Like, logically I knew I was prepared - I had put in a lot of swim mileage (so ... much ... swimming ...), a decent amount of riding, and more running than I ever had to this point - but at the same time, I hadn't specifically been training for a 70.3, so that might have been why I still felt unprepared.
I made sure that I had gotten in long enough rides and runs to be able to race one, sure, but for all intents and purposes, this race was just a stop in the road along to IMoo.
Like Brandon said in his blog, we treated this race like a mini vacation first and foremost, getting to see me a few new states (I now have two left!) and checking out Yellowstone National Park. We rolled into Coeur d'Alene the Friday before the race and checked in. We were right behind some of my former SMASH teammates, so that was kind of cool seeing some friendly faces. It reminds me that yes, you still do have a lot of contacts still in this sport although it may not feel like it. I saw a few more at the pro panel later that night.
Saturday, we went for a swim that morning to check out the lake and holy crap was it amazing. That afternoon, we checked in bikes and it felt a little weird given that it had been so long since I had actually raced a triathlon (the Tri on the Plains false start notwithstanding).
Peace out, bike.
I think I also finally bumped into Skirt sister Betsy who was supposed to race ... but had to drop out due to breaking her collarbone at the retreat at the beginning of the month.
We ended up finding the last hour or so of Secretariat to watch on TV that night which was perfect pre-race viewing. Although it ended with a bit of time before we still needed to sleep, I turned off the TV because nothing else was going to be as good.
(I'm slowly learning things!)
Race Day
I would be lying if I didn't use the emotional support dinosaurs that morning to help calm myself down. Hugging fuzzy dinosaurs works, man. I'm also not 100% sure if I slept that night, but I did go back to repeating the mantra I've had most of the year whenever I was somewhat conscious - strong, swift, capable - so even if I didn't sleep, I was imbuing myself with good vibes.
The hotel scrambled eggs that morning tasted like poo, but I still made sure to eat them ... especially because the hotel was awesome enough to have breakfast out for us at 4am.
We caught the shuttle to transition at 4:30 and then set up our stuff.
Been a while since I took one of these photos.
Got set up, got body-marked ... and actually left the transition area earlier than probably normal since we both realized being in it was doing nothing but making us anxious. So, we left and put on our wetsuits on a park bench nearby. We then went down to the water. I just stood in it for quite some time before I felt ready enough to just say "fuck it" and get in a pre-race swim. I got the nerves out and probably swam a bit more than usual just to tamp everything down.
Since it was a wave start based by estimated time ... I didn't bother getting out of the water for quite some time as I knew it would take a while before getting to where I was going to seed myself. Brandon seeded himself at the back of the 43-46 minute group and I was right behind him at the front of the 46-50 minute group. Yeah, that's a touch optimistic given past history, but whatever, I figured I'd just be that person.
The Swim:
In all actuality, I probably went in still as part of the 43-46 group given the corral situation, but meh. I felt strong and steady for the most part. Yeah, I got passed, but it didn't feel like a lot. I also did pass some people, which never happens. Okay, so it does, but rarely.
I felt like I sighted really well (and, looking at the Garmin files post-race, I did! I only swam like 100m extra which is SO GOOD FOR ME). As I also count repetitively in the pool, I did the same here. While in the pool I count down on long swims (20, 20, 20, 20 ... 1970 (as opposed to 75), 1970, 1970 ... 1950, 1950, 1950 ... you get the drift), I didn't know how many buoys there were, so I counted up from the buoys. Just 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, over and over again until I reached the next one.
I did that around the first turn (the only time where sighting became a bit rough thanks to the sun) and then noticed the buoys would count down on the back end, so then just counted down the other way. This made the swim go by a lot quicker than normal.
Other things of note:
- I didn't question why I do triathlon during this swim ... something that's pretty much a race standard.
- Tiny bit of chop on the way back in, but nothing unmanageable - just enough to be noticeable.
- First time in my life the swim was my favorite part of a tri. I love you, Lake Coeur d'Alene.
