Rev3 Knoxville

Whew.  For someone with a pretty constant internal monologue, I have not done a great job of staying on top of blogging.  I've had a lot going on lately between academics, travel, and racing.  There are a lot of different things I've been thinking about, but it's difficult enough just to stay on top of race reports for now so I'll get to those eventually!  For now, here's a recap of how things went in Knoxville earlier this month.

This was was my first Rev3 race since being selected to be a part of their age group team, Team Rev3, as well as the first Rev3 race of the year, so to say I was excited was an understatement.  I'd met many of the team members at our summit in Colorado in January, but not everyone had been able to make it.  Plus, most of us are pretty spread out across the country (I am the only one in Wisconsin!).  The opportunities to hang out are few and far between, and I felt compelled to seize this one.  Knoxville will also be the site of Rev3's first Age Group Series championship next May, so I wanted to scope it out!

I left Wisconsin early Friday morning with my coach Bill and my friend Ben, with the aim of making it to Knoxville in time for the Team Rev3 dinner and the Rev3 Glow Run.  Between the rain, traffic, and some construction mess, we didn't quite make it.  Too bad- it looked epic!  There was even a movie and popcorn afterward.  Rev3 donated all proceeds from the event to a former UT swimmer, Nicole Gross, who was badly injured in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Finish line of the Glow Run.  You tri aficionados might recognize the curly-haired guy in the left corner :).  Photo by Eric Wynn for Rev3.

Saturday: Pre-race
By the next morning it was pretty clear that there would be no break from the rain over the weekend, but we carried on the best we could.  After a stop by the expo to check in and pick up my new Pearl Izumi team kit, we drove the bike course.  Note: there are several stretches you can't access until race day because the bikes head against the normal direction of car traffic.  The course was beautiful: green and rolling.  It looked like a ton of fun (...on a dry day- but we'll get to that).  The three of us heard that the water temp was 59*, so we opted out of the practice swim.  I will note here that we are all quite experienced swimmers and race in open water a lot.  I would strongly recommend to any newer swimmers, swimmers who are getting used to their wetsuits, or people who struggle in cold conditions to seize every opportunity to practice in open water race conditions before race day!

I got to carry around this bad boy over the weekend.
Sweet.

Next we set off for a quick pre-ride of the run course.  It was here that Ben's bad luck for the weekend started, with an unfortunate encounter with a set of railroad tracks. You can read about the ongoing saga over at his blog.  He was sore but ok, and the bike seemed fine except for the loss of a few gears. The run course was pretty flat for the most part, with a few gradual grades.  Much of it was on a nice shady greenway, sheltered from the bustle of the downtown area.  Bike check-in afterward went smoothly.  Everyone was quite relieved this year that transition was on the bottom floor of a parking structure- no soggy bikes and triathletes the next morning!

Race day

Personalized transition spots :)

The HalfRev racers started first and we were all doing the OlympicRev, so we didn't have to roll into transition too early.  A lot of people were freaking out a bit about the combo of high fifties air temperature, high fifties water temperature, and rain.  As someone who has always run warm and tends to really suffer in heat and humidity, I was quite possibly one of the only people there who was actually kind of thrilled out the temperatures.  I was not so thrilled about the rain, but race day is often about who can roll with the punches the best, so you just have to learn to make the best out of whatever happens.

Swim: 19:57
The swim was a point-to-point river swim with a short section up-river, two right turns, and a long stretch down-river with the current.  I was in one of the last waves to start.  There was only a minute or two between when the wave was allowed in the water and our start, so I didn't get much warm up other than a few strokes and my dry land stretching beforehand.  I started on the front to the outside while the other fast girls ended up starting on the inside, so I ended up pretty much on my own the entire swim.  My stroke felt ok, but I could have used someone to push me. I also probably ended up a little too far towards the middle of the river on the back stretch, but the current might have evened things out. Before I knew it I was climbing out at the dock of the Tennessee women's rowing team. The run to transition was nearly half a mile, so I took my wetsuit off immediately.

