PS: Now that I am out of commission for a couple of days (and hopefully no longer...) due to a bad head and chest cold, it looks like I have no more excuses not to write my race report. I mean, it's been like 10 days! And I am not apologizing for its length (or content) this time. Happy reading!
PPS: Ok. Update: I have had this cold for two weeks now and it must've been killing my brain cells as well or at least my desire to write anything semi-coherent. But better late than never!
my favorite bike course!
The Outcome
(For those who only care about numbers...)
It looks like I had the 19th fastest* swim, the 5th fastest bike, and the 7th fastest run in my age group. Which got me to the finish line in 4th place and as the 6th female amateur! So, on paper that looks like a fantastic result! And it is. I am stoked to have made it on the podium (which is Top 5 here) in this race for the 3rd year in a row. But I am not so pleased about what happened on the last 2 miles of the run...
* Pretty sure the term fastest is not appropriate here!
Pre-Race Happenings
This was my first time traveling to a big race (or maybe even any race for that matter) completely on my own. Not my favorite thing to do but it's how things turned out and I was confident I could handle it. Luckily, it's only a 3.5 hour drive for me and I was able to still bring the kids to school Friday morning and be at pick-up on Monday afternoon*. Not bad considering this was a World Championship!
*Don't worry. We did not leave the kids at school all weekend. Karl took great care of them. He always does.
I knew what to expect and tried to keep things as simple as possible. This race is close to a logistical nightmare and it's easy to find yourself at the starting line on Sunday morning feeling exhausted already. In order to avoid that: No pre-race meeting/dinner Friday night. No pre-race swim in Lake Las Vegas Saturday morning. No trips to the grocery store and/or restaurants. I brought my commuter bike and all my own food. (Except for the ice cream on Sunday night, of course.)
I know. I know. How boring! But besides $20 at the bike shop, and the ice cream - I managed to spend no money all weekend! Now, considering our grad student budget, that is a nice success. Well, who am I kidding. I also paid $350 back in May when I qualified for this race. Yikes! I really need to reconsider this hobby. But - thanks to my very kind and generous friend, David Bednar* - gas and hotel was covered. Wow! I am one blessed girl and his help made this trip so much easier!
*No. Not David Bednar, the Apostle. But David Bednar, the Criminal Defense Lawyer. If you need one of those, I highly recommend him. But I hope you don't.
Friday afternoon, just in the nick of time, I bike over to the expo to pick up my race packet. Except that there isn't any expo. The whole place is deserted. I start to panic and check my watch. 3pm. The expo and packet pick-up aren't supposed to close for another hour. So I walk up to the big tent when someone barks over a microphone: "Hey! Lady with the red shirt! You need to get out of here now! This place is closed down!" Me: ??? Loud guy: "There is a severe storm warning and nobody is allowed out here." I look around. Clouds. No thunder or lightening as far as I can tell. Slight breeze. Interesting. He orders me into the cultural center across the plaza and, when I go the opposite direction to fetch my bike first, he gets mad and I worry he is going to confiscate my bike. I realize that IRONMAN just wants to make sure everyone is safe but I think it's a bit overkill and roll my eyes. Mistake. Now he is lecturing me about 'attitude'. Over the microphone. Sweet.
A few long lines - where are all these people coming from suddenly? - and many nice volunteers later, I have the packet and am swimming in the cultural center's nice outdoor pool. In the sun. For free. Go figure.
love those guys and girls up there!
Saturday I spent half the day trying to get my bike issues taken care of. Turns out replacing the chain and front derailleur cable wasn't enough. I also needed a new cable for the rear derailleur. I learned not to rely on Ironman Bike Tech Services (they are simply way too busy and therefore not very thorough) and eventually found The Bike Shop in Henderson and they took great care of me. Phew!!! That was my biggest worry of the day. I may not know a lot about bikes but I know when something's not right. While the bike was in the shop, I went over to the finish/T2 to drop off my running gear bag, to watch the Pro Press Conference, and to take another short dip in the pool. I ran into a few people I know which could be super nice since I was a little lonely. But, unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to escape the Utah Triathlon Drama. Even though I don't even live in Utah anymore and have tried very hard to stay away from it all. I did a good job of not letting it affect me but it's sad nonetheless.
In the late afternoon I made the trip out to the start/T1 to drop off my bike. It had been raining a bit earlier but I was certain it wasn't going to rain anymore. Somehow I figured it was like monsoon season in Flagstaff where it rains in the afternoon but hardly ever at night and in the morning. Plus, this is the desert after all! So I didn't take any precautions whatsoever.
In case you are wondering if I got a new bike, the answer is: No. I wish! I am just borrowing this bike from a super nice guy in Utah who is not using it this season. My Guru has a frame crack and is being repaired in Canada. Unfortunately, it is an aluminum frame and they can repair those. I was really hoping to be able to upgrade to carbon but it doesn't look like that's happening anytime soon. Despite all of its issues, I love this Fezzari T5. We spent weeks in early July trying to make different bikes work for me but nothing fit at all, so I am very happy with and grateful for this set up! (Wheels are courtesy of Coachie, as usual...)
