This is going to be all over the place. I am SO happy with the weekend, the results basically surprised the hell out of me and I had no clue that I was putting together this race until I saw the finish line chute and overall clock.
I had very simple goals for this race, I didn't put any time pressure on myself bc I didn't want to set myself up for disappointment, and I also truly had no idea as to where my fitness was, or what the course was like. Despite a solid performance at Luray, I got so caught up in my times, getting run down by what felt like the entire field and 'what ifs' that I wasn't able to enjoy that I put together a solid race and performed well. In the 6 weeks between Luray and Giant Acron, life also just calmed down in general. I took a week completely off to celebrate my best friend's wedding with basically all my college friends, and have now settled into a comfortable routine, adding regular pool running as my foot is on the mend, and convincing myself that swimming 1500 meters once a week is sufficient (read: it's not). I also have found some great training partners/friends that have showed me some challening and enjoyable rides around my area.
I put in one big weekend of riding (for me) and had three solid weeks of running in a row, building my miles, but keep the pace SUPER comfortable and focusing on how my legs were feeling. My longest run in the last 6 weeks was 7 miles, with planned 30 second walk breaks at every mile. I finished the run in 70 minutes exactly, and while that pace didn't make my confidence soar, the fact that I was on my feet for that long, finished feeling strong and healthy, and felt like I could have kept going helped my mind consider a 10k at the race.
I have nothing but great things to write about Set-Up Events. I am totally sold on their races, they are affordable, just 'big enough', logistically SIMPLE, and this race had pizza, cheese balls, oreos and mountain dew post-race, I mean...what more could a girl ask for, really?
A 10am start time only 80 miles away from home made this race attractive. While I considered that October could bring chilly weather, mid 50s is far prefferable to me than humidity and heat any day. However, as I hit 95S to head out to Lake Anna, and it was POURING, I decided that mid-50s and WINDY AND WET is not as ideal. I arrived OCD early at the race, couldn't believe how windy and freezing it was as I waited in line to register, and headed back to my car to zone out for the next hour. I was at this race solo, the boy had to work and my dad chose the UMD game over me, understandably. I started to feel a bit lonely, but realized it took all the pressure OFF. When I emerged from the car, it had warmed up and calmed down nicely, and I realized the weather may actually cooperate.
As I headed to transition area, I had a rude awakening. There were college kids at this race. LOTS of college kids. FAST looking, skinny, young, college kids. Somehow I ended up on a rack with a lot of guys from the Duke and Virginia Tech club teams, and I realized this was some type of collegiate championship/team race. I reassesed my overall placement goals, but reminded myself that it wasn't likely that any college kids would be in my age group. I got my things settled, got my wetsuit on (for only the 3rd time this season, whoops), and realized the sun had appeared, the white caps on the lake had calmed, and I was ready to race. No warm up for this girl, I figured my ankle/foot probably had about 6.3 miles so I didn't want to push it with a warm up.
Swim: 22:59 (6th overall, 1 AG)
From the start, 2 girls took off and I couldn't stay with (this will become important later....ohhh foreshadowing). I just put my head down and swam a strong pace I felt like I could maintain. Out to the first buoy. After the turn, started to feel just how rough the water was. With the waves, I couldn't find the yellow 'turn' buoy in the distance, only the orange site buoys. Even a few breatstrokes didn't help, so I didn't to do something I NEVER do, swim buoy to buoy. This usually adds distance, as the site-buoys are not set up in the most straight line to the turn buoy (as we were reminded by the race director), however, I felt like it was the only way to focus on forward progress. Made it to the last turn buoy, and was blinded by the sun, and literally had no clue where to go. I could generally see the shore and swim in that direction, but I know I swam wide and probably added quite a bit of distance to my route. It was during this leg of the swim when I began writing my race report...."just didn't have it", "not my day from the start" "1500 meters a week is NOT enough to race an OLY", blah blah blah. I reached swim exit and headed for my bike. I went with my shoes on my bike bc it was one of the longest runs from bike exit to bike mount I had ever seen, and as I grabbed my bike and started the run, I heard the announcer call out my name as first female out of the water. WHAT!? No way, those girls had taken off....could it be? Maybe they swam a little long, too? Well, everyone was screaming as I got to the mount line, so I let myself believe that yes, I was the first women on the bike course.
Bike: 1:08:42 (17th overall, 2nd AG) OLY PR BIKE!