T1: 3:51
We got to run through the boathouse briefly to hit the timing mats, a cool experience for a former rower.  There was also an optional shoe pick up there, but I hadn't left anything so I just tore after the string of guys up the hill to transition.  The pavement was a little rougher than expected, so shoes actually might be a smart choice next time.  My body felt pretty warm, but apparently my hands and feet were not.  I fumbled a lot with my helmet and shoes, the first time I've ever had trouble with that helmet strap.  This seems like it was a pretty common problem among racers, though.

on my way out

Bike: 1:15:39
Oh, the bike.  The rain was relentless.  I'd brought sunglasses to protect my eyes from the raindrops and road spray, but they started fogging even before I made it out of the parking garage (forgot to use my Foggies pre-race...).  I cleared them a few times in the first mile before giving up and stashing them in my FuelBox for the remainder of the ride.  I must have left my brain back in Madison, because I spent two miles confusedly punching at my Joule computer trying to get it to pair to my wheel before I remembered that I was riding my disc for this race... which was not PowerTapped.  D' oh. This was probably for the best, because with the very wet roads I ended up needing all of my concentration to look for obstacles, instead of peeking at my power numbers.  We had noticed the day before that the holes and other road hazards were marked with spray paint, but with the accumulation of rain overnight many of these markings were hidden.  So I ended up changing my bike strategy and riding up the hills extra hard since I had to brake WAYYY more than usual on the turns, downhills, and other fast sections to keep an eye on the road.  I really enjoyed the course route and look forward to being able to ride it under different conditions in the future.  For this race, my primary concern was making it back to T2 upright!  I ended up having a lot more fluid on my bike than I needed in the colder conditions, something to plan for better next time.  I was pretty comfortable temperature-wise in just my tri kit and calf sleeves- only my toes were a bit chilly...

T2: 1:33
Pretty simple, in and out.  Cold feet and colder-than-I-realized hands made for some clumsiness, but overall I didn't lose too much time.  I heard some cheers for me but didn't get a chance to see who it was, so if that was you- thank you!!! It helped :)

Run: 43:59

Rev3 races give you a FREE finisher photo!
How cool is that?! 

Frozen feet make for an interesting running experience.  For the first half mile I felt like I was running on concrete blocks, then they felt like marshmallows.  Finally about 1.5 miles in they stopped tingling. Once that happened, the run was pretty fun.  Since most of it was out-and-back, I got to see many of my Rev3 team members as well as some Wisconsin and other friends.  There were also giant, foot-burying puddles to splash through... there was no avoiding them!  It was too difficult to figure out where I was in the women's AG race with the back of the women's pro field kind of blending into the front of the age-groupers, so I just tried to keep my cadence and intensity high.  The cool rain felt really great at this point and it was nice not to be overheating for a change!  The last mile was a long gradual climb and I'd missed the mile marker at mile 5, so the race started to seem really long at that point.  I also discovered that I needed more electrolytes/calories during the run after all, because I was losing steam quickly and there were no more aid stations.  One girl flew by me in the last half mile, which was frustrating, but overall it was a pretty decent run for me.

Total: 2:24:59, 1st 25-29, 6th amateur female

Despite the challenging conditions, I had a great time over the weekend and also have a good start towards qualifying for the Age Group Series championships next year.  The cold conditions suited me much better than they did a lot of people, though- each person responds to heat and cold very differently.  A lot of people made the decision not to start or not to finish this race, and I respect that.  It is SO important to pay attention to your own body and how you react to things, and make the decisions you need to in order to keep yourself safe.  If you were one of those who ended up with a DNS or DNF next to your name- don't let yourself feel bad about it.  Better to be around to fight another day!  The season is just getting started.

Half a second later, my butt was on the ground,
baseball slide-style.  Luckily no one got a picture
of that part.  To my knowledge...

In other news, Ben had more bad luck with a flat during the race, but gained a few minutes of fame in the tri community thanks in part to a tweet by the lovely and talented pro Mirinda Carfrae

<- Can a blog have a bloopers section?  If so, I leave you with a photo addition.

Next up in blogs: Triple-T and a quick trip to CO.

Also, I'm racing again this weekend at Lake Mills, a.k.a. "Wisconsin Worlds"... glutton for punishment over here.

Collegiate Nationals Wrap-up

The USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships, or Collegiate Nats, is an event that I look forward to every year.  As someone who both 1) didn't find the sport of triathlon until grad school and 2) used up their NCAA eligibility in undergrad (rowing), I have been very lucky and grateful that triathlon is a club sport that allows grad students up to age 28 to participate.  My primary training partners and some of my favorite people in Wisconsin are from the Wisconsin Tri Team.  Team members brought me into the sport and showed me the ropes, and it's a pleasure for me to now be able to do the same for other members of the team.  Any chance to race with them is always a good time, so of course there's no way I would have missed Nats in Tempe, AZ this year.  In addition to the chance to race/bond with my team all weekend, it's also a chance for me to meet up with other friends I've made from around the country through my involvement with the USAT Collegiate Committee and other aspects of the sport.  It's also just a great race to be a spectator at.  Schools are known to dress up in crazy outfits, and the spirit everywhere is unique and really special.

