Nautica South Beach OLY Triathlon

Welcome back to the world of novel race-report a la Sarah.

Short version, 2:24:24, 2nd/AG. Very happy girl.

Chillax. That's the best word I could find to describe my feelings going into this race. I was ecstatic after my half marathon results two weeks ago, but two weeks is a strange time in between races. Figuring out the recovery/workout/rest (for both mind and body) was difficult. I was feeling completely apathetic about my race in South Beach. A trip to South Beach? A weekend of sun? Couldn't wait. Racing an OLY? Not so sure. I felt flat all week. I had no motivation to get in my workouts, in fact, my coach left training peaks blank. I tried to move my legs and listen to my body, which basically resulted in taking most of the week off, minus a few good swims.

One thing I knew going into this race- my swim felt great. It felt in a place I haven't felt in a long time. Seeing 100 times I haven't seen in years, revisiting 100s on 1:20.

Saturday morning my Team offered a swim clinic on the race course to benefit St. Jude's. We had about 150 people turn out, it was an amazing event, and I got to work out the kinks in the ocean while raising some money for an amazing cause. The rest of the day included a hot, sweaty trip to registration (starting to freak out about racing in the heat, visions of Eagleman in the back of my mind) and some lounging by the pool (yes, in the sun, not in the shade, but c'est la vie, I was in South Beach, dammit).

Race morning, more of the same. Our hotel was about halfway between the swim start and transition (point to point swim), so I rode down to transition, dropped my stuff, and headed back to the hotel to relax before the start (and avoid the potty line). Kept things simple and tried not to overthink things - it was only 2.5 hours:
200 calories Carbo Pro + 2 Nuun (mmm grape) in the aero bottle.
water on down tube.
2 gus in my shorts - 1 for bike, 1 for run.
cycling shoes on the ground (no flying mount of this girl).
running shoes, no socks (I'm sorry my little baby toe).
visor, garmin.

Swim: 24:28 (2nd/AG, 5th female non-pro)

The water was absolutely amazing. Crystal clear, warm, relatively flat (ha, famous last words) compared to the prior morning. Every knew the water temperature was borderline, but race morning it was measured to be wetsuit legal. Some people thought it was too hot and chose to race sans, but I was out for a PR and a spot on the podium, so I pulled on my wetsuit and hoped for the best. I felt great from the start. In a very large mixed-up wave (clydesdales, athenas, women under 30, older guys) I ran, dolphin-dived (dove?) and was in the front pack at the first turn. I tried to find some feet, but got stuck behind some guys that clearly had exhausted themselves a bit too quickly, so I took off. I kept looking for feet, but finally decided to get put my head down and swim.

I realized very quickly we were swimming against the current. But I felt strong, so I just kept plugging away. I was looking for other hot pink caps, but could only see one about 2 body lengths ahead of me. I worked my way through the waves ahead of me, swam over a HUGE sting ray, and finally saw the 6th buoy and turn for the finish. At the turn, I saw another pink cap. Swim time includes a long run put the beach. I came out of the water 2nd in my age group by 1 second. Looking back, I am very happy I wore my wetsuit, but I definitely could feel myself overheating towards the end of the swim. My legs and around my knees were getting HOT and I could feel myself sweating inside my suit.

T1- I was roughly in the middle of a pretty large transition. As per usual, had trouble getting my wetsuit off over my timing chip and ankles, need to figure this out. Felt great, really raced transition as I came in next to another girl, and got out on the bike.
Bike: 1:09:02 (21.5mph)

I put my head down and pushed. This course was strikingly similar to Clearwater, with a few steeps climbs over the Causeways that connect Miami beach with the main land, and then flat and fast with lots of turns and some 180 U-turns. This course also sadly echoed the imfamous packs and pacelines of Clearwater. I luckily was able to swim through a lot of the crowds and had a pretty open bike course, but was regularly passed by pacelines of 5-10 older men. I only yelled at a few people trying to ride my wheel, but tried to not let it get to me mentally. I was sucking down my drinks faster than normal, so I had to really be aware to be a bit more conservative with the gulps. It was HOT and at some points was quite windy.

I have not had a computer on my tri bike for about a year, and strangely I think it has really allowed me to push my abilities on the bike. I no longer get bogged down with how much time has passed,, how many miles are left and how fast I am going. I just focus on keeping my cadence high (knowing what 90-95 feels like), and pushing. I was riding blind, I didn't even wear a simple stop watch. With about 3-5? miles left, a girl in my age group passed. I debated about going after her, but I was starting to feel the effort. A teammate passed and yelled some choice words of encouragement that lit my fire a bit and I picked up the pace into T2.

Flying dismount - FINALLY! Super happy and proud that I finally did this.

T2 - Had the girl who biked past in my sights, quick change of the shoes (no socks...never again), grabbed my visor and garmin and was off. Had the 2nd fastest female age group T2 of the day - it's the little things :) ha

Run: 47:40 (7:41pace) 4th/AG

I knew within 2 steps there was no mojo in my legs. I just haven't been feeling it since my race 2 weeks ago, and with the heat, I knew I was in for some suffering. I was able to hold my goal pace right around 7/miles for about 5 minutes, but as the pace started to slide, I turned my attention to NOT GIVING UP and dialing it in. I used to have a tendency to dial it back just enough to stop the pain, especially when it was clear that I wasn't going to catch the girl in front of me and there was no one coming up behind me. I have really been focusing on this mental toughness and am proud to say that even though I felt awful, I kept the thoughts positive. I knew I wasn't hitting my goal paces, but I decided if 7:30ish/7:45ish was what my legs were going to give me, then I was going to focus on keeping it there. If someone ran by me, I would try to tuck in and hold their pace as long as I could.

As a 3 mile out and back, having 35 teammates on the course was a major boost. It kept the smile on my face and found a little bit of energy with every teammate that I saw. I tried my best to pick it up into the finish. Still at mile 6, I had no clue where I was in terms of overall time. I pretty much knew my goal of sub 2:20 was out the window based on my run, but it wasn't until I turned the final corner that I realized sub 2:25 was a possibility

As I saw the results, a OLY PR by about 5 minutes a huge OLY bike PR and 2nd in my age group, I was so happy. It's funny how in a race, you can get so down on yourself over the smallest things, yet you control so much mentally. Even though my run felt completely just off, looking back, I was only about 3ish minutes off my 10k PR, and I have been dealing with an injury for the past month. It's so easy to forget these small details in the moment of racing.

Post race was followed by being spoiled by some friends who are too kind, having a few too many beers with my teammates and not enough sleep. Monday morning brought an easy 20 minute ocean swim and a long, honest talk with my coach about goals for the rest of my season. We talked about changing up my race plans through June. I am mulling over the options today.

All and all, I am very tired, happy (and sunburned) girl.