Race Report: Huntington Sprint Triathlon, 2011

As I explained in my previous post...I was very excited for this race.

It's a mile from my house. How cool is that? So I still didn't sleep well the night before (standard), but at least it was easy to get to! Plus, a lot of my local tri buddies were going to be there, and that rocks.

I felt like I needed to redeem myself a bit from Lifetime--I know that I did the best I could there, but I felt like it just wasn't good enough. I could do more. But I never know what sprints can bring. I sort of have one speed, and it's 70.3. I can dial that speed in, no problem. But a sprint? It should hurt. You should be gasping for air at the end. And that's not a race pace I'm really used to.

So I decided it was time to dial it up a notch.

I wanted this to hurt.

Despite crazy nasty storms, the lake was NOT choppy! I was pretty stoked about that. It was pretty warm and I wanted to go hard, but not totally blow it. I definitely felt like I needed to push it, though, especially after my pretty rotten swim at Lifetime. So push I did. I found a few legs, drafted for a bit, passed, and went comfortably hard. I knew I could have gone a little harder, but I didn't feel like I dogged it like I did at Lifetime. I was happy with my effort.

Swim Time 9:57

Place 6/19 AG

Got out and ran the almost 1/4 mile up to transition--sheesh! Tried to stay calm and collected and remember that I was about to embark on what's become my best leg. My buddy Ken was there and told me there were some girls to catch. I had a rough time getting my right leg clipped in but then I was off.

One of my former students and I leaving T1! She was doing her very first tri and finished 2nd in her age group--yay, Megan!

OFF OFF OFF.

Long story short--I killed it. I felt FABULOUS on this ride and my watts were high but I felt good. I picked people off left and right and got especially excited when I saw a leg that had a "U" on it, as that was my age group. I passed 4 or 5 girls with U's, and didn't see any U's pass me, so I was excited. I knew I was near the front of the age group and felt awesome.

And then I took a wrong turn.

About 1/2 mile from transition. SO STUPID. I even knew it was wrong. I knew we were supposed to go straight, but the police officer was waving right. Turns out, he was waving the cars and not us, but I saw a fast chick turn and stupidly I followed like a lemming. She really let the police officer have it and yelled, "I was winning this!" at him, but I silently turned and chalked it up to not trusting my gut and knowing the course better. I knew better than making that mistake and turning, and was mad at myself for doing it.

I probably lost 30-45 seconds.

But I hoped that I had built up a big enough cushion to still hang onto an age group place. I was not sure what this run would bring as my hamstring has been much better, but I haven't really tried to go that hard on it. I put on my brand new birthday racing flats, Saucony Mirages, that are obnoxious blue, grabbed my visor, and took off hoping for the best.

I was kind of being the Chris Leito of the average-Jane 30-34 females in NEO. I took his strategy of hammer the hell out of the bike and pray you can hold on. I felt a bit like a hunted/wounded animal, but I tried to just focus on the run ahead.

Bike: 36:19

1/19 AG

20.2 mph

I felt SOOOO slow. The first mile, I expected U's to pass me left and right. I certainly must have been running 10 minute miles.

Except I wasn't.

My pre-race dream goal was to hold 8s, and it appeared that I was doing relatively close to that. I don't know because my little Nike kid's watch doesn't take lap splits, but I did time my 2nd mile and it was just under 8. Could this be true? One of the volunteers told me at about 2.5 miles that I was "the fourth female, and you can catch those other ones if you hurry." I knew that wasn't true because of the wave starts--I knew for SURE there were some SMOKIN' fast 40+ masters females behind me that were actually "ahead" time-wise. But if there were only 4 ahead of me, and I knew two of them I knew for sure were masters, then that meant maybe one more that was possibly in my age group.

Or not.

Or it was me, in first place.

I knew then, with about .6 miles to go, that this was going to be my race to lose. And I sure as hell was NOT about to lose it then. There would be NO U's passing me, and if one did, and this turned into a Raelert-Macca thing, then I WOULD BE MACCA.