The Badger "scooter gang" at Collegiate Nats in Tuscaloosa, 2012

Collegiate Nats has continued to grow and change every year along with collegiate triathlon in general.  The field of college age triathletes keeps getting larger and deeper in talent.  USAT has identified the college years as a missing piece of the Olympic triathlete development pipeline in the U.S., as many talented young triathletes have typically chosen to swim or run in NCAA programs in college and put triathlon on hold.  Another complication for developing successful Olympic athletes is that most triathlons in the U.S. are a non-drafting format, while the Olympics are a draft-legal, "ITU style" looped format with a different set of rules and required skill set. Women's triathlon is currently looking promising as an NCAA emerging sport, but the implementation of that would still be a few years away.  In the early years of collegiate triathlon competition there was just one national championship race every year, a non-drafting Olympic distance race.  To help bridge the gaps between junior elite triathlon competition (which is ITU style), U-25 (formerly U-23) and pro/elite ITU racing, USAT has increasing been working to incorporate draft-legal racing into collegiate tri.  Last year at Collegiate Nats the first ever draft-legal collegiate race was held- a mixed team relay, to help draw a large number of participants and create interest and excitement among the collegiate athletes.  The race was a success, so USAT kept it plus added another race this year- an individual draft-legal sprint race.  It was decided that the mixed relay would be kept just for fun/bragging rights, but the individual draft-legal race would be scored.  Individuals could then be scored for a combined draft-legal + non-drafting championship, and team scores would be made up of the top 4 non-drafting scores + the top draft-legal score per team per gender.  Game changer!

Suddenly the weekend got a lot more complicated for teams.  The nature of draft-legal (DL) races requires them to have much smaller fields than the non-drafting race, so only a few people per team, at most, would be racing those.  The draft-legal athletes were also required to be on road bikes instead of tri bikes, and some other types of aero gear (helmets and wheels) were allowed for the Olympic race but not for the DL ones.  Between picking which athletes would go in which races, getting all the gear for ~20 people across the country, and then shuffling athletes between races and hotel and meetings and airports all weekend, the team definitely had a logistical challenge, and as one of the lucky few athletes who had chosen/was chosen to do all 3 races, I was flying around all weekend.  As a result I missed catching up with a few people I'd wanted to meet up with, but the weekend was still a blast!

Weekend bonus: getting to hang out with my sister Aeryn, who lives near Tempe.  She even had a sweet little care package waiting for me upon arrival late Wednesday night!

On to the race reports!

Friday a.m.: Individual draft-legal sprint

This was quite a new experience for me, and was honestly the part of the weekend I was most terrified about.  I did the DL mixed relay at last year's Collegiate Nats and have completed a handful of collegiate cycling road races and criteriums, but something about draft-legal tri was very intimidating.  I think my concern was that it is SO tactical that I knew I'd have to do a great job adjust my plan on the fly to put Wisconsin in the best finish position.  My teammate Ellie would be in the same race.  Since only one person per team counted towards the team score, we tried to plan out what each of us would do in a dozen different scenarios to ensure that our first person finished well while our second wouldn't end up too tuckered out for the Olympic distance the next day.  Ellie and I were pretty close in ability on the swim and run, with her having the edge on the swim and myself on the run, so things would depend a lot on where we each ended up on the bike.  The distances for the race were half an Olympic, so 750m swim/20k bike/5k run.

