2010 Austin Triathlon
Ever since I had an incredibly good race at The Austin Triathlon in 2007, I've been wanting to go back and take another crack at it. All things considered, everything went very well today and I had a good race. It's really really hard to compare my performance now to that of three years ago and not be a twinge disappointed. It was basically the same course (slightly different run) and I was about 15 minutes faster overall three years ago. I was training for a half Ironman at the time, though and I was super in shape and just had a crazy good day that day. What can you do? For where I am now as an athlete (and a mom) I'm really happy with my race this year.
Pre-Race
I got up early and headed down to the race site and Roger and Emmaline slept in a bit and came down later and met up with me. I arrived a few minutes later than I wanted and then left my wetsuit in the car so I had to run back (luckily I hadn't made it too far from the car). When I arrived I had about 20 minutes to get all my stuff set up before transition was closing at 6:40. "No worries," I told myself, "I can set up a transition in under 15 minutes!" As it happens, it took me about 10 minutes. After that I hung around and waited, listening to music on my iPhone until Roger and Emmaline showed up about 25 minutes before my wave went off. At one point it started to rain, but immediate stopped and I was relieved that the bike course wouldn't be wet. Before it was time for my wave, I made one last bathroom stop, squeezed myself into my wetsuit and headed down to the swim start.
Swim
The 75 degree water feet colder than I anticipated and I was glad to have my wetsuit. It was a deep water start and we were in the water for over a minute before the gun went off so the wetsuit was also a help there. A guy on a paddleboard told us he would be leading our wave, then we were off.
My wave was pretty big (66 people evidently) but it wasn't rough at all. I was right along the front but didn't get kicked or hit and nobody swam over the top of me or anything. A clump of probably 4-5 girls popped off the front right behind the paddle board guy and then another clump of 3-4 of us were a bit behind that. I could still see paddle board guy for quite awhile, all the way to the turnaround, but then I lost sight of him and the leading clump. There were some fast girls out there.
My swim felt good. Pretty strong, but not super strong. I was a little frustrated by a few things during the swim. First, I kept pulling to the right, which I've never done before. I don't know if it was the wetsuit or just something I've begun lately, but it was making me crazy and I kept having to correct my course. It also made drafting nearly impossible because I kept losing the girl I was trying to draft off of, then I'd have to try to catch back up to her because I'd be way off to the right. Plus she was hardly kicking so there wasn't really a nice stream of bubbles to follow.
I was pleased that I made my buoy turns so well. I dropped several people at the buoys and that always feels good. The way out felt stronger than the way back. The way back felt choppy and long and I kept wondering if I was ever going to be finished swimming. My wetsuit began chafing at my neck and I was coughing somewhat from having been sick the week before. It's pretty hard to cough and swim!
When I finally reached the end and started climbing up the ramp, I was totally dizzy and one of the awesome volunteers grabbed me and hauled me out of the water. I thanked him profusely as several other volunteers unzipped my wetsuit. I looked down at my watch and saw that I was under 30 minutes which was really all that mattered to me.
T1
My bike was racked fairly close to swim in (which was also run out). This wasn't my choice. Being next to bike out is much much preferred. I got my wetsuit down around my hips, found my spot and started to take my wetsuit off the rest of the way. This effort was hampered by the giant, huge, annoying LAME chip we had for this race. It was enormous and very irritating and was completely caught in my wetsuit. I spent entirely too long getting the wetsuit off my leg (It would have been faster to take off the chip strap, get the wetsuit off and put it back on, but I wasn't thinking clearly).
I finally grabbed my helmet, sunglasses and bike and trotted through dirt and grass on my way out. Then it started POURING rain. I mean, it was really coming down.
I trotted some more with my bike. And more… I felt like it was taking forever to get to the mount line. Finally I reached the mount line where I tried to brush my feet off a bit, but it was futile and then my hands were all dirty so I wiped them on my shorts which I realized were all bunched up from being under my wetsuit and I didn't have sunblock on the now-exposed area so I tried to pull them down.
It was a long T1.
Bike
So it's pouring rain and I'm on the bike. I wouldn't have minded but I was a little worried about it being slippery. I took the first lap fairly conservatively, especially on the downhill segments and turns. Most of the turns were complete u-turns because the course was basically three out and backs. (And then we did that three times.) Finally when I was starting the second lap, the rain stopped, but the damage was already done. The roads were full of puddles and very wet.
Then the sun came out and it got very hot and steamy and the roads were beginning to dry off. By the time I started my third lap, the roads were fairy dry and I was able to go a little harder.
Otherwise, the bike was uneventful and I felt fairly strong out there. I managed to make my goal of 1:30 for the bike so I was pretty happy about that. I ate and drank most of what I planned (thanks three years ago me for writing such a detailed race report with what I ate/drank so I could just duplicate it this year!). And very importantly, I managed to not crash or get a flat tire in the rain.
