For this race report, I am just going to give you the raw and unedited version that I wrote down for myself and my coach. I don't feel like writing another version of how this race panned out. This is more than I usually share on here and I am not completely comfortable with it but I hope it explains a few things regarding the rest of my season. And maybe provide some helpful insights for someone new(er) to this sport.
(Apologies in advance: I have NO pictures of the actual race! Not sure how this happened but I can't seem to find any...)
I have the best homestay family here. This is the pool across the street.
Lead-up
Swimming: Ok.
Not fantastic but good and consistent.
Biking:
Pretty good in the weeks before the race. Less outside riding than
desired but trainer worked well. Good watts and HR two weeks out from
the race. I did an FTP test on Tuesday before the race. Not sure if
I like that timing. The numbers weren’t what I thought they were
going to be and that threw me off a bit. Any test like this – for
me - takes a significant amount of mental and emotional energy that I
would like to save for race day. I am ok with hard efforts, but I
don’t want it to be measured to that degree. Running hard off that
test was the first time that I had to admit that my leg was in bad
shape.
Running:
Inconsistent run training. And I am a big fan of consistency. I
wasn’t able to put in the base miles during the off-season because
of my back injury. Maybe we didn’t easy into it enough? I felt like
the long and hard runs took more out of me than they should have. I
had some good runs in there but not consistently. The thing that I
have the hardest time recovering from is hard running. Not long
running but hard running. This might have to do with my left
hip/glute/hamstring issue that I have been dealing with for years
now. I have tried a LOT of different things but nothing has cured it
so far and I am not sure I really know what the cause of it is. When
that issue is minimal, my running improves dramatically.
General: I
felt under-trained for this race. And I wasn’t at racing weight.
Both of which, had I been healthy otherwise, would’ve been ok. I
don’t feel like I need to be at racing weight right now necessarily
and I don’t like to complain about things that are completely
within my control. I was also ok feeling under-trained because I
figured I would bounce back quickly from the race and get back to
some solid training for St. George and Texas. I wasn’t thrilled to be
racing but at the same time I wanted to get the season started and
thought I could pull off a decent race. It wasn’t a
I-am-so-excited-to-put-all-of-my-amazing-fitness-to-the-test kind of
a race but more a Let’s-see-where-we-are-at-and-build-from-there
kind of a race. I was happy to be there either way.
Yup. That'll do. So happy to be back!
Pre-Race
Swimming:
Love that Roka wetsuit. Had some good little swims in the pool before the
race. Was not worried about the swim. I figured I would be mid-pack
somewhere in a group. The usual.
Biking: The
day after the FTP test went really well and the other little rides
after that as well. I could feel my left leg on the bike but it
wasn’t really an issue.
Running: Not
good. Ran off the bike on Wednesday and called it quits early, same
on Friday. NOT the dull pain I usually feel that keeps me from a nice long
stride. This was much more sharp, coming from my hip and pulling all
the way down my leg, affecting my knee, shin, foot. On Friday I
started to think that I might not be able to run 13 miles.
Emotional/Mental State:
I felt like I was in a decent place. Aside from the leg pain, I felt
ready to race and put it all on the line - at least to the degree
that my fitness and leg would allow me. I wasn’t going to
completely smash myself and dig a huge hole just to get 13th
instead of 14th. But I was willing to push hard and work
on my mental game. Overall it was a good mix of being relaxed and
excited.
Pre-race lunch and mental prep - check!
Race Plan
Swim:
Mark some girls to
hang with, find a group.
Go out HARDER even.
You will be ok.
Bike:
Go hard. Own it.
Don’t hold back. Race the hog. You know how to do this.
Stay IN the race.
Run:
Fight for every
inch.
Focus on form.
Don’t give up. Not
one bit. Not at all.
Go to battle. Don’t
settle.
Remember: Going
faster does NOT mean more pain. It hurts either way. Embrace the
pain! DO NOT BE AFRAID.
Promise to myself: At Oceanside, I
promise to FIGHT FOR EVERY INCH until the finish line no matter where
I find myself in the race.
finding beauty in the little things
Race Morning
This went
according to plan: I was one of the first in transition, got set
up, familiarized myself (yet again) with the layout, visualized
transition, and chatted with the other pro girls. They are such a
lovely bunch. Warmed up my arms with bands. Decided it was warm enough
to forego vest or arm warmers. This turned out to be a good decision.
Sun came out earlier than usual and I was never cold on the bike.
This did not go
according to plan: The warm up. My leg was in a lot of pain just
jogging around the harbor. Drills were mostly fine but strides were
painful. I did them anyway because how can I run 13.1 miles if I
can’t even do a few strides? Definitely had thoughts of quitting
the race after the bike in order to not make things drastically worse.
