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The long awaited day is here. The end of the season. I'm so ready for a break.
I've sort of been reflecting on this season all season. But now that I've had a few days of doing absolutely nothing, I feel like it's now appropriate for me to tie it all together and put everything into perspective.
The plan is to take at least 2 weeks off, but I'm sure I'll start getting antsy after a week. I'm not going to jump right in - I need to take some time off to get my hamstring completely back to normal. It's been doing so much better over the last month, but I was to be absolutely sure that it's healed. I plan on swimming and yoga for the next few weeks and then I'll start thinking about hopping back on the bike and heading out for a run. I finally broke down and got a Computrainer (with the CDA course no less) and am looking forward to training with it. I think it will be really beneficial.
So, my thoughts on this season...I don't think it was a great season. I never felt like I completely settle into things. I never felt like I was making progress. I also felt so unsure and unprepared. I felt tired a lot. I felt like I was all over the place. The whole plan of build, build, drop back down, build, build, drop back down never really happened. I didn't feel like I was pushing myself very hard - I didn't feel like my workouts were geared towards pushing me too hard. I don't want to go so far as to say that it sucked, but I was not happy with it. It felt harder to train this year than it did last year for an Ironman. I know I've complained many times about blaming it on the race schedule that I chose. I had 3 races in 6 weeks, followed by another set of 3 that were 3 weeks apart. It seems like most of my season, at least a third of it, was tapering. This drastic change in tempo really threw me off, and I believe this is why I just never felt ready. The pattern of go hard followed by do practically nothing did not have a good rhythm into which I could settle. It was not the same feeling of going hard, going hard, and then followed by a stabilizer week. Tapering is very different from stabilizers.
I didn't reach my goal of bringing down my half-IM time by 30 minutes. In fact, I didn't bring it down at all. In fact, I had my slowest two half-IMs of the 5 or 6 that I've done. Even my full IM time divided by 2 was faster than both of these this season. I don't want to use excuses, though I was sick for the one race. I suppose that's a somewhat legitimate excuse, but who knows.
I know I should be happy with my other results and I am for the most part. My shorter races in general were much faster than previous equivalent races. There definitely was improvement and most of it was pretty early in the season. My bike times over the shorter distances have definitely improved. And my bike time at Vineman was slightly faster then my 5430 time from last year despite being sick. And being that getting faster on the bike was another goal for the season, I guess I can say that I was mostly successful with this. It didn't show in my half, but it was definetly evident in other races. I broke 19 mph in several races. That is an accomplishment. It's just the my big goal was my half-IM and there was nothing even close about reaching that one.
Well, at least I know that I shouldn't do that kind of schedule again. At least I can take that away from the season. Other things to which I am thankful...I never got injured. The hamstring thing was definitely a nag, but nothing that caused extreme pain and something that I could still definitely run through. It was just a reminder that I need to do more stretching and to continue to be aware of how things feel. I am also really happy that Matt chose to tri this season, or most of it, with me. I'm not sure he'll do it again next year, but it was nice to have someone to "train" with (we could at least leave the house at the same time) and to commisserate with, as well as to celebrate with. I still have a few months to try and convince him that he really wants to stick with it.
And now it's time to start thinking about next year. Coeur d'Alene, here I come!
1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile runI agree with Mike that this should be called Hardest Moon. It wasn't just the course - it was hard in so many ways.
I was so ready to be done a month ago. It's hard to drag yourself out of bed at 4:30 for a race you're not thrilled about. It's also hard to drag yourself out of be at 4:30 when it's 47 degrees and raining. Everything about waking up that morning screamed "Go back to bed!" Driving over to Kansas (well, it's practically Kansas) with the both the rain and temperature coming down, Matt said at one point "If it's 47 and raining when we get there, you're not racing". You know what? I didn't argue. I was more than fine with that. So it was almost unfortunate when the rain stopped.
Of course, then the wind started. As you can see, I really didn't want to get out of the car.
