Another Sunday, Another Olympic Race

Yesterday I lined up for my 2nd Olympic tri of the year in just 7 days!  With the FUN  pain of last weeks effort still fresh in my mind, I was thankful to have gone to the event with Jordan and knew that there would be many other friends out there along the course to cheer.  If you want to skip to my major take away from the race...scroll down :)

The weekend had been fun already, with Mark off racing I spent Saturday on two different bike rides.  One with a friend who is doing her FIRST Ironman this weekend at CDA...can't WAIT to watch her! And then later, my sister came down and we got to ride. Which was super special as I don't think we've ridden bikes together since before my first niece was born...3 years ago!!  now if I can get she and my BFF KC to ride bikes with me, I might not stop smiling.  Saturday evening Jordan came over and we made dinner at home, relaxed and got gear together and then hit the hay for a good nights sleep.  I can sleep well before a local short race, but ask me about my pre-Ironman sleeps and buddy we have an entirely different ball game!

I raced this same race last year with only a couple of course alterations and this year went 2 minutes slower...bit faster on the swim/run/transitions and a bit slower on the bike...I was cursing the weights that I lifted earlier in the week as I was climbing the 1k+ of hills over the bike course!

Pre-race nutrition: Trying something new for race day (have eaten before long rides) two servings rice, two eggs and gluten free soy sauce made the night before and heated up race morning.  TASTY!

Pre swim: Osmo Pre-load to help with salt loss

Swim: 24:01 or 1:33/100M LY 24:14

Pre-race FOG!

There was a delay to the race due to heavy FOG that hadn't lifted over the reservoir yesterday.  So as we finally set off 10 minutes late the fog was still thick like pea soup.  I got on the local, always out of the water first gal, and knew that she would have the paddle boarder with her and that would be a great sighting tool as you couldn't see the buoys.  As usual though, she swam a 22:xx so I made it only to the first buoy with her.  I keep swimming and then looked up and was like, where am I?!!  I saw a few men around me, who had gone off ahead of us and then stopped- tread water and finally looked FAR left and saw the buoys hugging the island we were swimming around about 100M in the distance.  DOH!!  Bummer, but I put my head down, swam straight towards the buoys and had lost my 2nd in the water position.  I got out of the water and heard 4th female.  I passed one gal in transition and it was time to go ride my bike!

Bike Nutrition: Cytomax Energy Drops 1.5 packs and Osmo Active Hydration  ~300kcal's
Bike: 1:13:42 VS LY 1:11:14
Onto my trusty steed and I set out to see if I could find those two gals looming up ahead.  I knew that power swimmer from earlier would take me a while to find and the gal that I passed in T1 is a pro cyclist, so knew that she would be blazing past me in the opening miles.  It took me until around mile 18 to find super swimmer and I had passed one other gal but had been passed by one as well so coming off the bike I was in 3rd place OA and leading my AG.  Turns out though that more than a few racers took a wrong turn and cut the course by about 3 miles, seeming to ride an hour flat on a 24 mile, 1500ft of climbing course...not a chance really at your local, no pro in sight, triathlon.  This week I wasn't able to get my heart rate up like last week, really not that confusing since last week began my return to training and I had hit the weights.  Feeling flat?  No need to analyze this one sista!  Move along, nothing to see here...huffing and puffing and trying to not pedal squares!

Run Nutrition: 1 gel and water 100kcal's
Run: 46:05 vs LY 46:12 or 7:20's/mile per Garmin which said 6.3 miles
I hit the run in what I thought was 3rd overall, but then saw Jordan and thought to myself, huh wonder when she passed me, we always cheer each other on and in a small race at the front of the women's race, you are very aware of when you see another gal.  So Jordan ahead of me landed me in 4th but I kept plodding running and at mile 3 caught Jordan to get into "3rd" OA and try to hold it for the last three miles. Thankfully this is where I start to find my rhythm and was able to keep a steady pace for the last three miles and come across the line winning the AG and 2nd OA after it was discovered that the gal who had "won" overall biked an hour and unfortunately missed the same turn that others had.

Beer and a pint glass to drink it in!

Race directing is tough and it really stunk for so many racers to have to be DQ'd for something that (yes, I know it's our responsibility to know the course) could have been prevented with better course markings.  Some folks in the sprint did the entire olympic bike...could you imagine if that was your first tri and instead of biking 16 miles, you biked 24?!!  Not ideal, and thankfully I went on the right path, but I definitely had to yell a few times "which way?!!"

Post Race DQ...a MUST

I came home, jumped into our beautiful and clean pool and soaked up some cool water and rays while thinking about the race.  On the run, I was uncomfortable.  I know that we all talk about getting comfortable being uncomfortable and man am I trying, but I know that I could have gone harder if I would have been willing to hurt more.  But I just couldn't get myself to do it knowing that I wasn't going to catch #1 OA she was just too far away.  I don't know if I would have pushed harder had she been closer, but it is definitely something I will be working on....how to continue to push through and hurt more when you know you are capable of swimming/biking/running at a faster pace.

