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.

Rev3 Wisconsin Dells preview

It's almost time for Rev3 Wisconsin Dells!!!  Less than 2 weeks now, my how time flies...

The Dells is pretty special to me-- it was my first Rev3 race, the one that got me hooked!  I did the Olympic Rev as part of the collegiate category last year, and will be doing so again this year to help out my Badgers-- just in a Rev3 kit this time :)  Anyway, as the Team Rev3 member closest to this race, I feel a sense of responsibility for it-- like I'm inviting all of my friends over to play triathlon.  So now that work has settled down a bit (I just submitted a paper!!!) I finally have enough time to finish this blog post.  Hopefully it will help those of you who are racing feel as prepared as possible, and help anyone who's still on the fence make their decision (*cough* come race *cough*)

This year's Athlete Guide was just posted over at the Rev3 website.  There's a lot of great info in there, so check it out!  I'm not going to regurgitate the guide here- instead, I'll hit some highlights that you might have skimmed over, and provide some perspective and additional info where I deem helpful.  If you have any other questions, feel free to put them in the comments and I'll track down the answer from someone in the know if I can't help you myself.  Now on to the goods!


Help! What should I do if I'm racing AG Nats?!

Unfortunately, this year a lack of communication resulted in the USAT Age Group Nationals race being held in Milwaukee on the same weekend as Rev3 Wisconsin Dells.  Fortunately, the marquee race at AG Nats (Olympic distance) is the day before Rev3 and the venues are about a 1.5-2 hour drive apart. Yes, Rev3 has mandatory packet pick-up and bike check in on Saturday (until 6 and 6:30, respectively).  BUT the great thing about Rev3 is that the staff is so caring and so understanding of personal situations.  So, if you're racing in Milwaukee want to race at the Dells too, but really concerned that you can't make it up there in time, it's worth contacting the Rev3 staff to see if you can make an alternate arrangement. Warning: do this before race week!!!  Once the team is on the road, they have limited email access.

If you're on the road from Milwaukee, I've also heard it recommended to get cream puffs from the Wisconsin State Fair.  You can make your own judgement call on that one. :)

Another great option is to come volunteer!  You'll have a great view of all the action, including a fast and furious pro race.  If you are part of a group or team, you can even earn $20 per shift worked as a donation to your group!  Sign up here.

Tell me about the swag.

Things vary a little bit from race to race, but here's what you can count on:

• Long sleeve cotton race t-shirt.  I don't know about you, but over the past few years of racing I have collected far more short sleeve dri-fit shirts than I could ever possibly use.  The Rev3 race shirts are nice enough to actually wear around town!  You'll get yours at the finish line.  

the shirt from Knoxville this year

• Swim cap (woo!) 
• Rev3 visor
• A sweet finishers' medal.  If you place in your age group, you'll get an additional cool medal that fits in with it, as well as other great stuff.  In the past I've earned things like PowerBar products and a gift certificate to the Rev3 Store that can be used on site, or later. 



medals from Knoxville

Tell me about the courses!

Swim
The swim takes place in Lake Delton, and stages inside the stadium for Tommy Bartlett's Ski Show down a hill from transition.  This means there are some cool pre-race amenities for athletes and spectators alike, such as access to nice bathrooms in addition to the porta potties closer to transition, tons of stadium seating to watch and wait, and race morning concessions for spectators (or adventurous racers).

Wisconsin Tri Team members pre-race 2012

The start is organized into "waves," but is in practice essentially a time trial start from the dock in the stadium.  Athletes self-seed within their waves.  The swim course is a simple counter-clockwise rectangle, with the Half Rev athletes heading farther out into the lake before the first turn.

Transition 1

Almost immediately after coming out of the water you climb up the big hill to transition, so be prepared!  The path is wide and asphalt.  Last year there was an aid station with water just before the transition area entrance.  The TA is on grass.

pro and collegiate bike row in 2012

Bike

Olympic Rev: This is full of typical Wisconsin rolling hills.  The biggest climbs on this course are the hill on Highway A that you hit in the first few miles on the way out and again in the last few miles on the way in.  Other than that, nothing too difficult or dangerous to note.  It's a pretty ride. View the route details at MapMyRide here.

Half Rev:  I recently rode the course with my coach, who raced the Half Rev last year.  In the process we noticed that there have been a few small changes on the back half of the loop that result in less time on the highway and more time on a nice, quiet county road- excellent!  View the route at MapMyRide here.

There are 3 significant climbs on the Half Rev course: Devil's Lake (DL), Devil's Head (DH), and Caledonia (C) (marked above).  For comparison, note that the "big hill" on the Olympic Rev course as the little rise near the beginning and end of this course.  For more detail about the difficulty of the course, and the climbs in particular, you are welcome to view my power file from the test ride here.

