Rev3 Knoxville- Age Group Championship Race

My big outing in May this year was to journey down to Knoxville, TN for the Rev3 Age Group Series Championship race.  This race had been on my calendar for a long time, and Ben and I rearranged our schedules to turn it into a short "race-cation" with a stop in Asheville, NC afterwards.  The age group series worked by recording the best 2 Rev3 race finishes of each participant throughout the previous race season. The top scorers were invited to compete in the championship race, which was a distance in between the Olympic Rev and Half Rev course lengths.  Along with bragging rights, there was prize money on the line for the 1st-3rd place finishers in each age group in the series, and sponsor prizes for 4th and 5th places.  It was a great opportunity for age groupers to have a competitive, "pro"-type experience, so of course I couldn't pass it up.  The Age Group Series is running again in 2014 with the championship in Knoxville in 2015, so start planning and collecting your race finishes now!

The Knoxville Sunsphere at World's Fair Park, site of the expo and finish line

Friday
It's a long drive from Wisconsin (10.5 hours, if you believe Google) so we left Madison reeeeally early Friday morning (closer to Thursday night...) in order to make it to Knoxville in time for dinner with the race staff and Team Rev3. We also ended up with time to check in at the expo, so we were able to pick up our packets and swag.  Rev3 seems to have upped their game in the swag department this year with a few new and unique items, which was cool to see.  Included among my freebies: a little Rev3 logo bag inspired by cycling musettes, a Rev3 Buff, a Rev3 sticker, a PowerBar, a cute female-cut black shirt that was specific to the championship race, and a Headsweats Rev3 Knoxville visor.  Quite a haul!  We stuck around after dinner to cheer in the runners at the Rev3Glow run. They had both a 5k and a 1 mile course, so a lot of families and kids were racing and seemed to have a blast.

Saturday
In typical Team Rev3 fashion, my morning was spent at the practice swim introducing athletes to the great products SBR Sports makes.  Team members handed out samples from the TriSwim line, samples of Foggies, and even sprayed athletes down with TriSlide to help them slip in and out of their wetsuits with ease and avoid chafing. The water temperature much warmer than last year, hovering around 70*F- perfect for just shimmer suits!

Next on the docket was a quick bike ride to wake up our legs.  I was eager to see the new section I would be running on the AG Champ course after racing the Olympic distance last year.  I always highly recommend checking out courses in advance of racing them if possible, to learn the nature of any technical or difficult sections and check out road quality, etc.  However, you should always do so carefully!  Keep an eye out for pedestrians and vehicles as well as any other hazards that you might not be dealing with on race day.  In this case, Blake, Ben, and I were startled by a bridge lip coming down a steep hill at mile 5.4 of the championship course.  A small bump that wouldn't have been worth mentioning on a run turned into a problem while cycling- Ben flatted and I warped the rim on my race wheel slightly with the impact.  Always pay attention!

The last major task of the day was to check in our bikes at transition.  The transition area at Knoxville changed locations slightly from last year, from the bottom floor of a parking garage into a pretty spot next to the greenway that also made for a shorter run in transition 1.  The bike check went quickly and smoothly.  I like advance check-in a lot, especially for large races, because it cuts down so much on race morning chaos for both the athletes and staff.  For example, there are no lines in the morning to check race numbers and bar ends, and no athletes distractedly careening around trying to make last minute checks and repairs.  I like being able to roll out on race morning with just a backpack, knowing that my bike is already safely where it needs to be. 

Iggy is all settled in for the night

Race Day
Last year, Rev3 Knoxville took place on a somewhat chilly and rainy day that had most people longing for the usual southern heat and humidity.  Luckily, this year Mother Nature smiled upon us with beautiful weather!

Swim: 1.2 mi, 30:33
The Knoxville swim is point-to-point in the Tennessee River, from Calhoun's dock down to the Lady Vols rowing boathouse. The only change from the Olympic course was that the Half Rev and Championship swimmers had a longer stretch upriver to start off. 30+ is not a great time for me, but I always take swim splits with a grain of salt since conditions vary so widely (current, chop, etc.) and it's hard to set an accurate buoy course and keep all of them from moving.  The best way I know to judge a swim is to consider what I felt like in the water, how straight I swam, and how my time stacks up compared to others whose swimming ability I am familiar with.  I felt like I put in a good effort and I came out of the water just ahead of my Rev3 teammate Maggie, who is very strong, so I am happy with this swim.
T1: 1:37

Team Rev3, pre-race!

Bike: 40 mi, 2:08:06
This course was REALLY FUN: quiet, twisty, and green; rolling terrain with a few good climbs.  It actually reminded me a lot of one of my other favorite bike courses, the American Triple-T course.  Unfortunately this year Triple-T and Knoxville were on the same weekend so I had to make a choice, but I think I made the right one-- the Knoxville course was definitely a challenge! The race was a little bit longer than I was really prepared to be competitive at this year at that point in the season, so coach Bill and I decided it would be wisest for me to ride at my half iron power and use any extra energy later on the run.

My one major mishap of the race happened within the first two miles of the bike- my front water bottle, which was new for this race but a style I'd ridden with before, flew forward completely out of its bracket. The velcro strap holding it in was slightly shorter than on my last bottle, and it had popped open as I hit a hard bump. Miraculously, I caught it before it crashed onto my wheel or to the ground (I am not known for my hand-eye coordination).  I awkwardly fumbled with it for a minute or two trying to put it back on while keeping my bike moving forward in a straight line.  It was useless.  I quickly considered my options.  Ditch it?  It's an expensive bottle, and there were no aid stations for over 10 miles. Attach it somewhere else on the bike?  No place was secure.  I landed on the best option being to carry it in one hand and try to chug it while controlling the bike with the other hand.  The only way to carry the bottle without it compromising my handling was to put it down my tri top, and the only way that would work was if it was empty.  Game on.
I cringe to think of how much time I lost as I was soft-pedaling and riding super conservatively over bumps and around corners holding that darn water bottle, but looking back I can't see how I could have handled the situation any better in the moment.  C'est la vie.  I did lose my straw out of my back jersey pocket sometime during the bike ride, but on the whole this was a successful equipment save.  I was able to ride at the goal power we'd chosen, and before I knew it I was back at transition.
T2: 1:33

^- "What the heck is she doing?"

Run: 9.8 mi, 1:18:07
The run went about as well as I hoped it would, considering all of the factors involved.  I started out at a smart pace, knowing it would get harder to hold as the race went on.  I have to admit I was a bit jealous of the Olympic racers as we passed their turn-around point, but hills build character, right?  The climbs were gnarly, but I was glad I was mentally prepared for them and had left some gas in the tank.  I started to struggle about mile 7.5 as the day heated up and my lack of training volume caught up to me, but it helped a lot to see so many friendly faces heading the other direction and have some Olympic racers ahead to chase down.

