won my age group and got 3rd overall was went in
1:23. My age group was super competitive though (again, as usual), and I ended
up in 7th. I still want to end up on the podium, but I definitely feel like I
did well.
After
the race I didn’t feel too spent (another indicator that maybe I should have
raced harder?). I waited for Becky, who I had seen going out on the run when I
was near the end. I screamed her in to the finish line. Becky:1, Universe: 0!
We were all done before 9:30 am, but for Becky it felt like she had already had
quite a day. We celebrated our races with Mediterranean take out and watched
the Olympics. J
I
am super excited for my next race. Bring on September! Unfortunately, I might
not end up with any pictures of this race since we had no spectators with
cameras and the official pictures are harder to steal from this race…But if I get
some, they’ll get posted!
Currently
I am at a self-imposed training camp in Minnesota. Expect a blog post about my
adventures soon!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Training through Wedding Season
Me, my cousin Sarah (bride), and Erin in the photobooth and Sarah's LA wedding |
I post novels, don't I? I mean seriously, reading my blog is an undertaking! I don't post that often, but when I do you better have a good chunk of time set aside to wade through it!
Anyway, I promise to be a bit more brief this time around. And while I am at it, I may try to be a bit more frequent. It's just that I am so busy with training and racing and writing my dissertation...oh yeah and with weddings.
Bachelorette party in Atlantic City |
I intentionally planned these weddings into my racing season. I knew that I would be out in LA without my bike or a pool for several days, and I also knew that the bachelorette weekend and wedding weekend for this coming celebration would take up several days of my time with limited moments for training (and limited motivation to wake up at the crack of dawn). I'm not really a drinker anymore. I rarely even have glass of wine these days. But I don't want to be a party pooper, so I try to stay up with everyone and drive people home safely.
Site of a very tough run in LA |
Triathlon Training: Avoiding Mid-Season Weight Gain
Knowing all this would happen starting the weekend after Eagleman (bachelorette party in AC), my next race isn't scheduled until August 5th. This doesn't mean I haven't been up to some great training though! In LA I did many miles of running, including a slightly ill-planned trail run at the foothills of the mountains (desert. mid-day. altitude. Was definitely over ambitious). I ran on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ with fellow bridesmaids. I've been out in extreme weather, both seriously hot and ridiculously rainy (see photo below). This weekend I'll be taking my bike and squeezing in miles before squeezing into a dress...
Flash downpour, mid-run yesterday! SOGGY! I have a similar picture from a few days earlier, but I'm that soaked in sweat, not rain. HOT! |
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