Race Morning
I woke up to the sound of rain. Haha. That's really funny. This can't actually be rain. We are in the desert!!! I look out the window. Well, it's indeed rain. Must be light sprinkle that's going to stop any minute. The light sprinkle turned into quite the steady rain by the time I left the hotel and didn't let up until the end of the bike ride. Nice!
The days leading up to the race, with everyone talking and writing about how they had focused on heat and hill training in preparation for this race, it hit me that I really was not well prepared for this race! We purposefully placed all focus on the Utah Half two weeks before Vegas for the following reasons: 1. Depending on who showed up and how I performed I could actually win some money! 2. I hadn't raced such a flat and fast course in a long time and I wanted to go after a new PR. 3. I performed well in Vegas the last two years (5th and 3rd in AG) and I didn't want the pressure to have to do just as well or even better this year! Last year took a lot out of me physically and especially mentally. It could've been the heat but I think more so it was focused preparation and the pressure that comes with it. This year I didn't even think about Vegas until the Utah Half was over which only gave me about 10 days to worry about and even less to train for it. I think this approach worked well for me this time. While I may not have been as physically prepared for the course and (expected) heat as I would've liked, my head was in a much better place. And we all know how important that is!
So I figured I would be just fine in the rain. I wasn't thrilled about it but mostly because I didn't want to sit in it for more than an hour before our wave would go off. That just didn't seem like fun. But I got over it. At least I hadn't done any heat training for nothing! (Of course we all know I was hoping for conditions similar to or even hotter than last year but I know better than to hope for a certain kind of weather on race day!)
swim start
I got a ride to the start with my friends, Jen and Wes, from Utah and we arrived only shortly before transition closed. Which was fine for once because I didn't want to be in the rain longer than I had to and everything was basically set up already. They closed transition at 6:15 and then there is nothing to do but sit in the rain for more than an hour. No place to warm up and not even any access to port-a-potties. This is my least favorite part of big races. I realize that it helps the flow of things but it's just plain annoying. Especially when you need to go to the bathroom... Good thing I ran into Rebecca Travis who is always a great competitor and fun to talk to! Thanks for the chat!
The Swim - 32:38 (19th)
Well, what's new? The last 3 years in a row I have come out around 32 minutes and in about 20th. You'd think I would've made some progress in my swimming but apparently that's not the case. In fact, this is the slowest I have swum here. Looks like I was off to a great start! Ha.
The water was a nice relief from the rain and I lined up front and center. Not sure why, except that that's what I did last year and it worked well. I was off to a better start than ever here and I am happy to report that there was no fist fighting this time. Just like at Leadman Tempe back in April, I always found myself way too far to the left. No matter how hard I tried to go over to the right, I was still too far left. Ugh! I am starting to think that my right arm is just enough stronger to cause me to veer left constantly. Something needs to be done about this. At least I didn't lose focus as much as usual. I just kept thinking: Swim to the right. Further to the right! You are still too far too the left. GO RIGHT! It was a blast.
the usual extremely unflattering swim exit pic
After the extremely long and super muddy run around the back end of the lake and into T1, I was actually (unlike last year) able to find my bike in no-time! As always, there was a big traffic jam on the endless ramp out of transition, and every year I think: This is a race, people! Could we at least be jogging out of here!?! I finally hopped on my wet bike and the rainy fun was about to begin!
The Bike - 2:39:16 (4th off the bike)
The bike course was slightly different than last year with an extra little loop at the beginning and a few changes at the end. From what I've heard it was slightly long (somewhere between half a mile and a mile). I was really hoping to bike under 2:40 and I still managed to do so! Only just barely under but I'll take it!
have i mentioned that i love this bike course?
I rode without numbers this year. All I had was a cheap watch. That wasn't really part of the plan but seeing how I have an ancient Garmin that can't handle the rain, I decided to leave it at the hotel. It wasn't a tough decision and I was excited to solely rely on feel! Today numbers didn't matter anyway. I was here to give it my very best and race my competition.
time for a little (wet and mushy) snack
I was loving the rain. Much more so than I thought I would! I am definitely not a fan of cold rain but a warm 2+ hour shower is apparently just my thing on the bike! It was awesome. I was a teensy bit worried about the wet roads but kept telling myself the following:
- Some of the other girls are going to be nervous, so use this to your advantage.
- You are German! You spent half of your childhood and youth riding around in the rain. You got this.
- Remember what Timo Bracht just said in an interview: Completely wet roads aren't nearly as treacherous as partially wet roads. I should be good then!
- This quote:
I guess I was feeling pretty good on the bike. I remember thinking (during the first half): Wow. This is what it feels like when you are tapered and your legs don't feel like lead! I guess I passed quite a few girls on the first half of the bike. Like 17 of them. Because, as it turns out, I was in 2nd for quite a while. I didn't know that but I figured I was riding fairly well. The thought did occur to me that maybe I was riding a little too well and would have to pay for it later on the run but I was going to deal with that then. Now I was just biking my little heart out in the rain.
