Today is Not That Day

Race report: Big Kahuna

Finally... my second half Ironman! My first was June 2011 in Hawaii, which was a total sufferfest. It took me 7:20 to complete that one thanks to a terrible swim and having to walk most of the run. 

My original goal was to cut a full hour off that time. Thanks to my recent setback I modified that to a goal time of 6:30. As I'd feared, I had a lot of problems on the run and had to walk most of the second half... but fortunately my swim and bike were good enough to get me close to my goal time. Garmin says 6:33, official time was 6:36. Whatever. I'll take a 44 minute PR any day. This was a good training race as I made some mistakes on the bike that contributed to my lousy run. Now I know better for Miami 70.3 next month!

Pre-race

It was a beautiful day to drive down to Santa Cruz. I hit registration (with the tiniest expo I've ever seen!) and then headed to the rental house that I shared with 5 others from the tri club. Chivalry wasn't exactly flowing as the two single guys claimed the twin beds leaving the girls to make do with a cot on the floor and the pull-out couch... I got the couch. Yay. (tiny rant: everyone thinks it's ok to split the total house bill equally, even though one couple got a gorgeous master suite. Something seems wrong with this picture but apparently this is how it's done with this group? Is this normal in the tri community?) Anyway... I didn't sleep great but it didn't faze me. I was just excited to be there. 

Race morning: my overnight oats plus a swig of Ultragen and I was good to go. We rode our bikes in the dark for 10 minutes to transition, and then had 40 minutes to set up before they cleared the area. Yes, they don't allow anyone in transition after 6:45 am, so it's good to get there early! All athletes headed down to the beach and were greeted with a fogless sunrise and a totally calm ocean... absolutely gorgeous. I wish I had a photo. We acclimated to the 57 degree water and then waited for our wave start. We saw that there was a current pulling people to the right, so the goal was to start left and get pulled in towards the buoy. 

Swim: 37:08 (Honu: 51:08; 14 minute PR!) 

I like ocean starts... plenty of room and no one gets beaten up. I need to do a better job starting out fast; I tend to settle right into my sustainable pace, but since everyone else starts out faster it leaves me quite a ways behind. I think the current shifted right after we started, because everyone kept swimming to my right... I couldn't get on anyone's feet and I ended up swimming alone for almost the entire way. By the back half I was swimming scared. I was pretty sure I was dead last in my age group, which was such a crappy feeling! Fortunately I got out of the water with a very experienced gal from my tri club, so I figured I wasn't too far off base. (Looking at the final stats, this woman finished 4th in our AG with a 5:45 but had a pretty slow swim time. Makes me wonder what the point is of working hard to improve my swim!) 

T1: 6:29

This race has a looooong run from the beach up to transition. Times here ranged from 5:27 to 12:48, so I was in the mix. 

Bike: 3:18 (Honu: 3:29 on a flatter course... 11 minute PR!) 

This bike course is billed as "relatively flat." Relatively being the key word here. It's 2500 feet of climbing with a couple pretty good hills. If you're used to the 3k - 4k types of rides around San Francisco, it's a piece of cake. I, unfortunately, am not good on hills -- or headwinds -- and this course has plenty of both. 

The headwind going out was pretty ridiculous. Not Honu-strong, but close. People were swearing out loud. A couple pelatons went by. I went out harder than I should have, both hating the slow pace I was seeing on my Garmin and thinking that "hey, I pushed harder the bike at my last Olympic race and it didn't hurt my run, I can do the same here!" Yeah, doesn't exactly work that way, as I learned later on the run. 

About 1.5 hours in, I had to pee. There was no place to pull over, and I figured there'd be a porta potty at the turnaround. So I stopped taking in fluids (bad idea) until I could find a place to pee. No, I couldn't make myself pee on the bike... too many people around! I hit the turnaround... no porta potty. Great. I started drinking a bit -- most of my calories were in the bottle and I didn't bring enough gels -- but it wasn't until my porta potty stop at mile 45 did I really restart my hydration and take a couple more gels from the aid station. 

So... went too hard, only took in 2.5 bottles, and back-loaded my calories. Not a good recipe for the run. Good news, it's a lovely course along the ocean and the tailwind coming back is FANTASTIC. I was flying. 

T2: 2:49

Yeah, I could have done a lot better at this. With some calf cramping on the bike I decided to pull on my compression sleeves for the run. But then forgot once I got into transition. So I pulled on my shoes, then remembered my sleeves, took off my shoes, then dug through my black tri bag for my black sleeves... pulled them on, got my shoes back on, started to run and then remembered I wanted to bring more salt tabs. Not smooth, Jen. Again, good practice for Miami. (Question: if you wear compression sleeves while racing, do you put them on before your wetsuit and swim in them? Or put them on in T2?) 

Run: 2:32 (Honu: 2:50, 18 min PR) 

My plan was to run easy at 10:00, then drop to race pace of 9:45. Went out too fast... 9:20 felt really easy! But managed to get it down to 9:45 by mile 3. Ok, now is when the legs start coming back around, right? Nope. Mile 4 I was trudging, mile 5 I realized I needed plain water and a LOT of it, but I had another mile to go before the aid station. My legs were sore and my energy was lagging. I first started walking at mile 6... uh oh. This is going to be a long run. 

Miles 6 - 9 were pretty bad... I blame my poor nutrition and hydration on the bike for a lot of this. But I got enough fluids in and my energy started returning. The remaining problem was my legs... both from my recent setback (tight hamstring, piriformis) and I suspect from going too hard on the bike. The entire back half was a run/walk combo that wasn't pretty. The last stretch of this race is on sand -- through kids, families, tourists having a beach day, which was pretty bizarre -- and I was able to run through this part to the finish. 

Here's the only race photo of me! You can see how deep the sand is at the end of the race, which is somewhat cruel. 

