For starters, I really do hesitate to call this a race, for the following reasons:
- It was a good .3 miles short.
- It wasn't officially timed.
- It was crap.
Okay, so that third point is really just me.
As I mentioned in my last post, I'm choosing to race my way to fitness. I chose the Avs 5K for the medal (which was plastic crap) and for the hockey ticket ... of which I will be able to use for maybe a period of the game, as I have to pick up B from the airport that night. In short ... the race was a waste of money.
Especially because it was 2.8 miles. They said it was short - more like 3 miles as opposed to 3.1 - but they must not have measured the course by the tangents since I ran those like a boss and came up with 2.79 miles on the ol' Garmin.
And since it wasn't officially timed ... I go with 2.79 mi in 28:20 for a 10:09 pace. I went out faster than I wanted - flat course, ideal weather - but, as it goes, the lungs could hold nothing. I paced the run like poop ... which was not one of my goals, but whatever.
I did take pictures, and play around on Instagram stories, so I get to add those in to the post. Yay?
Camera pic. Bibs were given to you at check-in. Probably could have asked for a different number and gotten it. Again, no timing, so that's why.
Wore an Avs jersey for the race, because why the hell not. Clearly I took this seriously. #soaero.
Team requirements - race in SMASH. But I love this hat, so it wasn't an issue. I also had on SMASH socks *and* top, but that got hidden by the jersey and my other layer.
Crap medal and Garmin data. Also shows SMASH socks.
I had no idea what to expect going into this race.
I survived camp no problem, but training post-camp was, like much of the rest of the year, sporadic at best. That being said, I knew I could make it through, as long as I kept my mental game strong.
We drove out to Santa Cruz from Denver, leaving September 6 and arriving the 8th. Right after we checked in to the hotel, we checked in for the race.
Back to crappy bags.
We were going to go for a practice swim, but there was an advisory due to an algae bloom, so we figured that it wasn't worth risking it, particularly since we both felt a tad under the weather.
Transition. This was literally taken out our hotel room window. Ideal location? I think yes.
On the 9th, we did a short spin of the first few miles of the bike course to check it out. Early impression? False flats. Hooray. We drove a bit more later that day, learning there would be some rolling hills, but it didn't look terrible.
After the ride, we checked in the bikes ...
... and went for one of the shortest shake-out runs ever.
We found Hidden Figures on TV that night before bed, which made for much better pre-race viewing.
Race Day
Being so close to transition made the morning really nice. We woke up, I tried eating some of my breakfast (a chicken egg and cheese biscuit purchased the day before from Chick-fil-a), got dressed, and headed over to transition. We got body-marked, the tires pumped up, and a lot of our stuff organized (nutrition and hydration and the like) before heading back to the hotel. It's nice doing one's pre-race poop from the comfort of one's hotel room. We were also able to let the ink settle a bit before tossing on sunscreen. Tried to eat a bit more food and then headed back over to transition. After a picture, of course.
Ugh, so tired ...
Transition time was spent finalizing the order of everything and getting prepped and ready to swim. We knew it was a bit of a hike, so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to walk down to where we needed to be on the beach.
Race morning was foggy. We could tell that in transition. The problem was ... the fog just wasn't burning off.
I tried going for a pre-race swim (baby's first official ocean swim) ... and freaked out. Seriously. I have NEVER freaked out that badly before a race before. Salt water was weird, it was a bit cold, the waves ... probably more the fact that I couldn't see much more than a few yards away ... it was bad. Brandon had to calm me down, which never happens.
We heard some muffled announcements, so we decided to get out of the water closer to the speakers. In waiting for more information, I was able to meet two of my Team SFQ teammates - Darlene and Kelly, the latter being one of our pros. The announcements were basically a delay in the swim due to visibility (it was hard to see the first yellow buoy from the shore - it kept going in and out of the fog). Kelly thought there was a good chance the swim might be cancelled completely (she'd seen it happen in the Big Kahuna days of the race).
Eventually, we heard "shortened swim" and all got herded up the beach through a swarm of sand flies.
The swim would go off ... as a half-mile and out the same arch as we'd eventually be finishing through. So people would be finishing running past the line of people waiting to start.
The Swim
Race swim was supposed to start at 7am, with the cut being 8:30am. Yeah, I got *in* the water at 8:40. Cuts kind of got thrown out the window with this race. I stayed with Brandon through the massive crowd of humanity until just about the time we were going through the start arch.
