June 1st, 2013.
Saturday
Fools Hollow Lake
Recreation Area
Show Low, AZ
My
first “official” training race of the 2013 season. Deuces Wild Olympic
Triathlon In Show Low, AZ. It was a good
race overall, here’s the recap.
Woke
on Friday morning, had an orthodontist appointment to adjust my retainers. Behold the
metal mouth will continue at the end of the month…seems my bottom right teeth
don’t want to stay where they belong, even with consistent retainer wearing. So
I will be getting my bottoms back on for a bit to try and correct the problem. I warned the doc, that they come off in Nov,
no matter what!
Back
home I finished packing up, loading up the Escape, and headed out around 10 AM.
On my way to Show Low to stay with some great friends, who have opened up their
home to me, and have adopted me as their “daughter”. I’m so thankful for
wonderful friends like them. They are definitely two amazing people to have in
my life.
The
drive to Show Low, in my opinion is one of the more beautiful drives across the
state of AZ. Its three hours from home. I rolled in to their place around 2 pm.
We headed down to the race site to pick up packets, get race t shirts, hit up
the race meeting.This is where we saw the difference from Trisports turning
over the event to a new company for the race.
First
of all, I love this race. Trisports puts on an awesome race each year. Great
event, great prizes/raffles, food for participants, volunteers to keep
triathletes safe on the roads. This year however, for whatever reason,
Trisports sold the race to Chasing 3 out of New Mexico. So, for this to be
their first race, and for Trisports backing out, there were a lot of changes,
some for the better, and some not so much.
We
met up with another friend at the race site, sat through the meeting. checked out the transition/swim start, etc. Then
were headed out for a good dinner in Pinetop where we all ate last year. My race nerves were kicking in, so for the
first time, I enjoy a beer to calm myself down and relax. Back to the cabin we went
after dinner, and got our bikes all ready to go, tires pumped, numbers on
bikes/helmets, and off to bed by 9:30 pm.
5
AM came and I was surprised at how well I slept. Normally I get pre race
jitters, and sleep is hard for me. Must have been the beer. Once up, I had my
pre race ritual of coffee, bagel and egg. And got ready to go. Bikes/bags all loaded up and off we went to
the race site.
It
was evident that the race was smaller, as we only had one area for transition.
We all had a spot for our bikes to be racked, which was kind of nice. I was in
the main straight away (sorry Walt J) so it was a nice straight shot in/out of the transition. Once I was all setup, I was out of
transition. The swim time was moved forward for the Olympic race, but we still
were about an hour out from the start of Deuceman…so that hour wait where we
weren’t allowed in Transition was a bit frustrating. Luckily it was warming up
so it wasn’t too cold. I ran down to the
swim start, and got to snap off a few shots of Walt starting his day. It was
nice and calm, most athletes were quiet, and suddenly you hear this gentleman
in the water say….” Hey Becky!! Just follow my perfectly straight swim lines to
the buoy’s and you’ll do great!” which got a good chuckle from the athletes and
the crowd. And bang, the men were off. Walt seemed to have a moment of “what
the hell am I doing?” (per proof of
photo) but headed out for a good swim. The water a week before was in the low
60s, and when I did my swim up in Flag the week before, it was in the 50s. So I
was preparing for a really cold swim. Luckily, the water temp warmed up and was
perfect with a full sized wetsuit.
Next
was the women’s Deuceman swim start, and I got off a few shots of Becky
starting off her day. Then it was time
for me to get ready. Walt had lost his timing chip somewhere from the start to
the transition, and I ran back in Transition to put on all his bike numbers.
Thank goodness he had electrical tape. After his number was on, I borrowed the
tape and reinforced my water bottle that was not cooperating. Then I headed down to the swim start to wait,
I was amazed that I didn’t have as many jitters as I normally do. Maybe because
I was just ready to get it started. Or I knew if I thought about it, I would
get really nervous. I was in Wave Three which started at 7:55 AM. While the
first wave was getting ready, I saw Walt come out of the water, I let him know
that his bike was all ready, and shouted out his famous line that he usually
sends my way…”don’t screw up!” and then
I was headed out to the water, and got ready to go. The gun went off, and off we went. I got into
a pretty good rhythm from the start, and focused on my breathing and my
technique. And it just seemed easier. But longer….
The
swim course changed this year. Instead of one long triangle, it was switched to
two loops. I liked this for the fact that the buoys were closer, and you could
actually see where you were swimming too. What I didn’t like was that it was
measured wrong. So instead of swimming 1500 yds. I swam a mile, which was
approx. 1760 yds. So an extra 260 yds,
adds a good five minutes to my swim time at my pace.