For a good part of this run I was thinking, I should cancel Miami. I can't do another sufferfest on the run. But now I look back and I know that part of this is attributable to nutrition and pacing and thus are fixable. I'm also going to put a focus on some targeted strength training (core, hips, glutes) to address muscle imbalances and get some regular bodywork. I might try a chiropractor as it feels like my left hip is locked up. 

So I have mixed emotions about this race. Partly I'm excited... I'm pretty sure I can get down to a 6 hr race next year if I put in the time working on strength/power this off season. Partly I'm discouraged as I'm not sure I can fix these muscle imbalances that have plagued my longer-distance running. But damnit, I'm going to try. 

If you're considering doing Big Kahuna, I recommend it. Scenery is gorgeous and it's well organized (other than limited porta potties... I only saw one at mile 6 on the run). Prepare for headwinds and rollers on the bike, and 3 - 4 miles of dirt trails in the middle of the run. And sand at the finish. Plan for aid stations every 2 miles vs. every one on the run. 

 

Santa Cruz Olympic race report

FINALLY... my first triathlon of the season! It's a nice little race in Santa Cruz put on by Finish Line Productions... I think they did a great job organizing and I'd do it again. This was a warm-up race so I could gauge fitness and work out the kinks prior to Big Kahuna in a few weeks. The last time I did a race was Honu in June 2011... but while I was definitely out of practice (noticeable in T1), I am now in a lot better shape and did much better than I expected! 

Pre-race: dinner of salmon, rice, avocado and green beans. Prepared my overnight oats (recipe by Hillary Biscay.... so tasty and easy! I added raisins instead of bananas) and popped it in the fridge for breakfast the next morning. Was in bed by 9:30 but I can't seem to fall asleep before 10 regardless of what time I'll need to get up! 

Race morning: 

Up at 4:40 am, ate my overnight oats for breakfast, loaded up my gear and headed out at 5:15. Picked up a friend from the tri club and drove 1.5 hours down to Santa Cruz. Found a lovely available parking spot, where the very friendly policewoman directing traffic said I could park and wished us luck... and we came back to find it was a no-parking zone and I got a ticket!! Grrrr... 

Set up transition area, drank half of my Ultragen and headed down to the beach for a pre-race dip. I was pleasantly surprised to find the water was a few degrees warmer than it is up in San Francisco... cold, but not bone-chillingly so. 

Swim:

Garmin swim time (actual swimming) 27:10. Official time 30:35 which included the extremely long run from the beach to transition (like 2 or 3 city blocks). 

This was a beach start with plenty of room for everyone to spread out and not beat each other up, so I lined up 2nd row center and charged out of the corral at the start. A wave came in right when we got to the water and almost everyone dropped back... I'm proud that I continued to charge ahead with a couple other gals, so I had some pretty clean water and got a decent head start. Alas, my swim fitness needs some work, and a couple women passed me on the swim. Other than that first wave the water was pretty calm... very nice swim conditions, and I was pretty sure that I wasn't too far behind the leaders.

T1: Official time 2:35.

This is where I need some work! Even though I practiced this the day before, it's a different beast during a race. I'd brought some hot water to rinse off my cold feet, couldn't get the top of my thermos off, then forgot to dry my feet and got one sock wet, took off the sock to dry my feet, put on my socks... good grief. Just get on the bike already. :-) Haven't yet tried sockless and really should. 

Bike: 1:12:54. My Garmin had the distance at 22.5... definitely short. 

My stretch goal was to keep 19 MPH avg pace, and I came in at 18.8... close enough to make me happy! This was four loops on the bike, and my plan was to just blow it out. Last weekend I did the Marin metric century (60 miles) followed by a 25 min run, and I was pleased to discover that even though I rode hard in between aid stations it didn't affect my run. That was enough of a confidence builder for me to decide to go hard on the bike during this race. I managed to keep heart-rate in high zone 3/low zone 4 the entire time, and keep the pace mostly the same for all four loops (although the last one I started lagging a bit.) 

I had to laugh... one guy just hated it when I passed him. He'd pass me back, and sure enough, 10 min later he'd slowed down and I re-passed him. This must have happened at LEAST 6 times during the race.  I did pass a couple women in my AG early on, and then I was mostly alone with the guys (whose wave went 5 min after mine) so I had no idea where I was in the rankings. But I knew I'd been out of the water maybe in 5th or 6th, and I passed a couple women, so I figured if I kept up the pace I *might* earn a podium spot.

Nutrition: 1.5 bottles w/1 scoop EFS and 1 scoop CarboPro each; one Bonkbreaker bar, one gel 10 min before the run

T2: 1:25... better, but still room for improvement!

Run: 2:40:52. 

This was a HUGE PR for me. My stretch goal pace for this was 8:45 and I came in at 8:38. The carrot of a potential podium spot was a nice motivator. This was a lovely run course along the coastline, and the sun finally came out after the first mile or so. I didn't really look at my Garmin much... just continued my effort I'd set on the bike of "hard enough to sustain but not totally blow up." I think I had a bit more in the tank if I'd really needed to turn it on. 

Nutrition: other than 1 cup of water at the start, I didn't take in anything else. My stomach was sloshing a bit and I felt fine energy-wise. 

Here's the run course view (source: virtualtourist.com)

Overall: 2:40:52, which is a 25 minute PR from the last Olympic on a similar course (Pacific Grove). I'll caveat that by saying that the bike course was shorter, so it was probably more like a 15 - 20 min PR. But my bike pace improvement (from 17 MPH to 18.8) and my run improvement (from 9:00 to 8:38) is huge. I'll take it :-) And it was good enough for 2nd AG! (not sure where 1st and 3rd went... I was the only one around to claim my prize.)

Honestly I'm not sure what I'd do differently. I feel like my nutrition was spot on, I was able to line up near the front of the swim without freaking out, my pacing was good... other than needing to work on swim fitness and T-times, this felt like a good race overall. 