- Water temp? 67.6 degrees. Perfect.
I got out of the swim, looked at my watch, and knew I was going to have the best day.
Awkward swim photo is awkward.
Time: 49:45 (118th division, 646th gender, 1728th overall)
T1:
The run to T1 wasn't bad ... just on grass. I was very definitive going to my wetsuit strippers - pointed and was like YOU! Had half of it down by the time I flopped on my ass in front of them, making the whole process very efficient. They commented something along the lines of, "wow, you know what you're doing here!" Yes, yes I do. I've been on both ends of this thing; I know how it works.
I attempted to get some of the grass off my feet and get out of there as quickly as possible. I pretty much ran the whole way from the swim to the strippers to my bike ... but didn't run my bike out as I didn't feel like running in cleats on grass. Probably not a bad idea.
Time: 4:00
The Bike:
As a quick aside, really? Photogs right as you're getting settled in still?
Okay fine, some people were in aero already, but definitely not this girl.
So the bike course at CdA is about 18ish miles of an out-and-back on fairly flat to rolling terrain before going out on the highway and climbing a whole bunch.
I tried not to push it too hard during this section, knowing I would need my energy for the climbs, but I still kind of killed it (the app has my split at the first turnaround as over an 18mph average). There was one guy I was going back and forth with for this entire section, but I think he finally passed me for good once we got on the second part of the course.
Definitely saw this guy. Double thumbs up mean you're cool.
I didn't stop at the first aid station - still felt great - before heading up and over the Spokane River to get to the meat of the bike course.
I had my watch set to beep every five minutes to remind me to drink (though I was probably drinking more than that ... which is good! I'm just sometimes bad about it) and every other beep (so every 10 minutes), I'd shove some food in my face. I was alternating pickle juice-soaked Chick-fil-a chicken and a plain Bobo's bar which worked well.
I hadn't seen Brandon yet - I had been looking for him on the first out-and-back section - and was wondering if I would actually catch up to him or not. It turns out that I would somewhere after mile 20 (or apparently on the second major climb). I knew if I'd pass him, it would be on a climb. I chatted with him briefly, it sounded like he was doing well, I noticed his kit had ridden up to potentially give him the triathlete tramp stamp sunburn and mentioned it, and rode on.
The one thing I wish I had done better in terms of recon was figured out at what mile the final turnaround was because good lord did that take forever.
(I'm also clearly rusty at using the tri function on the Garmin as I accidentally stopped it post-T1 instead of lapping it so I lost about a mile on the bike course before I realized what I did. Oops.)
The other mistake I made was not stopping at the second aid station because I ran out of liquid sometime right around the turnaround. I only had to go somewhere between 7 and 10 miles without it (and I also chose not to eat during this time as well), but definitely a mistake I do NOT want to make in September.
The way back into town ended up having a bit of a headwind (... figures), but I knew there was nothing to do except ride, so that's what I did.
No idea when/where this was on the bike course, but the focus is fitting for this part of the narrative.
Time: 3:27:07 (84th, 416th, 1367th)
T2:
Hooray, back. A little awkward off the bike as per usual. Racked the bike, took the helmet and shoes off, sat down to Body Glide the toes, put all the rest of my crap on, grabbed my handheld, and was off.
Time: 3:54
The Run:
The run at CdA is two loops, turning around along that first part of the bike course. It was great in that I saw a lot of people I knew out on the course - mostly former SMASH teammates - so I could cheer for them and then they'd return the favor and we'd pass around the good energy.
The crowd support was also pretty amazing. There were quite a few people out with garden hoses to spray us (always asking permission - I always said yes). There were bagpipers which were my favorite - every run course should have bagpipers on it. The aid stations were also pretty awesome.
The course itself was probably about half shade, half sun. The stretch on the highway to the turnaround was probably the worst part, to be honest. There were a couple hills, but nothing too terrible.