My second mistake of the day (the first being getting out of bed), was to hit up the port-a-potty before the lines started forming. I will reiterate that I got there before the lines started. Meaning that I didn't have to wait. Meaning that not a lot of people had been using them. So how it was to be that this was the most repulsive smelling portable toilet I've ever been in is beyond me. I actually gagged. Twice. Even thinking about it now brings back memories I am trying to suppress. Anyhow, there went my chance at eating anything before the race. I usually have to force something down as it is, but there was no way I was going to get anything to go down other than water.
Shivering and with teeth chattering, I went to set up shop. No one around me was putting out extra clothes and here I was practically with a suitcase of extra clothes: arm warmers, knee warmers, heavy long sleeve shirt, jacket, and gloves. Was no one else cold? Then the guy with the single speed shows up and racks across from me. Matt wondered if he was out of his mind. I told him that I bet he'd pass me on the bike. I put on my wetsuit and sweatshirt and headed down to the beach.
We stood behind a shed to block the wind. I couldn't get warm. The wind had picked up and I didn't think I could actually leave the cover of the shed. They announced that the water temperature was 61 in the cove and likely several degrees colder farther out. I really did not want to do this race. Matt told me to just try the swim and then decide. I knew he was right. I finally went to go check out the water. It actually wasn't bad. After all, it was warmer in the water than it was outside. I think that because I was already so cold and numb, I couldn't really feel how cold the water was.
I found a spot on the other side of the rope, but I was way off to the side of the other pink caps. I was amidst the blue caps, but just assumed that they were also starting. Someone said GO! and none of the blue caps went anywhere. I guess I was on my own. Because of where I started relative to everyone else, I somehow ended up in the lead. I could see the whole pink pack each time I went to breathe and just couldn't figure out how I was so far ahead. According to Matt, it was pretty funny to watch since I was all alone out front for a little while. I settled in behind another pink capper and decided to draft off of her. She probably wasn't the most ideal person to draft off of as she was relatively my speed, but she was right there, so I tried it. The water was relatively clear and she was a kicker, so she was pretty easy to follow. I lost her going by the last few buoys as we started to catch up to the previous wave, so I swam the last little bit alone.
I got out and it was cold. I spent several minutes struggling into various pieces of clothing. I figured putting on a long sleeve shirt would be easier than wrestling with arm warmers. I was wrong. I also couldn't really feel my hands, so speed wasn't really my concern. I went with the long sleeve and long knee warmers. I did forget my gloves. I threw my towel down when I grabbed my shirt and the towel fell over the gloves and I immediately forgot all about them. It didn't help that I couldn't feel my hands as a reminder. I was instantly reminded when I got on the bike. It was *&%&!-ing cold. I tried to pull my sleeves over my hands, but it didn't work so well and made shifting difficult. After a few miles, I seriously contemplated turning around. My hands just hurt and didn't seem to be getting any warmer. But then my friend Steve rode up beside me and I cheated by accepting outside support. He asked how I was doing and I started ranting about the cold and forgetting my gloves. He offered me his and I gladly took them. Thank you Steve! I'm not sure that I would have been able to finish without them - I kept them on until the last 5 or so miles. The ride was pretty miserable. I'm so glad I had ridden in two weeks before so I felt a little better prepared. Of course, when I last rode it, it was probably at least 95 degrees and now I was at the opposite end of the spectrum. My feet were numb and my legs were pretty cold throughout the ride. The last set of rollers were the worst. I couldn't really stand because my quads were so cold and ready to give way. I couldn't really push down or pull up on the pedals due to other numbness in my legs. And so I pretty much crawled up the hills. It's usually at this point that I start to look forward to the run and something different and finally getting off the bike. I was not looking forward to the run. I had no idea how my legs were going to handle it. I would soon find out.
Oh, and with maybe 500 feet to go before the dismount line, Mr. Single Speed passed me. I laughed.