Next up: Big Kahuna 70.3 in Santa Cruz on 9/9! Can't wait. I could possibly pull out an hour PR at that distance. AND... I just signed up for Miami 70.3 on Oct 28... geez, my season just started! gotta take advantage of my fitness. 

A comedy of errors: Catfish Crawl 1.2 mi swim

Yesterday was the 1.2 mile Catfish Crawl open water swim down in South Bay. A gorgeous sunny day with perfect upper-60's water temp. A great opportunity to get another 70.3 swim distance in and work out the kinks before Miami. I love making mistakes in practice races like these... infinitely better than on race day! 

The first error: This was my very first time to forget my swim goggles. Seriously, I am going to an open water swim and I forget my goggles. You know when you hear the announcer occasionally saying, "attention everyone, we have an athlete in need... if anyone has an extra pair of goggles could you bring them up to the front?" And you're thinking, what a dumb-ass to forget her goggles. Yep, I was that athlete, hanging my head in shame. Never again. 

I was hoping to see some friends finish their 2.4 mi swim (they started 2 hours earlier than me), so I was lollygagging around the start. I met Mary Tanner (who rocked the 2.4 and then got back in for the 1.2!), watched a couple of my tri club pals finish, and then Molly emerged from the lake with a big PR! It's so fun to finally meet blogger buddies in person. 

(if you read Molly's blog you've already seen this pic; I'd wanted to include Mary but alas, she had already dashed off, remarkably full of energy after swimming almost 4 miles!)

Which led to my next error: Apparently I was more interested in meeting blogger friends than racing, because I got into the lake to warm up and realized 5 minutes before start that I'd forgot my timing chip. WTF?? I never do stuff like this. Bolted out of the water, ran up to my bag, grabbed my chip, put it on the ankle, jumped back in the water and had a 1-minute warm-up before the start. Thankfully it was a small race; I could never have pulled that off at the tris I've done. 

I had a couple goals for this swim; speed was not one of them. I'm quite sure I'm not in any better swim shape than I was at Honu -- where I logged a glacier-like :51 swim time -- so today was all about 4 things:

1: The swim start. Grade: A

As a middle of the pack swimmer, I need to get comfortable starting in the middle of the pack. That's what I did yesterday -- middle on the left -- and managed to hang with everyone without getting kicked or feeling claustrophobic or panicky. Folks were pretty congenial which helped. 

2. Drafting. B-

I've never actually tried to draft in a race, so today I wanted to find some feet. I found myself swimming at the same pace as another woman, but every time I hung on she would slow down or do a breaststroke kick. I'm not entirely sure how she knew I was back there -- I never touched her -- but clearly she didn't want me tagging along. Fine then. So I give myself an A for effort and for realizing that swimming in someone else's bubbles wasn't scary and totally doable; I won't get kicked in the face. Points off for totally forgetting to find more feet... I did find a pair once more, and kept losing them because I was swimming off track and they weren't. So maybe that's more of a sighting issue than drafting... which brings me to...

3. Sighting. Grade: D

Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad. When I know where I'm going, I'm pretty good at swimming in a straight line. On the outbound stretch you can see that I'm totally on the straight and narrow... we were swimming away from the sun and I could see the buoys. On the return... well, see for yourself:

 

Red line is from my Garmin, blue line was the actual straight line between buoys. I never saw that third red buoy... I was sighting from the second red buoy out to the yellow one in the distance. You can see I was roughly on pace for that one, but I was swimming in light chop into the sun and it was really hard to see, hence the slight zigzag. I realized when I passed a woman on a paddleboard with her back to me that something might be off... since I was thinking more about my form (goal #4) than drafting (#2) I didn't realize that I was VERY far from the pack and sighting against the wrong target. Ha. Ok, hard right turn over to that red buoy (that thankfully I hadn't passed yet) and back on track to the yellow buoy.  

I felt pretty bad for the poor girls drafting off of me :-) They learned a good lesson from me: sight for yourself and don't depend on others! 

4: Form: Grade: B

I discovered in the pool earlier this week that I go faster when I pull/push through the ENTIRE stroke instead of just focusing on front quadrant. Lots going on here... I'm still training my body to do the "over the barrel" early vertical forearm, and now I also need to concentrate on what's happening when my other hand moves out of my sight. It's all well and good to practice this in a pool when I'm not also worried about sighting and drafting... quite another during an open water race. Part of what took me so off course is that I felt myself slowing down, and it occurred to me that I should really focus on my stroke finish so I could keep up my pace. So my head was down, and I just stopped paying attention to where I was going or who was around me. So... this one's tough to grade. When I paid attention to form, I swam well. But I also swam off course. And when I focused on other stuff -- sighting, drafting -- I wasn't paying any attention to how I was swimming. 

So I suppose I could give myself A's in all of these goals independently; what tripped me up was trying to combine them. Holding good form while knowing where I'm going and staying in the pack... a lot of balls to juggle. It will just take practice! I'm always a tiny bit astonished when I meet someone who only trains for races in a pool; it's such a different world when you're out in a lake or the ocean with other people and no lane lines. Once I get my form down in the pool it will be one less thing to remember, but still... 

Regardless, I emerged from the water in 42 minutes, which is 9 minutes sooner than Honu. What really slowed me down at Honu was wearing a 2 piece that let water fill up my shorts -- it was like a parachute! And of course I'm faster in a wetsuit. But Miami will likely not be wetsuit-legal so I still have more work to do. Would like to get sub-40 sans wetsuit for Miami. 

Overall a good swim day with good lessons learned. Finished the afternoon with a 50-mile bike ride which was actually a lousy ride. Not because of the course (thanks Molly for mapping it out!) but I was cranky, tired, and wanting to get off my bike. I suspect it was the heat -- mid-80s, when I'm accustomed to riding in mid-6os! -- no additional electrolytes, and probably insufficient calories. Also... for some reason new routes seem interminably long! I can do 55 on a regular route with no problem, but give me a new 50 mile route and I'm thinking, geez, when is this ride going to END??? Ha. Does this happen to anyone else? 