As I figured, my anxiety pretty much died as soon as I started to race. Salt water was gross, yes, but whatever. The bigger problem was that I got the crap kicked out of me on this swim. A Skirt sister/MaccaX teammate, Aleks, said that her swim was nice and free. Me? Not so much. I adjusted the way I was breathing to be able to handle not only the waves, but the physical beating I was getting.
I didn't sight too much, trying to use the people around me as guides (camp tip!), but I did pretty well, given that I legit almost tangled myself up in the turn buoys. Oops.
The fabulously short swim got done quickly and I enjoyed the 18:something I saw on my watch.
Time: 20:28 (69th division, 470th gender, 1745th overall)
T1:
I knew T1 would be long because of the run on sand and then the total quarter mile back to where the bikes were. Happily, I ran probably about 75-80% of that.
Took a tip from a teammate and used a spare water bottle to wash most of the sand off me, and used both my and the woman's next to me (sorry) trans towel to wash the sand and the little black specks from the stupid field turf off my feet.
All in all, a bit longer of a T1 than I'm used to (or would like), but given everything, whatever.
Time: 6:11
The Bike:
I felt pretty good on the bike. The fog had burned off on the water enough that we age groupers in the back of the line (unlike the pros) had full visibility for our tiny course, but we still had to ride a lot of the bike with it. I couldn't see the ocean through large swaths of the ride.
The first part was a little slow going as I got my legs under me and as I tried to shove food in my mouth. By about 15 miles in, though, I was feeling pretty good. I was passing some, got passed by others, tried not to die by cars pulling out/turning in front of myself/other riders, the usual.
The roads turned crap by the turnaround so I was more watching the pavement than anything else to make sure I was staying over but also taking the safest line. That killed some mental energy.
Made it to the turnaround in I think 1:40ish, which made me pretty dang happy.
Saw the aftermath of a bad wreck just a few miles after the turn. I'd seen a few bikes down - a bit more carnage than I like to see during a race.
Went through a rough spot on the back half of the course, but tried to manage it as best I could. Was still attempting to shove food in my face, but I was stretching on the bike more than I would have liked to have been at that point. I got a second wind at probably around mile 40ish (I think), though, which helped me finish strong. I was two minutes from transition when I saw Brandon about a mile or so into the run, so I knew I wasn't too terribly far behind.
Time: 3:21:08 (52nd, 370th, 1856th)
T2:
Dismount, in, change to running stuff, happy my Body Glide wasn't a complete melted mess (yay!), off and go.
Time: 3:32
The Run:
My first main thought on the run was "find a porta potty." After 28 triathlons, I finally had one fall on my period and I knew I needed to change my tampon badly. I was considering doing it on the bike (and probably would have pre-ride had the swim been normal length), but I didn't want to stop the momentum from my ride. So, instead, I changed things out at the first aid station, just under a mile into the run.
Much better.
The first half of the run was a run/walk slog, much like I knew it would be. I was eating some and drinking as much as I could, doing the same Skratch doctoring of my handheld like I did at IM Boulder last year (drink good chunk of handheld; add ice, water, and more Skratch in at each aid station). My miles were primarily in the 13 range, which I was pretty content with, all things considered.
Then came Wilder Ranch State Park.
And the heat. And the dusty roads.
The one official race photo I bought off of FinisherPix.
Gorgeous place for the turnaround section, right?
Except running on those hot, dirt roads sucked. It reminded me of the bad part of racing in Boulder at the Res. And of Pikes Peak. And ... blah.
Miles 7 and 8 were not pretty.
I was able to pick it back up as we got back into town. I was trying as hard as I could, thinking that if I could just get back into the 13s, I could keep my run sub-3 hours (my new goal). I was successful in this until the final mile, where I thought I lost it.
My Garmin was registering a bit long* so I hit the 13 mile point before where it probably should have been, and that mile was in the 14s. I thought my sub-3 was gone. I saw Brandon at the bottom of the hill before the final turn on the sand to the finish and was giving it everything I had.
Thankfully, it was enough.
Time: 2:59:57 (68th, 455th, 1754th)
Overall Stats:
Time: 6:51:16
61/89 division (F30-34)
430/660 (?) gender
1696/2324 overall
That is obviously a PR, but with a shortened swim ... it kind of doesn't count. We do believe that even had the swim been regular length, it still probably would be (previous was a 7:40; would I have taken up an extra 50 minutes on the swim? most likely not).
I PRed the bike by about 8 minutes, which I'm very pleasantly surprised with. Even happier is that my run, as terrible as it's been over the past year or so, was only about 1:15 off my 70.3 run PR, so that's actually pretty nice.
Best news of all? I didn't hate my life during that 70.3, which I usually do, which means I can actually race another one! I'd never really enjoyed the distance before, but I did this race, so I'm thankful for that.
