Well, 2 weeks later, I’m finally
getting around to my race recap of the California International Triathlon. The delay is in part due to my life being
busy and exciting, and part due to the fact that it was my first sucky
triathlon race (out of 4, who am I to complain). I’ll try to make it short and sweet, and
hopefully get back on the ball with more timely posts…but keeping up with this
whole blog thing is much more difficult than I imagined!
This was my second Olympic distance
race, after Wildflower. It was up in
Pleasanton (about 45 minutes away in the East Bay) and I was lucky enough to
have my mom and step-dad in town during the weekend of the race. The parental units did not want to wake up at
the crack of dawn to drive up to the race for me to be at transition at 5:30
am, so we got a hotel room about 20 minutes away. Such a treat!
I actually went up to Pleasanton on Saturday to cheer on some friends
who were doing the Sprint distance, so I was able to vaguely preview the
course, transition, and unfortunately, the HEAT!! Nor Cal was experiencing the heat wave of the
summer, and it hit the East Bay in full force.
I know that I’m spoiled with California weather, but I was not at all
ready to race when it was in the 90’s!
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| Camera Duty for the FNS Boys during the Sprint Race |
I knew that the swim was going to
be warm, and learned that the run was surprisingly hilly and exposed to the sun,
so I tried to mentally prepare. But what
I imagined was not even close to what I experienced on race day…ugh.
Pre-Race
Since I wasn’t at home, I swapped
my whole grain waffles for a gluten free bagel with almond butter and
honey. My mom and I headed over to the
race, and even at 5:30 in the morning, I didn’t need a sweatshirt. I knew that I was in for a hot one. Even though we were staying only 20 minutes
away from the race site, I still didn’t get to the transition area as early as
I had hoped. For a local race, it was
quite large, and the transition area was packed. I think it was due to the race being the USA
Triathlon Southwest region qualifier for Age Group Nationals (at this race, the
top 33% of each age group qualify for Nationals, as opposed to the top 10% at
other races). But maybe this is just a
more popular race. I definitely
recognized a few faces (fellow FNSers, some Coach Muddy athletes, and familiar
faces from other races), but the race brought out athletes from other areas of
the bay, and I was actually nervous because I had no idea how fast they’d be!
Swim - 31:23, 1:55/100
yds.
.bmp) |
| How I wish I felt at the end of the race! |
The water temp in Shadow Cliffs
lake was 77.xx * prior to the start.
This is the first race where I contemplated not wearing my wetsuit. I really went back and forth for quite a
while that morning, debating the pros and cons.
Ultimately I decided to wear the suit, and still question
whether that was the right decision.
Even though this was my fastest swim, it was not even close to the times
I had been clocking during my swim workouts. For some reason, I just can't get into the same rhythm that I am able to hit in the pool. Add that to the list of things to work on.
I know that I swam way to the outside of the buoys. And, because of the sun, I couldn’t spot the
turn buoys while swimming, so I had to stop to actually get my bearings and
find the yellow triangle!
T1 - 1:55
Fought a little bit with my
wetsuit, but nothing too exciting.
Bike – 1:25:21, 17.5 mph
This is where I thought I’d
really show some improvements…my training rides had been great, I was feeling
faster, and aside from one big hill, the rest of the course seemed pretty
flat. I had big expectations. Sadly, my legs just weren’t there. I felt pretty good all the way up to the top
of the hill around mile 10, but when the course started another continuous
uphill from mile 15 to the end, my legs just wouldn’t push any harder. I was pretty frustrated and also pretty
confused. I just couldn’t figure out why
I was having such a tough time. I kept
at it though and made it to T2 without any major issues.
T2 – 1:09
I saw my mom right outside of T2
and she could tell I wasn’t happy with my ride, but it was still great to see and
hear her cheer me along. I had set up a
water bottle at my transition area to grab for the run if I thought I needed
it. Well, I thought I was good, so I
left it. Hindsight is always 20/20 and I
so wish I had that bottle for those last 6.2 miles!
Run – 56:48
UGH – by far my worst run ever. I could tell as soon as I left T2 that my
legs were not happy campers. My claves
felt like they were going to explode, and within 100 yards of exiting transition,
we were thrust onto a dirt trail, completely exposed to the sun. The hills came right out of the gate, and
were short, but definitely not sweet. I
chatted with 2 other racers as we trudged along, and one mentioned that this
was tougher than Wildflower. I don’t
know if it was the heat, my fatigue, or the fact that I wasn’t expecting the
hills (there was no elevation chart on the race website) but I was in total
agreement.
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| Grimace...just let me be done!! |
In all of the races that I have
done, I honestly can’t remember a time where I walked up a hill. I may have shuffled and gone at a snail’s
pace, but I did not walk. Well, I walked
just about every hill during this race.
In looking at the graph of my pace from my Garmin, it looks like there
were about 10 – 5 per loop, and I “hiked” all but the first one. Yikes.
And the course was HOT!! There were a handful of tiny sections where
we ran under some trees, but those were few and far between. At every aid station I grabbed 2 waters, one
to drink and one to throw over my head. When
the ice cold water hit my head, it was the most amazing sensation…that lasted
all of 30 seconds. I cannot say enough
about the volunteers who were out working the water stations. They truly worked their a$$es off for us
runners. They truly couldn’t fill the
cups fast enough, and they were stuck with the sun blazing down on them, with
no chance to get a shade break. We were
definitely lucky to have them out on the course – and I think the race added an
extra station because of the heat, so the volunteers were stretched super
thin. Huge thank you!!
In the end, I was so ready to be done with the race, and was just relieved
to get my ice cold chamois towel and water.
After cheering on Mark and Nancy, I dug into the post race spread – the traditional
burritos, and some deliciously juicy peaches.
Those definitely need to be a staple at all post race buffets!
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| Finished!!! Mark, me, and Nancy |
Total – 2:56:36
AG – 13/33, OA – 49
As I read back over this post, I
definitely sound whiney…and that was not my intention. I am super grateful that I have had such
great races to start off my foray into triathlons. But knowing that I can do better makes a bad
race a little rough to take. I am definitely
using this as a learning experience, though.
The first thing that Coach asked
me at track the week after the race was “Are you feeling tired yet?” It finally made me realize that – yes, in
fact, I was! My legs were tired,
fatigued, and just not happy during the race.
And Coach’s question finally cleared up why!
Because I had already signed up
for a whole host of races before I started working with Coach, my training was
modified to fit the races I had on my calendar.
Ideally, and going forward, my races will be dependent on what my
training schedule dictates, not the other way around. With that realization, I was
(kind of) able to let go of my terrible race and focus on my next goal – Age Group
National Championships! With no races
between now and August 10, I am able to do an actual training block,
specifically for that race. I can
already see a difference in all areas and I am pumped for what’s in store.
I’ve been lucky to get in some
great runs and bike rides with new friends, get the whole tire changing thing
down (2 chances in 2 weeks – lucky me?), and catch the Vineman 70.3 bug after volunteering
this past weekend (registration day is marked on my calendar already).
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| 4th of July Firecracker 10k and Hwy 1 40 miler |
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| Thanks to Alan and Suzanne for leading the way! |
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| Vineman course round 2 - ride cut short, but I've got my tire changing down! |
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| Benefits of body marking - watching transition fill up! |
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| Lindsey, Marc and Me before Marc killed it on the race course. |
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| Hill run up Los Gatos Creek Trail to Lexington Reservoir |
Basically, life is grand, so happy
training!!
.bmp)
