Race Report: LEADMAN TEMPE

me, Colleen, Amber

Finally! The first (real) race of the season! I couldn't be more excited to get this party started! And a party it was. My favorite kind of party... (Although the friends I was with might argue that I was doing anything but partying. But to each their own...)

I had been on a blogging roll for a while but then Coach M decided it's time to get serious. So she upped my running volume and intensity. Which inevitably has two consequences: 

1. I fall apart physically 

2. I fall apart mentally

Not a good combination. This means that I (sometimes quite literally) crawl into bed at night and am done with the world. No time for any extracurricular activities such as blogging. So don't expect to hear from me too often in the next few weeks either. On top of that I wasn't too thrilled to be tapering for this race, so M basically said something to the effect of: I am going to make sure you will be really ready to taper for St. George... Oh boy! 

But rest assured that 

a) No matter how difficult it might seem to make dinner and vacuum the floor, I realize how incredibly blessed I am to be doing what I love! 

b) I refuse to make any compromises when it comes to the kind of mother I want to be to my boys. I might pass on playing tag or soccer at times and rather watch but I will not put them in front of a movie just so I can relax. 

Wait. I digress. This was supposed to be a race report... 

Travel 

I got spoiled big time this race. I had four friends from Utah drive down to Flagstaff, pick me up, and together we went on for another 2.5 hours until we reached Tempe. Coach's Suburban fit all of us nicely and our bikes enjoyed an awesome set-up in the small trailer we were pulling:

Amber had found a great house for all of us to stay at. 4 bedrooms, pool, hot tub. None of us were ready to leave after the weekend. 

Pre-Race

The most important things before a race are good food and rest. There was plenty of both. There was also a flat (tubular) tire on our way to the Expo and someone was about to lose it because someone knows better than to borrow race wheels. Coachie and TriSports to the rescue! Thanks, guys! 

lunch at Encounter

But by Saturday morning I was getting antsy. Someone can only sit around doing nothing for so long. So I called up my friend, JL, and he came by in his... Porsche! (If I had known he was driving the car of all (German) cars, I would've called him up a lot earlier!) Because what is better than chatting with a triathlon veteran, picking up some pre-race excitement by watching Collegiate Nationals, and jumping into a beautiful outdoor pool for some laps? I can't think of much... 

Then it was time to pack the bags, get the bike ready and checked in, listen to the pre-race meeting, and... eat more food! Or not. I wasn't particularly hungry and someone can only eat out so often on a student's budget, so I opted out of Chili's and called up my Flagstaff buddy, PB, who happens to own a condo in Tempe. I walked over to sit on his couch and, whaddyaknow, some of his other friends showed up. Including Dean Harper, triathlon legend and first winner of the famous Wildflower Triathlon. It was a blast talking to them and time went by way too fast. 

Race Morning

Race morning was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky and the promise of a hot sun shining down on us during the bike and run. My kind of day! 

Tempe Town Lake at sunrise

I have 3 rules (now that I think about it) that I try to follow while in the transition area and getting ready for the race: 

1. Talk to as many old friends as possible and make some new friends! This is, after all, the best part of racing! 

2. Keep your head down. No matter how tempting, do not look around and check out all of the other girls. There will inevitably be plenty of chicks that looks way fitter than you, have way nicer gear than you, and seem way more confident than you. This doesn't matter! You are here to race your own race and get the very best out of yourself. Everything else is out of your control anyway. 

3. Get it all done. Make sure you are ready by the time you need to jump into the water. Meaning: you are warmed up, transition is laid out perfectly, you are familiar with all of the exits and entrances to transition, you are hydrated and well-fueled. (No wonder I sometimes feel the urge to take a nap before the gun even goes off...)

The great thing about Leadman is its unique distances. Overall it took just about as long as a half-ironman. But both the swim (2.5k) and bike (70mi) were longer than usual with the run (8.1mi) quite a bit shorter. I was really looking forward to this format and felt very little pressure to perform a certain way or hit certain times! I was really just excited! But a very small part of me was also wondering if (after a 7-month break and many years of racing) I still have what it takes to dig deep and enjoy the suffering. 

The Swim 

My first time swimming in Tempe Town Lake! I had heard many horror stories about the water but - to my great surprise - it was... just fine! Honestly, while I am actually racing, I don't care one bit what I swim in. The reclaimed water in Lake Las Vegas seemed just fine to me and this was probably a step up! There are certainly other things to worry about when it comes to my swim...

It was great to be lining up together with Colleen, Amber, and Laura. Nothing like some good friends to spend the last few minutes with before the gun goes off. 

I lined up center-left but last second I decided to avoid all trouble and move over to the very left. Which made for a very calm start since I was all by myself but didn't turn out to be such a great decision. After a few hundred yards I moved over to the right a bit to maybe catch some draft but that didn't happen (as usual). The next 40 minutes were rather uneventful (luckily!) except that, no matter how hard I tried, I was always way too far left of the buoys and everyone else. It was really starting to bug me but at least it kept me somewhat occupied. I feel like my main issues during the swim are that 

1. I seem to have one speed and one speed only. Unfortunately, it's not a very fast one! I just don't seem to be able to push myself in the swim nearly as much as I do on the bike and run. It's like I am warming up for the 'real race'. 

2. Staying focused. Every 5 minutes I force myself to focus on my stroke and turn-over which lasts about 4.8 seconds and then I am back to Lala-land. 