  
Total: 3:59:56, 3rd F25-29

Well, I ended up the 4th amateur female at this race, coming in long behind three superstars (2 of whom were in my AG-- congrats, Leslie and Maggie!) but through the way the series was scored, I actually had the best series total in F25-29.  Honestly, I had not reread the age group series info page for a while and was under the impression that the cash prizes were based on this race's results, not the series.  So I was quite surprised to be called up to receive the top prize of $500, plus a gift certificate to the Rev3 store (where I picked up some cute Oiselle gear!).  So I guess I was somewhat lucky in my choice of Rev3 races last year, and very grateful that I was able to put together good races where it mattered.

Overall,  Rev3 Knoxville was definitely an honest, championship-caliber course, and I hope the circumstances come together for me to return next year.  If you have any questions about the Knoxville courses or the age group series, feel free to ask in the comments section!


I even made it into the Age Group Recap video this year with my thrilling pre-race insight. Haha.

Aquabike Nationals-- Rev3 South Carolina

Balloons Over Anderson, pic by Rev3 teammate Jen

1800+ miles.  30+ hours of driving within an 80 hour period.  Worth it?  Oh yes. 

Though I signed up for this race last year after I found out it was USAT Aquabike Nationals, travel plans were slow to come together.  Throughout the year I leaned on a few Wisconsin triathletes to come race with me, but for various reasons things fell through with each.  Within a couple of weeks of the race it became clear that it was going to be a solo mission, and I was left to decide the best way to get there.  Fly?  Rental car?  Yes, I have 3 bikes and no car... I know.  Cue luck/ serendipity/ good friends.  Ben was on his way to Hawaii for the week and graciously lent me his "blue toaster" to use while he was gone.

I'm certainly a gal who enjoys a road trip, and I've driven several impressive/borderline stupid trips before, including: 1.) 10 hours straight to Kansas for a sprint tri, but at least I had one other along to chat with, and  2) 12 hours straight, solo, during the night, to Rapid City for work.  I mapped out a route, but the more I thought about it, the dumber it sounded to drive 14 hours straight by myself so soon before a big race.  I have family in Ohio, and it would only be an extra half hour out of the way to stop there.  Perfect.  I was able to get a few hours of sleep, but had to be up early to finish the drive and get into Anderson by midday.  I finished the trip without any major problems, but was still a bit zombielike by the time I rolled into the Anderson Civic Center, the site of the race expo.

@SummerOhlendorf tell Charlie I said hi! And snap a picture of the blue toaster in front of some @REV3TRI gear!
— Ben Cagle (@bcagle25) October 11, 2013

Here you go, Ben.  I couldn't figure out how to get any hot air balloons in the frame, though.

Pre-Race

The afternoon was frenzied as I tried to condense all of my normal race prep activities.  I was tired and kind of out of it mentally.  I did make it just in time for the first athlete meeting though (whew!), checked in, and said hi to a few teammates.  Anderson is a two transition race, so the swim and T1 were at a separate location about 3 miles away.  I headed over there hoping to have time for a quick shake-out ride and splash around before checking my bike in and heading to the Rev3 team/staff dinner at 6.  Ahh, the best laid plans.  I managed to flat the latex tube inside my rear tire half an hour into the ride, and ended up on the side of the road unable to get my valve extender to work with the spare tube I had on me.  A Good Samaritan fellow racer named Morgan spotted me and stopped to help, and ended up giving me a ride back to transition.  Morgan, if by some chance you come across this blog- thank you, thank you, again.  The triathlon community is full of wonderful people.  I drove back to the expo to buy a new tube, then back to T1, and by that time only had time to check-in my bike if I was going to make it to dinner on time.  So much for swimming or driving the bike course.  Attempt 1 to wheel it in- forgot its number sticker.  D'oh.  Trotted it over to transition again, said goodbye to my little buddy, and I was off.

At Rev3 South Carolina both the Glow Run and the Rev3 staff/ Team Rev3 dinner were on Saturday night instead of Friday, so at last I was able to do both!  There was a pretty good showing of team members at this race, and it was great to catch up.  Kristin and I had fun chatting during the glow "run" (jog, since I was racing the next day... and we'd both just eaten Mexican food...).  The run course wrapped around the Balloons Over Anderson festival, a pretty cool weekend-long hot air balloon and carnival event.

Team Rev3 members post-dinner!

With a race the next morning, we couldn't stick around the post run festivities (fireworks, movie, popcorn) for long.  I was staying the night with Rev3 teammates Chloe, Kristin, and Heidi.  The four of us got all of our things together for the next day while following the Kona pro race and our friends with the online coverage.  I think I amused my roommates with my routine- emptying everything out of all of my bags and re-packing them to make sure everything would be where I needed it- but it's just one of those things that makes me feel more at ease before a race.  Triathlon has so much more gear involved than other sports, and I didn't want to take the chance of misplacing anything I needed.  I wouldn't be running, but I still had shoes to drop off at T2 so I could cross the finish line when I was done, I had certain things I wanted at the car after the race, and I obviously had swim and bike gear to bring with me to T1, as well as a few things to use before the race (an extra water bottle and PowerGel, sunscreen, etc.).  The race was going to be around 3 hours long...

Race Day

For an aquabike race like this (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike) I ideally would have wanted to get a solid warm up on the bike, then a good swim.  With all bikes being checked in the day before the race, it wasn't possible to take the bike back out on the road in the morning.  My second choice would have been to bring a trainer into transition and ride inside there- I've seen a few pros do this at other Rev3 races.  But with two transitions, that wasn't an option either: I would have had to bring the trainer on the athlete bus with me in addition to my other bags, plus the race wouldn't be able to transport it back to the finish area for me.  So instead I got to T2 in the morning and started with a run warm up sequence and  squats to get my leg muscles firing, then dropped off my shoes and visor at my transition spot and boarded one of the athlete buses to T1 with my swim and bike gear.  As I set up my spot, I noticed that my front water bottle was leaking from the bottom.  I didn't have a way to fix it or bring another bottle with me, so I would have to make do with one good water bottle on my bike frame and just drink quickly from the front bottle each time I filled it on the course.  Once I was finally satisfied that everything was set up on my bike the way I wanted it, I found some teammates and hung out for a while to try to calm my nerves.  Then it was time to drop off my dry clothes bag and go remind myself how to swim!