I had grabbed arm warmers in transition, but once I was on the bike and got my feet in my shoes, the sun was shining and I decided not forgo trying to get them on my wet arms. Truth was, I was riding SCARED! If I was first on the course, that meant those behind me would be out for blood. So the 'ride smart' mantra became 'ride hard'. I LOVED this two loops course. I had read it was quite a fast course, and enjoyed the rolling hills and beautiful scenery. I was riding with a smile, but pushing the pace, and also focusing on getting in my calories. I think a huge aspect of my running meltdowns in my last two races had not only to do with injury/lack of fitness, but also not taking in enough calories. I learned last year that my body can handle a pretty high number of calories per hour, and I perform better when I hit those numbers. During this ride, I took in about 200-250 calories of Carbo Pro/Nuun from my aero bottle, and a caffeinated Gu around mile 20 (I wasn't going to take this until the run, but my legs were starting to feel a little lethargic and I hadn't had any caffiene yet, and I definitely appreciated the pick me up). It was a 2 loop course, and on the second loop I focused on passing as many people as I could and riding safely and cleanly.
As I got close to T2, I undid my shoes and started to dread the flying dismount and run into transition. It had clouded over the second half of the bike and my feet felt numb (no socks, no toe warmers, ouch) and I was COLD. I actually decided to not do a flying mount for fear my feet wouldn't agree, and hated life those first few steps.
I hadn't passed anyone females on the bike, and no females had passed me. Even though I had allowed myself to believe that I was riding in first, I KNEW those two girls had gotten a jump on me in the swim. And sure enough, as I reached the dismount line, I saw two girls running out of transition. I did not let it phase me, as I knew in the back of my mind they were there, and still no on had passed me, and I had ridden SCARED and push the effort, which in the back of my mind, made me scared to death to hit the run.
Run: 48:39 (41st overall, 2nd AG)
Socks, shoes, garmin, visor and racebelt and OFF! I put a smile on my face, strapped on my Garmin and told myself not to go out too hot. I had hardly run any miles faster than 9 minute pace in MONTHS, it was ridiculous for me to start the run thinking I could hold 8s, or anything faster. I also saw there was a steady stream of girls coming off the bike that were DEFINITELY close enough to catch me if I blew up like my last two races. First mile: 7:39 DAMN. Well, I felt OK. In fact, I felt GOOD. So I went with it. It was a 2 loop out-and-back course and I knew I was losing ground to the girls in front, but I had to wait until almost mile 4 to see what was going on behind me. I was solidly holding sub-8 pace on a rolling course, and was keeping the negative self-doubt OUT of my mind (believe me, it was there and trying to take over!) I took my 2nd Gu about mile 3.5. At the turn around on the second loop (about mile 4.5) I realized I had three girls FLYING up behind me. They were all wearing college kits, and all I could think is "Damn these college girls can RUN (and damn, they are so skinny! ha)." But I also reminded myself they are 21, and not in your age group. I focused on not letting them pass, but all three made solid passes by mile 5. I pushed as best I could, including in the little trail/root section at the very end, and rounded the last downhill and corner to the finish chute. It was then that I saw the overall clock reading "2:31:--". It was that moment that I realized I had started 8 minutes back, and I may have just gotten an OLY distance PR?!?!?! I don't ride with a bike computer and the swim felt like it took AGES, so this was such a complete shock. But then I also realized that I had pushed the run as hard as I could have, that I NEVER once felt the urge to walk, and I just wanted to sit down.
2:23:52 - 1AG, 13th overall
(I think that 5 of the girls that finished ahead of me were in the 'college' division and not counted towards AG awards, but I do think the girl who won overall was collegiate, I was confused.)
I tried not to get too excited until I saw the results, bc who knows if they actually spread the waves out 4 minutes like they were supposed to, but when it was confirmed, I did a little dance. My previous PR was from Miami in April of this year on a dead flat course. I felt like since then, my entire season was in a backwards slide, including my fitness, my motivation and my confidence, especially on the run. This was just the race I needed to put my mind in the right place to keep the focus on getting healthy, and make a wise and smart decision about Ironman next year (I have put a Dec 1 deadline on the decision, unless it looks like it is going to sell out before then).
Now, time to run this thing they call Ragner in the mountains of Pennsylvania with 11 friends from NYC next weekend.