It was fun to show up and see all of our names on our individual spots in the transition area- it felt very "pro."  I'm sorry I forgot to get a picture of mine! After watching our teammate Robbie race in the men's race (he did great!) it was time for us to line up.  Unlike the men's race, we weren't allowed to wear wetsuits-- the water had warmed up half a degree to be just over the cut-off.  We entered the water by number, which had basically been assigned randomly, and chose starting spots along a wall for a push start. The swim course was a strange kind of loop and a half, and it was crowded the whole time.  I got flustered and ended up swimming sloppily, but near the end I spotted a flash of white a few meters ahead and suspected it was Ellie.  I tried to stay with her and ended up chasing her up the metal stairs 4 seconds behind, with the 13th best swim at 12:04.  Transition was fast and furious. I didn't do a flying mount since I hadn't been practicing it, so I hit the bike with my shoes already on and started to hammer to catch the girls in front of me.

working with a few companions on the bike

The bike course consisted of 4 5k laps, with a small hill at the far end of each and a 180 at the end closer to transition.  Less than half a mile in I came by Ellie, who was having some trouble getting her feet in her bike shoes.  I yelled encouragement as I passed, but knew it was in our best interest for me to keep chasing the couple girls I saw just up the road.  As a much stronger swim/biker than I am a runner, and also knowing that a hard bike would hurt my legs less for the rest of the weekend than a hard run, I tried to use the bike to advance as far as I could.  I flew by a few weaker cyclists, and after 2 laps found myself part of a strong group of 5 for a while.  Still a bit gassed from my long chase, I missed the boat when two of them made a move off the front.  In fact, in an in-race first for me, I found myself throwing up off the side of my bike (luckily missing it and my leg) on lap 3.  Oops.  Still not quite sure what that was about, but I felt a little better afterwards.  I stuck with the remaining 2 girls for the remainder of the ride, contributing to the pace-setting when I could (which honestly was not often by that point).  I was trying to save a little bit of energy for the run, and both other girls seemed a little fresher than I was.  I was off the bike in 33:44 (6th best) after a tricky flying dismount around a U turn into transition.  Eesh!
 
The day had grown quite hot by this point, in the high eighties and the sun was shining brightly.  Coming out of transition the Air Force Academy girl (Sam Morrison) took off like she was running a 100m dash, so I was content to just let her go.  Meanwhile, the UCLA girl and I swapped places a couple times over the 2 lap, virtually out-and-back run.  I felt pretty strong considering the heat and the hard bike, and there was a big gap to the next girls behind us.  I made sure to yell to Ellie as I passed so she would know she could bring it in easy.  The course must have been slightly long, because no one ended up breaking 20 and there were definitely a number of very fast girls in that field.  Thankful for the gap behind me, I brought it home in a pretty comfortable tempo pace for the 9th fastest run at 23:06 as well as a 9th place finish at 1:10:08.  After that, the focus changed quickly changed to recovery, and I made sure to spend some quality time in the NormaTec recovery boot tent :) Still on tap for the the rest of the day was a mixed relay briefing, Collegiate Committee meeting, and pasta party with the team at Tempe Marketplace, so I had to spend a bit more time on my feet but tried to stay as loose as possible.

Ellie and I post sprint: Wisco girls showing a little Rev3 love

Saturday a.m.: Olympic distance

The girls were slated to go second again- the men started at 7:30, while the first wave of women was at 10:50.  I enjoyed cheering for my teammates and some other Midwest conference friends at various points on the course: T1 exit, swim exit, bike, run finish.  The day was quickly heating up as the men were finishing, and after our top 4 were in it was time for me to "warm" up. Ha.  Managing heat was, as usual, a major concern for our team at this race.  I opted to wear my white arm coolers, which had helped a lot in some of my more successful hot races in recent years like Vegas in 2011.

I started on the inside of the swim course, a long rectangle, and stayed there throughout.  In fact, I think I was a bit too far to the inside at many points, because the bulk of the field seemed pretty far away.  Needless to say, I didn't find anyone to draft.  My lats felt tired (from the poor swim the day before?) and I never found a groove, so I just tried to keep turning over.  I couldn't wait to get out of the water and onto my bike. After watching countless men slip on the metal swim exit steps earlier in the morning, I was happy to make it out without incident. Time: 23:26.