Post-race, with our medals, back at the hotel.
Now, it is the glorious offseason, which is good, because I've come down with a stupid cold of doom. I may enter in some 5Ks before the year is out, but other than that, I am pretty much done with racing for the year.
*Long in that my total distance for the race was 70.5 miles. So even with a shortened swim, I did the official distance. Yeah, yeah, I know transition runs don't count. :-p
... or how I got my ass handed to me for five straight days. Hooray!
I knew I would be undercooked going into camp. Woefully undercooked.
And I was not wrong! I spent a lot of time crying, despite telling myself that someone always has to be the one to come in last and hey, there can be respect in being the lanterne rouge (or ... whatever), and I figured as long as I didn't quit, a win's a win, right?
Day One: Thursday, August 3
I rolled into town the night before, not wanting to wake up stupid early and go straight from the car to the pool. Uh, gross. Stayed at some random hotel by the airport because it was cheap before heading to my casita (a.k.a. the AirBnB on the Starr Pass grounds) that was going to be home base for the next few days. Got all settled in with my stuff and my groceries (eggs and orange juice for breakfast), met roomie Colleen, and we headed down to the swim at the University of Arizona Rec Center.
Except we get there ... and it's pouring. Thunder and lightning and the pools are all closed. Plan B ended up being a hotel pool back up at Starr Pass that was actually 25 yards and had lane lines on the bottom of the pool (but not the actual plastic ones that go on top). All told, with weather and travel and whatnot, we started our swim probably about an hour late.
Thoughts I had during the swim:
- huh. so this is what circle swim is like. and I am ... not good with this.
- bands seem like they might make OWS a lot better. must use more.
- holy crap I'm in the slow lane and getting lapped. so much.
- aw, I see a rainbow! at least that's happy ...
- I am REALLY fucking BOP here.
This swim was probably meant to be about 4k ... yeeeeah, I managed 2900. Oops. I also got quite a bit of stroke instruction from Alyssa which let's face it, I need.
After the swim, it was off to TriSports for dinner and a nice talk from Seton. Thanks, Seton!
Day Two: Friday, August 4
Did not sleep well. Uncomfortable bed, nerves? Who knows. This will end up being a thing for most of camp (but mostly due to sunburn. I'm getting there.).
Friday morning was riding Gates Pass and doing the McCain Loop Time Trial. We did a practice hill before doing actual Gates and then went up and over. Oh hey, that wasn't too bad! Confidence boost!
The TT loop. So, when I think of a "time trial" loop, I think fast. Something not with ridiculous hills. This loop? A couple substantial fucking hills. I guess that's just Tucson? The roads were also full of debris thanks to that pesky rainstorm we had the night before and a camper went down with some road rash. She was a beast though and did all of the riding and running the next couple of days (wasn't allowed to swim).
Also, apparently the west side of Gates? Is the shitty side. I had to stop to breathe a few times going up (and not falling over when getting back on. Hooray! Hillary was kind of impressed at this.) and, at one of these stops, I had my first technical pee-on-the-bike moment. I had kind of needed to go back during the McCain loops, but knew I could hold it. Apparently, standing off my bike catching my breath, my bladder decided "nope. I'm done," and let it go, so I peed standing there on the side of the road. Gross.
I got back to the casita in a huge hole (hallway scale said I was down six pounds from the night before). I showered to feel human again, grabbed my swim stuff, and did the best thing I could do to be able to shove a crapload of calories down my throat - I went to In-N-Out. I knew there was a chance I might regret it later during the swim, but since I needed calories so damn badly, I just didn't care. Thankfully, no burger came up during the swim.
The swim was in theory the 100x100 set ... but since I'm slow, I got to do 50x100. Being in the water for four hours (with no chance to reapply sunscreen) turned me into a super painful lobster. Seriously. OW. My ass is sunburned. Literally. So is my back. A week later, I'm starting to peel, but still have some major red spots. Besides that, though, the swim wasn't actually too terrible. Since I was doing 50s while everyone else was doing 100s, I got adequate rest and I didn't have to do a lot of super speed work (unlike yesterday ...), so it felt manageable, surprisingly. I mean, fatigue definitely set in, but other than that ... it wasn't a workout to really make me cry. Hooray!
(The best part, seriously, was walking back into the Rec Center and hearing Shinedown's "Enemies" come on five seconds later. Felt good to hear my favorite band after doing that swim.)
After the swim, I went over to Sushi Garden for all-you-can-eat sushi. Once again, calories. However, it was tough eating - so much chewing ...