The Devil's Lake climb is first and pretty straightforward.  It's steepest near the top of the climb.  The descent is fast (40+ mph) but not very technical (there are a couple of turns, but they are pretty open).

The view turning onto Bluff Rd. from Co. DL.  Yep, you're going up and over this.

The Devil's Head climb is next and about twice as long in duration as the other two.  The bottom section is very steep, then the climb shallows for a bit before leveling out. However, before long you will turn right onto Tower Rd. and are immediately met with another steep section (but not as bad as the beginning of the hill).  Because of this hill, I would recommend having at least a 25 tooth cog on your cassette for just about everyone, unless you are ok with being in a lot of pain on the first part of the climb, or are a ProTour level rider (ha).  If you consider yourself a weak climber, you might want to consider having a 28 available.  For reference, at one point near the bottom of the climb I was working hard in my 39/25 gear going 5 mph.  Yeah.  The descent of this hill is also the most technical of the three.  There is a left turn at the bottom of the steep drop-off on Tower, then a somewhat sweeping (but fast) right turn, then a fast 90* left turn.  Be careful!

Where does the road go?  Down...

The third climb at Caledonia on Beich Rd. currently has fresh pea gravel to make it even more challenging.  This should be a lot better by race day, but there still might be a few loose patches.  The gravel sections are from the turn at 78 to halfway up the hill, and on the whole descent.  The climb is steepest in the bottom to middle section.  The descent is much slower and less technical than the other two (only one turn), but with gravel that sweeping left turn might still require a little bit of caution.

There's a video of the 2012 bike course (again, mostly the same) here.

Transition 2

Pretty simple.  Same location.  Athletes cross through the whole transition area.

Run

Both distances have new courses this year!  Athletes will be headed around Lake Delton.  The final sections of each race have stretches on Wisconsin Dells Pkwy, which should be exciting!  I haven't had the chance to check the full courses out in person, but I mapped them out for you:

Olympic Rev at MapMyRun here. The distance here is slightly off, probably due to my estimating the off-road portions at the beginning and end, and guessing the location of the turn-around.

Half Rev at MapMyRun here.  Again I estimated the turn-around location, etc.

 More perspectives

Want to hear what someone else has to say about #Rev3Dells?  Enjoy these 2012 race reports:

*Team Rev3 member

OlympicRev
Lauren Bogenberger*:    part 1      the race
Pam McGowan*
Andy Rosebrook*

HalfRev
Anthony Beeson*:   the Dells experience       the race
Coach Bill Martin

Looking for photos?  Slowtwitch gallery


What else is there to do during the weekend?

Some classic Rev3 Saturday activities:

• Worst wetsuit contest: you have a chance to win a new one from BlueSeventy!
• Practice Swim: including members of Team Rev3 out there to make your swim more comfortable with Foggies and Trislide!
• Pro Q&A:  Cam Dye. Starky. Kelly Williamson. Lauren Goss. Kyle Leto.  This should be good!

Afterward:  It's the Dells!!! That means waterparks! You might want to check out:

Noah's Ark (right next to the finish!)
Mt. Olympus
Kalahari

Other things to do in Wisconsin Dells: ...there are a lot.  You're better off checking them out here.

Outdoorsy fun nearby:
Mirror Lake : Camping, hiking, swimming, canoeing and kayaking, fishing, and more. *Motorized boats ok.*
Devil's Lake: Camping, hiking, rock climbing, swimming, canoeing and kayaking, fishing, and more. *No motorized boats*

There are some pretty nice views from the trails at Devil's Lake!

Anything else you want to know?  Ask below!

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!

South Dakota in (Mostly) Pictures

Well, I'm back from a pretty epic road trip to Rapid City to work with a colleague at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.  Research went well, motivation is high, and the training environment (as least for cycling/running) was excellent to boot.  The Black Hills are an amazing place for an outdoorsy person who is into earth science.  I finally sprang for a new camera charger while I was there (after about 10 months of vainly hoping mine would materialize), so I have some nice photos to share trip highlights in addition to a few questionable quality phone pictures. Enjoy!

- Driving past the Badlands during the foggy sunrise.

little camera phone working its hardest here

- Double-takes at most corners in downtown Rapid City due to the "City of Presidents" sculptures.

Hello, John Adams.

-Hiding from a giant thunderstorm, complete with pebble-sized hail, in Deadwood.

IT'S COMING.

- Some wild west history above Deadwood.

- Sunset run on the Mickelson Trail.

I saw a very small piece of it... it's 109 miles long!

-That night I got really lost on gravel roads without cell service and ended up a mile from Wyoming.

My handwritten directions said to follow Rochford Rd. south.  Come on.
  Clearly this was intended to mess with tourists.

- Miles and miles of gorgeous roads to ride on.

And just look at those rocks!