I had very simple goals for this race, I didn't put any time pressure on myself bc I didn't want to set myself up for disappointment, and I also truly had no idea as to where my fitness was, or what the course was like. Despite a solid performance at Luray, I got so caught up in my times, getting run down by what felt like the entire field and 'what ifs' that I wasn't able to enjoy that I put together a solid race and performed well. In the 6 weeks between Luray and Giant Acron, life also just calmed down in general. I took a week completely off to celebrate my best friend's wedding with basically all my college friends, and have now settled into a comfortable routine, adding regular pool running as my foot is on the mend, and convincing myself that swimming 1500 meters once a week is sufficient (read: it's not). I also have found some great training partners/friends that have showed me some challening and enjoyable rides around my area.
I put in one big weekend of riding (for me) and had three solid weeks of running in a row, building my miles, but keep the pace SUPER comfortable and focusing on how my legs were feeling. My longest run in the last 6 weeks was 7 miles, with planned 30 second walk breaks at every mile. I finished the run in 70 minutes exactly, and while that pace didn't make my confidence soar, the fact that I was on my feet for that long, finished feeling strong and healthy, and felt like I could have kept going helped my mind consider a 10k at the race.
I have nothing but great things to write about Set-Up Events. I am totally sold on their races, they are affordable, just 'big enough', logistically SIMPLE, and this race had pizza, cheese balls, oreos and mountain dew post-race, I mean...what more could a girl ask for, really?
A 10am start time only 80 miles away from home made this race attractive. While I considered that October could bring chilly weather, mid 50s is far prefferable to me than humidity and heat any day. However, as I hit 95S to head out to Lake Anna, and it was POURING, I decided that mid-50s and WINDY AND WET is not as ideal. I arrived OCD early at the race, couldn't believe how windy and freezing it was as I waited in line to register, and headed back to my car to zone out for the next hour. I was at this race solo, the boy had to work and my dad chose the UMD game over me, understandably. I started to feel a bit lonely, but realized it took all the pressure OFF. When I emerged from the car, it had warmed up and calmed down nicely, and I realized the weather may actually cooperate.
As I headed to transition area, I had a rude awakening. There were college kids at this race. LOTS of college kids. FAST looking, skinny, young, college kids. Somehow I ended up on a rack with a lot of guys from the Duke and Virginia Tech club teams, and I realized this was some type of collegiate championship/team race. I reassesed my overall placement goals, but reminded myself that it wasn't likely that any college kids would be in my age group. I got my things settled, got my wetsuit on (for only the 3rd time this season, whoops), and realized the sun had appeared, the white caps on the lake had calmed, and I was ready to race. No warm up for this girl, I figured my ankle/foot probably had about 6.3 miles so I didn't want to push it with a warm up.
Swim: 22:59 (6th overall, 1 AG)
From the start, 2 girls took off and I couldn't stay with (this will become important later....ohhh foreshadowing). I just put my head down and swam a strong pace I felt like I could maintain. Out to the first buoy. After the turn, started to feel just how rough the water was. With the waves, I couldn't find the yellow 'turn' buoy in the distance, only the orange site buoys. Even a few breatstrokes didn't help, so I didn't to do something I NEVER do, swim buoy to buoy. This usually adds distance, as the site-buoys are not set up in the most straight line to the turn buoy (as we were reminded by the race director), however, I felt like it was the only way to focus on forward progress. Made it to the last turn buoy, and was blinded by the sun, and literally had no clue where to go. I could generally see the shore and swim in that direction, but I know I swam wide and probably added quite a bit of distance to my route. It was during this leg of the swim when I began writing my race report...."just didn't have it", "not my day from the start" "1500 meters a week is NOT enough to race an OLY", blah blah blah. I reached swim exit and headed for my bike. I went with my shoes on my bike bc it was one of the longest runs from bike exit to bike mount I had ever seen, and as I grabbed my bike and started the run, I heard the announcer call out my name as first female out of the water. WHAT!? No way, those girls had taken off....could it be? Maybe they swam a little long, too? Well, everyone was screaming as I got to the mount line, so I let myself believe that yes, I was the first women on the bike course.
Bike: 1:08:42 (17th overall, 2nd AG) OLY PR BIKE!
