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oops! been awhile since I updated. Saturday 8.21 - I did a 30 minute easy bike ride with 3 - 20 second pickups. Then the rest of the day just got taken up by things and then it was time to do the pre-race stuff. I need to get more efficient and spend less time the night before a race packing etc. I have another oly distance tri coming up this weekend so hopefully I will be more focused on the race this time around on the day before not just on raceday. I just did not feel well on either saturday or sunday and I think it played out in my race. Didn't eat well enough on saturday, Ate breakfast and then at night had more leftover breakfast, no lunch. didn't sleep well enough, went to bed late and kept waking up ready to go to the race and just didn't have my usual excitement going into the race on sunday. It probably didn't help that it rained saturday night and the entire time on sunday. But that is an excuse it rained for everyone there, we all had to deal with the same conditions. Good news is I wasn't nervous for the race but I wasn't really excited for it either. Which is kinda sad because I was looking forward to it earlier in the week. But another race this weekend that I AM excited for!!
WB TRI - Oly Distance - Race Report
Swim - 36.20 - Didn't feel good on the swim and not happy with the time. It was wave starts and mine was the last group to go before the relays. I have to mention I am not a big fan of this lake. It smells like fuel from all the boats on it, you can't see in the water (probably dont want to) and the weeds are ridiculous. I thought I was going to look like a sea monster. They were sticking to my face, wrapping around my neck, hands, feet. Again, it was like this for everybody. I just need to get over it and not let it affect me. Got a warmup beating from the people in my wave. Then when the relay wave went off behind me the real beating began. Lots of contact on this race. Nothing seemed to go right for me on the swim. It was raining and foggy and I was having a hard time sighting. I was wearing dark metallic goggles which probably didn't help. Need to pick up a clear pair just in case. I stuck to it but I just never felt like i got into a good swimming pace, just always was dealing with something like people hitting me, or weeds or trying to figure out where i was going etc. I know I can swim much better than this.I was swimming distracted by all of these things instead of with focus. this was a point to point race which I also didn't really love so in T1 - i had to strip off my wetsuit etc, and stuff all of my things into a plastic bag for volunteers to pick up and bring back to the finish. So my T1 time was high at 2:52. I also was taking the plastic off my bike, trying to keep it somewhat dry for the ride, next time I will do this before the race since it is just going to get wet anyway on the ride. Bike - 1:42 - Kinda bummed about the rain because I think I could have done much better on the bike course if it werent pouring. 2.8 inches of rain came down. of course not all of during the race. Anyway, I kept my HR in the zone and fueled well while on the bike. So no issues there. I like the bento box better than the taping method. Just easier. The hardest thing was it was so dark I didn't wear my riding glasses and it was hard to keep your eyes open with rain hitting you. It was also windy so my bike was blowing across the road. There were a ton of race marshalls out on the course the entire time so at least people were not riding stupid around me. It is actually a nice bike course I jsut didn't get to take advantage of that. I am going to work on my biking a lot so that things like rain don't have such an effect on my race. I didn't dump the bike which was a good thing. T2 - 1:44 - Im hoping a lot of this slow transition has to do with my hand injury and that I can start making up time here. I decided not to grab gels because I thought there was soda on the course. No such luck so I did the entire run with just salt tabs. I did fine that way. There was water at every mile. Run 1:12 - it is actually a 7.2 mile course so it is about a mile longer than a normal oly distance but not a big deal. rolling hills the entire time including a downned tree crossing. only the start/finish is flat, but they were smaller hills, not major climbing. I need to try to run harder next time. My heel is honestly killing me and I can't want to get this fixed so I can run hard again. I knew I would make it through the run but I kinda knew it wasn't going to be a great run for me either. Finished in 3:35. I know I can do better. I was disappointed afterwards. I am happy I did the race even with the injuries as it was still fun and I gained experience and practice. I look forward to doing my next one but I don't think I will ever look back at this as a race to remember. Came home and ate the rest of the day. Tired but not really sore.
monday - Didn't sleep all that well even though I was tired. a little sore in the morning but not anything more serious than I would be from a CF workout. My upper back/neck was tight but I know it was from the bike and the way I was riding it in the rain. Did a swim - 100 warmup and drills then a 30 minute time trial. That started off as a time trial but I think I was still tired from the race becuase I was swimming well but I wasn't killing it. I went with it and really focused on my form a lot. Pretty hungry again! Actually went to bed on time as I was tired and slept until the alarm went off.