Swim
I was starting in wave 3 of the day at 8 a.m., ten minutes behind wave 1.  Wave 1 contained the Half Rev men under age 40, wave 2 was men 40-55, and my wave was a mix of men 55+, all relays, and all of the Half Aquabike participants.  The swim course was fun: we started on one side of a peninsula and did a big loop around it to finish on the other side.  I figured the start might be aggressive, so I started in the second line of athletes instead of the front.  My start was clean and I found someone to follow for the first few hundred meters.  After the second turn we started catching the orange caps of the  second wave, and I navigated my own way through the chaos.  I felt strong and in control. Eventually I started catching some green caps of wave 1 swimmers as well, but I tried to focus on keeping my stroke smooth and my effort high.  I tend to perform well in open water compared to swimmers of the same level in the pool, and I think that's mainly due to being able to maintain concentration in the second half of the swim leg.  I was hoping for a sub 29 minute split here, and was a little bit off of that.  The swim is always the hardest split to compare race to race.  Times seemed a little slow across the board here, and weaving through athletes probably slowed me down a bit, but I'm happy with how I felt in the swim regardless of the time itself.
Split: 30:29

Transition
One thing I definitely did not do well was put my wetsuit into the transition bag quickly.  This is not something I've practiced since it is only done at races with two transitions, but it might be worth taking the time to figure out the best way to do it since I had trouble!  As I ran out barefoot with my bike I heard someone say "First female," but I was skeptical...
Split: 1:11

transition 1

Bike
This bike course was "lollipop" design, with one giant loop, a short jaunt on the same roads around T1, and then a few more roads continuing past there to T2 (my finish).  With 3 speed bumps along the road out of the park, it wasn't possible to build much speed right away.  I hit the button to start my bike computer after the second bump, but as I exited the park and looked down, I saw that the computer was off.  I hit it again and saw a flash of numbers, then nothing.  Confused, I did it a third time and caught the empty battery icon out of the corner of my eye.  No.  I remembered looking at its cord the night before and figuring it didn't need charging, but I didn't verify.  I'd had plans for what power I wanted to put out on different parts of the course, but now I'd be doing it entirely on feel.  My pacing plan, since I didn't have to run, had been to do the first half at the effort I usually bike at in Olympic distance races, then try to bring it up in the second half and make sure I was completely exhausted by the time I got to the dismount line.  For the Aquabike our finish times were taken at the entrance to transition 2, so I would need to get off my bike and run about 4 steps at the end.  Trying to sprint into the dismount area would be dangerous, so I didn't want to have anything extra left.
 
With the way the starting waves were structured, I found myself around a lot of riders of similar ability level right away, and it was interesting.  Since I didn't have power numbers to rein me in on the first part of the course, I revised my plan to try to bring up the effort a little bit every 10 miles, and take it easy on the climbs in the first half of the race.  I was surrounded by men and it was hard not to absorb their pacing, but I figured based on what I'd seen at other long races that a lot of them were probably climbing too hard.  I ended up around a bunch of guys that were hard to shake: they'd fly by me up the hills, and I'd gradually pull them back on the flatter sections and descents.  I was careful to follow the non-drafting rules, though it was frustrating to have to sit up and slow down a few times for people.  I'm used to being on my own most of the time at races when the women start together- the women's amateur field isn't usually deep enough to get bunched up.  My sympathies to those of you who deal with this all the time!

Ten miles in, I passed a girl in Dynamo kit.  That's the team female pro Haley Chura swims with, so I wasn't too surprised that this great swimmer was apparently on the team too.  I didn't know if there were any other women still up the road (after all, that spectator had apparently missed this one), so I kept riding like I was chasing someone.  Throughout the middle of the ride, I was... I was chasing everyone.  The field spread out, so I was on my own much more, but I tried to keep slowly picking off the people in front of me while sticking to my pacing strategy.  At 30 miles I got a special "hey, I'm over halfway" kind of excitement and picked it up considerably for the next 10 miles... maybe a little bit too much. 

There were 3 aid stations on the bike course, at 15, 30, and 45 miles.  I got water at each and poured it in the front bottle, but the leaking was noticeable.  I drank as much as I comfortably could after each aid station before the water ran out, but I wasn't getting quite as much as I wanted overall.  I also realized that my normal bike food for a half distance race (PowerBar Gel Blasts) was too solid for my more aggressive aquabike pacing... should've stuck exclusively to gels.  Lesson learned.  By the time I got to mile 45 my legs hurt pretty badly, and my stomach felt like it was holding a lot of fuel that wasn't being absorbed. I told myself that there was only half an hour to go, and kept using the people in front as motivation.  This is what you wanted to happen.  The last half hour of a half distance race is always painful, but it was novel to experience that on the bike instead of the run.  I caught teammate Josh around mile 50 and gave him a cheer, hoping he remembered that I had nothing to hold back for at that point (he was doing the entire half, not the aquabike).  During the last few miles it felt like my legs were shredding apart, and I pushed harder, just wanting it to be over faster.  Finally I heard the noise of the expo and made the turn into the Civic Center grounds, got off the bike and shuffled my way the last few steps into transition.  DONE.

Split: 2:40:18, Total: 3:11:58

what a beautiful, beautiful sign

It was strange to slowly hobble my way through transition with my bike while people were running by.  I got to my spot and tried to stand there and take off my cycling shoes.  My legs wobbled and I had to brace myself on the bike to stop myself from falling over.  Interesting.  Finally I got both running shoes on, put on my visor as I walked the rest of the way through transition, and jubilantly jogged the opposite way most people were going- right around the corner to the finish chute to get my t-shirt and finisher medal! 

Post Race

One of the best things about traveling by myself was the freedom to make my own schedule.  I was in no hurry to get back on the road after the long trip down, so I enjoyed a few hours at the race cheering people in, attending the awards ceremony (found out I won the Aquabike!), and running around chatting with friends.  After a quick break to take a shower and sit in Ryan's NormaTec boots, I met up with other Team Rev3 members and Rev3 staff to cheer in the final finisher of the day- a Rev3 tradition! After grabbing some dinner with Ryan and Anthony it was time to hit the road again.  Another great weekend with the Rev3 family-- can't wait until next year!