The exception that proves the rule.  Guess which way my directions had me going?
The sign at far left says "Motorcycles use extreme caution." This was a fun bike descent.

- Roadside geology stops.

folding in the Minnekahta limestone near Hot Springs

- Cave tour at Wind Cave National Park

It was hard to pry me out of there.  I took the Natural Entrance Tour, but I'll have to go back some day to take the others- particularly the Wild Cave Tour (the only actual public caving tour).

- Shamelessly touristy stops.

Wall Drug.  Enough said.

Good Times in the MWCTC

June is coming to a close, and the racing season is now well under way in the Midwest Collegiate Tri Conference!  The Midwest conference is made up of schools in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin.  In all there are between 12 and 20 schools depending on how you count, with official membership reserved for teams that are USA Triathlon member clubs in good standing with their schools.  Collegiate racing and my recently completed term as the conference commissioner have given me the chance to meet some fantastic people from across the region.  It's fun to have an added team element to racing in this mainly individual sport, and to have a network of friends at races throughout the year.  This year the first two conference races were in our neck of the woods earlier in the month, so I took the opportunity to help the Badgers start earning some points!  Since I was racing for Wisconsin as well as Team Rev3 these 2 weekends, I did my best to represent both with some kit mixing and matching :)

Team pre-race cheer. Look at all those sexy BlueSeventy suits!

Elkhart Lake Triathlon
Wisconsin had a pretty big group head up to represent us at this race.  It was my third time there, and this year was by far the coolest (yay).  Our collegiate wave started 3 min behind the elite wave, and the rest of the age groupers began in time-trial fashion after us.  After a fairly rough first few hundred meters, I found some clear water and settled in by myself for pretty much the whole swim, knowing that a few people were way too far up to catch and not really knowing where anyone else was.  I swam a little too far right of the buoy line on the way in, but could tell I was catching the back of the elite wave so things had to be going decently well.  I came out of the water with my teammate David, who had a fantastic swim.  With a very quick wetsuit removal thanks to my Trislide, though, I passed him before transition even though he is a much faster runner.  I did my best to calm my breathing after climbing the steep hill to the racks and had a pretty smooth transition onto the bike.

One of the nice things (for me, anyway) about this "Olympic" distance race is that the bike is slightly longer than normal- 28 miles of rolling hills.  A couple of fast guys including Iowan Jack Parr and super runner Patrick Brady whizzed by me in the first 5 miles, but aside from that it was a pretty lonely ride with just me and my PowerTap.  I felt strong and just focused on holding speed wherever I could without spiking the effort too much on the hills.  The ride flew by quickly, and before I knew it I was back at transition sliding into my new Pearl Izumi Tri N1's.

Thanks to PB's "Paularazzi" for catching me out of T2!

On the way out of transition, a friend yelled that a female was 30 seconds up.  I had no idea whether this person was elite or collegiate, but I got to work and tried to start reeling her in.  My stride actually felt pretty good, and I felt under control on this cool day- a nice change from past races here.  The woman up ahead looked very strong, but to my surprise and delight, she wasn't getting away- I was inching closer.  I knew all of the hard parts of the course were still ahead in miles 2-5, so I tried to keep myself in check instead of getting too excited.  I saw a lot of friends on the out and back section, and cheering for them helped to keep me cheery as well- funny how that works!  On this section it became clear that one woman (Lauren Jensen) had a sizable lead, but the two of us were the next females.  We hit a section with a few short steep uphills that took quite a bit out of my legs, and I fought to hold the margin.  The big hill on this course is at ~ mile 4.5, so I prepared to take that really hard and see where it got me.  It turned out I didn't have quite enough left- my companion slowly slipped farther away.  I've still got some work to do on my hill running.  I ended up turning in the second fastest time of the day, though, after accounting for start times.  Since I had entered the collegiate division instead of elite, I wasn't eligible for prize money and instead won the "age group" race.  But it was nice to be out there representing the Badgers and know that I was right in the mix with some fast women! Congrats to Lauren on the win- she's an inspiration, and a reminder that I have plenty of time to improve.
splits: 23:10/ 1:57/ 1:18:02/ 1:40/ 45:32, total: 2:30:21

As a side note, it's really useful to repeat a race multiple years as a way to track progress.  Conditions are a bit different for every race, obviously, but some comparisons can still be made.  Bike splits tend to be most stable from year to year since swim courses must be re-set every year, and the run is most affected by differences in temperature.  Here is a slice of data from my races at Elkhart:

2011- bike 1:24:05, total 2:42:14
2012- bike 1:20:25, total 2:36:50
2013- bike: 1:18:02, total 2:30:21

The lesson... consistent training pays off!  Sometimes it's hard to see the improvements we are making until we take a step back.  Trust your coach, trust the process, and be patient!

