Race Recap 4: California International Triathlon

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!

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.

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.

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!

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).