I split up the drive on the way home too, and decided to sleep in, see Ohio in the daylight, and spend more than a couple of minutes with my aunt!  If you find ever find yourself in Oxford and need a place to stay, check out Presidio Pines--  then you can see these guys too:

Out with a Bang: Rev3 Branson

I came into this season in an interesting place.  For the first time in years, I didn't have a big "A race" in mind. I wanted to perform well at the Olympic and Half distances and had quite a few "process" goals for the year, but that was it.  I'm a big believer in keeping things flexible and doing what motivates you, and there was no single event that I wanted to qualify for, etc.  I kind of had in mind from the beginning that it would be a building year.  Some of this was probably the need for a mental break after my borderline-obsession with Ironman Wisconsin last year (which went very well and turned into one of those sobs-of-joy-at-the finish-line type races, despite the fact that I didn't end up with a Kona spot.  I was not a blogger yet, but my coach wrote a good recap of my race on his blog here).  Anyway, our plan this year had an early season peak and an extended peak for my end-of-season tris: Iowa's Best Dam Triathlon (MWCTC  Championships) and the Half Rev at Rev3 Branson.

I enjoyed rocking the Team Rev3 tats with the UW kit for IBDT!  Justin Torner Photography got some cool shots.

At this point, some of you might notice that I never published a race report for IBDT.  And I don't plan to.  My approach to blogging is a lot like racing: I do it when I feel inspired to, when I feel passionate about it.  I need an angle, some broader perspective than just a play-by-play race recap.  As with any Badger road trip it was a really fun weekend, but the race itself was unremarkable for me. So-so non-wetsuit swim, pretty fast bike with a few stupid mistakes, and a run that started off well but faded to the point that it ended up only 30 seconds faster than in the previous year's race (which was 1 week post ironman).  The brightest spots were that I nailed the mount and dismount I had been practicing all week (woot!). I came away with the collegiate female win, which was my primary point in making the trip, but I left with a fire in my belly for Branson.

With Branson, a number of factors collided that made me strangely (for me) at ease in the the lead-up to the race.  I mentioned the fact that I wasn't really viewing it as an A race.  One of my goals at the beginning of the season was to break 5 hours in a half this year.  I have been close now many times-- Door County 2010: 5:01:49, Racine 2011- 5:01:49 (NOT A TYPO, I went the same time down to the second!), High Cliff 2012- 5:00:12, Oceanside 2013- 5:01:43.  However, I knew going in that Branson would not be the course to do that on, unless I turned into Wonder Woman overnight (the winning female pro in 2012 went 4:57), so I didn't feel any pressure about that. I'd also already hit a long-shot goal for the year by pro qualifying at Rev3 Dells, so that wasn't an issue either.  I was just excited to race, and that pretty much blocked out everything else.

home away from home for the weekend

I made the trip down to Missouri with Badger teammate Simon, who was racing the Olympic Rev in the collegiate division, and Milwaukee-area tri friend Pete, who was also racing the Half Rev.  The drive went quickly, and our hotel was pretty entertaining and Branson-esque.  Saturday was a busy day with the official practice swim, packet-pick-up at T2, easy ride and bike drop off at T1, and a quick drive of the bike course.  As usual I was dealing with a few minor crises (this time, some foot pain that kept me out of running the second half of the week, and a painful insect sting on our shake-out bike ride) but I tried to focus on managing the things I could control and hoped for the best in the morning!

green screen fun at the race expo!

5 a.m. rolled around quickly, and it was chilly (mid-40s) but we were pretty well prepared.  All of the week's little niggles melted away.  We parked at T2 and dropped off our run gear, then were able to board one of the Branson Ducks right away (no line!) to shuttle us to the swim start.  It was pretty much as stress-free as a two transition race can be.  There was space to warm up in the water while the earlier waves went off, which was great since the 76* water felt much nicer than the air did, and my sleeveless blueseventy wetsuit was perfect.  The air-water temperatures and humidity were working together to create a fog layer right at water level, though, and even during my warm up I could tell that it was going to make things interesting...

Swim

^ hey look, I'm running

Our wave start was a beach start, and I was able to line up just where I liked- on the front and to the inside- in hopes of avoiding the fray.  I found myself following some fast feet for the first 400m or so.  Quickly I noticed that I could see the candy-corn-like orange and yellow Olympic turn buoys just fine (great), but not the red buoys that signaled the Half Rev turns. My stroke felt good, and it seemed like the people in front were veering off course (at least, if the red buoy was where it seemed like it should be) so I left the person in front of me in hopes of swimming a straighter line.  But after a little while I realized I was lost in the fog: I had passed the Olympic turn buoy, but I couldn't see the Half one yet.  After failing to sight it a few times in a row, I did a few breaststroke strokes to take a better look around.  Nope.  My only choice was to keep following the path of the swimmers I was catching from earlier waves until I saw the buoy myself.  This  continued throughout the swim, and I completely lost momentum.  It was hard to trust the people in front of me, and I know I was swimming much too tentatively.  This is definitely something I need to work on. Slowing down wasn't helping- I needed to trust that I was going the right way, and periodically check for appearing buoys.  I might try out a different colored goggle tint in the future as well.  Finally I hit sand and started running, and heard RD Eric yell that my speedy Rev3 teammate Maggie was up just ahead.  I charged up the steep path as quickly as I could manage, did a solid bike mount (yay!) and set off in pursuit.  Split: 30:57

Bike

The first two miles were very decidedly uphill, and my legs felt good but I tried not to get too excited.  The next ones were more gradual, and I slowly reined Maggie in and gave her a cheer as I passed.  It was fun to glance around and remember running the same road a couple of years ago. At about 6 miles we popped out onto our playground for the day, the Ozark Mountain High Road.  The Half Rev athletes had about two and a half laps on there before turning off towards Branson Landing.  The entire multi-lane High Road was completely closed to traffic for us, so crowding was never an issue, and there were 5 opportunities to get fluids at aid stations on course, which was great.  This whole middle section of the bike course was filled with long slow climbs followed by open sweeping downhills.  Normally I'm not a big fan of hills, but the fun of carrying high speeds through the descents just about made up for all of the climbing.  My ride data shows that I went over 40 mph 16 times during the Branson bike.  Crazy!  The climbs weren't too steep, so you could get into a rhythm and grind them out.   

great bike course photo by ericwynn.org

I tried to stay as steady as possible on the climbs, and use them as chances to eat, drink, and move around.  Coach Bill and I had discussed power goals for the flats (ha!) and power ceilings for the climbs in the week before the race, but I ended up climbing a little bit above what we had discussed.  It allowed me to ride at a more comfortable cadence, and since my legs felt strong it seemed like the smartest thing to do.  I was getting plenty of rest of the downhills, and I knew from hilly rides earlier in the summer that I could climb hard repeatedly without destroying my legs.  I feel like I'm getting better at identifying different types of pain and what they mean for me.  My legs hurt for most of the bike ride, but I still had plenty of power, and that was the important part.  This is the kind of situation when I appreciated having power data as an independent measure of how hard I was working.  Without it, I probably would have backed off to make sure I wasn't  killing myself before a half marathon. Still, I was a little nervous turning off the High Road that I'd done too much. With 9 miles to go, I looked down and realized that on most other half courses I'd be getting off the bike around then.  From my scouring of previous years' results, 3:00 seemed like a competitive amateur bike split, and would be in the mix with the back half of the female pros.  So that was a smaller goal for the race, and I knew I could get close if I stayed focused.