80 is my lucky number! Or so I hoped...
The swim (31:11)
We were all so cold in the morning. So I stood there shivering until 7 minutes to the
start and then got in. We could’ve gotten in as early as 15 minutes
before our start but I – along with some others – decided we
didn’t need that much warm up time in such cold water. I think that
was a good decision. Some of the other girls warmed up and then came
back out because they were so cold. I had plenty of time to ease into
it a bit and then do a bunch of sprints.
I have a hard time
deciding beforehand where I am going to line up. It sort of depends
on who lines up where and what I feel would be best given the
situation. I like to be in the second row. (Unless there are so few
of us that we might as well start side by side.) I also like to have
a little bit of room to scull and breathe.
I went out HARD and
kept swimming HARD but never really found any feet, which was so
weird! I would like to see a video of that. Who knows what the hell I
was doing. Although a rather big group pulled ahead that I thought I
maybe should be in, I just kept pushing. There was enough oxygen in
the air that I there really wasn’t a reason to slow down and settle
in already. I knew I wasn’t dead last, so the thought occurred to me that maybe I was
just pulling another group. Great - just what I was hoping for. Not!
After a while a girl kept hitting my feet and I was like: If you
think this is too slow for you then why don’t you just go around me
and take a pull!?! So she did. Ha! And I settled in right behind
her. I saw one other girl on my left and when I looked back once, I
realized that it was just the three of us with a bigger group a ways
back. Ok. So I wasn’t in the group UP there but I was also not in
the group BACK there. Good.
I was just starting
to really enjoy this swim when I noticed a paddler to my right
shouting at us. Actually, she was just talking to us. Not really
shouting. And I could see the yellow buoy up ahead, so – clearly –
we were right on course. Oh well. Maybe she is talking to someone
else… A few minutes later I see her again talking to us and finally
I decide to stop and listen and she goes, pointing to her right: You
missed the red turn buoy! It’s over there! What the crap!?!
Sure enough. We were almost at the yellow sighting buoy that was
BETWEEN the red turn buoys, totally (and unintentionally) cutting the
course. I immediately corrected and swam back to the red one. I could
see that the big (slower) group was almost there and hurried up so I could
latch on to them. Which is what I was able to do. The very end of the
group that we were ahead of originally but I was happy that I wasn’t
completely on my own and DFL. I knew it would obviously be a slower
time than I had wanted or was capable of but I figured at least I
would have girls to ride with! At this point my main concern was how
I was going to run fast all the way around and through the super long
transition. It’s definitely NOT a good sign when you don’t think
you can run TO your bike. Ha!
I spend a lot of time with my feet UP pre- and post-race.
The Bike
(2:39:15)
Holy shit. I JUST
saw that I biked a 2:31:59 here last year! Ok. Yikes. That’s a HUGE
difference on the same course in similar conditions. Unfortunately, I
don’t think I had a power meter then. I tried to find the Garmin
file on TP but there is none. I really wish I had some watts numbers
to compare. But I don’t… Moving right along…
Got passed running
TO my bike and when I finally got there and was about to put my
helmet on, one half of the buckle flew right off and was nowhere to
be seen. Not too surprising given that at this point our part of
transition was a MESS. Buckle lost. Now I had NO WAY of closing my helmet. (I have worn this helmet multiple times and
this has never been a problem.) I problem-solved by tying the two
straps together once and off I went. In hindsight, that wasn’t
terribly smart. But all I knew was that I couldn’t get on the bike
with my helmet unfastened and that I NEEDED to get on my bike ASAP.
Still made it onto the bike with the other girls. Phew.
The only problem was
that I had to either tighten or completely re-tie those damn straps
every 4 minutes. At least. No kidding. I was paranoid that one of the
officials would see them untied and DQ me. And they were all over the
place. Which is actually great. In my corner of the field, it was a very fair
women’s race. But it was very hard to focus and even harder to stay
aero while fiddling with crap all of the time. Here is what I now
think I should’ve done: Pull over and try to make an actual knot
even if the straps may have been too short for that. Or stop and take
some of the electrical tape off my Pitstop and tape the helmet
closed. Or in the very least chew some of my gum that I had with me
and then tie it around the straps. Anything that would be a one-and-done deal. Not sure why that didn’t cross my mind during the race
but you know me – I HATE stopping.
I felt ok. Legs were
actually a bit heavy but I know better than to judge a race by the
way my legs feel. I KNOW that I can feel crappy and still race well.