Time: 40:50 

Pace: 1:38

3rd fastest swim* 

Well, turns out I just looked at my swim time in detail for the first time and I am kind of pleased! That's not too bad for me! But there is always lots of room for improvement! 

T1

Despite what the following pictures might suggest, I actually had a rather fast transition. Even M was impressed. 

Time: 1:15

2nd fastest T1*

It wasn't very smooth though. At least not the take-your-wetsuit-off-as-fast-as-posible part. During the last few minutes of the swim it's very helpful to mentally prepare for transition and visualize what you will be doing. Which is what I did. But I think I forgot the take-your-wetsuit-off part. As usual, the wetsuit strippers were a little too close to the swim exit for my liking and by the time I had realized that I should unzip and get out of the sleeves (d'uh!), I had already passed most of them. I have gone back and forth on this topic but I now think that, in general, the strippers are super helpful, so I stopped in front of the last guy and got out of my sleeves as fast as possible. 

Then I (basically) threw myself on the ground (because that is what you do) and he ripped the darn thing off. It also looks like I had a nice little chat with him while sitting there but I can assure you that that was not the case. 

I went through the rest of T1 smoothly and, considering the above and the fact that I do put on my bike shoes in transition (You are welcome to argue with me about this one but I have already made up my mind.), I was happy  it took me less than an eternity to finally be getting on my bike!  

The Bike

Well. What can I say. It's my favorite. (Excuse me while I am looking at results...) Wait a second! It also appears to be my weakest leg. Really?!? Here I am thinking I am such a strong biker when really I am not. Ha! I think I need to have a talk with Coach. 

Time: 3:16:07

Pace: 20.8 mph

8th fastest bike*

I could argue that the super flat bike course didn't suit me but that would really just be an excuse. The truth is: I felt pretty strong and consistent on the bike. What we all thought would be a nightmare of a bike course didn't turn out so horribly after all. 4 laps with 5 out-and-backs each makes for a whole lot of cornering and u-turns. Put 1,200 racers on that course for part of our 70 miles and you are in big trouble (i.e. in somebody's draft) the second you lose focus or put your head down to take a drink. Which is exactly what happened to me. By the time I looked back up, I found myself too close to the guy in front of me. So I had no choice but to put the hammer down and passed him. A few seconds later an official comes by on the back of a motorcycle, looks at my number, and writes something down. Busted! I was so mad! In all my years of racing I have had one penalty back in 2004 and, despite trying so hard to be legal on this crowded course, I just got my second one. Or so I thought... I tried to keep my head in the game and not let it affect me too much but I was struggling for a little bit out there. And then I got over it because 

a. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it. So I might as well just put my head down and bike even harder. 

b. It was probably a justified penalty. I was trying hard but it was difficult and I could've been in the guy's draft for a few too many seconds before noticing and making the pass. Suck it up! 

Once they posted all of the penalties after the race, I found out that I did not get a penalty after all. Ha! Wish I'd never seen that official taking notes... 

Other highlights include: 

* Seeing friends out on the course working hard

* Running into a cone for no reason on a straightaway 

* Getting to bike more than just 56 (and less than 112) miles

* Seeing my family cheer for me toward the end of the bike

* Pouring water all over myself and having it dry off within a few minutes

T2

What can I say? I had the fastest T2 (1:09) by more than 10 seconds! I know it doesn't matter much but, hey, I'll take it. It's the small things... Oh, and that includes running toward the bike rather than run exit while the volunteers are staring into space.

The Run

Ironically, this has got to be the highlight of the day. It didn't seem so during the race for multiple reasons: 

1. Running sucks. Ha! Just kidding. But more often than not my running workouts suck. 

2. After passing one girl early on, there wasn't another girl in sight until the very end and she turned out to be a relay runner. 

3. While I love to run on single track and up hills, I dislike running on a seemingly endless canal dirt path knowing I have to run all the way back on the other side of it. 

4. I chose not to wear a watch thinking there would be mile markers. Wrong! 

5. I don't stop while I race. Not even to pee. But then, with about 2 miles to go, this pesky little rock gets in my shoe and won't budge. Running sockless, I knew I was in trouble. So I stopped eventually to get it out. Only - it was still in there. So I took the shoe off again trying to get it out. Still there. Well, time to suck it up! Later it turns out that it was actually a rather large sharp rock that was stuck to the bottom of my shoe and had poked through the sole. 

6. I am blaming the rock for not running under an hour as I had hoped. I was 17 seconds shy of my goal. 

However, believe it or not, I had a blast on the run! There was a little bit of everything and (except for on that canal road) the miles went by rather quickly. Karl and the boys were right before the finish line and I got to high-five both of them! 

In hindsight the run was the highlight of the day because I ended up with the fastest amateur run split! Who would've thought? Certainly not me! But I will take it!

Max and Noah met me at the finish line and I was able to bribe them with some Gatorade to get their picture taken with me:

Here is to hoping we made Coachie proud:

Colleen, Coach Heath, me

Congratulations to 

Coach for showing us how it's done,

Colleen on an awesome 2nd place in her AG, 

Amber on zipping through the field on her bike, 

Laura for toughing it out on a rough day with a smile! 

* out of all amateur women


PS: I am joining many, many others in dedicating my next 26.2 miles of running to all of those affected by the Boston Bombing. My heart goes out to each and every one of them.