Ok, one more ride and run to finish out this rather big bike-focus week. Just realized I've already done 100 miles on the bike (20 more than my biggest week this year), which could account for why I was tired yesterday and wanted to Get. Off. This. (*&(*&#@. Bike. Now. by mile 45. Ha. (ya think??) 

Too cool -- My Endorphin Report for Wildflower

I just learned that anyone competing at Wildflower received a complementary Endorphin Report for the race. I'm such a data geek... love this stuff. I can't figure out how to make this small enough to fit the width of my blog, but you can view it here:

Endorphin report - Wildflower -

Interesting, in "strength of stage" I'm perfectly balanced across swim, bike and run. No huge surprise, I don't have a swim, bike or run background, but it's funny to see it in pie chart format in almost perfect thirds... no one stage stands out. Of course that's at the Olympic distance; this report for Honu would show my run as being the weak link. But my bike was 1 MPH faster, thanks to having a bike that actually fits me. I think the bike is where I could make the greatest gains, but I need to solidify my run first.

 If you want one of your own, check out www.endorphinreport.com.

Honu post-race

Picking up where I left off, what makes Honu such a great race is that it's an immersive experience. First, you're in a resort setting for several days surrounded by 1500 other triathletes swimming, biking and running the course. It's extraordinarily motivational. Second, it's in Hawaii which has its own unique and lovely culture that was very visible in the awards ceremony. 

Everyone was so happy to see local pro Bree Wee take the win and be carried to the stage...

And I finally got to meet Moana, who's probably the most outgoing, friendly 2-year old I've ever met, and just as adorable in person:

After the awards ceremony I went home to clean up (it took easily 15 min of scrubbing to get the numbers off my arms), tend to my sunburn, and go to an LA Tri Club party... terrific people. Several of us were talking about renting a house for Honu next year! 

I'm just happy to have a tan after several years of white San Francisco skin. (Not healthy I know, but it looks healthy and that's what counts. Right? Ha.)

The next day, since I didn't get enough of a shoulder and core workout (kidding), I decided to go kayaking with my condo-mates and their friends. We went to Kealakekua Bay and paddled across it...

... to the Captain Cook monument, where we went snorkeling.

photo source

The snorkeling was amazing. Think about the coolest salt water aquarium, and then go swimming in it. We heard that this is one of the best places in the world. I didn't have an underwater camera, but here are a couple pics from Let's Go Hawaii:

Then we got cleaned up and headed to Huggo's On the Rocks in Kona to listen to music, consume fruity beverages, eat amazing fish tacos, watch the waves... and then head to the airport to catch my plane at 9:45 pm. Great race-cation! 

Now I get to figure out what's next. I don't think I have another 70.3 in me for this year... I have so much work to do in strength, stretch and run training. I'll take June to be a gym/stairs/yoga rat, and then ramp up training for Pacific Grove olympic or maybe Santa Barbara if I'm feeling a lot stronger. Then the Healdburg half marathon in October. Then next year I may come back to Honu or find another great destination 70.3 race. After the experience last weekend I feel like I've drunk the tri cool-aid all over again. 

IM 70.3 Hawaii (Honu) race report

Awesome, my first 70.3 distance on the books! I now know I need a LOT more run training... I finished 50 minutes later than my goal time, and most of that was due to my run totally falling apart after mile 9. The good news is that I loved the experience and I've set myself up for a rockin' good PR on my next 70.3 in 2012.

When the alarm went off at 4 am I was delighted to hear... silence. No wind, which indicated a smooth swim and a faster bike was in the forecast for the day. I downed a glass of Ultragen for hydration, nutrients and calories (yes, it's a recovery drink, but I got the tip from someone's blog and it made total sense. And it tastes awesome.) Then ate my normal breakfast of granola w/soy milk plus some coffee, dressed in my tri kit, grabbed my transition bag and headed out the door.

I was totally not worthy to ride over to transition with these rock stars... Michelle (who had a freakin' amazing race) and Nalani (who came in 1st AG!):

Transition was buzzing... unlike Wildflower where I had tons of time to take pictures and get ready before my 10:40 am wave start, there was no chit-chat other than "can I borrow that bike pump?" It was shaping up to be perfect race-day weather:

Swim

This was to be my first mass-swim start and it was crazy! I started midway back on the left side. I had plenty of clear water in front and behind me, so I felt like I had a decent cushion of space. The cannon went off, I started swimming, and immediately felt like a migrating salmon. People were passing me left and right, which was pretty frustrating, but I just kept calm and tried to get into an easy strong stroke.

It felt like I was swimming FOREVER and was sorely disappointed to see :51 on my Garmin when I finally emerged from the water. In hindsight, the problem was three-fold:

• Wearing a 2-piece kit instead of a 1-piece. I felt water going into my tri shorts, which acted like a parachute and definitely slowed me down. Next time I do a non-wetsuit swim I'm definitely wearing a 1-piece or a speed suit.
• Swimming wide. While staying to the left got me out of the heavy traffic and I was able to swim more stress-free, I definitely swam wide a few times. 
• My goggles fogged up, and when we headed back the sun was in my eyes... I could see nothing. I had to stop a couple times, tread water, lift up my goggles and try to figure out where the heck I was. This is when I usually figured out I was swimming wide :-) Note to self, use defogger in races!!

I had expected to be out of the water in :42, so a 9-minute delay was not a fun way to start the race. I had some catching up on the bike. (no idea what the dude behind me is doing... some sort of modified sun salutation??)

Transition took forever!! I've gotten reasonably quick in transition, but this race has a long road from the beach to the transition area. I also wasn't used to keeping everything in bags, so I fumbled a bit getting my shoes out and on. And my Garmin's auto multisport wasn't working right, so I was futzing around with switching it to bike mode. T1 = 5:21, a couple minutes longer than normal.

