It wasn't a perfect race and of course there were things that went wrong. But all of that went right out the window when I saw the clock as I was crossing the finish line. 5:37. Finally breaking 6 hours. A 26 minute PR!
I had good feelings about the race since I've been putting so many hours into training over the last few weeks. But I was so tired last week and did very little in terms of workouts and by the time Friday rolled around, I was starting to wonder if I was actually ready. I knew I was being silly, but doubt creeps in so easily sometimes. I haven't been sleeping all that well and I was worried it was going to start to affect me. In addition, my stress numbers were getting higher due to increased volume and that had me a little concerned about possible overtraining. Fortunately I was able to put all that aside and had a remarkable race.
I slept horribly the night before the race, as well as the night before that. In addition, there was a massive storm that came through at some point during the night with lots of lightning lighting up my room. I refused to look at the clock, but figured it had to be nearing 4. Would it actually be raining when I got up? It's not that easy to get motivated for a race in the rain. But it had passed by the time I finally got out of bed. I managed to force down a bagel with peanut butter and made sure I got an earlier start to the Res than I did for the Peak. I did, but there was still mega-traffic. I found a spot towards the end of rack which seemed fine at the time but does explain my 3+ minute T1 time. But it just doesn't seem worth arguing for people to move over and just have them get pissy. I got all set up, grabbed my swim stuff, and chose the shorter lines for the porta pottys outside of transition. At this point there were 3 minutes left before they closed transition. At this point I realized that I had lost one of my ponytail holders. I need two because I've been wearing my hair in pigtails the last year in part to avoid the whiplash on my neck during the run, which at this point already is suffering from a little wetsuit chafing. It must have come off my wrist when I took my shirt off. And naturally you could only get back into transition via the bike exit, which was the opposite side of where I was. And I was barefoot. I did a quick and painful hustle back into transition and ran back to my rack. At this point volunteers were going around to the few people left in transition asking them if they were almost ready. I was looking on the ground when someone came over. I said I was almost ready but was still looking around. She asked what I was looking for and I told her. Mental note: keep extra bands in my bag!!! (which I do with every other bag I have, not that that helped me at the time). Volunteer to the rescue (yet another reason to LOVE volunteers). She had one on her wrist and asked if it would do. She said it wasn't great, but it was better than nothing. It was the thickness of the rubber bands they put around broccoli (the wide purple ones) and it was a lime green, but could I really complain? I grabbed it and made my way out of transition, passing a very late arrival who was rushing to find a spot to get set up. At least I wasn't in his position.
I headed down to the beach and decided to skip a swim warmup. I did one for the Peak and then stood on the beach freezing until my start. It seemed like it was a little cooler due to the rain the night before and I had a much longer time to stand around and wait. And so I waited. The swim course was laid out so much better than the Peak so I was a lot less concerned about swimming the wrong way. When my wave was allowed in, I headed to the front. My wave seemed exceptionally small and it seemed like I was going to have plenty of room. The gun went off and we were off. And I had plenty of room. I was actually able to keep pretty close to the buoys and for the first section I was pretty much swimming all by myself. I could see a cluster of purple caps maybe 25m in front of me and just tried to keep the gap close. As I rounded the first bend, I started running into earlier waves. Another purple cap appeared next to me and I hung on her feet for most of the way back. Rounding the final corner we really started running into slower swimmers, so I lost mid way on the final stretch and had to go it alone. Overall I felt pretty good on the swim and felt like I was right where I should be. I exited the water and really struggled to get up the hill into transition - the sand seemed extremely soft and it was hard to run in. Not to mention the trying to catch my breath at the same time.
My transition was slow. Partly due to the fact that I had racked over in Utah. I still had a lot of sand on my feet and wanted to get some of it off before putting on my bike shoes (it was still there during the ride). At the last second, I also decided to have a gel since I hadn't had one before the start and it seems like I've been struggling with becoming starving on the bike. It cost me a few seconds, but I think it was worth it considering I was able to manage my nutrition a lot better this race.
Soon I was off on the bike and immediately felt fatigued. I started to worry that I really wasn't rested and if I was already feeling tired now, what was it going to feel like in 30 miles? I pushed those thoughts aside and reminded myself that the weekend rides I had been doing were significantly longer and I got through those just fine. I also reminded myself that it was taking me longer to feel warmed up and I should just try and settle into a rhythm and then re-evaluate. After 5 or so miles I still didn't feel completely on, but there wasn't much I could do about that and would just ride. And eventually I started feeling a little more normal (finally warmed up?) and just tried to ride at a consistent pace. Not that I had anything to measure that. I decided to go without a watch, HR monitor, bike computer, etc. I misplaced my watch holder for the bike and had been riding the past two months with my Garmin in my pocket, where I would take it out every few hours or so just to see what my mileage was. And I found that just going my feel and not being a slave to the clock seemed to really help me - my bike definitely seems to be improving. So consistency was just a feeling. I was passing a lot more people than I normally do, especially over this distance. I was pushing it, but not too hard, and just tried to take advantage of passing people on the few climbs and trying to recover on the descents. And I made the two U-turns over by IBM with no worries whatsoever. This is a HUGE improvement for me as I usually end up unclipping to make the tighter turns like that. I made a point to keep drinking and finished all 3 bottles I brought with me. I also made a concerted effort to try and stop drinking on the final stretch along Diagonal in the hopes of avoiding cramping on the run, just in case it was due to too much liquids. I pulled back into the Res feeling like I had a decent ride and was ready for the run.