The transition area was really large and the ends of the bike racks were not numbered, but lucklily I'd taken careful note of the landmarks near mine.  The 40k course was 2 laps with 2 180 degree turns on each.  My bike legs felt pretty good right away, but I kept an eye on my power to avoid going out too hard.  Even riding fairly conservatively I passed quite a few girls in the first 15 minutes of the ride, which was fun. The first 180 was a couple lanes wide and was no problem, especially on the first lap.  The second one bordered on ridiculous: the width of just a car lane + bike lane, bounded on each side by a curb (no room for error!).  We hadn't previewed this part of the course, and I panicked slightly when I saw it on the first lap, unclipping one foot to ensure I could complete it safely.  On the second lap, I started to pass through slower girls on their first lap who started in late waves, so some of the turns got a bit congested.  Luckily I hit the second 180 on my own the second time, and gritted my teeth and made it through with a hard lean, without unclipping.  Whew.  About 45 min into the ride I ran out of water... darn desert.  My legs wanted to push a bit harder, but I decided to play it safe considering the very hot run coming up, and eased off a bit. Time: 1:00:54, 17th best (the course turned out to only be 22.4 miles-of course they shortened my favorite part :/ ).

enjoying the cheers at the end of lap 1

The run course was a single big 10k loop that went across the river for a long stretch.  Through the course of the bike I had moved up into the top 25 and came out of T2 right behind Tess Amer, a Colorado athlete who I knew was very good.  Awesome!  My legs actually felt pretty solid and I focused on my cadence.  We went along at a quick but manageable pace.  My heart rate started to feel like it was climbing, though, as my body heated up.  The first aid station was a mile in, and I yelled ahead for the things I wanted, but the ice arrived a little too late.  I plowed through without it, not wanting to let Tess get away.  Half a mile later, however, I felt my temp spiking and slowed a little to keep things under control.  It was 90* and the run had zero shade.  From then on, my run was damage control.  I'd lost my little baggie of salt tablets somewhere in T2, so I had to wing it.  At every aid station I drank Gatorade for the electrolytes; poured water on my head, jersey, and arm coolers; and grabbed as much ice as I could.  I had to walk a little to pick up everything.  Ice went down the sports bra, under the hat (I'd worn a full cap specifically to carry ice), even some down the shorts.  I held ice in my hands, in my mouth, anything I could think of to try to cool off.  It helped a little bit, and I was able to increase my pace after each aid station, only to begin crashing again a few minutes later.  Girls were starting to stream by me and I was just doing my best to keep it together, both physically and mentally.  Many parts of the run, particularly the part across the river, were quiet and a bit lonely- just us girls and our demons.  On a short out a back section near mile 4 I spotted my friend Alison from Iowa, a speedy runner, a minute or two down from me and made it a goal to try to hold her off.  Finally near mile 5 we hit the last stretch and ran into a few spectators to lift our spirits.  I spotted Kevin, the collegiate committee chair, and made a quick joke as I ran by.  Alison passed me close to the 6 mile mark and I did my best to summon an extra gear into the finish line.  Time: 48:39.  Certainly slow for me, but not as bad a blow-up as the year the girls started second in Tuscaloosa.  Thank goodness for that...

Final result: 2:15:34, 37th out of 406.  In hindsight, I think I should've found a way to carry a third water bottle on the bike, and/or slowed down at the first aid station for ice and more fluids.  Aside from that, I think I managed the heat as best as I knew how.  It's so hard every year to have a national championship in a hot place in April while there is often still snow on the ground in Wisconsin- no time to acclimate.  But we are not the only school in this position, and just have to do the best we can.

I have a history of heat issues at this point, ending up in the med tent both years in Tuscaloosa, in 2011 at Vegas, and last year at Door County.  If I don't end up in medical, does it mean I could/should have gone harder?  I don't know.  Is that an unhealthy criterion to judge by?  Maybe.

Saturday p.m.: Mixed Team Relay

By the time I finished my lengthy stay in the ice bath, got food, and watched a few more teammates finish, it was already time to get ready for the afternoon relay.  This meant scrubbing off race number tattoos and applying new ones, switching my pedals back to the road bike, putting number stickers on my road helmet and a new swim cap, fetching timing straps for myself and my teammates, etc.  Crazy.  I checked to make sure my brakes weren't rubbing, since the bike had been handled several times by a couple different people since the race the day before.  Everything seemed fine.  The race consisted of teams of 4 from each school.  Each person completed a 250m swim, 5k bike, and 1.2k run before tagging the next person on their team.  The order was female/male/female/male, and I would be leading our team off.

Swim: this was the most physical swim I have ever been in.  I was crawling over people and bring clawed at from the minute the horn sounded.  It was a struggle just to breathe in all the splashing.  My being-coordinated streak came to a crashing halt as I slipped not once, but twice climbing out of the water on the metal stairs. Yowtch. I dashed out, grabbed my bike, hopped on and felt a little bit of a shimmy. "Tire pressure must be a little low," I thought as I gently took the left turn onto the road.