So that’s no excuse. There was discomfort in my left leg but I
wouldn’t say it was painful. But it was enough to really have me
worried about the run. For the first half of the ride I was like: I
am not running. Definitely not running. There is no way. I am going
to try but I am pretty sure I will have to turn in my timing chip. If
it hurts as bad as the warm-up this morning, it would be STUPID to
run 13 miles. On the second half I changed my mind and kept
telling myself: Well, I am going to FINISH either way. Wether I am
running or shuffling or walking. It’s totally cool if I have to
walk. It’s nice outside and I have all day and I am not going to
have another DNF to my name. I will wear my bib number so that
everyone can see PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE under JARVIS and I will cheer
my heart out and make more friends. Sounds pretty nice actually.
So when that was settled, I could let it go.
I don’t think I
biked any harder knowing that I might not be able to run than
thinking I was going to go all out for 13 miles. I don’t think I
could have even if I had wanted to. I sort of biked as hard as I
could that day. I wanted to stay with Skye M. when she came by right
at the beginning but was too occupied with that dumb helmet. I still
think I should’ve been able to stay with her. When Makenzie M. came
by around mile 30, I tried to stay with her but couldn’t. Maybe I
should’ve tried harder but I didn’t. I don’t think I actually
passed anyone on the bike. That’s a disappointment. With how slowly
I swam and from past experience, I should’ve passed some girls.
Bummer.
I was starting to
lose focus during the last 10 miles and to slow down so it was a good
thing when Christine F. came by again and so I (legally) latched onto
her wheel and tried to keep up. I don’t think it was my legs that
had gotten tired but rather my mind. The ongoing helmet fiasco took a lot of
my mental energy away and I just didn’t have much focus left after
2.5 hours.
Parked my bike here post-race and headed to an empty beach. Thank you, McClurgs!
The Run Shuffle (1:37:44)
So I started running
not expecting much. Oh wait. First I found something IN my running
shoes. Slipped in, started to run, felt a little rock, stopped,
emptied shoe, and out fell the helmet buckle. Go figure. I threw it
into my helmet (and by now the husband has fixed the damn thing and
this won’t happen again) and off I went. Rather carefully. But it
felt decent enough to keep going and after about 3 miles I felt
confident that I could pull off 13 miles without (hopefully) making
this injury a lot worse. Which seems silly now because I didn’t
even KNOW what the injury was/is so how was I so certain about that?
I really should’ve just quit after the bike but, oh well, we are
known to be stubborn and the pain wasn’t as sharp as the days
prior, so I kept on shuffling.
When I got passed
the first time, I tried to go with her so I took a couple of hard
steps and immediately the leg got really bad and I thought it might
give out. So that was that. I just kept more or less the same pace
but I am pretty sure it got slower over time because a) the leg got
worse and b) I was sick and tired of being in pain so I didn’t feel
like adding to the pain of pushing hard to the pain of the leg.
There really isn’t
much else to say. I do feel like I was fighting and not giving up but
it was more a fight against a leg that wouldn’t cooperate than my
competitors; and a fight against my own pride. My pride was suffering
because I knew I was slower than I had hoped for and also than others
expected me to be. I was pretty sure that there would be a dozen age
groupers faster than me in the end and I didn’t like that.
Was I
still having fun? Yes. I do remember times when I was smiling and
thinking: I am still having fun out here! I was battling some mental
demons that I am proud to say I was able to beat. I didn’t give up
or get too down on myself for having a bad race. I finished and hung
out with others just the way I do when I have a great race.
I love
this sport, slow or fast race. But I do not like competing when I
can’t get the best out of myself because of injury. That, to me, is
not fun and thus not worth it.
It wasn't a good day. But how can it be a bad day when it ends like this and hanging out with my Coeur family?
Recovery
This recovery was
SLOW. And it keeps on going. Honestly, it felt more like recovering
from a full IM than a 70.3. Usually, I am pretty good two days after the
race and can resume some decent training 4 days after. This time,
everything seemed to hurt much worse than normal. I am still surprised just how much it took
out of me physically (and a bit mentally as well). Before this race I
had no doubt that I could pull off a 70.3 – 140.6 double but now I
am not so sure anymore. However, I am still going to try that some
day. Super bummed it won’t be next month though but at the same
time a bit relieved because I am in no way ready for this right now.
Time to figure out what is wrong with me and do whatever it takes to fix it!
A huge Thank You to my fantastic sponsors:
Coeur Sports - The BEST in women's athletic wear
T3 Triathlon - My FAVORITE triathlon shop
Fuji Bikes - In LOVE with my Norcom Straight
Zoot Shoes - My shoes of choice since 2008
Cobb Saddles - Most COMFORTABLE saddle ever
Osmo Nutrition - Hydration at its BEST
Tifosi Sunglasses - I wear them every single day!
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