The
water was nice, mid 60s, no wind to cause any white caps, and no goggle
malfunction. It was a great swim. I got lost in the fun of it at one point,
having to bring myself back. I was
amazed that I could actually see my entire arm as I was swimming. So much so,
that it distracted me a time or two.
Most of my open water swims, only give me a four inch view of muddy
water. I paced pretty good with a girl beside me so I didn’t have to look up to
often for sighting the buoy. Then before
I knew it, I was two laps around and heading back in to the dock. Once there, I
ran up to the wet suit strippers who did a great job of pulling off my suit,
and I headed up to T1. Now once out of the water I hit my Garmin watch on the
timing mat, clocking me around a 34 min swim, but official race results had me
at 35:13. Which was still good, I PR’ed my swim J last year with a goggle malfunction, I swim it in 38 minutes. And
this time it was less, with MORE distance. If it truly was a 1500 swim, I think
my time would have been under 30 min. since It usually takes me about: 55
seconds to swim 50 yds in the pool. Oh well, regardless, it was better.
My
transitions were flat out fast! More than I ever have done before. Pam said I
was so fast, she couldn’t get any photos of me.
T1 was 1:46. Smoking!!! I guess I was fast, in and out nice and quick.
And as I ran out the bike out area, I was able to jump on my bike and go.
I
have always learned to not fly out on the bike, don’t kill yourself in the
beginning. So I took it slow for the first mile or two until I got out of Fool
Hollow, but then I began to hammer it for some reason. I knew I had gotten a better
time in the swim, so I was on track for a PR, but I now just needed to sit back
and go the pace I knew I could do. I didn’t do it…I tried to hammer it the
first 10 miles and paid for it on the back side of the race. I bonked hard,
needing something, I think I didn’t have enough calories to keep my speed
going, plus I had to pee, thanks to swallowing some of the lake. So I managed
to get my mental game under control a bit. I got to the aid station at 77, got
off my bike to use the port a john. Re focused, and headed out again. Here is
where the switch happened. I had an almost massive fall on my bike. I clipped
into my bike, and headed toward the aid station around the corner. I scored my
water bottle perfectly out of a volunteers hand, took a swig and put it in my
holder. Then I saw the gel, thinking immediately, “I NEED THAT!” so I hollered
gel and as I went to reach for it to grab it from this young boy scout. I somehow
thought my left hand was on the hoods of my bars. Instead, my left hand was on
the aero bar. So when I reached for the gel, my bike swerved severely to the
right, heading straight for the poor kid, I was literally at a 60 degree angle
on my bike when I grabbed the gel skillfully out of his hand, then proceeded to
decide how I was going down…could I tuck
and roll? What was the least damaging to my bike? too me?
My
guardian angel was with me, because somehow as I heard several women gasp and
scream behind me, thinking I was ready to go down. I was suddenly upright and
straight. I must have stepped hard on my
left pedal to straighten up the bike. So once I was straight, and on my way. I
held up my right arm, gave a thumbs up to the people behind me, and hollered
out “ I’m good!!” and was on my way down the road, ripping open my much needed
gel. It gave me the energy I needed, and
I was able to get my head back in the game, and focus. I ended up following
this guy all the way into T2. My average speed on the back? 18 mph. I was
stoked. But the front half of the ride cost me, and I cruised into T2 a minute
slower than last year. Which was a bit of a bummer, but from my swim time, I
was still on pace to PR. As I rounded
the corner to the bike dismount, I had a lady pointing at the ground with her
hand and with her horn, state loudly “DISMOUNT HERE!!!” so I slowed down right beside her, and
said…”right here? Exactly right here?” which got a chuckle out of her, and the
crowd. I jumped off and headed into T2 ( in my perfectly lined up spot on the
first row- sorry Walt J) and was once again in
and out in 1:25 for transition time. And nice and fast, I was out and on the
run.
By
now, it was getting hot. Looking back now, I realize I didn’t have that brick
sensation in my legs that is normal for that T2 transition. So the gel was a life saver, Orange Cream, my
body can tolerate that…so time to add that to my list of training foods. But I was going out at a pace of 9:30, and I
had to force myself to slow it down. I knew if I ran my pace from last year, I
was golden for a PR, and if I went out to fast, I would be toast. So I slowed it down, as my heart rate was
getting high, but not like Whiskey Row with the huge 217 spike. I kept to my
run for a mile, then walk for one minute pace keeping my back happy. I hit
every aid station and doused myself with water from the sponges. I got out to the course at mile 3 and began
to feel the discomfort of the distance, the heat, and that nagging bonk feeling
again. So once again at the next aid station I zeroed in on my gel and got my
Orange Cream. It took me til Mile 4 and it kicked in to take me home the last
2.2 miles. I finally got in my zone on the run that last 2.2 miles, and a
little “til I collapse” from Eminem in my head didn’t hurt either. I was close
to my run time from last year, so I was trying to push it, while not red lining
at the finish. I cruised around the corner, and headed for the finish line. The
clock read 3:25 hr/min. I ran a minute
longer than last year. I had no idea where my official time was at.