in the zone on the High Road

The final miles down to Branson Landing were really fun and mostly downhill.  There was a screaming fast descent at mile 53 on James Epps Rd.--  I was grateful that the RD intelligently routed us up around the corner and through a wide turnaround to run out some speed instead of having us making a tight left into the park right at the bottom of the hill.  The path through the park was narrow and twisty, and I was all alone so I was momentarily concerned that I missed a turn.  Soon enough, though, I found myself at the exit and ready for the last hill- a sharp little kick that was actually the steepest section on the course (ouch!).  I was really glad I knew it was coming, because I probably would've dropped my chain otherwise.  My wind-chilled feet made for a less than graceful flying dismount, but oh well.  Split: 3:01:48 (gah!)

Run

The Branson run course is 3 laps (more like 2.9 laps) and pretty much as flat as I could hope for.  It's lovely.  From T2 we ran right through the middle of the Branson Landing shopping center, along the river to a big loop turnaround in Sunset Park, then all the way past transition along the water to a quick out and back in North Beach Park.  Like the bike course, the run was incredibly well-supported, with 14 aid stations in 13 miles.  And I appreciated every single one of them.

In my pre-race meeting with Bill we'd decided I should go out at about 7:30 pace if I felt good, or about 8s if I was having trouble getting my legs to come around.  Well, as I headed out of transition my legs felt GREAT-- like all the bike did was warm them up for the run.  What?!  My excitement combined with the rush of heading through the crowds at the shopping center caused me to take it out hot.  I came through 1 mile and hit my watch: 7:01, crap.  I tried to convince myself to simmer down.  Mile 2: 7:06. Double crap. Even if I was having an awesome day, that was probably not going to be sustainable.  Attempt #2 to back off: 7:22.  Ok.  I tried to hold it there.

The day had slowly been warming up and the sun was shining brightly.  I had taken a few salt tablets on the bike, and packed some for the run even though they would be on course.  I tried to stay on top of cooling myself and fueling: at each aid station I dumped water on myself and grabbed a drink, and  make sure I was taking in calories and salt regularly. Around mile 6 I started getting toasty, and running wasn't as easy.  I focused on my cadence and kept an eye on my splits.  It was great to see Sharpie and my Rev3 teammates and other friends around the course: every time I ran into one of them it was a pick-me-up.  The third quarter of the run is always so mental.  I grabbed cola, which is always a nice treat in races.  I chased people.  I'd been keeping tabs on where Maggie was, and I could see that she was slowing pulling time back.  She is a solid runner who's had a few fantastic races this year, so I couldn't afford to ease up at all.  Since we were now mixed in with Olympic racers and doing multiple laps, I couldn't tell where anyone else was.  I made an effort to pick things up at the start of the third lap, but it cost me.  My lower body was tightening up. At mile 10 I found myself above 8:00/mi pace for the first time in the race.  Nooo.  At that point I realized the aid stations had ice, and shoved a bunch down my top.  Mile 11.  My left IT band felt like a rock.  HOLD IT TOGETHER, SUMMER.  I imagined ticking off every tenth of a mile.  Past 12 miles, a woman came floating by me looking impossibly fresh.  It was the final kick in the butt I needed.  I fought to stay on her heels, and was delighted when she continued straight as I veered left towards the finish.  I got an enthusiastic greeting from Rev3 announcer Sean English and couldn't help but grin as I crossed the line.  Split: 1:39:59 (!)

Time: 5:15:14, 1st OA amateur female, 11th OA female

Whoa.  I am very, very happy with the way this race went, and as such, it will definitely be my last triathlon this season.  It was my first time breaking 1:40 in a 70.3 run (by the skin of my teeth! but still!), when at the start of 2013 I hadn't cracked 1:50. To do it off of a difficult bike ride is icing on the cake. It would have still been the slowest run in the women's pro field by a couple of minutes, but at least I'm moving in the right direction.  1:40 was a big mental barrier.  Maybe by the end of next year I'll be able to take my run out in 7s and actually hold them.  Time will tell... 

My travel buddies turned in solid races too, with Simon winning the Olympic overall and Pete placing in the top part of the amateur field in the half.  It was also great to see some of my collegiate friends down at the race, too- they always make things more fun.  And of course the Rev3 family was out in full force!  It was a great trip.

Rev3 girls represent

This weekend I have my final real race of the year- USAT Aquabike Nationals at Rev3 South Carolina in Anderson, SC.  I referred to this as the "dessert of my triathlon season" to a friend recently, and it totally is.  A 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and I'm done.  I signed up for it last year even before I made it onto the Rev3 team.  For once I get to go out and leave it all on the bike, without worrying what it will do to my run.  In the second half of that bike ride, the gloves are coming off, and the claws are coming out.

I can't wait.

Rev3 Dells

The Dells.  I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time- since the race last year, even more when I was selected onto the Rev3 age group team in December, even more when it was confirmed as a Midwest Collegiate Conference race again in January/February, etc.  The excitement has been building.  For a while, I wasn't sure whether to tackle the epic half course, or compete in the Olympic so I could do the collegiate race.  The exact plan wasn't finalized until a couple of weeks before the race, but all along I had planned for it to be an "A" race, and wanted to be firing on all cylinders.

The quick summary:  I had an okay race.  Not a great one.  But I certainly did put everything I had on the day into it.  And I came out with a great finish- 2nd overall amateur in a race with a pro prize purse of over $20k, which meant that my finish qualified me to apply for a USAT elite license ("pro card").  But I know I am fitter right now than I showed on Sunday, I believe I can be much better than I am right now, and I WILL have to be much better before I will feel comfortable moving up.  There are a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head right now.  So this is less a race report than a reflection about how the race fits into the rest of my life.  Those of you who know me know that I like to be thorough, so this is a particularly long post- feel free to skip around; I tried to make that easy.  Grab a cup of coffee and settle in.