I was wondering when I'd see Brandon again and he ended up being three miles behind me (same as on the bike when I saw him again post-turnaround there). I also saw Leana (before him) and we chatted briefly every time we saw each other.
Out near the far turnaround. Probably loop one?
My main goal for this run was to PR the damn thing ... or at the very least, definitely get under 3:00. I barely accomplished the sub-3:00 goal at Santa Cruz and while I didn't know that my run PR was a 2:58ish, I knew it definitely was solidly sub-3:00.
I honestly wasn't sure it was going to happen when I got my first couple mile splits (IM brain, it's a thing) ... but when I checked my watch early on into loop two and was at 1:22 ... I knew that unless I completely fell apart, I'd get sub-3:00 easily.
I saw Betsy right at the end of loop one and again near the beginning of loop two (you essentially circle this park) and that was a huge lift to the spirits as well. Thanks Bets!
Loop two was definitely hard - it was getting pretty hot and I felt myself walking more and more and running less and less. I actually did eat a couple bites of the Bobo's bar I still had in my back pocket because I felt my thoughts going somewhere not so pleasant and that's a general sign I need to shove food in my face (thanks, Katie).
I was determined to finish the stupid run strong, though, so as soon as I got back into the neighborhoods (that is, into more shade), I forced myself to run as much as I could.
I think this was after the far turnaround on loop two. I think.
I don't remember seeing a photog ... which is why I'm not smiling. Also hello collapsed knees/weak hips. Not nice to see you again. Also pretty sure this was near the turn to the finish.
I ended up running a lot more than I think my brain planned on at the end as there were a lot of people lining the street once you made the left onto Sherman. I kinda walked up the hill to Sherman and probably mentally figured on walking once more before the finish ... nope. That didn't happen. So thanks, crowd, for being there. Also thanks, ego, for not wanting to walk again with all the people there.
Time: 2:45:24 (127th, 638th, 1744th)
Overall Stats:
Time: 7:10:07
108/143 division (F35-39)
557/759 gender
1605/2009 overall
FINALLY AN OFFICIAL PR. Not from a shortened swim or not "oh I would have had one had I not had a flat" (I'm looking at you, Boulder 2013). AN OFFICIAL PR.
In all honesty, I killed it.
A 2:17 swim PR.
My bike was only 6:01 shy of a PR ... and this course was definitely (okay, arguably a lot) harder than Santa Cruz.
A 13:17 run PR.
A total 70.3 PR of 30:02.
*****
After I finished, I walked back on the course to find Brandon as he had asked me to do so. I just got back into the neighborhoods when I realized that that section had the ridiculous hill part and ain't no way I was walking back up and down that, so I sat down on a flagstone fence thingy in someone's yard (in the shade) and cheered on the runners coming in. I saw Leana and chatted with her again (and showed her the moose medal). When I saw Brandon, I got up and then walked with him. I told him I'd stay with him until the hill up to Sherman (mostly because of the fencing) ... but we'd have to walk because I didn't think I could run again.
I don't think he actually needed me, but company is always nice, so I stayed with him until the designated split point where we both continued on toward the finish line ... but me off course.
I saw him in line to get his picture taken and he asked the photog if I could come back in for a picture of the two of us ... and it happened.
I think he's dead.
We went to get athlete food where I think I ate the most after a race in a really long time (maybe the 20-30 minute break post-finish helped?), officially officially met Leana not on the internet or on a race course (and her husband!), and packed up our stuff. I called the shuttle to see if it was still running ... and kind of, and they'd call me back. We didn't feel like dealing with it so we just walked the two or so miles back to the hotel.
While it was tough and painful (oh hello triathlon), I can also safely say I didn't hate it again and I can continue to keep on doing 70.3s. As long as I stay away from Boulder, probably.
Also: why I probably like 140.6 over 70.3: I'm slow enough that I'm typically not running in the heat of the fucking day like a 70.3 ... which is probably half the reason I thought I hated this distance. I just clearly needed better courses that don't just involve running dirt roads around Boulder Reservoir ...
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