T2
The run back to transition felt shorter than the run out so that was nice. I made it back to my spot and grabbed my running shoes, race number belt and visor. I started to head out and realized I forgot my gu so I went back and got it and stuffed it in my pocket. Then my race number belt felt off and I had to reefed the strap, which was annoying and cost me some time.
Run
I was feeling really happy that my swim and bike were both where I wanted them to be, but I was feeling sort of tired and mentally I wasn't sure I wanted to do an entire 10k. The sun was out in full force and it was still steamy and getting hotter. I hit mile marker 1 and looked down at my watch and saw that I ran around 9:30 for the first mile. That was a little fast, but made me feel better since I perceived I was running much slower. I took water at all the water stops and just tried to stay nice and relaxed with good form and high turnover.
Eventually I realized I was leapfrogging a big with a lady in a Tough Cookies jersey so I pulled up along side her and we exchanged names and agreed to run together. So Susan and I are running together and we kept each other going for quite awhile. I was glad to have her there even if we were working so hard we couldn't say much. I enjoyed seeing Roger and Emmaline on the course and they provided a lot of momentum for me to keep going.
With a few miles left, my new running buddy Susan started to falter and told me to go on ahead. I told her I wasn't going to do that and she could do it. She walked a minute and began to run again. From that point on, we were both faltering somewhat. The spectators were really encouraging. I know, standing there saying "You're doing great!" may not feel sincere the 143rd time you say it, but it really really does help (so extra thanks to all the spectators and volunteers with words of encouragement).
When we had about two miles left, I started feeling like I was running out of energy and I was going to bonk. I thought about the gu in my pocket, but I realized if I took it, it wouldn't make a difference, I'd be done before it kicked in. So I just focused on getting through it and hoped I had fueled enough on the bike. It was so sunny and so hot and my heart rate just kept climbing and I felt so tired. I just wanted to be done but I kept plodding along.
With less than a mile to go, another Tough Cookie team member caught up to us and encouraged Susan and they took off. I did my best to keep up, but they really kicked it up and I had nothing left. She never looked back and I never saw her again. I felt a little let down, especially since I really felt like I offered encouraging words when she wanted to start walking. So I sucked it up and gave up everything I could for the last little bit.
I felt somewhat emotional at the finish. I was so relieved to be done, but also really happy I met my goals. Roger gave me a hug and I wandered around feeling completely zonked. I left everything out there.
My goals were under 30 on the swim (check!) under 1:30 on the bike (check!) and under 1:05 for the run (check!) My transitions were longer than I would have liked, but that really couldn't be helped, I don't think. All in all, a hard day but a good day.
Total time - 3:09:59
36/66 in age group
173/296 women
1500 M swim - 29:20 1:57/M
T1 - 4:23
40k bike - 1:28:51 16.7 mph
T2 - 3:15
10k run - 1:04:09 10:21/mi
Pre-Race
I got up early and headed down to the race site and Roger and Emmaline slept in a bit and came down later and met up with me. I arrived a few minutes later than I wanted and then left my wetsuit in the car so I had to run back (luckily I hadn't made it too far from the car). When I arrived I had about 20 minutes to get all my stuff set up before transition was closing at 6:40. "No worries," I told myself, "I can set up a transition in under 15 minutes!" As it happens, it took me about 10 minutes. After that I hung around and waited, listening to music on my iPhone until Roger and Emmaline showed up about 25 minutes before my wave went off. At one point it started to rain, but immediate stopped and I was relieved that the bike course wouldn't be wet. Before it was time for my wave, I made one last bathroom stop, squeezed myself into my wetsuit and headed down to the swim start.
Swim
The 75 degree water feet colder than I anticipated and I was glad to have my wetsuit. It was a deep water start and we were in the water for over a minute before the gun went off so the wetsuit was also a help there. A guy on a paddleboard told us he would be leading our wave, then we were off.
My wave was pretty big (66 people evidently) but it wasn't rough at all. I was right along the front but didn't get kicked or hit and nobody swam over the top of me or anything. A clump of probably 4-5 girls popped off the front right behind the paddle board guy and then another clump of 3-4 of us were a bit behind that. I could still see paddle board guy for quite awhile, all the way to the turnaround, but then I lost sight of him and the leading clump. There were some fast girls out there.
My swim felt good. Pretty strong, but not super strong. I was a little frustrated by a few things during the swim. First, I kept pulling to the right, which I've never done before. I don't know if it was the wetsuit or just something I've begun lately, but it was making me crazy and I kept having to correct my course. It also made drafting nearly impossible because I kept losing the girl I was trying to draft off of, then I'd have to try to catch back up to her because I'd be way off to the right. Plus she was hardly kicking so there wasn't really a nice stream of bubbles to follow.
I was pleased that I made my buoy turns so well. I dropped several people at the buoys and that always feels good. The way out felt stronger than the way back. The way back felt choppy and long and I kept wondering if I was ever going to be finished swimming. My wetsuit began chafing at my neck and I was coughing somewhat from having been sick the week before. It's pretty hard to cough and swim!