Then on to SMASH HQ for some shopping and social time (new kit! new capris! new sports bras!) and a stop by CVS on the way back to the casita. A few of the other ladies went up to the hotel for s'mores and dessert and I really considered joining, but I made the terrible mistake of flopping on the bed and I just was not getting back up again.
Day Three: Saturday, August 5
Today was a lazy start (comparatively). We got to meet up at 8 as opposed to 6 or 6:30 ... because we were heading higher in elevation and therefore didn't need to try to beat most of the oppressive Tucson heat. We headed southeast of the city to Parker Canyon Lake, south of Sonoita. When we parked for the run, my phone legitimately thought we were in Mexico (we weren't).
The "trail" (dirt road) run was two hours - hour out, hour back. Since my run is trash and I have Pikes Peak coming up, I basically hiked all the uphills and ran as many downhills as I could. The recent rains meant there were water crossings (SO WEIRD). All in all, I got in just over 8 miles. Probably not ideal, but it's what I could manage.
I am very thankful I had the foresight to pack an Orange Crush in my cooler for post-run, because it was AMAZEBALLS.
We had a picnic lunch at the lake post-run ... which I kind of couldn't eat. I really need to learn how to eat in heat, because it is NOT a thing I can really do. When my body gets hot, it does not want to consume food.
While we were digesting, Hillary and Alyssa shared some OWS tips and tricks ... which I will mostly pass off to Brandon because I am too slow to really utilize many of them. Then, it was into the water to swim for about 30 minutes. I got left in the dust - go figure - and at one point, even asked Alyssa why the hell I am so much slower in open water. I mean, I'm mostly comfortable in it. She couldn't give me a definitive answer, but did say my body positioning did actually look better, so there's that. Maybe I just need a new wetsuit and that will help since I loathe mine. Who knows.
After the swim, Hillary approached me and asked my thoughts on Lemmon. I told her that it would probably be difficult, but I really wanted to try and make it all the way up. She said that if I ended up skipping the planned run at the top in order to get the satisfaction of completing the climb, she'd be okay with it. Even hearing this, I decided I would pack my run shoes for the next day regardless (spoiler alert: this was smart).
We then drove back to Tucson, stopping back in Sonoita for some ice cream and snacks. My brain didn't want to figure out dinner, but I figured more calories would be good, so I just popped over for more In-N-Out. Mostly because I could not decide on what to do and I headed over in that direction so I could pick up my Chick-fil-a for the bike and boom. Decision made.
Day Four: Sunday, August 6
We campers got split up into three groups for climbing Mt. Lemmon - four of us at 6am, two at 6:30, and the rest at 7. Obviously I was in the early group.
The four of us rolled out with Hillary (Alyssa would go with the later groups) and as we hit the climb (four miles down the road), I got dropped pretty quickly. I just kept plugging along, knowing there wasn't much else I could do, stopping occasionally to catch my breath (and to eat my pickle juice-soaked chicken). I pulled off about 9ish (?) miles in at Molino Basin to pee. I almost passed it by, but not knowing when my next bathroom opportunity was ... I took it.
I also somehow kept missing the SAG truck. We think there was some miscommunication with him and his stopping spots with us all being so spread out.
It was definitely slow-going, and the asshole groups of eight or nine motorcycles that would fly by going 60 mph were terrifying (and anxiety-producing), but I kept plodding. I think the first person from one of the later groups passed me around mile 12 or 13, which made me pretty happy. Mostly because I was just waiting for it to happen at any moment.
I started panicking at one point because I knew I was getting super low on hydration and I had no idea if I was going to even find SAG. I ran out somewhere around 14 miles and was freaking out because I didn't know if I should even try to make it 11 more miles without any liquid or what. Alyssa and a couple other ladies caught up to me around mile 15, with me on the side of the road crying. She gave me some of her liquid (which tasted strange but hey I needed something), told me that SAG was up around mile 17, and that we'd go together. I didn't really lose her the rest of the ride ... which also means, that except for the pit stop to refuel, I also didn't stop again until the finish. She talked me through a lot of different climbing techniques to try to keep my heart rate down and it mostly worked.
In any case, four hours of ride time (not including stops) later, I rolled into Summerhaven and to the famous cookie cabin. Since I rolled in with Alyssa ... it also meant that I was running. At 8000 feet. It was pretty damn slow and painful - and probably a lot slower and shorter than she would have liked it to be - but I still managed a run.
I got a Dr. Pepper first ... but decided that if I was at the damn Cookie Cabin, I should probably get a cookie. So I did - chocolate chip with a scoop of vanilla on top. The ice cream? Was amazing. The cookie? I maybe ate half of it. I just could not stomach it. Oh well.