Low was an understatement.  As soon as I started to turn I felt the rear wheel slide out from beneath me.  Instinctively I tried to correct it by jamming myself the other way, but the tire wouldn't let me stick it.  Instead, I wobbled briefly before coming down on the pavement on my other side.  GET UP.  Luckily I got out of the way without any of the girls hitting me.  I felt the rear tire: completely flat.  Well, that explained the crash.  Other than that, the bike looked ok.  Some of my teammates ran over as I looked around helplessly.  Was there neutral support?  Can I keep going?  Soon I was handed a wheel.  Everything was a blur.  I must have lost a minute or two; everyone else was long gone.  But I finally hopped back on the bike to some cheers and tore off in an adrenaline-fueled frenzy to the now-familiar 5k loop.  Surprisingly I caught and blew by one girl, but the rest of the field wasn't even in sight.  I felt kind of stupid all by myself but treated it like a crazy TT in my drops.  As I passed by transition at the end of the loop I heard teammates screaming that we were still in- go, go, go!  Coming off the bike I could see a few girls ahead in the distance and set off in hot pursuit.  In a run this short, there was nothing to save- it was full gas the whole way. To my surprise and delight I managed to squeeze by a couple more girls before tagging my teammate Alex.  Hey, at least we weren't last!  I always enjoy having something to chase.  Alex, Mali, and David all did great and brought us past a few more teams by the end. 

I ended up 6th in the individual combined standings (draft-legal + Olympic) and the team ended up  16th overall, with 13th place for the women and 21st for the men.  Not too bad for a Midwest team, but I know we can do even better.  I was recently elected president of the team for next year, and I have some big goals for us :)

Some of the team accepting our award for UW Rec Sports Club of the Year!  A week post Nationals.

The awards ceremony that evening was a good time as always, and our team found a few others to celebrate with (shout out to UW-Eau Claire).  I held my last meeting as Midwest Collegiate Commissioner, a position I will miss despite all the work.  It has allowed me to meet so many amazing people over the past 2 years.  In my final year as a collegiate athlete (I better finish my doctorate next summer!!!) I'm excited to have such a great team and great friends, and to really savor the experience.

On Wisconsin!

Oceanside Race Report

Finally finished this thing up!  It was great to get the first tri of the year under my belt early.  I definitely felt a bit out of practice at some points, but I'm pretty happy with the results.  Here's how things went down.  Sorry, it's a bit long (in my defense, so was the race!).

Pre-race:
This is a 2 transition race, with T2 (bike to run) located about a mile from T1.  I'd dropped my run gear off at T2 the night before, so in the morning I had a quick walk from the hotel to T1 with my little 4-person family cheering squad and my swim and bike gear.  Not having my run gear made things both more simple and more complicated: fewer items to manage on race morning, but I was also a bit more paranoid about forgetting something or having it in the wrong place (I ended up having to run back into transition 5 minutes before it closed to drop off my race belt, so I guess it's good to be a little bit paranoid?).

Oceanside Harbor is somewhat narrow and the point of entry for us triathletes was a small ramp, so the start was broken up into age group waves and there was no swim warm-up area in the harbor.  My female 25-29 group was combined with the 45-49 women into wave #15, about 45 minutes after the first wave.  I took the time between the close of the transition area and my wave start to get in a short run warm-up.  I wasn't in any hurry to go stand in a pen in my wetsuit and wait, so I hung out with my family as long as possible while getting into my BlueSeventy wetsuit.  I'd taken Holly's Team Rev3 uniform top out for a quick test run earlier in the week to identify any areas that might chafe so that I could try to prevent that.  I've been using Trislide as an anti-chafing product for a few months and had great results with it on my long runs, but this was going to be its biggest test so far.  I got a few stares from my family members as I starting spraying myself with the little can. ("What is that?" "Lubricant." "Maybe we shouldn't ask questions").  Then it was finally time to dash off and join the rest of my wave.