(*of course, both Raelert and Macca could beat me while running backwards wearing stilettos blindfolded, but you get the point, right?)

This was a huge mental victory for me, because usually at this point in a race, I am talking to myself and saying things like, "Hey, 3rd place is pretty good" or "well, I had a great bike today," but there was NONE OF THAT in this race. I knew coming off the bike that I was probably in first, and I made up my mind throughout most of the run that it was going to stay like that. End of story.

I knew those girls behind me might be fabulous runners, and I was hoping for maybe a 25 minute 5K at best, and can I really win this thing with a 25+ minute 5K?

The answer today was YES.

I dashed up the hill, kicked it into high gear just in case, and finished in 1:16.47, just 10 seconds ahead of the 2nd place girl in my age group.

Thanks to my awesome friend, Anne, for taking these pics for me!

She almost got me, but I was NOT going to have that today. No way. I finished the way I wanted to--gasping, almost puking, and smiling.

Run 26:05

Pace 8:25/mile

5/19 AG

Met my two kiddies and Matt afterwards and got to hug them lots and lots.

1/19: 30-34 Females

9/115: Overall Females

72/292: Total Finishers

And THAT is how I rang in my next decade of triathlons.

Refresh Button

Today is a snow day here in the NEO. I actually don't think it's all that bad out--we've had to go in on days when the streets are much worse--but I'll take it.

I struggle a bit with January. I need to work on this. I love December and definitely hit a bit of a wall in January. I know it's the cloudy weather that plays a part, and I do my best to get outside even if it's fricken freezing to get a little sun time. This time, I know it's because Matt and I don't have a break together more than 3 days long until June, and I really think we could use a little vacation--even staycation--before then. But we can't, so I need to just deal with that. Our jobs don't allow us to take vacation days like many jobs do, so we're gonna have to soldier on through. And remember we both have jobs, and ones we both love, so June will be here soon enough.

Mentally, I've been a little overwhelmed this week, too. Last night I had one of my rough nights return--where I am completely, totally overwhelmed and can't sleep. I haven't had those in a while, so it was an unwelcome visit. And this morning's 5:50am phone call was VERY welcome, even if I was supposed to sleep until 6:25 since I knew the run this morning wasn't going to happen with last night's shenanigans.

Today, I'm going to get that challenging run in that Coach E has for me on the tready--I've come to both love and fear the Tuesday workouts. They look like they're not too bad, until I'm doing them. Then, while I'm holding a difficult pace for 5 minute repeats or so, I have to really bear down and focus. So far, my body has risen up to what my mind is telling it to do, which is a good sign. The Tuesday workouts seem to be very good for my head. I'm able to hit the paces I need to and I can tell I'm getting a little bit stronger each time.

I've also made peace with the fact that I will have to move a rest day to the weekend from here until May. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that. I mean, seriously. What endurance athlete has a REST day on the WEEKEND?! I have been programmed throughout the past 6 years to think weekend = time to shred yourself. The long bricks, long swims, long runs. But getting up early every day combined with my difficulty sleeping has resulted in a not very fun-to-be-around TST by Saturday. My "rest" day has been Friday, but what's been happening is instead of sleeping, I'm still naturally getting up around 4:45 and laying there thinking, "Damn. I should just get up and work out now." And then on the weekend I DIE. So last week was the first time I rested on the weekend: I had a solid, challenging 10 mile run in the snow last Saturday with Running Soulmate Ana, and then actually rested on Sunday.

Do you know how hard that was?

I mean, I couldn't rest. Matt was laughing at me. I just felt like I needed to work out. I finally settled on a bit of yoga and stretching in the evening, just so I could feel like I moved.

But I slept like a baby Sunday night--for the first time since I can remember.

So, I think I'm just going to have to break a few rules the next three months. Getting to Boston is going to require some creativity and (gasp!) flexibility on my part.