The best part of the day was the descent. Well, Lemmon is basically 20ish miles up, a small downhill, another up, and then a cruise into Summerhaven. So leaving was a climb, a small descent, another stupid climb, and then 20ish miles down before a very toasty couple of miles back to our cars.
Lauren said it was like descending into hell. The heat by the end made me think that statement pretty accurate.
In any case, I actually was able to pass a few people on the descent and made it down the mountain in just over an hour without stopping. I wasn't last in something - hooray! And I wasn't last by quite a bit, even. I had time to pop into Safeway for a snack before everyone got back.
Dinner that night was at Hillary and Maik's and we got to Skype with Cherie Gruenfeld, which was super cool.
Day Five: Monday, August 7
Also known as the day I was least looking forward to - track day.
I've mentioned it a few times in this post and if you've been following me for any length of time now ... you know my running is complete garbage right now. I don't enjoy running from our house (neither of us do) and I have no speed anymore and no endurance and no anything and it's so not fun and blah. So, the thought of a track session? Especially one that we learned the night before was going to be two hours? Well, that was enough to give me anxiety all morning.
The perk is I think I was finally tired enough to sleep without waking up the night previous.
We rode our bikes down to the track, as we were doing a recovery spin (which, in camp land, was still going to be over an hour) after. From the second we got to the track pretty much through the time I finished running, I was super ridiculously anxious. On the verge of tears (if not outright crying), barely able to control my breathing, slightly hyperventilating, whole thing.
So the track workout was about a mile and half warmup (I did a mile and a quarter. The slow thing ...), and then it varied depending on who had what going on. Linda and Bri, who have IMCDA in a few weeks, got to do 21 800s, which, with rest intervals, ended up being about a half-marathon on the track. The rest of us? Oh, we just had 4 all out 200s with 200 recovery and then a mile at our goal half-marathon pace. And then repeat it twice more.
I remember a couple years ago, this must have been back at the apartment, when Brandon and I would walk up to the track and do 200s. I remember them not being too terribly torturous. These? Were torture.
The mile was almost worse. Even though my dream goal half-marathon pace is sub-2, I know that's in no way practical for me any time soon, so I said sub-2:10. Which I still technically haven't done yet (my Garmin said yes but not the results). Which meant that my 200 splits should be around 1:14.
Yeeeah, mine were more like 1:20. But they were consistent, at least for the first two of the miles.
Because I finished so far behind everyone and I was dying post every mile, I got to skip the first of the second two sets of 200s (so instead of doing four reps, I got to do three) for the extra recovery. I definitely pulled every last ounce of anything I had out of my poor legs, though. I fell into the grass after the second mile and again after the last 200. Alyssa said she wanted dying animal noises, and this sports asthmatic can 100% do dying animal noises! I was having trouble running in a straight line at this point which is probably why I fell over after that 200. Oops. My final mile was a complete shitshow. At that point, I just did my best to keep running even though I couldn't hold any pace at that point. The mile cool down also ended up turning into a walk/run because my hips were having none of it anymore. Two of the other ladies ended up running a bit with me - Brooke with my final 400 for my last hard mile and Jan for 400 of the cool down - reassuring me that I was doing okay and that yes, this is really hard, but remember, most of them are coached by these ladies (or general Team HPB), so they were a bit more prepared by default.
Post-track was the first time I broke down officially in front of everyone. I cannot express how many times I wanted to quit during that track session. How much pain I was in, not only thanks to my stupid sunburn which I felt, but due to my legs not moving that fast in ages. How my lungs felt like they were burning for an hour straight. How I cried through 75% of that track workout.
But.
I didn't. I stuck through and I did it. It was ugly as sin, but I did it.
From there, it was a recovery ride along the Tucson Loop trail, where I kind of broke off from everyone for a while on the way back because to really spin my legs out, I needed to be in aero going a bit faster than the group. We spent a lot of time out of aero and sitting up at camp and my wrists (particularly the right. Thanks, barista arm.) were stupid cranky by this point. We stopped back at Hillary's car to say our goodbyes and to get our track stuff ... and I about started crying again thinking about climbing the hill back up to the casita. Any mental toughness reserves I had were completely gone at that point. Thankfully, Jan missed the "spin to track" memo and drove, so she offered to take me and my bike back, which was the most amazing thing, and I am so grateful to her for that small little gesture.