WB TRI - Oly Distance - Race Report
Swim - 36.20 - Didn't feel good on the swim and not happy with the time. It was wave starts and mine was the last group to go before the relays. I have to mention I am not a big fan of this lake. It smells like fuel from all the boats on it, you can't see in the water (probably dont want to) and the weeds are ridiculous. I thought I was going to look like a sea monster. They were sticking to my face, wrapping around my neck, hands, feet. Again, it was like this for everybody. I just need to get over it and not let it affect me. Got a warmup beating from the people in my wave. Then when the relay wave went off behind me the real beating began. Lots of contact on this race. Nothing seemed to go right for me on the swim. It was raining and foggy and I was having a hard time sighting. I was wearing dark metallic goggles which probably didn't help. Need to pick up a clear pair just in case. I stuck to it but I just never felt like i got into a good swimming pace, just always was dealing with something like people hitting me, or weeds or trying to figure out where i was going etc. I know I can swim much better than this.I was swimming distracted by all of these things instead of with focus. this was a point to point race which I also didn't really love so in T1 - i had to strip off my wetsuit etc, and stuff all of my things into a plastic bag for volunteers to pick up and bring back to the finish. So my T1 time was high at 2:52. I also was taking the plastic off my bike, trying to keep it somewhat dry for the ride, next time I will do this before the race since it is just going to get wet anyway on the ride. Bike - 1:42 - Kinda bummed about the rain because I think I could have done much better on the bike course if it werent pouring. 2.8 inches of rain came down. of course not all of during the race. Anyway, I kept my HR in the zone and fueled well while on the bike. So no issues there. I like the bento box better than the taping method. Just easier. The hardest thing was it was so dark I didn't wear my riding glasses and it was hard to keep your eyes open with rain hitting you. It was also windy so my bike was blowing across the road. There were a ton of race marshalls out on the course the entire time so at least people were not riding stupid around me. It is actually a nice bike course I jsut didn't get to take advantage of that. I am going to work on my biking a lot so that things like rain don't have such an effect on my race. I didn't dump the bike which was a good thing. T2 - 1:44 - Im hoping a lot of this slow transition has to do with my hand injury and that I can start making up time here. I decided not to grab gels because I thought there was soda on the course. No such luck so I did the entire run with just salt tabs. I did fine that way. There was water at every mile. Run 1:12 - it is actually a 7.2 mile course so it is about a mile longer than a normal oly distance but not a big deal. rolling hills the entire time including a downned tree crossing. only the start/finish is flat, but they were smaller hills, not major climbing. I need to try to run harder next time. My heel is honestly killing me and I can't want to get this fixed so I can run hard again. I knew I would make it through the run but I kinda knew it wasn't going to be a great run for me either. Finished in 3:35. I know I can do better. I was disappointed afterwards. I am happy I did the race even with the injuries as it was still fun and I gained experience and practice. I look forward to doing my next one but I don't think I will ever look back at this as a race to remember. Came home and ate the rest of the day. Tired but not really sore.
monday - Didn't sleep all that well even though I was tired. a little sore in the morning but not anything more serious than I would be from a CF workout. My upper back/neck was tight but I know it was from the bike and the way I was riding it in the rain. Did a swim - 100 warmup and drills then a 30 minute time trial. That started off as a time trial but I think I was still tired from the race becuase I was swimming well but I wasn't killing it. I went with it and really focused on my form a lot. Pretty hungry again! Actually went to bed on time as I was tired and slept until the alarm went off.
I think we all learn from every race we do. The main point is you stuck it out during a tough day and finished despite everything going on. Congrats and good luck this weekend, I think the weather will be nice. Did I see you are doing Timberman next year? I think I am going back.
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