Bike

Ok, I loved this bike course. This is the one part of the race that went well. I'd hoped to finish in 3:30 and I nailed it in 3:29. Yes, most of you reading this are way faster than me, but 16 MPH avg is actually good for me. Since I'd only ridden 56 miles twice in training, I wanted to stay conservative during the entire first half on the Queen K and the ride up to Hawi, and then push it on the way back assuming the winds weren't too scary. And they weren't. While there was a bit of a crosswind in the first couple miles down from Hawi, I was able to stay in aero the entire time and start passing people.

This pic is on the road to Hawi... gorgeous route with a view of the ocean the entire way:

I gotta say, I'm so much happier on a tri bike than my old road bike. This is the first ride where a) my feet didn't go numb, and b) my piriformis and glute didn't start screaming at me after mile 35. I was totally comfortable except for my shoulders (I think the handlebars were lower on this rental bike) and I finished the ride feeling like I could have kept going, no problem.

On the final stretch in the Fairmont complex:

I suspect that if I'd actually trained on a bike that fit me, I'd be easily going faster than 16 MPH. It's amazing what the right bike can do. Interesting though, when I got off the bike I definitely felt more fatigue in my quads than normal, which did affect my run a bit.

T2 was marginally better than T1 but not by much. I got a good tip to sit down in the grass to multitask: pee while putting on my running shoes. Worked like a charm. But then I realized that I should be wearing my compression sleeves, so I took off my shoes and timing chip, put on my sleeves, then shoes and timing chip... lost a bunch of time but I think I would have been seriously hurting if I hadn't done that.

Run

Ugh... the run. This is where it all fell apart. My legs were a bit more fatigued than normal starting out, probably because it was only my 2nd time riding a tri bike. And a masochist designed the run course... it was on the golf course with a bunch of very steep short hills. 40% of the route was on grass, which was easy on the knees but I haven't run on anything but road. And of course it was hot. So I walked the aid stations and the steeper hills and tried to maintain a steady pace the rest of the time.

The expression on my face in this pic cracks me up... I must have been looking at the next steep hill and thinking, seriously, they want me to run up that?? Ha.

For the first half of the run I was pacing with a Japanese man in his mid-60s who was rockin' the run course. Slow and steady, never faltered. Totally impressed and inspired by the super-fit elders in this race! An 80-year old guy beat my time by 15 minutes. Awesome.

By mile 5 I was feeling pretty crappy and it occurred to me that I hadn't taken in any calories. So at mile 6 and 7 I grabbed a gel and started drinking Perform vs. just water. Ice in the hat and in my top kept me pretty cool. I perked up between mile 7 and 9, and then the wheels fell off the bus.

This pic sorta gives you an idea of the hill grades on this course. I'm feeling lousy but still smiling... I'm actually having a great time: 

I hadn't done a bunch of long runs in training as I was working through several injuries plus I had a nutty work & travel schedule. I was hoping that the theory of "if you can run 9 - 10 miles in training, you can run a half marathon" would hold up, but in my case it didn't. After mile 10 everything below the waist was a block of pain: lower back, feet, hips, hip flexors, you name it. There's a 3 mile stretch that I fondly call the Death March... an out & back in the only non-scenic part of the course, in the hottest part of the day. Pretty dreadful. I was walking until I realized that it hurt my feet more to walk, and then I ran. I ran until it hurt my hip flexors too much, and then I walked. Rinse and repeat.

Someone recently had posted the mantra, "I eat pain for breakfast" on their blog... that mantra kept coming to mind unbidden every time I whined and it made me laugh every time. The litany in my head during the last few miles went something like, "my feet hurt (but I eat pain for breakfast.) Oh man, my hip flexor is spasming (I eat pain for breakfast.) My lower back hurts (I eat pain for breakfast)." Funny stuff that kept me going.

I was never more happy to finish a run in my life. Total run time was 2:50... ugh!! The last 3 miles took me over 45 minutes. Crazy. Next time I do this race I'll know to train on hilly trails, not easy-grade asphalt. I see a lot of run training in my future.

So... goal time was 6:30, actual time was 7:20 (although my Garmin said 7:15. Whatever.) Needless to say, I'm totally motivated to do another 70.3 to redeem myself! I'm looking to PR by 50 minutes. Bring it on!!

Would I do this race again? Yes, it was a fantastic experience. The race was well organized, very well supported, the volunteers were great, the aid stations well stocked, and the scenery is unmatched. I think if we'd had 35 MPH crosswinds coming down from Hawi I would give a different answer, but this was a terrific, albeit hard, first HIM that I'd do again.

Ok, one more post to cover post-race fun!

In Hawaii, take 2 - Pre-race

Ok, I'm back home from a great race-cation! Finally have computer access and now must remember all the things I'd thought to write about over the course of the week. We'll focus this post on pre-race fun...

I arrived in Kona on Tuesday night and was picked up by my very kind condo-mate Robert, who drove me the 30 miles north to our condo in the Fairmont Orchid complex where grilled fish was waiting for dinner. We'd rented a place at the Fairways, which is just inside the security checkpoint on race weekend. If you do this race, I highly recommend staying at one of the several condo complexes on the Fairmont grounds. It made life so much easier.

I woke up to a blue and windless sky... perfect swim weather. I met my friend Kristen for a swim at 7 am at Hapuna Beach and the water was perfect. Maybe 80 degrees, totally calm and crystal clear. Visibility here is 200 feet, and it's fantastic to swim over coral reefs and watch the fish.

Then made the drive back down to Kona to pick up my rental bike (Cervelo P1). I'd forgotten to bring my saddle down with me, so we didn't do a fitting... so I ended up jacking with my bike fit most of the afternoon until I took it back the next morning to get it dialed in. In the end I liked renting a bike -- it saved a lot of hassle and was less expensive than airplane or TriBike Transport fees. If you go this route, just reserve early to get a good bike and components, and be sure to take measurements in all the right places!