*****
Camp was ridiculously tough. CRAZY tough. I was so unprepared it wasn't even funny. And yet ... somehow, I made it through. Quitting didn't ever seem to be an option (even though thoughts of it ran through my brain quite a few times), so I could only acknowledge the voices in my head and just ... put my head down and do the work.
I'm still not entirely sure how I survived, but I did, and I'm so thankful to my body that it was somehow able to hold together for this insane feat.
... also known as my 100th start line ...
... and one of my most terrible races ever, time-wise.
Oh, Boulder Peak, how I dislike you, with your hill of death (Olde Stage), and your crappy Olympic distance which I just don't like, and your dusty run course with no shade. I never want to do you again.
I really didn't want to do this stupid race this year, but my entry got deferred from last year.
(If you remember, we wanted to do a race pre-IM Boulder. IM Boulder 70.3 sold out, so we signed up for Peak. Then Peak got cancelled due to fire, so registration got moved to this year.)
I'm kind of but really not trained for the distance - particularly on the bike. Oh and the run. And I took like two weeks off of swimming which means I wasn't in swim shape either. Brandon, (un)fortunately, couldn't race, as the timing of Peak means get that off or get my birthday off, and we all know which one I'd rather have him around for (birfday, obvs, especially because we went and saw Shinedown this year!).
So, I was on my own for this race for the first time in quite a while. I was able to wake up (tricky these days) and get to the Res with plenty of time for a good spot and to chat with people I knew ... namely George and Szabo.
Transition photo. Look, I still remember how to do this!
Sunrise.
It was eventually time to get ready to swim, so I squashed myself into my old, dying wetsuit and went for a quick warm up. I was wearing my brand new Team SFQ aero top - which meant sleeves! And not needing to sunscreen my back! - that I'd never tested out before. Nothing new on race day? Pfffft ... In any case, I had tons of shoulder mobility, so life was good.
I found my Skirt friend Emily post-practice swim and hung out with her until it was time for our wave to go off.
The Swim:
Wait, do I remember how to do this open water swim thing? Fo' realz?
Yes. Yes I do.
I mean, sighting was utter shit for the first half because, duh, right into the sun. I also didn't really feel like I got into a rhythm until late in the back half of the swim ... probably because these days it takes me that long to get warmed up ... but all in all, I feel like I've had worse triathlon swims. Not much worse given my time, but y'know.
Got out, saw 45ish, thought "ah crap that sucked," and headed into transition.
Time: 46:16 (26th division, 229th gender, 593rd overall)
T1:
I love T1. So easy. Get out of the wetsuit while putting on my helmet, put my bike shoes on without sitting down ... it's amazing.
Time: 1:40 (4th, 41st, 127th)
The Bike:
Aaaaand then I get on the bike and start pedaling and hooooo boy, my lack of training/intensity kicks in. Nothing I can do except pedal, grin, and bear it.
I should mention that I recently got new gearing on my bike. A slightly more compact crank (50 as opposed to a 52) and an 11/28 in the back as opposed to the 12/25 I had that came stock. In theory, easier climbing gears.
Yeah, well, I still needed more than one good practice climb pre-race. Ha. Oops.
I had to pause a couple times on Stage to catch my breath and yes, I did walk once (dangit), but for the most part, I was able to manage up the hill. I completely spaced on all the wonderful climbing technique Katie taught me a few weeks ago, though. Oops.
Then the downhill ... I probably went slower than I could have during the speed zone on the back side of Stage because it's pretty dangerous to take your hands off your unstable tri bike going 20+ mph down a hill, kids, but as soon as I made the turn onto Lefthand? In the paraphrased words of Buddy the Elf, downhills are my favorite.
I bombed the Lefthand descent as well as the Nelson stretch, averaging over 27 and 26 mph, respectively, on those sections. Then came the 63rd rollers ... and I remember how much I hate the stretch between Nelson and Niwot. Susan passed me at some point on 63rd, too, and I just couldn't catch her.
On the nutrition side, I did manage to eat a few bites of my Bobo's bar (whaaa? Me fuel during an Oly?) as well as destroy my bottle of Skratch right about the time I hit 51st again. Probably should have had more Skratch on me in hindsight ...
Time: 1:48:28 (21st, 204th, 580th)
T2:
I struggled a bit in transition, dealing with my basically dead tube of Body Glide for my feet and trying to squash the rest of my Bobo's bar into my back.
Time: 2:25 (12th, 136th, 409th)
The Run:
I could tell the run was going to be a struggle and a half as soon as I hit the run course. I was hoping there'd be aid right out of transition like there sometimes is - nope. Sometime late in the first mile, I saw Skirt's Nicole DeBoom flying the other way and high-fived her.