Next up is another Olympic (I think) at the end of the month and then Vineman 70.3 in July!

Happy training!!!

3 weeks post Ironman Texas, let's race!

Podium Girls!

Yesterday I raced an Olympic distance tri, first one of the season as we call know that short and fast is not my specialty.  But that which doesn't kill us...only makes us STRONGER right?!!  The race is sponsored by Muscle Milk and any opportunity to get out and hang with that crew I try not to pass up.  So I got up at 3:30...I don't even do that for an Ironman and drove to Folsom (Sacramento area) for the 7:12 start.  the sunrise was unbelievable and I just thought about how good life truly is.

The past three weeks have been truly refreshing athletically speaking....I have not had a structured workout and  have been eating whatever my little heart desires and trying to get caught up in the rest of life outside of triathlon.  Although that being said, there is still so much to do that I am like, where did the time go?!!

The short and skinny?: 1st in the AG and 3rd OA female

Pre Race Nutrition: coffee with milk, gluten free granola, banana with almond butter, Cytomax, and Pre-load from Osmo to avoid salt tabs and swelling

Pre swim smiles

TYR Swim: 24:02

Yellow Cap Fish!

I did an olympic last year on June 30th, so a few more weeks of rest post Ironman and the time was a 24:12, so not bad I guess. The first half of the swim was directly east so into the sun and blinding...thankfully they row crew in this body of water so there was a lane line all the way to the buoy...except a few maybe 25 yards to the right.  I figured that not having to pick my head up and sight was as quick as having to possibly swim an extra 25 to get to the buoy...i was reassured when the gal who i could see when i took a breath would get ahead of me and then I would catch her as she sighted.  My mom asked me what were my goals for this race and I said none, but after getting out of the water, I found myself asking, "how many girls ahead?" as all of the 39 and under  had gone in the same wave. What girl has two thumbs and is competitive? This girl!!  Only two ladies were up the road apparently 1:15 up.  Time to go ride bikes!

Bike Nutrition: almost two bags of Cytomax Energy Drops: 300

Argon 18/Gray wheels Bike: 1:12:19
Bike from LY was a 1:11:14 on a different course but yesterday there were these crazy cross winds.  I spent many a moment thanking myself for eating well for the past three weeks as skinny girls get hammered far more heavily in the cross winds. I was leaning pretty heavily to one side and telling myself that this is just good practice for Kona. Mark asked me if I drafted and practiced my echelon skills a la the tour de France and Belgium races, but I reminded him that triathlon is not draft legal :)  I managed to find one of the two gals halfway through the bike and tried to fly home as she wasn't far behind and I saw another gal coming hard (turns out she's a runner!).  I was focused on having as high a heart rate as possible on the bike and managed to have one 16 BPM higher than my normal racing HR.  Success! I also tried to keep thinking about keeping my foot on the gas, there is no time to get distracted in an Olympic, if you blink, a girl will pass you! I knew that I would need to get off my bike with as much time to spare as possible as this would be only my third run since Texas and I'm better at long distance racing as I have a bit of a buffer before the run begins...I need all the time I can get on that run!  I was in transition in 2nd place but first place she didn't do an Ironman three weeks ago was 6+ minutes up the road.

Run Nutrition: one nasty gel and water

Smith Optics Run: 45:58/7:23 per mile

Thank you Freeplay for this pic!

LY run was 46:12 on a flatter course, so this is good news!  And I was running blind as I had ditched my watch in the AM knowing I would put on my Garmin when I hit the run...if only it hadn't died I would have some data.  Oh well!  Time to just get out there and push...why does that HURT so bad?!!  Around mile 3 a guy that I was passing asked me if I had put on sunscreen.  Huh?  Sir i am trying to RUN, not talk and think! Although I thank him for his concern for my skin, what was I to do if I had not applied that morning?...there wasn't a sunscreen pump located along the course.  Perhaps he had a spray can in his pocket?  I hoped it was from exertion as I had indeed put on my suncream that morning and ended up in good shape! I was trying to run hard as I knew that my 2nd place OA could only be kept if I ran fast...but it wasn't to be...the gal who got 2nd OA ran a 39:xx...6 minutes faster than me.  I didn't have that kind of margin and around mile 4 she made the pass and that was all she wrote.  I spent the next two miles running scared as I didn't want to lose that OA position!

Post race nutrition: Muscle Milk, coke and some fries!  OK, OK, back on the nutrition wagon today!

So after a three week break, It's back to work this week and another Olympic this weekend for the prep into Vineman 70.3 in July and then Kona in October!