After picking up my bike, I headed back to the airport to pick up my coach Michelle! It was so great to meet in person after 5 months of email and phone calls. We both remarked, "you look just like your pictures!" and were on our way back up to the condo. It's great how you can tell so much about someone from the way they write their blog... Michelle's just as cool as she comes across on her blog, and it was great fun to get to know her outside of the coach/athlete box. She stayed in our condo Wed night as Scott and Moana weren't coming in until the next day, so we had a lazy afternoon -- ran some errands, jacked with bike fit -- then fixed grilled chicken & papaya salad for dinner and hit the sack.

Woke up to the sound of high wind whipping through the trees... ahhh, hello wind. I was hoping to avoid meeting you this week! Michelle and I headed to Hapuna Beach at 7 am, where I got some great swim coaching and some much-needed practice with swimming in heavy chop. The water was relatively calm close to the beach, but of course Michelle said, "no, we're headed out farther to hit some rougher water." Of course. This was a confidence-building swim... definitely the most chop I've done, and really had my fingers crossed that it would be calmer on race morning!

So I thought I was in decent shape until I saw this pic of me standing next to Miss Fitness herself :-) Give me a few more years at this...

In the afternoon I took my newly fitted bike out for a spin. Into the wind. I was going downhill at 10 MPH... grrr! But check out the desolate beauty of the Queen K highway... totally cool to ride the Kona course:

The afternoon brought leftover chicken/papaya/kale salad (delish!) I ate so much healthier in Hawaii... the heat made me crave fruits and veggies, while the cold of SF always makes me want heavy carbs. 

...followed by race registration and an hour or so at the Fairmont pool, where I worked on getting my pasty-white San Francisco skin ready for the bake-fest on race day.

After getting cleaned up, it was back to the Fairmont patio for a pasta dinner with my friend Kristen and her mom. Her mom's a total rock star... a runner who did Escape from Alcatraz last year with Kristen! Now if I could just get my mom to stop freaking out that I'm doing triathlon :-) (she's getting better...)

Friday: pre-race day brought calm weather and a 20-minute run (where my toe cramped up again), bike/helmet check-in at T1 at Hapuna Beach, organizing my transition bags, dropping off bike/run transition bag at the Fairmont, and buying a technical race tee after hearing that the finisher's tee was cotton. Then the athlete pre-race meeting, where 1500 athletes gathered to hear the race announcer talk about how brutal the course would be. (Gulp.) The last event of the evening was an early, overpriced buffet dinner at the Fairmont where I ate too much, as I always do at buffets, and an early bedtime.

A few pre-race flutters were calmed by reading a few old blog posts to remind myself of why I was doing this -- I'm redefining 40 and redefining myself! How cool is this?... I never in a million years imagined I'd be doing anything like this. Reminding myself of the "why" -- and of the fact that I had a ton of business travel and other responsibilities that impacted my training -- got me into a good headspace to just go out tomorrow, enjoy the day and experience my first 70.3 without the pressure to hit certain time goals.

Right as I dozed off I heard the wind picking back up, rustling the palm leaves...

Wildflower race report

Redemption. That's the theme of this year's Wildflower Olympic race. Last year, Wildflower was my very first triathlon... ever. My very first open-water swim... ever. I'd just learned how to swim AND run a couple months prior. I got talked into it a couple days before the event by "friends" who said I'd be fine. If you've done the Wildflower course you'll know it's hilly, hot, dusty, and not terribly good for a first-time experience unless you've trained for it. But it's PERFECT if you want to set yourself up for a big fat PR the following year.

Last year's time: 4: 51:17, and 109 of 117 in my AG. Ouch. You'd have thought I did the long course. But hey, at least I finished and I wasn't last, so I met my goals.

This year I decided I'd be happy with anything under 3:30, but I secretly hoped I'd hit 3:20. That would knock 1:30:00 off last years time... a very nice large round number. I crossed the finish in 3:17:25, 39 of 107 in AG. A respectable middle-of-the-pack showing in a pack of some very strong women.

I drove down to Lake San Antonio with a friend the day before, and since most of the roads were closed for the long-course race, we didn't get to the campground until 5:30 pm. We set up our tents and unpacked, dinner was served (a HUGE catered dinner for the SF Tri Club) and then it was dark... so my plans for a quick swim or run went right out the window. I was in a rather hermit-like mood, so I burrowed into my tent pretty early and crashed out... despite the 50-some athletes in ST Tri all having a party until midnight. Thank you earplugs, blow-up mattress, foam mattress top, sheets and a very warm sleeping bag (yes, I camp in comfort.) 

The next morning we were greeted with sunshine, mild temps and a blue windless sky. It seriously could not have been a more perfect day to race. After coffee and breakfast (an almond-butter, jam and banana sandwich on a raisin muffin, if you must know), I packed up my tent and headed down to transition. Since the 40 - 44 wave didn't start until 10:40 am (yes, you read that right... it's insanely late) I warmed up, took a pic with a friend up from L.A...

... wandered around the expo, and then scoped out the swim start (look how calm the water is!):

Swim: 30:57

The water was nice, @ 65 degrees... chilly but definitely not as cold as I'd expected. The big question for me was where to start in the pack. I decided to start in the middle, but on the outside left (as everyone would be aiming towards the right after we get through the opening and I didn't want to be in the crush.) At first, this worked fine; the ladies in my AG were all pretty cordial and I didn't get beat up as I had feared.

However, my starting position kept me on the outside left, and I ended up veering a bit too wide. I was watching another woman sight rather frequently so I assumed (incorrectly) that she'd keep me on course. Lesson learned. I also had a tough time sighting on the way back, and suspect that I was too wide on the return trip as well. I think I could have cut a minute (at least) off my time by swimming in a straight line.