The wonderful people from IPA Endurance at the second water station had ice (SWEET BEAUTIFUL ICE) that I took and put down my shorts, down my shirt, in my hat, and in my water, so I could have wonderful cold ice water to drink and to suck on the ice cubes. I think the heat was getting to me as I felt a bit nauseous at times. I tried to take down some of the bar - not sure it helped.
Honestly, I think that my body wasn't used to training in the heat with that much sugar/electrolyte - usually, I do more than one longish ride pre-race with said things - and it wanted to revolt on me.
Soon after mile two, I caught up to Susan and decided to just hang with her. Yeah, she was going slower than what my pace was attempting to be, but a race buddy sounded nice. So, I hung with her for pretty much the rest of the run. I saw Emily going the other way just before the turnaround - she was probably less than a half mile ahead? - and I almost thought of leaving Susan to catch up to her, but quickly decided against that.
The heat was BRUTAL. I am not used to racing in that crap.
We ran into one of Susan's friends with about a mile to go and said friend hung out with us for a little bit. I ended up letting gravity take me down the final hill and I ran the entire final stretch to the finish. Skirt sister Becky was out cheering and snapped this awesome picture, where I don't look as dead as I clearly felt:
Plus: the debut of my gorgeous Team SFQ kit!
I was sorta hoping to hit the slip 'n' slide at the finish, but I did not have the energy.
Time: 1:28:10 (26th, 221st, 580th)
Overall Stats:
Time: 4:06:58
25/26 division (F30-34)
224/245 gender
608/639 overall
Slowest at this distance BY FAR. I figure if I had managed to keep my running pace pre-Susan, I would have at least squeaked in under 4 hours (which, not gonna lie, would have been nice), but with how nauseous I was starting to feel? I might have also crashed and burned, too. Who knows.
I did meet up with Emily and Nicole post-race for some photos, though.
Now, time to focus on training for camp and for Pikes Peak ...
The final part of the Skirt Sports Ambassador weekend 2017 (first part see here) was the race on Sunday. The race, put on by 3W Races, offered three different distances - a 5K, a 10K, and a 13er (because it's not half of anything).
I waited until race morning to register because I wasn't sure what distance I wanted to run. My original original plan was to run the 13er, but I was NOT trained for that. I mean, I could have probably hung out at the back with some people, but I didn't feel like doing that for 13 miles. If I was going to run the 5K, I was probably going to want to race the 5K ... and I really wasn't trained for that, either.* Soooo ... 10K it was. Even though I hate that distance. But it's okay, because I ended up finding a race buddy to do it with.
(More on that in a bit.)
I've been having some issues waking up early in the morning now that I've quit the day job, but somehow I was able to roll out of bed ass ridiculously early (the race has starts around 6am ... which is good for a June race. Because it gets stupid hot here.).
Car face.
I got registered, hit up the porta potty line (... for an all-women's race, even though it's small ... they need more toilets), and in general, just wandered around.
At one point, I noticed a SMASH-Dimond tank in the bathroom line (that's basically the elite version of Team SFQ) so obviously I went over and said hi. Because my extreme introvertedness occasionally decides to hide in venues I feel comfortable in. So that's how I met my teammate Sarah, basically. She ditched that line and we jogged over to one of the local hotels to use their bathroom instead so she didn't miss the start of the 13er.
The 13er went off and it was soon time to start the 10K. I lined up by myself, but soon dropped back to stay with Deb, one of my fellow ambassadors and one of the most wonderful souls on this planet. We had briefly talked about doing the race together on Friday, and I wanted to run with someone, so this worked out wonderfully.
They changed the course again this year - it was behind the Home Depot as usual, but then up a little-used side road up to the 36 bike path and then around Davidson Mesa.
Sneakily taking a photo of Deb. Also: look at the view!
Deb and I chatted throughout our run/walk - something I never do usually - and it was really nice. I also got to enjoy the beautiful views from the mesa ... another thing I probably wouldn't have been able to appreciate had I been racing.
Finishing! Pic courtesy Jen Allen.
Overall Stats:
Time: 1:17:40
18/25 division (F30-39)
53/76 gender
54/77 overall (all female race ... must have had something weird happen?)
After the race, some chocolate milk and delicious Kim and Jake's. And waiting for the 13er runners to come in.
New friend Sarah coming to the finish, getting third in her AG!
Running celebrity Mirna Valerio coming to the finish of the 13er.
After the race, several of us went out for one last group event, brunch at Murphy's in Louisville (proceeds benefiting Running Start).
One last group photo, and we were back to our regular lives.