Background

My last tri was the Pewaukee Olympic 4 weeks ago, though it seems like it's been much longer than that.  A lot has happened outside of my triathlon life.  I had an incredibly stressful ~ week-and-a-half long period soon after that race in which I did very little other than work.  I skipped almost all of my workouts, and the couple that I did do were cut very short.  I got just enough sleep to remain functional on large doses of caffeine, and I stress-ate my way through a lot of mint M&Ms, Topperstix, and the like.  Looking back, I'm surprised that I didn't end up very sick.  I got through it, a little worse for the wear and without time to really build fitness for the Dells, but with enough time to get back into the swing of things.  Accordingly, I mentally downgraded the Dells race from an "A" race to a "have fun, go hard, and see what happens" race.

WORTH IT.

One thing that has been in the back of my mind for a while now-- almost since I started the sport, really-- is the possibility of one day racing as a pro triathlete.  I kept this pretty quiet the first few years, afraid to really own it publicly until it seemed more tangible.  It was a dream, not a goal, too far away to seriously consider. I have continued to make steady progress each year, and last year I began to mention the subject to my coach and a few close friends.  Coach B. and I also took it into account as an outside possibility in planning my 2013 season.  I wouldn't be chasing qualification, but I'd put myself into a position to qualify at a few races if things went well.  There are a number of ways to qualify for an elite license through USA Triathlon, but one of the most straightforward was to place within the top 3 amateurs at a race that had a pro race in the same format offering a total prize purse of at least $20k.  I had figured that the Dells would be one of my best chances to qualify, between the timing of the race in the year and USAT's unfortunate placement of the Olympic distance age group national championships in Milwaukee the day before (don't get me started on that).

Pre-race

I caught a ride up to Wisconsin Dells on Friday afternoon with Rev3 teammate Ron and his family, who were coming from the Chicago area.  Up there we met up with teammate Ryan, who proved to be a good buddy since he was also traveling solo (my Wisconsin Tri Team friends wouldn't arrive until Saturday).  Friday night festivities included dinner with the extended team and staff and a trip to the Tommy Bartlett water show, which was pretty cool!

Saturday brought a nice slate of Rev3 activities, including the morning official practice swim, blueseventy "worst wetsuit contest," and swim clinic with super pro Cameron Dye. In the afternoon I met up with Coach Bill and buddy Ansel to check out the run course by bike.  There were some good hills, but on the bike it's easy to underestimate some of the smaller rollers, and I fell victim to this.  Momentum doesn't carry you as far on foot as it does on a bike-- but more on that later.

Game time

Despite a beautiful few days leading up to the race, the morning forecast didn't look promising, and by the time transition closed, it was raining steadily.  I have of course had plenty of practice racing in the rain this year between Rev3 Knoxville, Triple-T, and Rockford, so I thought little of it except that I'd have to corner more cautiously on the bike.

Swim. The swim start was time-trial start by twos, and the age group women were sent off immediately after the age group men.  I love to have people to chase, so I placed myself about 15 women back in the line. I felt pretty strong the first half, and felt like I was swimming fast despite having to weave through the back 2/3 of the age group men.  On the return stretch I could feel my recent lack of swim yardage coming back to bite me a bit, so I just tried to stay focused and maintain turnover the best I could.  I relaxed quite a bit in the last 100m trying to bring my heart rate down before the beast of hill that leads up to transition.  It didn't seem to work.  I took my wetsuit off immediately, like I usually do for long T1s, but as I started "running" up the hill my stomach retched repeatedly, threatening to expel my breakfast.  I kept moving and managed to keep everything down, but I really need to get the situation figured out soon since it seems to happen almost without fail whenever T1 involves a good hill.  From talking with other athletes it seems that swim times included the run uphill to transition, which makes my particularly slow split make more sense.

up the dang hill and getting my bearings back

Bike.  I got my legs back under me pretty quickly, and this turned out to be one of my better rides of the year, power-wise.  However, at the end of the day it's not the numbers on the device that matter- it's how fast you get from point A to point B.  And my split was not as fast as I'd have liked it to be.  So, where did I lose time?  

1. Corners.  I still can't get myself to corner well on wet roads.  Why?  I haven't practiced it in training.  I always end up thinking "I don't want to wipe out on a training ride."  But there's no way to get more comfortable with it other than to practice.

2. First half mile/last half mile.  There were a number of bumps leading between transition and the main road, as well as a few big puddles.  I could've stormed through them quite a bit faster.

Still, I am happy with the ride.  I felt strong, and held my position in the field pretty well. Since the run route out faced the bike route in I got to cheer for a few friends who were up ahead, and that was great!

Riding is fun, rain or no rain.

Run. I felt pretty strong, steady, and under control in the first miles.  There's not a lot of net elevation change until the long hill at about 2.5 miles, but the steep parts of the little rollers each zapped a bit of strength from me.  I haven't done much hill-specific work this season, so that might have been a contributor to the problem.  The long hill near halfway was the only out-and-back section on the new run course, and therefore the best chance to see where everyone was.  The lead female was quite a way in front of me, but the next female behind me wasn't too far.  On the second half of the run, I used that knowledge to keep pushing through the pain as my wheels were coming off.  Each hill took longer and longer for me to recover from, but there's no walking when you're being hunted from behind. 

yep, can tell this was taken in the first 2 miles

The last significant hill on the run course was on Adams St. at 5 miles.  It just about killed me.  Afterward, my whole body felt weak and my brain did everything it could to keep my limbs moving forward along the rollers of Wisconsin Dells Pkwy.  Approaching the last turn onto Lake, someone cheered for us "girls." Uh, oh, plural.  Sure enough, just after the turn the woman I'd spotted earlier charged past me.  I couldn't match her pace, but I picked mine up as much as I could and prayed for the end to come swiftly.  I should've checked out the configuration of the finishing chute beforehand, because it twisted around for what seemed like the longest 100m or so of my life.  Like at Lake Mills, I felt everything start to come up as I ran towards the line, so I don't really want to see my finisher picture.  I didn't quite make it to a trash can.  Oops.  I'm getting pretty good at scaring spectators and volunteers.  Sorry, everyone.

Post-race

I knew a lot of  people at this race, and it was great to catch up with so many of them! If I missed you, I apologize!

It turns out that with the time trial start, I was actually 10 seconds faster than the girl who passed me before in the last quarter mile, so I came in second overall.  I'm so happy I didn't ease off at any point on the run, because it would have been really, really easy to lose those 10 seconds.

As always, Rev3 gave their award winners ridiculous amounts of cool stuff!

I also learned that coach Wild Bill qualified for his elite license as well by taking 3rd OA on the men's side- this has been a long time coming, and I am sooo happy for him!