(Last year's swim: 56:08... pretty choppy water, had to back-stroke the entire way, inhaled a lot of water, almost DNFd. Ah, memories of my first OWS...)

T1: 3:54. Unlike last year (8:03) I didn't feel like I needed to pass out. Not entirely sure how I could have cut more time out of this... I use Tri-Slide which is AMAZING at ensuring the wetsuit peels off like a banana, threw on socks (ok, maybe I could go sockless next time), shoes, helmet, glasses, and I was off.

Bike: 1:39:21 (versus last year's 2:12:50)

The only glitch was at the very start: my race number blew off my helmet and stuck to my front wheel, where I watched it go round and round and round. When I climbed to the top of Lynch Hill I stopped to remove it, but it blew off (I thought). Turned out it just got stuck in my brake pads, so I stopped again, pulled it off, and was on my way.

Was just sent this picture of me cresting Lynch Hill and high-fiving one of my friends. Note the sticker on my front wheel:

Loved the bike this year. It's a hilly course and I'm still not Miss Speedy on the uphills, but I've gained a lot of confidence on the downhills. A few times I glanced down at my Garmin to see 36 MPH... nice. There were a few relatively flat stretches where I just dropped into aero and hammered at 20+ MPH. Much to my delight, I think I've finally found a saddle that doesn't completely kill my sitbones or girl parts, and I was pretty comfortable the entire ride.

I saw very few women in my AG, which was odd. But passed quite a few people in previous waves, which was a good sign. I got passed by a few women with 50's on their calves (I cheered them on, how awesome is that) and I passed a 75 year old woman grinding up a hill and cheered her on as well.

Nutrition felt spot-on. I mixed up my usual 250 cal bottle (150 cals of EFS plus a scoop of Hammer flavorless Sustained Energy), ate half of a Clif bar (I like chewing on something while I'm riding), and then had a Gu at mile 22 of the bike to prepare for the run. All that said, I could have used more fluids. It was starting to get warm, and I'd made the mistake of not drinking enough liquids the day before. I felt like I started the run a bit dehydrated.

T2: 2:32 (versus last year's 4:44) I was fortunate to have a spot very close to the bike entrance/exit... so I  quickly racked my bike, removed helmet, swapped shoes, and I was off. My mistake was deciding to run in my bike socks... OUCH. Big mistake. Next time I'll bike in my run socks.

Run: 1:00:41 (versus last year's 1:29:32, where I walked almost the entire run.)

This was the first time I ran off the bike feeling totally fresh. My feet (for once) weren't totally numb after my ride... I had adjusted my cleat position a few days prior and crossed my fingers that it would not harm my race. That was a great move. I ran easily out of transition, up a short flight of stairs and onto the course.

That fresh feeling lasted until 2.5 miles in... this is a HILLY run course. And by this time it was definitely heating up. Although I have to laugh... it was maybe high 70s. If I was hot on this course, I'm going to boil at Honu! But I digress... Around mile 3 I hit a hill that was a bit too long and steep, and had to walk for a bit. Grrr. Fortunately that was the only hill I walked. I remembered a hint I'd read about "snapping" feet off the ground, and when I tried that, I got a bit faster and the hills got easier. Hmm, interesting. Will need to focus a bit more on running form.

So I still didn't see anyone in my AG, and was still passing people from earlier waves. My Garmin had my average lap paces at well over 10 min/mi which was depressing, but I tried to make up time on the downhills going @ 8:30s. A cheer squad with SF Tri was at the top of the last steep hill, and one guy dressed as a cow (?? No idea why a cow) ran with all the SF Tri athletes to get them up the hill. I loved it... getting cheered on like that is a total recharger. Here I am laughing with the cow:

Once you make it up this last hill, all you have left is a very long, steep downhill... I ran down as fast as I could without killing my knees. I was surprised to finish with a 9:47 pace... all of our Garmins had the race distance at 5.93 mi, so I'm betting I would have been closer to 10:00. Overall the run was the area I struggled with the most; I was not feeling strong on the hills and I kept thinking, "if my legs are this tired on a 10k, how is a half marathon going to feel?" So I'm looking forward to some tough run training in May. That, plus making sure I go into a race well hydrated.

So... my first triathlon of the season now on the books. I feel relieved, happy to have finished a bit better than expected, and I've also regained my mojo. I'm really looking forward to the last month of HIM training.

 

South Bay Duathlon race report

I'm laying on my bed resting my tired legs, blowing my nose and sipping Airborne tea (if you drop an Airborne tablet into hot water it fizzes like a science experiment and dissolves more quickly!) Yes, a cold hit me yesterday... not fun to race with a stuffy head, but I had a good time anyway.

This was the first annual South Bay Duathlon in Morgan Hill, with only 100 racers for the international distance (5k run, 40k bike, 5k run.) A few hundred more joined for the sprint distance that started 90 minutes later. Morgan Hill is a 1.5-hour drive from San Francisco (just south of San Jose) and the race started at 7:35 -- they thankfully changed the time from 7 am when it occurred to the race organizers that it's daylight savings. Which meant my alarm was set for 3:30 body-clock time, and we arrived when it was still very dark (and quite chilly!) 

Overall it was a well-organized race; the only thing that surprised me was that there were no aid stations on the bike. I'd expected water or sports drink; they'd advertised that Hammer would be at the aid stations, but they neglected to say that the only aid station would be at mile 1 of the first run. There was water at mile 2 of the last run. While I'd brought plenty of gels, I'd only brought 1 bottle of sports drink thinking that I'd supplement with free stuff, so lesson learned. 

It was also quite chilly... upper 40s. My hands and feet went numb on the bike, so T2 was an interesting exercise to tie my running shoes with non-functional fingers. My laces came untied in mile 2 so I had to stop and retie them (again with frozen hands.) Lesson #2: put Yankz on my running shoes. I bought some last week, couldn't figure out how to put them on, and then forgot about them. Time to figure it out. And maybe bring gloves to races. I'm not sure what to do about the numb feet; they were numb for the entire second run leg. I think it was a combo of the temps and also something I haven't solved that one yet; seat maybe, or bike fit.