The last 10 miles of this ride always suck. For me, at least. I've got two possible explanations:
1. It's the flatest part of the whole ride before a slight uphill at the end. I love hills and after all that fun climbing along Lake Mead I get excited for the run and forget to put the pedal to the metal when it's flat. Or something like that. Who knows.
2. Maybe I am too tired at this point? Or am lacking calories/water? Or am just plain bored?
Ok. That wasn't really two legitimate explanations but fact is: With about 5 miles to go I got re-passed by two girls in my age group. Not good. Especially since it was rather easy to pass them way back there. Where are they getting all of this energy from out of the sudden? One of the girls was my friend, Katie Kyme, who looked at me and asked rather concerned: Are you ok? Oh boy. I knew I was in trouble then. Did I look like I was dying? I felt fine but apparently was riding at a snail's pace. Good thing that ride was going to be over soon!!!
I am sure you can see in this profile which was the fun bike part and which the boring:
The Run - 1:34:21
And I am sure you can also see that this run was going to be one heck of a sufferfest! The sun had come out just in time to heat up the run course for us. So after having been wet for 3+ hours we finally dried off we were now pouring water and ice over ourselves in order to keep cool. On the bike I got a bit nervous about running in my new and now wet racing shoes without socks but that turned out to be the least of my worries. It's what I love about racing. Nothing matters anymore. Not the blisters on your feet, not the snot on your face, not the coke you accidentally pour on your head. All that matters is getting to that finish line as fast as possible.
I got off the bike with Katie and some Dutch girl. We basically exited T2 all together, dropped Katie after a bit and then my worst nightmare was about to come true: Running neck to neck with another girl for the next 11 miles. This was a first in all my years of racing mostly because I will do anything not to have that happen. (Which usually means slowing down, coming up with an excuse, and letting the other girl go ahead.) Not this time. Hanneke (I will never forget her name because I was staring at the letters on her butt for more than an hour...) started out quite a bit faster than I would've liked to but I tried to be brave and just go with it.
It seemed like I was always right behind Hanneke but I did try to break away a few times. Although that was never successful. In this picture you can see her right on my heels:
And then at mile 11: I let her go. She was going after another girl in our age group that was passing us and I just sat there and watched them. I didn't put up a fight. Just like at the St. George 70.3, I was happy with my place and didn't want to hurt any worse than I already was. I was pretty sure I was Top 5 which would get me on the podium and that was my main goal. Yes. Of course I was tired and going about as fast I could. But - there is always more to give. I could've dug deeper and tried harder. Instead, I gave up. My mind failed me once again. That said: I feel like I am mentally pretty strong but not as strong as I could be or need to be when racing with these amazing girls!
Half a mile later another girl passed me. I was certain she was in my age group as well and, with one mile to go and her a bit up the road, I decided that she was not going to beat me. So for the first time ever in my triathlon 'career' (or at least as far as I can remember) I closed the gap back up, passed her, and just went for it hoping I would drop her. I never saw her again. She either wasn't in my age group or not on her last loop. Either way I am proud of my not-so-small accomplishment. I wish I had been that strong one mile earlier when I let eventual 2nd and 3rd place drop me but it's a step in the right direction. It's pretty crazy that girls 2-5 in our AG are separated by less than 90 seconds! It was some seriously awesome racing and I am so glad I was able to be a part of it!
Total: 4:51:17
Post-race
Well, seeing how I had nobody with me at the race, it wasn't very exciting. I went to the timing tent and found out time and placing. I was very, very happy with both. Got food, laid down in the sun, realized that it's over and I had accomplished my goals, chatted with friends and teammates, got my stuff, went back to the hotel, caught up with friends and family. THANK YOU so much to everyone who reached out to me after the race. I appreciate all of you and it means a lot to me! Ice bath, hot tub, shower, awards ceremony. I was a bit nervous going there all by myself. I figured I would know a few people but it's a big place and I didn't want to walk around lonely trying to find someone I know. Fortunately, I happened to walk through the doors with a guy in a similar situation and I we became good friends for the night. And made some more new ones. Good times! Then a movie on my computer and lots of ice cream!
yep. black dress for awards and a quart of ice cream afterwards
If you want to see a short little video about part of my race, go here. I found it on Hanneke's website. So really it's a clip about her race and because she is Dutch she speaks in... Dutch. But it's kinda fun and shows what the race was like for our age group. I talked to her for a bit after the race and, of course, she is way cool and I hope to race with her again some day. And because it was basically impossible to film her on the run without me on the screen, I am in there quite a bit too... ;-)
Huge Thank You to
- TriSports.com for their great support
- Heath and Mahogani, my coaches, for getting me to where I am at
- Karl for... everything
- My kids for keeping it real
- David Bednar for his generosity
- Sean Warren for the sweet bike
- All of you!
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