Thanks to having the generous Mr. Cagle as my ride back to Madison, I was able to stick around to help start cleaning up the expo area and cheer in the final Half Rev finisher.  The final finisher is a big deal at Rev3- this person has worked hard for longer than anyone else out on the course.  At so many races, the back of the pack seem to be forgotten about, left to fend for themselves. People pack up aid stations and finish lines and head out.  Not so with Rev3-- the final finisher is where the party is at! After hearing about it and seeing videos from other races, I'm so glad I was able to participate in this for myself.

Congratulations, Robert!

What's next?

Qualifying for the elite license was a good milestone.  But I don't want to be in the pro field just to finish-- I want to compete.  I want to be in the race, in the mix, not dangling off of the back.  Whenever I move up, I want it to be clear that I belong there.  Do I expect to be winning pro races?  Certainly not.  It's not about winning.  It's about being pushed to new levels, about becoming the best athlete I can be.  Right now, my swim and bike splits pretty consistently put me in the mix with the back third of the pro field.  On my good running days, I am about even with the last pros.  But on my bad running days, I'm WAY off the back.  My running has been better on the whole this year, and good more often than in the past, but frankly it's not yet where it needs to be to race at an elite level.

I think I can get it there, but I'm not sure how soon. One of the nice things about elite qualification is that an athlete has a year from the date of qualification to apply for the elite license.  My current life timeline has me finishing my dissertation and defending my PhD next May, and at this point in my life that has to be the priority over athletics.  Will I continue to train the best I can while working on it?  Yes.  But when time runs short and the two butt heads, I will be choosing academics.  So I'm not sure where I will be able to have my fitness at come next spring, and I will be holding off applying for the elite license for now.  If I'm at the level  I need to be at to move up, I should be able to re-qualify anyway.  I'm still young (relatively :) ).  I've got time!

Thanks

Lastly, I just want to recognize some of the people who have helped me get to this point on the journey.  Be prepared, things are about to get a little bit sappy...

My amazing family, for their unflinching support in whatever crazy endeavor I've been hooked on over the years. I love you more than you could ever know.

My coach, Bill.  We've been through a lot of ups and downs over the past 4+ years, personally and professionally.  The things I think are most valuable in a coaching relationship are 1) trust, and 2) open communication.  You are fantastic at both with all of your athletes, and I have faith that you will keep me moving in the right direction.  To the rest of the SBR coaches: Jessica, Kory, Kitty, Scott; plus Pete at Rocket Bikes: I appreciate all of your help and your feedback. You always make me feel valued and welcome, even when I pepper you with questions.

My newest team, Team Rev3.  I don't know if I can say enough.  Thank you for welcoming me with open arms and letting me be a part of the family.  You are some of the kindest, funniest people I know, and it is an honor to be part of your ranks. The same goes for the Rev3 staff.  I believe in what you do, and you do an incredible job.  The Team Rev3 sponsors: PowerBar, Pearl Izumi, blueseventy, SBR Sports, Biotta Juices,  Compex, NormaTec, Quintana Roo, Reynolds.  Thanks for keeping us happy, healthy, comfortable, and fast!

The Wisconsin Triathlon Team, past ("UW Triathlon Team" :) ) and present.  You keep me motivated, inspired, and having fun, day in and day out.  When I joined, I knew next to nothing about the sport.  Now I get to pass on some of the things I've learned to the people who are just discovering it.  Each of you brings a little something different to the table, and that's what makes us such a strong group.

Last but certainly not least: all of the incredible friends that I've met through this sport-- particularly the collegiate athletes, and those from the Madison tri scene: the folks out at Endurance House, the Race Day Events clan, my friends over at Team BBMC, and more others than I can name.  Training and racing wouldn't be the same without you.

Onward to the rest of 2013.  Let's make it great.

Pewaukee Tri- New Race, Old Foe

Last weekend I headed east to the Pewaukee Triathlon with some friends from the Wisconsin Tri Team.  Jess's parents had a house a mile off of the bike course, so it was a really convenient place to stay, and her parents took extremely good care of us throughout the weekend.  The four of us Badgers rode a loop of the bike course Saturday to check it out.  I would be doing the Olympic the next day (2 loops) while they were entered in the sprint (1 loop).  The race was under new directors this year-- this was its first year hosting an Olympic distance in addition to the sprint, and even the sprint route was slightly different from previous years', so all of us had new things to scope out.  The bike course wasn't too difficult, but definitely had enough going on to keep things interesting: a  lot of corners, a couple of 35+ mph descents, a few short steep hills, and 2 train track crossings.

I'd been monitoring the weather forecast over the week, and it looked like around race finish time it was supposed to be about 75 and sunny.  That was encouraging.  I've written before in this blog  about my tendency to have problems racing in the heat, including my meltdown on the run earlier this year at Collegiate Nats in Tempe. But I'd had some encouraging hard efforts in the heat earlier in the week.  Tuesday: a tough interval run in the Arboretum with the team- low 80*s, and I was sweating buckets but able to hang tough through the whole workout.  Thursday, a strong 5k run at the Madison Aquathon Series event, in 82* after swimming 1k and scarfing a chocolate cupcake (it was Food Challenge night!). So I made sure to hydrate with electrolytes all day Saturday, and took a couple of salt tablets pre-race on Sunday, but I wasn't too concerned. 

a lovely clear morning in Pewaukee

My wave wasn't scheduled to start until 7:02 a.m., but the sprint race began at 6:15, which meant transition closed at 6.  So we rolled out at 4:30 to bike over to Pewaukee Beach Park, in the first light of the day. Setting up my space didn't take long, so I went for a little run warm-up, cheered on my friends starting the sprint, and snacked on some Power Bar Energy Blasts before a little swim shake-out.  As I took my place in the starting corral, we learned that the start would be delayed.  I enjoyed the opportunity to chat with the other speedy ladies in my wave- I recognized the names and faces of many from other races, but it was rare to have everyone in one area and not preoccupied by pre-race activities!  Everyone was really friendly and relaxed, which made for a great atmosphere. There was money on the line for the top three overall men and women at this race, so a podium finish was one of my aims for the day-- but I knew I had my work cut out for me in this strong bunch.

 Yeah, I ran I 5k in this last week. 
One sign I've gotten bolder in my
old age.