T2 was a lot better and I was in and out in no time. I think they called my name as I exited, but it could have been all my fans just yelling my name. Actually, HEP was working the aid station right outside of transition, so there were many hellos to say as I started the run.
I flipped my bib around to the front shortly after exiting transition only to discover that it had ripped and was now only attached by one corner. Knowing that it would drive me nuts to have it flapping for 13 miles, I managed to attach it to the lower corner (which is not easy to do while running). So although I was running around with a lopsided bib, it actually worked out better for me since my shirt tends to ride up a bit exposing my belly, which I hate, even though I know it's silly, and this angling allowed for the hiding of that. The first part of the run is always tough. There are a few rollers and just getting used to the heat and the fact that its so exposed. Similar to the bike, I didn't feel quite normal at the start of the run, but at least I didn't have the same sort of cramps that kept me from running like at the Peak. I sort of felt like I needed to eat, but I was still trying to determine how "full" I was from all the liquids on the bike and figured I'd give it a few miles before having a gel. I stopped at the first aid station to get lathered up with sunscreen. It seemed like it would be a good day for frying and I've sort of had enough of that. I was slowly passing people and felt much stronger than prior years. As I was approaching mile 5ish, I saw Craig ride by cheering on all of his athletes. I think he was a little surprised to see me as he called out after he passed. At this point I was feeling much better and could just concentrate on running, so when I saw him, I got a little extra boost to get me over the dam. At the start of the second lap, there was another round of hellos to the HEPsters and another little pick me up. Heading up that first hill towards mile 1, Craig rode by again cheering me on. It was around that point that I realized that I had this race. I really had no idea about the time and had purposely avoided looking at the clock at the start of the second lap and tried to avoid anyone talking about time (it's screwed me before because what else are you going to do out on that hot run but calculate and re-calculate things. The last time, there was a woman whose daughter was pacing her on the bike and kept shouting out her time and that she was on track to get a certain time. And I knew which age group she was in and I knew when she had started in relation to me, so I did the math despite trying not to). But it was just a feeling I had. I felt pretty good and it seems like the start of lap 2 is always a bit of struggle. And I was still running strong and passing people so it was just a matter of hanging on. Of course, it's one thing to think this at mile 7.5 and a completely different story at mile 10. A blister started forming at the base of my big toe and my timing chip was digging into my leg with every flex of my foot (same foot), so every step was literally a little painful. And on that long stretch along the death canal, where it sometimes feels like a death march, the feeling of pain can sometimes start to take the lead. I told myself just one aid station at a time. 3 more before the finish. Last hill. And so on. When I got to the dam, I suddenly remember something someone once told me about a visualization technique and so I decided to give it a try. The idea is to pick someone ahead of you and imagine a giant rubber band surround the two of you, so it seems like the other person is pulling you along. And sure enough, I immediately felt a little bit lighter and a little bit faster. On the second dam I came up with some silly little mantra that I kept repeating over and over and before I knew it, I was back on the asphalt and heading home.
As I rounded the final corner, I saw the clock. 6:15. And I knew that I had shattered my previous best. I hadn't even crossed the line and started throwing my arms in the air. There were two other people next to me, with me in the middle, and somehow it seemed like they were slowing down and converging in on me. I pushed through them with a Get Out of My Way! sort of urgency and crossed the line with a huge PR.
I immediately miscalculated my time because race day math never adds up. I have a few bets going with someone I work with and we have to take the other one out to lunch if we make our time goal. On Friday, I had sat down to calculate what I realistically thought I could do. The number I came up with was 5:35. That seemed way too fast, so I told him 5:45, which also seemed way to fast considering I've never broken 6. But I decided to go with it because I've been feeling pretty good about my training. My first attempt at calculating my time post finish line, I came up with 5:35. I went to find Steve, who was enjoying himself at the massage tent. I tried screaming at him and gave him thumbs up, but we decided I should just wait until he was done rather than interrupt everyone's massage with my yelling. I sat down to wait and recalculated. And recalculated. I came up with 5:40. And recalculated a few more times to make sure. I was still ecstatic. We had a beer to celebrate and I finally made my way over to find Craig. He hadn't seen me finish so didn't know how I'd done. I told him 5:40 and immediately shared my excitement. I found my brother and shared the good news. At this point, I was finally getting hungry and decided to make my way back to the food tent by way of the posted results.
I had probably been done for over an hour at this point, so my results should have been posted. I found the 5:40s and started looking down and down and down. Couldn't find my name. And now I was in the 5:50s. Could I have miscalculated again? And by that much? I saw a friends name in the 5:40s and got a little concerned with my math skills. He had said he had finished a few minutes before me, and for some reason I thought he had started after me, so I kept looking down the list. It finally dawned on me to look up the list. And so I looked at the previous page. I eventually found myself at 5:37 and a huge smile broke out on my face and I think I actually said "No way!" out loud. I really surprised myself. And it was a HUGE confidence booster for good things to come on 9/12!
swim: 34:39
t1: 3:14
bike: 2:53:09 (19.4 mph)
t2: 1:40
run: 2:05:07 (9:33 pace)
total: 5:37:58
age: 14/74
female: 89/399
overall: 449/1193
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