Gilrs Weekend of Racing

After a month of doing almost a a race a weekend, I think I may finally be getting the hang of racing shourt course...maybe.  Yesterday was the Silcon Valley International Tri, an Olymic distance and for once, I was able to continue to stay focused and this yielded me 2nd in the AG,3rd amateur female overall and what I think is my Olympic distance PR and a 10k PR for sure.  WOOT to a funday of racing with BFF Kebby!

Kebby got in on Friday night and after pizza and a glass of vino and some much needed catching up, it was off to bed for a 70 mile ride on Saturday, which I assured her would be at race pace a moderate effort.  We ended up riding 70 miles in 3.5 hours, with 2300 feet of climbing...so not exactly flat and even in the draft, I was suffering to hang on at points.  Insert massive efffort from Kebby here (and dying animal noises from me) to make sure I didn't completely crack off the back and we were ready for a 20 minute T-run in the sun.  After a recovery shake and a coke, we were off to drop the bikes at T1, as for water saftey reasons the tri had become a 2 transition race...did I mention the school bus yet?!

Saturday night we had another glass of wine got all of our stuff pulled together for the race and had to be reminded by Coach Mark that we were supposed to be racing the next day and that we might want to think about going to bed instead of gabbing the night away.  BOO for bedtime!  But after riding hard that day for 3.5 hours, we had ZERO trouble sleeping that night and woke up fresh as daisies ready for a quick breakfast and then we were off to T2/Finish area to drop our run gear and hop on the "shuttle" to the swim start. 

Turns out, the shuttle was actually a school bus that came with the original driver.  Let's call her Miss NO Nonsense at 6:15AM please!  Kebby and I got THE last 1 spot on the bus at the very back which meant that the only "seat left" was the middle of the back row which was a divider, not a seat.  More like a one cheek on, one cheek off type deal.  Add to this we had all of our morning stuff for the bike/swim and a wheel and it might have been a bit crowded back there.  I had the great idea of putting our gear on the shelf behind us, but Miss No Nonsense informed us that that was an emergency exit and HAD to be clear of anything.  OK, onto our laps it goes...I am sure the guys next to us loved us.  At least we looked cute in our team kits and still smelled OK. Glad we opted for the shuttle in the AM and parked at the finish as opposed to parking at the start and taking what I can only imagine was a very stinky shuttle back to the start in the afternoon. 

TYR Swim: 23:44- 6th OA 1:35/100M
Ready to Swim-Bike-Run?!!  Me neither, but after the first few minutes of the swim and a few negotiations with myself, I found my focus and started to try and do some hard work. I opted for my sleeveless Hurricane 5 as the water was just a bit too warm for me in a full suit. I found my way to the front of the start and lined up next to the speedster of Silicon Valley and tried again to hang on for dear life during the swim.  Unfortunately, she was swimming towards the shore and not the first bouy so I swam my own course in clean water.  It's too bad as I didn't feel out of my comfort zone and would have liked to see how long I could have held on. For the first few minutes of the swim, I was asking myself
A.  Why did I bike so hard yesterday?
B.  Do I really have to do this, it hurts?!! 
And the answer to the above was, because you are in training for other races and YES, so SUCK it UP BUTTERCUP!!  I continued to sight well, thanks to all of the open water swimming that I've been doing with Threshold Racing at the splash 'N dashes  lately and was 3rd out of the water for the 30-39 women.

Argon18 Bike/Gray Wheels: 1:09:59- 1st OA, including pros 21.3/MPH
We had ridden much of the course on our Saturday ride and I am very familiar with the area as I bike in Morgan Hill quite frequently, so I was excited for the point to point and looking forward to putting my head down and doing some work.  Unfortunately I kept getting distracted and ended up with a few wheel suckerettes on my back wheel.  Had to refocus my attention on the race and speed it up!  I really enjoy a point to point bike course, the only downside being that there is no opportunity to see where your competitors are.  With that in mind I kept trying to push harder and hang on for the 10k run.  Have I mentioned how much I am IN LOVE with my Argon18? The legs felt better than I thought they would after the effort on Saturday and I hit T2 ready to suffer run.
Total Food: 1scoop Cytomax, 1.5 packs of Cyto Energy Chews= 300kcals

Run: 43:50- 9th OA and 7:04/Mile Average
Did I mention I got 2nd in the AG by 9 seconds?  That's right, 3rd place was HUNTING me down.  I knew she was there, but at mile 4 I thought that I was still about a minute up.  I by no means intentionally slowed my pace, but I do believe that the wheels might have been starting to come off right around mile 5.  Thank goodness I was able to hold the cheetah off, she was a runner. 
Total Food: hald pack of chews any water/cytomax along the course=200kcals

W30-34 Podium and me thinking...ALMOST!!

Muscle Milk Finish Line Goodness: It was SO nice to cross the line and to see David from Muscle Milk standing there waiting to greet me with a recovery shake....um can you say personalized service?  This guy takes care of me at all times, and my nurtition has never been in better hands. 

Pro 1/2 Crit Start with the hubbs

Kebby took those gals down in her newly found AG and got a big "W" for her first race of the season.  I had to bike FAST, knowing that she started only 3 minutes after me and that she is a monstah on the bike.  After the awards, we sped drove to see Mark race at the Burlingame crit and proceeded to take many pictures of him and the other pro 1/2's zipping around the 1 mile loop at speeds and closeness that made me cringe jsut watching it.  Afterwards we sat out in the sunshine and enjoyed a burger and OF COURSE then it was time for Dairy Queen!  We may have done some major Ironman stalking yesterday following our friends and team mates who were racing their hearts out all over the country.

Anyone need to know what focus looks like?!



What an awesome weekend filled with a BFF, racing and sun.  Next up is Vineman, so a few weeks with no racing to let the hunger build up again.  See you all in Sonoma!



Sure my shirt is perfct for wiping your glasses!