When I finally reached the end and started climbing up the ramp, I was totally dizzy and one of the awesome volunteers grabbed me and hauled me out of the water. I thanked him profusely as several other volunteers unzipped my wetsuit. I looked down at my watch and saw that I was under 30 minutes which was really all that mattered to me.
T1
My bike was racked fairly close to swim in (which was also run out). This wasn't my choice. Being next to bike out is much much preferred. I got my wetsuit down around my hips, found my spot and started to take my wetsuit off the rest of the way. This effort was hampered by the giant, huge, annoying LAME chip we had for this race. It was enormous and very irritating and was completely caught in my wetsuit. I spent entirely too long getting the wetsuit off my leg (It would have been faster to take off the chip strap, get the wetsuit off and put it back on, but I wasn't thinking clearly).
I finally grabbed my helmet, sunglasses and bike and trotted through dirt and grass on my way out. Then it started POURING rain. I mean, it was really coming down.
I trotted some more with my bike. And more… I felt like it was taking forever to get to the mount line. Finally I reached the mount line where I tried to brush my feet off a bit, but it was futile and then my hands were all dirty so I wiped them on my shorts which I realized were all bunched up from being under my wetsuit and I didn't have sunblock on the now-exposed area so I tried to pull them down.
It was a long T1.
Bike
So it's pouring rain and I'm on the bike. I wouldn't have minded but I was a little worried about it being slippery. I took the first lap fairly conservatively, especially on the downhill segments and turns. Most of the turns were complete u-turns because the course was basically three out and backs. (And then we did that three times.) Finally when I was starting the second lap, the rain stopped, but the damage was already done. The roads were full of puddles and very wet.
Then the sun came out and it got very hot and steamy and the roads were beginning to dry off. By the time I started my third lap, the roads were fairy dry and I was able to go a little harder.
Otherwise, the bike was uneventful and I felt fairly strong out there. I managed to make my goal of 1:30 for the bike so I was pretty happy about that. I ate and drank most of what I planned (thanks three years ago me for writing such a detailed race report with what I ate/drank so I could just duplicate it this year!). And very importantly, I managed to not crash or get a flat tire in the rain.
T2
The run back to transition felt shorter than the run out so that was nice. I made it back to my spot and grabbed my running shoes, race number belt and visor. I started to head out and realized I forgot my gu so I went back and got it and stuffed it in my pocket. Then my race number belt felt off and I had to reefed the strap, which was annoying and cost me some time.
Run
I was feeling really happy that my swim and bike were both where I wanted them to be, but I was feeling sort of tired and mentally I wasn't sure I wanted to do an entire 10k. The sun was out in full force and it was still steamy and getting hotter. I hit mile marker 1 and looked down at my watch and saw that I ran around 9:30 for the first mile. That was a little fast, but made me feel better since I perceived I was running much slower. I took water at all the water stops and just tried to stay nice and relaxed with good form and high turnover.
Eventually I realized I was leapfrogging a big with a lady in a Tough Cookies jersey so I pulled up along side her and we exchanged names and agreed to run together. So Susan and I are running together and we kept each other going for quite awhile. I was glad to have her there even if we were working so hard we couldn't say much. I enjoyed seeing Roger and Emmaline on the course and they provided a lot of momentum for me to keep going.
With a few miles left, my new running buddy Susan started to falter and told me to go on ahead. I told her I wasn't going to do that and she could do it. She walked a minute and began to run again. From that point on, we were both faltering somewhat. The spectators were really encouraging. I know, standing there saying "You're doing great!" may not feel sincere the 143rd time you say it, but it really really does help (so extra thanks to all the spectators and volunteers with words of encouragement).
When we had about two miles left, I started feeling like I was running out of energy and I was going to bonk. I thought about the gu in my pocket, but I realized if I took it, it wouldn't make a difference, I'd be done before it kicked in. So I just focused on getting through it and hoped I had fueled enough on the bike. It was so sunny and so hot and my heart rate just kept climbing and I felt so tired. I just wanted to be done but I kept plodding along.
With less than a mile to go, another Tough Cookie team member caught up to us and encouraged Susan and they took off. I did my best to keep up, but they really kicked it up and I had nothing left. She never looked back and I never saw her again. I felt a little let down, especially since I really felt like I offered encouraging words when she wanted to start walking. So I sucked it up and gave up everything I could for the last little bit.
I felt somewhat emotional at the finish. I was so relieved to be done, but also really happy I met my goals. Roger gave me a hug and I wandered around feeling completely zonked. I left everything out there.
My goals were under 30 on the swim (check!) under 1:30 on the bike (check!) and under 1:05 for the run (check!) My transitions were longer than I would have liked, but that really couldn't be helped, I don't think. All in all, a hard day but a good day.
Total time - 3:09:59
36/66 in age group
173/296 women
1500 M swim - 29:20 1:57/M
T1 - 4:23
40k bike - 1:28:51 16.7 mph
T2 - 3:15
10k run - 1:04:09 10:21/mi
Comments
Post a Comment