Luray OLY 2011

I love racing. I just wish I was in the shape I want to be to allow myself the races I want.

And that's my race report in a nutshell. I am super happy with most parts of my race.

Short Version:

Swim 24:52
Bike 1:19:36
Run 53:46
Overall 2:41:07
1st AG, 13th OA

Long, all-over-the-place version:

I swam strong and was out of the water 2nd in my wave. I chose the wrong feet and missed the lead girl from the start, and could never bridge the gap. I lost sight of her when we started to pass the waves ahead of us, came out 1 minute back on her. Had the 3rd overall female swim.

I biked within my fitness and rode in 3rd overall from about mile 7ish to mile 26ish (yes, it was a bit longer bike than a traditional OLY). I was very comfortable on the bike, my legs came around on the 2nd loop and I never felt a lag in energy or power. I got stung/bit by something that bounced off my face around mile 20, which caused a minor freak-out as I am allergic to bees but have not been stung since I was in 7th grade, so I basically tried to ignore it. There was a nasty climb back into transition right at mile 25, and I chose to spin up rather than grind and burn my legs. I was passed by 1 more girl right before transition, but had a quick T2 (rather, the girl who passed me at the end of the bike seemed to have a comedy of errors in T2 and couldn't find her rack), and started run 3rd overall.

I actually felt GREAT leaving T2. I was light on my feet, tried not to hammer the pace, and focused on quick turnover and keeping my arms and upper body loose. I knew the top 2 girls in front where way ahead, but I also knew some girls were going to be hot on my feet. I found some boys to run with, and as I had chosen not to wear my Garmin, I inquired and we were running right at 8 minute pace. I felt great and would have been happy to hold this pace. Unfortunately, I had failed to look at the course elevation profile before the race. All I knew was that it was an out and back, including some gravel road. I failed to realize the hills that the out and back also included.

I was passed hard right about mile 2 by 2 girls, leaving me in 5th, and running 1st in my age group. I knew two girls ahead were also 29, but I was fairly confident they would hold on for the overall podium. I took a gu right around this point, hit the turn around, and the dreaded 'my legs are heavy, my head isn't in this, every step hurts' pains from DC returned. I saw the cushion I had with a whole gaggle of women behind me and thought if I could just keep my legs moving forward and not walk, I would be able to hobble the last 3 miles back to the finish.

Once the desire to walk hits, it hit hard. And I gave in. I was passed by probably 5-6 women in the last mile, and my body and mind just couldn't respond. I just kept on holding my breath as they passed, hoping they weren't my age group. Crazily, every single woman that passed was 30-39 (with the exception of 1, who was 40 and had actually started 3 minutes back). I just kept thanking my lucky stars and willing the finish line to come.

I finished, sat down to decompress and try to explain the feeling in my legs to my boyfriend. I can't put into words the overwhelming desire to just STOP. I feel like my heart rate doesn't match my perceived effort and I just have this debilitating desire to STOP. I didn't want to look at my splits right away, and tried to focus on the positive: I came out of the water 2nd, rode almost the entire bike in 3rd, and my run felt better for longer than in DC. So it's forward progress. And as I had realistic expectations going into the race, I was happy overall. And it's all relative: It might not have been pretty, but I won my age group, how could I be disappointed? AND, I got quite a useful award....

Post race, after the results were available for dissecting, I had the same sad and angry feelings I had after DC. Especially after I realized that my run was actually 2 minutes SLOWER than DC. If I had only been able to run a bit faster, hold those 8 minute miles....

But again, after taking a step back, I need to figure out WHAT is going on. Then it hit me. Both in DC and this race, I took in about 1 bottle of water on the bike (maybe had Nuun in DC), 1 gu on the bike and 1 gu on the run TOTAL. Last year, I was taking over 200 liquid calories on the bike, plus water, plus a gu on the bike and run. This, combined with being honest that I am just NOT putting in the running miles I need to for the results I want, helped me return to the positive aspects of the weekend.

So, last night, I went on an easy 45 minute run (at a significantly faster pace than the race...ugh) and realized that I want to do another OLY this year. Poconos is out. I am pretty sure I have found a race for 'run redemption' - I was impressed with the race organization, this race starts at 10am, and I can sleep in my own bed before. I just want to end the year on a high note and be excited to plan out a schedule for next year. I have completed three OLYs this year, and my run is going in the wrong direction. I need to figure this out, and have 6 weeks to do it.

I just (finally) placed an order to replace my Carbo Pro and EFS, and will figure this out.