Lesson #3: Remember where the finish line is. I crossed the timing mat at the end, hit Stop on my Garmin and started walking... then heard people shouting "keep going!" Oops. The timing mat was for transition, and the finish line was at the other end of the parking lot. 

Overall I'm very glad I did this race; it was great to get back into the race mentality, go hard and see where I'm at fitness-wise (not where I hoped it would be, but more on that in a sec). That said, I'm not sure if I'd do this particular race again. While it was well-organized and a flat course, it had 5 loops on the bike and it was not in the more scenic part of Morgan Hill. I suppose that's good for mental training... loop 3 was my low point when I realized I had 2 more laps of monotony. Normally the spectators would keep the energy high, but not in this tiny race. The small group of spectators were just standing around, talking amongst themselves. Not cheering us all on... just looking for people they knew and only cheering for them. The rest of us made endless silent loops past uninterested bystanders until it was time to transition. Ugh. 

I'll share one entertaining vignette from the ride.  I was just starting lap 5 and feeling a bit bummed about my pace and the fact that I'd been passed by a lot of people but hadn't done much passing. It was a pretty strong field overall, and while there were only 20 women they were all solid competition. So when I lifted my head to see a woman on a bike going a bit slower than me, my competitive instinct flared up: hurray! someone to pass! I put my head down and hammer... I get closer, and closer, feeling a sense of accomplishment and renewed vigor... until I see that it's a young girl with very spindly legs setting out on her first leg of the sprint distance. Ha. I felt a bit deflated, but it gave me a chuckle. At least that helped bump up my last split. 

Anyway, switching gears, here's me and my friend Maddie before the race: 

A little backstory: Maddie has raced one triathlon in her life: a sprint back in 1998. She just bought a bike a couple months ago and just switched from cages to clipless pedals. She's been riding once a week -- pretty solid distances -- but is still learning her bike gears.  She has no computer and no idea how fast or slow she rides. And She's also only run 3 times this year. I tell you all this because while she went into the race just hoping to finish, she totally kicked my ass... coming in 3rd AG (small field, but 3rd out of 13 is still impressive.) I rolled in 10 minutes later. 

Ack!! What a crusher. Given that I've been training for 10 weeks, this was certainly disappointing. However, I do have to remember that I've been doing primarily base training and just started adding in some speed intervals 10 days ago. And as coach reminded me the other day, I'm not training for a duathlon or Olympic, I'm training for a half IM. So that helps to keep things in perspective. 

The one thing Maddie has been doing that I haven't: she just wrapped up an 8-week advanced bootcamp with Pac-West held at the Lyon St Stairs near my house, where they run up stairs holding medicine balls over their heads, among other adventures. I know strength is my weak suit, and I haven't been very diligent about it. But after seeing her performance I'm pretty motivated to dial up my strength training 2x per week. I bought a TRX a couple weeks ago but I'm not as hard on myself as when I took the class, so I may sign up for another class and/or the bootcamp (since it's 3 blocks from me.) I've been seeing improvement in my heart rate, but I lack the strength to take advantage of the extra beats I've gained. Definitely something to work on. 

So to wrap up my rambling blog post... first race of the season is done! I went in with realistic expectations (finish < 2:30) and finished in 2:31 and some change. A few minutes longer than I'd expected but certainly close enough. I took away some lessons, renewed my commitment to strength training, and am looking forward to making some solid improvements over the next 6 weeks for Wildflower. Now my assignment is to rest my legs and get over this cold! 

 

Pacific Grove race report

(previously posted on my old blog, and I'm moving it over here).

Just raced in the Pacific Grove triathlon, Olympic distance. This was my third triathlon and, unlike my first, I'm finally feeling strong and having fun with it. This year has been my "base building" year in which I learn how to swim and run... and I'm totally excited to start working on speed and hills for next season.

So... Pac Grove. The water was 59 degrees and full of kelp (they are serious when they call it the "kelp crawl!") but it turned out to be not nearly as bad than I'd anticipated (it was actually kind of fun.) I'm finally acclimated to the chill and the open water, and I'm astonishing myself at how much I'm now enjoying the swim. Finished in :38, which was about where I thought I'd be... would have been faster if there had been more open water (versus sliding myself over large kelp trees) but everyone else had to deal with the same stuff, and I ended up in the middle of the pack.

T1: 2:54... yay! Finally getting my transitions under 4 minutes. Secret tip on getting wetsuits off in lightning speed: Tri Slide. I got a tip that you can spray it right on your wetsuit (below the knees and elbows) before swimming, and it works like a charm. 

Bike was a blast. I wasn't sure if I'd like doing 4 laps on the bike, but it was a spectator-friendly course along the magnificent Nor Cal coastline. My new aero bars really helped push through the headwinds, and I was flying with the tailwind coming back. Time: 1:25

T2: 2:30. I know I can get this lower, but still happy about it. 

Run is still tough for me. This was a flat course, and while I'm feeling much stronger running off the bike after all the brick training over the past month, my feet were numb from the bike (my feet always go numb... it's not my shoes or my fit. Thinking it's my seat. Anyone else have this problem?) and my hams & glutes always hurt when I run. So I'm now just doing a lot of weight training and hoping that will strengthen things up. That said, I ran a 9 min mi which I was happy about. 

Total time: 3:06, which was about 5 minutes faster than expected.

Next up: training for my first half marathon! The Healdsburg Half is on Halloween, so everyone dresses in costumes and runs through wine country. Can't wait. Hoping this will make me a stronger runner so that I can accomplish my goal of cutting 1:20 (that's one hour, 20 minutes, which tells you how slow I was) at Wildflower in May. That was my first tri this year and I wasn't trained for it, so I am very motivated to pull out all the stops and conquer this course next year!