Rockford Triathlon
The drive was only an hour to this one, so I decided to wake up dark and early (3a.m.!) to drive down with a couple teammates and take the opportunity to sleep in my own bed.  It rained for most of the drive, and the forecast didn't look promising, but this year I've gotten quite used to racing in dreary conditions.  The major detrimental effect of the rain on the race seemed to be that it scared away many volunteers, leaving it pretty short-handed.  More on that soon...

The collegiate wave started first.  It was a joint conference race with the Mideast and Midwest conferences, so the wave was pretty large and it was fun to see some different teams represented (Illinois, etc) in addition to the usual suspects (Iowa State and friends).  The swim was 2 loops in a small lake that was very weedy on the back stretch. After 1 loop, each athlete had to run out of the water across a timing mat on the beach before heading back in.  It was nice to see this in place to make sure that everyone did the full course- I'm always of the opinion that the more timing mats on the course, the better!  I felt okay but was excited to get out of the water.

There was a long run up to transition, and part of it wasn't marked so I wasn't sure which path to take.  Fortunately some people at the top of the hill (volunteers? spectators?) spotted me looking around and starting to follow the sidewalk, and yelled to redirect me straight up the hill. At least one speedy runner (my friend Kris, the eventual collegiate winner!) passed me in transition, but in general it went smoothly.

Trying to get my bearings leaving T1, and looking
pretty thrilled with the rain (ha!)

The bike course was a gently rolling out and back with a narrow turnaround in the middle of a 2 lane road. I've improved my cornering confidence a lot lately, but wet roads are still enough to kill it right now.  I lost a good chunk of time unclipping to scoot around the cone safely.  Oops.  Aside from that I seemed to be holding my place in the field well- I passed two very fast swimming Minnesota girls early, and not many guys were coming by me.  I was struggling to get my power up where I wanted it, and after a while just stopped looking at the computer and rode by feel the best I could.  My cycling legs showed up the last week, but they must have stayed in bed today!  It's hard to nail every piece of the puzzle each time. A quick T2 and I was out for the most challenging part of the race.

Unlike the run at Elkhart there were no giant hills on this course, but the small hills were one after the other with barely any flat stretches.  The run was a big loop with a short "stick" to and from the transition/finish area and a short out-and-back at about halfway.  My teammate Jim had passed me late in the bike and was still relatively close at the beginning of the run, so I did my best to keep him in sight as long as possible.  The roads around the lake loop were quiet, and I quickly noticed that there were no directional arrows or signs at the places were other roads split from or crossed the course.  I had looked at the maps the night before, but it was still a bit disconcerting not to have confirmation that I was going the right way.  I relied a large part on which way the guys in the distance turned in front of me.  No mile markers either... I was relieved to reach the out and back section to know how far I was!  The course was pretty, though, my legs felt strong even on the uphills, and I was holding the distance to a Minnesota male a little bit in front of me.  In fact, I saw him glance back periodically throughout the run, which made me think I had a chance at catching him and helped to keep me pushing hard on the lonely stretches.  I held things together well and still never caught him, but it was a good battle!
splits: 23:13/ 2:14/ 1:08:23/ 0:45/ 43:57, total: 2:18:35

Heading into the finish. Another perk of having friends from other teams?
More people to take pictures.  Thanks Matt!

A minute or two after I finished, I was confused to see a couple of Iowa guys who had been a decent bit in front of me halfway through the run just crossing the line.  Huh?  As it turned out, a number of males had overshot an unmarked turn and added about 3/4 mile or so to their runs. As a USAT sanctioned event, it was a race rule that it is the athlete's responsibility to know the course... but this was an unfortunate situation since there were no markings.  A number of athletes wanted times adjusted, which I understand, but there was no fair way to decide how much time to give to particular athletes, even if the USAT rule wasn't in effect.  The bike course had been very well marked, so I'm not sure what happened with the run course.  I felt bad for the race staff, though, who were clearly working hard and doing their best on the day with the very limited help available.  Unfortunately without enough volunteers to help corral the relay racers, too, timing had also gotten very confused due to athletes walking across mats when they shouldn't have.  The end result was that times and splits couldn't be finalized quickly enough to determine placings and awards that morning.  So we finished catching up with our fellow racers, enjoyed some warm post-race sandwiches (welcome on the still fairly chilly morning), packed up, and headed back home. 

As a nice surprise, I was finally able to meet Rev3 teammie Laura, whose husband was racing that morning too.  Pretty cool!

These races wrapped up a big block for me. The next one on the calendar right now is Pewaukee in mid July, then Rev3 Wisconsin Dells in August!  I may not be able to resist sneaking something else in there too, we'll see.  For now it's time to get both some solid training done and some good academic work in.  I'm actually currently visiting at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to work on a project- but I'll have to wait until I get back to Wisconsin to post pics, since I forgot my camera cord and my phone camera pales in comparison.  Something to look forward to!