Swim
The water was (allegedly) barely wetsuit legal, so I again opted  for my sleeveless BlueSeventy wetsuit as the fastest option.  I'd done the aquathon on Thursday non-wetsuit (Rev3 shimmer suit!), and it showed me exactly how much faster I am with the wetsuit right now- totallly worth being a little bit warmer.  Our wave was pretty small, but I almost immediately lost track of where everyone was after the start- I definitely need to work on that!   The long return leg of the swim involved sighting directly into sun and there weren't many buoys, so I swam quite a bit off course. My stroke felt pretty good, but that doesn't matter much when you swim extra distance, so I still lost some time.  I came out of the water right behind Claire Bootsma, who I recognized as the only other pink cap (20-29 F) in the wave.  I was quite impressed because I knew she was a runner-- time to get to work!
Split: 22:45

T1
There was a long run up and around the large transition area, and I hemorrhaged a bit more time.  I heard someone yell to Claire as she left that she was third. Rats! That meant I was fourth, and far enough behind the top 2 not to ever spot them in transition.  I needed a good ride to stay in the game.
Split: 1:39

Bike (27 mi)
Beginning the bike, I ran into a frustrating problem that I've experienced before but haven't been able to figure out yet.  My legs were in pain, but not tired. It's hard to describe the sensation.  I just couldn't get them to push, and my power was much lower than than I'd been able to easily put out the day before.  Maybe I need a better pre-race warmup?  The fortunate thing was that I was pretty sure (from experience) that if I kept pushing against that wall, it would eventually crack.  And it did.  Finally about 9 miles in, things loosened up.  My legs felt like my own again.  I felt strong, and I was having a ball.  Thanks to whoever cheered for me as I came through the first loop- I didn't have a chance to spot who you were!  I caught and passed Claire at about mile 12, and the next woman, Jennifer Harrison, at about mile 16.  In this section my friend Ted came whizzing by, so I also had fun trying to keep him in sight as long as possible.  On this second loop I started to feel the heat of the day, and made sure to take in the salt and Power Gel I had packed. I also finished off 2 water bottles and sprayed myself off a few times.  I was pleased to find out after the race that even with my difficulties in the first part of the ride I posted the fastest female bike split of the day, over Lauren Jensen, who had bested me a couple of minutes at Elkhart. All of the Olympic racers were also very lucky that we didn't end up having to stop for trains like many sprint racers did...
Split: 1:15:22

how often do you see a "train" column on results?

T2
Thanks to a strong ride I entered T2 second, and spotted Lauren leaving as I approached my rack. Since she out-swam me, it was my first glimpse of her since the start.  Sweet, it's onnnnn.  I slipped into my Pearl Izumi's and took off in pursuit.
Split: 1:27

Run
I felt a bit stiff leaving transition, but nothing too unusual.  Within the first half mile, though, I was suddenly suffocated by the heat.  The sun was bright, the sky was cloudless, the air was thick with humidity, and I was suffering.  I tried to just keep turning my legs over, and that worked for a little while.  I was holding the distance to the 2 runners in front of me.  There were 2 aid stations in the first 3 miles, but they didn't come fast enough for me, nor did their comfort last long enough.  At the first out-and-back on the course, I spotted 3rd, 4th, and 5th all about 45 seconds to about a minute back.  I would have been thrilled to have some great battles if I didn't already feel like I was hanging on by a thread.  Kim Goodell has apparently mastered racing in the heat, and had a fantastic run- she flew by me in the next few minutes.  Jennifer seemed to be hurting too and caught me much later, but I couldn't put up much of a fight at that point.

By now I've built up a pretty good arsenal of thoughts, memories, and techniques to help me combat pain, but I've realized I don't have a similar mental bank of things to draw upon to combat heat.  The usual tricks don't work; I couldn't get myself to focus on anything else through the middle of that race.  I'm a big fan of music in general, and it can help a lot when I have work to do and need an extra push (think indoor trainer intervals in the middle of Wisconsin winter!).  During the Aquathon I was jamming to this song inside my head during the run: "when it gets loud, I turn it up..."  I probably should've switched lines and tried to use it for the Pewaukee run:

They probably weren't talking about lighting up the run course, but that doesn't matter.  When you're adding to your mental toolbox, sometimes it's all about adapting the things you have access to, to make them work for you.  Find or make your own meaning- whatever works!

Anyway, I had not prepared any great mental strategies for heat in time for this race, and the physical strategies weren't enough to save me either.  Around mile 3 I starting having some breathing problems, and slowed to a walk at several points to try to make sure I'd be able to get myself to the line instead of being carted off.  I'm not normally asthmatic, but I've been told a few times in past years that I probably have some exercise-induced asthma.  The only problems I've really had with it though seem to be 1) extended coughing with exercise after I've been sick, and 2) wheezing associated with racing in heat.  Does this happen to any of you?  If so, let me know how you handle it!  Fortunately in the second half of the course we climbed a little hill, and at the top there was a breeze as well as an aid station that we hit 3 or 4 times within a 10 minute period.  The combination of the wind and repeatedly dousing myself with water was enough to cool me down enough to run again, and I ended on a high note.
Split: 50:11 (ouch)
Total: 2:31:24, 1st F25-29, 4th overall F

Even after a week to think about it, I'm still not quite sure what combination of factors led me to melt down so badly in the middle of this particular run.  I felt much stronger at mile 6 than I did at mile 1.  That is part of why I love the sport though, and why training races are so useful-- nothing EVER goes perfectly; there is always room for improvement. Terrain and conditions vary, and make even racing the same course a unique experience each time.  Putting it all together well is a puzzle, problem-solving at its finest.  At every race you encounter something new, end up coming up with different ideas, and learn a little bit more.  It's all part of the fun.

Post race
There wasn't much to do in the finish area, so no one stuck around too long.  The race had timing complications due to the 3 trains that had stopped athletes during the event.  The RDs had put out timing mats before and after each set of tracks to try to deal with this possibility, but some malfunction left the timers sorting things out manually-- results couldn't be finalized in enough time to hand out awards that day.  All of my teammates did great, though!  We had some strong finishes in both races.  After chatting with some old and new friends for a little while, I took a cool down walk/jog back to transition.  My bag had gotten its own ride, so I had to get creative.  There were a ton of bumps on the 4 miles back to the house, but nothing fell off so I'm considering it a success!

I am nothing if not resourceful. That's running shoes, medal, transition towel, visor, race belt, and there's an aero drink under there somewhere.  Add a wetsuit around the shoulders and I'm sure I looked pretty spiffy.

Later in the afternoon we headed out on the lake for some tubing!  It was actually my first try at it.  I had a blast, spending most of my time on the tube giggling uncontrollably.  It was also a surprisingly good workout, and a reminder that I need to get back on the strength training wagon- my biceps, lats, and shoulders were all super sore the next day.  All in all, an excellent weekend!

catching some air!

The next big race is Rev3 Wisconsin Dells!  I am so beyond excited for that one.  It was my first Rev3 race last year (the one that sucked me in!) and the whole experience will be even more fun this year as part of the team.  I've already started working on a big "race preview" blog post, so keep an eye out for that in the next week or two!