But for now, I'm gladly taking this day to drink coffee, watch my boys shovel and play "football" in the snow, and snuggle with Bean. Naptime will bring a run and a clear head. And I can head to work tomorrow after hitting the refresh button and be ready for a new month.

Best Birthday Present EVER.

So, my goal today was to come in under 28 minutes.

And I ran a 24:56!

I am sooooooooooooooooooooexcited. This proves, yet again, that my mind is my biggest limiter.

It was hot hot hot so I faded a bit, but my first 1.5 miles were UNDER an 8 minute pace!

:)

I guess I should eat some crow now over my last post. I really didn't think I had that in me yet. But apparently I do, and I did, and, well....I am so happy that I feel like I just freaking WON the race. Remind me of this next May when I'm lining up in Cleveland. My mind is the only thing consistently holding me back.

If I can bust this out, 16 pounds over my starting weight and 23 pounds over the weight I plan to be next May...well, that is pretty damn awesome. (If I do say so myself.)

Tomorrow I turn 33--hard to believe it--and I have to say that this was the best birthday present I could have gotten!

More later--right now I need to go play in the sprinkler with Bug.

Happy 4th of July!

I Needed That

Here's the story--

Been having some trouble sleeping again--this happened after Bug and I have been on the lookout for it lately. This time at least I know what I'm up against, and it's not quite as surprising. Kinda like the massive hair loss postpartum that no one tells you about that HAPPENS AND FREAKS YOU OUT. Seriously. I had no idea! CLUMPS! It's MADNESS! I am still not sure how I have any hairs left in my head.

But I digress.

So last Saturday, after a week with three nights of less than 4 hours of sleep per night (more like 2-3), I tried to go on a ride with my riding buddy Laura. It was pretty hot out.

And I was AWFUL.

Just awful. We're talking embarrassingly awful. Like, I'm not sure if Laura would ever want to ride with me again kind of awful. I know I was riding on a bike that was a bit too big for me, but still. I was flat-out embarrassing and bonked like nobody's business.

I got home and cried.

How on earth would I ever be able to ride fast again? I was defeated.

After a bit of readjusting, talking to Coach Emily, some yoga and just mulling things over, I decided that I needed to really really put my money where my mouth was and start freaking focusing on the MOMENT ALREADY. Enough of worrying about WIBA, Rev3, and my BQ attempt next May. This is RIDICULOUS. The only way to get better is to get better every day, one day at a time.

So that's what I've been trying to do.

The sleep has been better (alas, the hair loss is not...just call me baldy), and I've had some great workouts this week. I feel like my swimming is starting to click a bit and I'm finding my "sea legs (er, arms)." My running is still slow but I'm able to finish strong, which is good for me mentally. And today I had an AWESOME ride. One of those rides that just reminds you that you still got game.

Coach Emily had me doing a few 10 minute pushes so I really tried to hammer these. Now, my wattage is still pretty pathetic, but I'm trying to remember that it will come, and part of that will come as the rest of the weight comes off. But for the pushes I was able to hold 22-24 mph with semi-decent (for me) wattage--and I swear it wasn't downhill! I was pretty happy with that.

I'm still feeling the extra weight I'm carrying around but only really on the hills. I am pretty confident that I should be able to drop the last pounds by Rev3. I have 18 more to go. Now, I know that sounds like a lot at 4 months postpartum. But here's the deal: when you gain 62, that's pretty good. I'm trying to remember that for whatever reason, this body freaking blows UP when I get pregnant. 44 pounds lost is 70% of that weight. So, it's similar to someone who only gains 30 having 9 pounds to go. Right?

(I like the way that sounds, at least.)

I have a post brewing in my head and if I ever get a second, I'll write it. But for now, I'm off to play on the new/old swingset we just inherited and have a date with my hubby tonight.

Feeling good, blogfriends. Feeling good. And WIBA is in less than 2 weeks...even better!

Enjoy your weekend!