I had grabbed arm warmers in transition, but once I was on the bike and got my feet in my shoes, the sun was shining and I decided not forgo trying to get them on my wet arms. Truth was, I was riding SCARED! If I was first on the course, that meant those behind me would be out for blood. So the 'ride smart' mantra became 'ride hard'. I LOVED this two loops course. I had read it was quite a fast course, and enjoyed the rolling hills and beautiful scenery. I was riding with a smile, but pushing the pace, and also focusing on getting in my calories. I think a huge aspect of my running meltdowns in my last two races had not only to do with injury/lack of fitness, but also not taking in enough calories. I learned last year that my body can handle a pretty high number of calories per hour, and I perform better when I hit those numbers. During this ride, I took in about 200-250 calories of Carbo Pro/Nuun from my aero bottle, and a caffeinated Gu around mile 20 (I wasn't going to take this until the run, but my legs were starting to feel a little lethargic and I hadn't had any caffiene yet, and I definitely appreciated the pick me up). It was a 2 loop course, and on the second loop I focused on passing as many people as I could and riding safely and cleanly.
As I got close to T2, I undid my shoes and started to dread the flying dismount and run into transition. It had clouded over the second half of the bike and my feet felt numb (no socks, no toe warmers, ouch) and I was COLD. I actually decided to not do a flying mount for fear my feet wouldn't agree, and hated life those first few steps.
I hadn't passed anyone females on the bike, and no females had passed me. Even though I had allowed myself to believe that I was riding in first, I KNEW those two girls had gotten a jump on me in the swim. And sure enough, as I reached the dismount line, I saw two girls running out of transition. I did not let it phase me, as I knew in the back of my mind they were there, and still no on had passed me, and I had ridden SCARED and push the effort, which in the back of my mind, made me scared to death to hit the run.
Run: 48:39 (41st overall, 2nd AG)
Socks, shoes, garmin, visor and racebelt and OFF! I put a smile on my face, strapped on my Garmin and told myself not to go out too hot. I had hardly run any miles faster than 9 minute pace in MONTHS, it was ridiculous for me to start the run thinking I could hold 8s, or anything faster. I also saw there was a steady stream of girls coming off the bike that were DEFINITELY close enough to catch me if I blew up like my last two races. First mile: 7:39 DAMN. Well, I felt OK. In fact, I felt GOOD. So I went with it. It was a 2 loop out-and-back course and I knew I was losing ground to the girls in front, but I had to wait until almost mile 4 to see what was going on behind me. I was solidly holding sub-8 pace on a rolling course, and was keeping the negative self-doubt OUT of my mind (believe me, it was there and trying to take over!) I took my 2nd Gu about mile 3.5. At the turn around on the second loop (about mile 4.5) I realized I had three girls FLYING up behind me. They were all wearing college kits, and all I could think is "Damn these college girls can RUN (and damn, they are so skinny! ha)." But I also reminded myself they are 21, and not in your age group. I focused on not letting them pass, but all three made solid passes by mile 5. I pushed as best I could, including in the little trail/root section at the very end, and rounded the last downhill and corner to the finish chute. It was then that I saw the overall clock reading "2:31:--". It was that moment that I realized I had started 8 minutes back, and I may have just gotten an OLY distance PR?!?!?! I don't ride with a bike computer and the swim felt like it took AGES, so this was such a complete shock. But then I also realized that I had pushed the run as hard as I could have, that I NEVER once felt the urge to walk, and I just wanted to sit down.
2:23:52 - 1AG, 13th overall
(I think that 5 of the girls that finished ahead of me were in the 'college' division and not counted towards AG awards, but I do think the girl who won overall was collegiate, I was confused.)
I tried not to get too excited until I saw the results, bc who knows if they actually spread the waves out 4 minutes like they were supposed to, but when it was confirmed, I did a little dance. My previous PR was from Miami in April of this year on a dead flat course. I felt like since then, my entire season was in a backwards slide, including my fitness, my motivation and my confidence, especially on the run. This was just the race I needed to put my mind in the right place to keep the focus on getting healthy, and make a wise and smart decision about Ironman next year (I have put a Dec 1 deadline on the decision, unless it looks like it is going to sell out before then).
Now, time to run this thing they call Ragner in the mountains of Pennsylvania with 11 friends from NYC next weekend.
It sounds like you had a great race! Great job on taking first!!
ReplyDeleteWhat IM are you looking at doing? I was searching IM races today, but was scared to hit register.
Congrats on the AG win! And that is a smoking bike time.
ReplyDelete