T2 was not much better than T1. I put my shoes on my numb feet and then realized that I hadn't take my knee warmers off. I also wasn't doing very well at balancing on one foot, so there was a bit of flailing going on. And I almost forgot to take off my helmet. But then I was off. The first section of the run was on very rutted gravel and goes downhill. It just didn't seem like a good idea to be running on such a course when I still couldn't feel my legs. I shuffled for the first mile because I was afraid to lift my foot on the ground and not be able to feel it when it hit back down again. Around mile 4 I was finally back to full feeling. It was also around this time that the hunger started to settle in. Remember no breakfast? It was catching up with me. Despite following my normal routine on the bike, I never really caught up. I really started struggling just before mile 10 and my blood sugar started to drop. I went for the Coke at the next aid stop knowing that the sugar would kick in immediately. My Hammer gels were not quick in responding. That seemed to help and I stuck with it for the duration. My injured hamstring felt great throughout, but the other hamstring started to tighten up and forced me to walk for a bit. But I was okay with it - I knew I wasn't breaking any records. I was determined to finish strong and stick with my resolution from Vineman of making the last mile count. Thanks to the Coke, I was able to do it. I hardly ever drink soda, but I crossed the line actually craving it. And because of the BBQ lunch, soda was about all that I was able to get.
We didn't stick around for very long - it was still pretty chilly although the sun finally came out. It certainly wasn't my finest race. It was hard and conditions made it worse, so getting through it was a feat in itself. And though it wasn't fun, I'm glad I did it. It probably would have been worse had I skipped it. When I rode the course a few weeks ago and realized how hard it was going to be, I was sort of determined to do it and be able to use it as my baseline for starting CDA training. Since CDA is going to be hilly, I wanted to have a race with a hilly course so that I know how it feels and so that I have a better understanding of how hard I'll need to work so that CDA is a completely different experience. When you're at the bottom, there's nowhere to go but up.
swim: 32:53
bike: 3:20:51
run: 2:16
total: 6:15:27
age: 12/24
women: 40/110
overall: 207/329
More photes...
I wish I knew.
Enjoy the photos! One of these days I'll get around to summing it up. It was awesome!
3.5 mile runOkay, if you haven't figured it out, this isn't really about the run. The quick recap: it was a very easy Z2 run. Nothing of interest happened. Nothing profound ran through my head. I'm not even going to try and make things up.
I'm sitting at home on the couch (where I hardly spend any time) watching the DNC and getting excited. For the change that is coming. For the change that seems inevitable. With all the energy put into the primaries, towards the end, it seemed like everyone was just getting sick of it dragging on. There was fear that this energy was gone and that we used it all up in the primaries. But it's starting to seem like that energy is picking back up again.
It actually started for me on Sunday morning at the start of the race. There was an announcement that the mayor of DC had joined us that day. It was funny because I had seem him earlier in transition and he seemed so familiar. His parents own the Fleet Feet store in DC and I lived around the corner. It was definitely my running store, and then grew into my triathlon store as well. He wasn't the mayor when I lived in DC, but I've still found him to be inspiring. DC needs a mayor like this and it was a honor to be in a race with him. And Matt was luck enough to finish with him. I later went to a private event at Red Rocks on Sunday that was primarily for the sponsors. But there were a handful of delegates that had already arrived and there was definitely excitement in the air.
Of course, maybe it's because I'm here in Colorado where everything is taking place. Or maybe it's because I need to believe that this can happen. This is history in the making and we need to do everything we can to make this happen. November 4 is right around the corner. How many lives have been lost in the last 5 years? How much money have we thrown away (or borrowed from China) to pay for this unjust war? How many national problem have we ignored? How much money do the experts say it will take to pay for universal healthcare? How much for fixing education? And how much do we spend monthly on this war? Change is absolutely needed. I'm watching Biden accept the nomination right now. I'll be there tomorrow at Invesco when Obama accepts his nomination. The Obama/Biden team is here and are forging the way. We need to join in. We can do this. Yes we can.
The long awaited day is here. The end of the season. I'm so ready for a break.