This weekend is so amazing, and I love being able to spend some time with my Skirt family. Brandon and I occasionally toss around the idea of moving out of Colorado, but I don't know if I could leave my Skirt sisters - seriously. There might be other races scheduled on Skirt weekend, but it would be so hard for me to not go to this retreat every year.
After we "ran" this race last year, we knew we'd never want to "race" it ever again. It was just too much fun. So, we were hoping to do the same this year.
But then we learned that Brandon wouldn't be home. And my running had been shit, so I knew I didn't want to sign up to run it by myself because then I know I would have actually tried to run it.
Thankfully, I saw on ... Twitter, probably, that or Instagram ... that Katie was for sure running it and not seriously (if you recall from last year's recap - or clicked on the first link above - we encountered her and her peeps last year). I messaged her and asked if I could run with her and she said yes. I had to track down a SMASH Horizon tri tank which was a bit tricky, but thankfully Hillary and Lauren are awesome and I got one overnighted to me.
I met up with Katie, her husband Thom, her friend Jen, and a friend of a friend Jamie at RallySport that morning and then we all walked over to the start line ... with a small detour at the trampoline in mile one. I dropped my stuff off at the mobile locker (wasn't sure if I'd be heading back to Katie's car or not and I had already paid for it), ditched Thom so he could find the friend he was running with, and lined up.
From L to R - Jamie, me, Jen, Katie.
We actually ran the first mile relatively well - it was a 10:something. That's also because there's really nothing fun to do in mile one except for the aforementioned trampoline, and we'd already hit that (well. not me.).
From then on ... steadily slower, but steadily a LOT MORE FUN. Slip 'n slides (both!), beer, Doritos, doughnuts, lots of bacon, watermelon, grapes, cupcakes, Otter Pops, pee stops, lemonade and a lot of laughs.
Slip 'n Slide #2. That weird sideways slide meant that side of me was drenched.
Katie and I snarfing ALL THE CUPCAKES. Katie, if I haven't already mentioned it, is also TeamSFQ with me.
All in all, it ended up being my slowest - but way most fun - 10K ever. Which is probably going to be par for the course in BolderBOULDERs. Because dude.
Overall Stats:
Time: 1:44:30.8
411/501 division (F33)
17198/23214 gender
34348/43752 (I think) overall
We hung out in the stadium for a bit to meet up with Thom again and then caught a bus back to Rally. Jen split off and I went to get my car to then drive to Longmont where we all grabbed some lunch. I then took Jamie back down to Denver (so she didn't have to bus it back) ... where I got rear-ended. Joy.
Even that unpleasantness (even combined with my wicked sunburn. knew I forgot something ...) couldn't overshadow what an amazing morning I had. Many thanks to Katie for letting me tag along and for the pictures. Which I stole to use for this blog.
Ugh, April. You weren't much better than March. In fact, you might have been worse ...
Swimming: 3000m (1.86 mi)
Cycling: 45.25 mi
Running: 10.52 mi
Lifting: six sessions (3:06)
Other: two hikes (1:00), one session plyometrics (:25), one walk (1:00), four yoga sessions (:49)
I tried resetting for April, but clearly it didn't really work. The early part of the month was tentative, but successful-ish. I look back at the month and I didn't have too terribly many off days, but I didn't do a lot of triathlon-related stuff. I also had a few very rough days emotionally (Dad in the hospital for major surgery will do that ...), which didn't help.
I am trying to be more positive, though, so here are a few things I can positively take away from April:
- I raced again. Sometimes, a little thing like that can get me going. The Sneak wasn't my fastest 5K, but it certainly wasn't my slowest and even though it was (given my history) a fairly mediocre time, it was probably one of my best executed races. I'll put it this way - I haven't been that sore after a 5K in a really, really long time.
- I've started hiking. With Pikes Peak Ascent in August, I'm not only going to need to start trail running (which I also did a tiny bit), but I'm also going to need to hike to get used to that. I've started that process.
- May is still planned out. I haven't totally given up. In theory, Santa Cruz training starts the 22nd. I probably won't be following the plan to the letter, but I have it as a guideline/baseline to where I should be.
- I signed up for SMASH camp. Yep. Early August will see me back in Tucson SMASHING it with Hillary Biscay, Alyssa Godesky, and a lot of my other TeamSFQ teamies. I already know the loose schedule, which includes a crazy ass swim (at least 50x100), climbing up and over Gates Pass, climbing Mt. Lemmon, trail running, and some track work. This camp? TERRIFIES me. Which is probably a good thing, because if nothing else will motivate me to get my ass in gear, this will.