I
hit my Garmin and stopped my time. This was my first tri with my Garmin so I
was excited to see what that showed. I then got some refreshments, found Pam,
and made a beeline for a kiddy pool filled with ice water. That’s where I sat for the next 15 minutes.
And it was HEAVEN!!! I chatted it up with
a few fellow racers. Convinced two guys to jump in the water for recovery (they
thanked me later, as they felt much better for it, and were doing the XTERRA
the next day). And then I headed over to
find Pam and cheer on Walt and Becky.
Pam
somehow missed Becky in bike transition, so she must of come in on the bike as
I was crossing the finish, so Pam missed her transition to the run. But we sat
waiting for Walt about a half hour later, who came cruising up on his bike with about 15
minutes to spare, and said he was done for the day. He knew his body could not
handle the run and made the smart decision to stop and live to race another
day. That took a lot of guts. As an athlete, you always want to be competitive,
and at least finish the race. To have the guts to know when to stop and not
push yourself past your limits or worse is just as commendable in my opinion as
finishing the race. So once we got Walt settled, he found his timing chip (darn
shoe!!) and got cold fluids, we headed over to the run course to cheer Becky on
for her second lap. She did a great job
for not training like she wanted, and cruised in under 6 hours. Overall, it was a great day. The wind was
good this year, it was still hot. Even with constant reapplication of my sun
block I still have some awesome bike short tan lines, watch lines, and some
burnt shoulders. But it was a good race.
After
further assessment, I looked up my time on my Garmin and saw there was ten
minutes difference on my watch compared to the time on the clock when I ran
through the finish. I started in Wave 3, ten minutes later…And realized I did
PR. But what I thought was a 3:15 PR, ended up being the race time…minus
transition. So it was still a PR, but it was at 3:19 hr/min. My overall results then were as follows:
Swim 35:13
T1 1:45
Bike 1:33.41
T2 1:25
Run 1:07:04
Overall 3:19:06
I
PR’d by 4 minutes, which essentially was the swim time, and the transition
times, since my bike and run was a minute more each.
After the race we all headed back to the cabin to ....pass out/ relaxed on the front porch and drink some beer for "recovery". Then we headed out after hot showers for dinner at a local joint where we ran into some new friends and fellow triathletes and chatted about the race.
The next morning, before heading out ,we all took a walk in the neighborhood, and out into the forest, only to run into the XTERRA tri going on. It was pretty fun to watch and cheer on the racers way out there, who probably weren't expecting any spectators. Got a bunch of shots for the racers, since really the photography wasn't what it normal is. And hopefully they got posted on the Facebook page for any athlete to get if they want. And then I was off and heading back home by the afternoon.
So,
now it’s on to race # 2, my half Ironman. I am still on the fence about doing
Mtn Man up in Flagstaff in Aug. or doing a different one. I will need to
determine this very quickly as time is of the essence right now. Most likely I
will end up doing Mtn Man, out of sheer convince and time. But I have to admit
a trip sounds pretty tempting somewhere.
Hopefully I’ll have this figured out pretty soon.
So
THINGS I learned from this race:
1.
Keep up with the swimming workouts I’m doing, its’ working J, maybe get working on my kick so it’s not all
arms on the swim.
2.
Bike- slacking…I really need to focus more on my bike. I can tell
I’m not doing as much, cause my running overall time is more than my biking
time…not cool.
3.
Get working on hills for my bike
4.
Get the seat adjusted better, I was right about pushing it back a
few mm, but I tipped it down to far, so I was falling off the front the whole
race.
5.
Get your chain and whatever else you need replaced, so your bike
is dialed in and ready for Ironman.
6.
Run….keep working strong on my Zone Training. I’m going to be
where I want to be come Nov. for Ironman, right around a 10 min pace for the
26.2 miles. That will be cool if I can pull that off. SO BE PATIENT!!!
7.
Pace….pace…pace. Keep the
mental toughness strong. Don’t get distracted, stay focused on the bike and the
run. I tried to push it too much on the beginning of the bike, and paid for it.
At least I was able to regroup and get back
in the zone and focus, but that could be precious minutes that I lost and could
have kept for my PR time. I did keep it on the run, I was able to be patient
and not go out to fast, I was able to slow it down, and know I was doing the
work and I would get the results I wanted.
8.
Still need to dial in nutrition. It’s not where it needs to be,
especially for the half coming up.
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