Swim:
Each wave walked down the ramp into the water and the start was an in-water start at a buoy about 50 meters away.  The water wasn't as cold as it was originally expected to be, so I was one of the few people in a sleeveless wetsuit but I was comfortable.  The start was hard to hear and took me a little off guard, but after about 100 meters I found myself swimming stroke for stroke with one other girl and tucked in behind her to draft.  About 5 minutes later, we started coming up on the back of the previous wave's swimmers and I unfortunately lost her in the chaos.  From then on, I was swimming through steady traffic. I sighted a lot more often than normal to keep from running into legs, but did a pretty good job swimming straight.  My stroke felt ok, not great, but I just tried to keep turning over.  There was a nice tidal surge pushing us back into the harbor on the second half of the swim- a bit like bodysurfing!  Before I knew it I was rounding the last buoy and volunteers' arms were helping to pull me up the ramp.
time: 26:48, 2nd F25-29, 10th amateur F

Between the sleeveless wetsuit and a right arm that tends to fly high over the water, I was easy for my family to track

T1:
This was a pretty long run, down the length of the skinny transition area and then back down through it to my rack.  Aside from getting excited and starting to take my bike off the rack before I put my helmet on (doh) everything went smoothly.  The mount line was super crowded but I escaped without incident.
time: 3:28

Bike:
I was fortunate enough to be able to pre-drive most of the course over winter break because my mom has access to Camp Pendleton.  I'd heard from past participants that first half of the course usually had a tail wind and the last 5-10 miles often had a fierce head wind, so I planned my pacing accordingly.  The middle miles of the course (~ mile 28-42) are very hilly with a couple of climbs (particularly the one at mile 28) that made me regret the all of cookies I'd eaten over winter break.  One steep descent even had a no pass zone with a speed limit of 25 mph. If you ever do this race, take this seriously, it's as scary as advertised- the turn kept tightening near bottom, and barriers lined the side to try to keep anyone who took it too aggressively from flying into the canyon.  Yikes! The day was turning out to be sunnier than advertised, which was not a good thing considering I'd been counting on sunscreeners in T1 and hadn't found them. But the temperature was comfortable, and I stuck to my nutrition and power goals pretty well.  There was one strong woman I went back and forth with a couple times over the course of the 56 mi, but I wasn't really getting caught by any women until close to the end of the hilly stretch.  This was expected- it seems like most triathletes at my level come with a solid run background and have the corresponding body type, while I still look more like a short rower, or a swimmer who lifts weights.  It takes a bit more power to get me up and over the hills!  Instinctively I checked calves for their ages as they passed, even though these days I really consider myself as racing against all women (well, ok, and men, for that matter) instead of just my age group.  These ladies were all a little older, so it was nice to know I was still doing well in my group at least.  I had saved a bit of energy for the head wind in the last 5ish miles but it never showed up, so my legs got a little bit of a break into T2. 
time: 2:47:09,  through bike: 1st F25-29, still 10th amateur F

Nice surprise to find my dad on the little hill up to T2

T2:
Pretty uneventful.  I scrapped the flying dismount because the chute into T2 was narrow, my legs were wobbly, and I was with a few other racers.  The volunteers were helpful in pointing me down the right row of bags, so I zipped in and out, grabbing my Rev3 visor and starting a watch as I left.
time: 1:24

Run:
I hadn't done many bricks in the weeks prior to the race, and once I started running I was immediately concerned that I'd overcooked the hills on the bike.  Thankfully, my stride started to loosen up a bit a mile or so into the run.  I'd been lulled into complacency pre-race by the course profile, which shows very little variation in elevation over the run.  In actuality, virtually flat stretches were punctuated by several very short, steep climbs and drops as the course hopped back and forth between sea level and pier or street level.  I ended up walking part of the steep climbs each time, knowing from past experience that it would do me more harm than good to run up them.  This served me well, and soon I was anxious to know how I was doing.  I always use mile markers to help break up the run mentally.  For this race, I also planned to use them to make sure I didn't start too quickly.  However, I kept looking and no mile markers ever appeared.  I wasn't sure whether I was blind (possible), delirious (less likely), or they were just missing (REALLY unusual for a half), but it appeared I was on my own.  With a twisty first part of the course that made it not a true out-and-back, I wasn't even sure enough of where halfway was to check on my progress. So I kept focusing on my cadence and plugged along, hoping it was enough.

The sun continued to shine, a rarity for Oceanside in spring, and the temperature climbed up to about 70.  For most people this seems to be fantastic racing weather, but it was a bit warm for this Wisconsin girl.  I made sure to get water and ice at every aid station to cool me down, and it was just perfectly enough: by the time I started to heat up, another station was up ahead.  I'd planned to take gels on the course, but like at my full iron last fall, by the time I actually got to the run they sounded horrible.  I kept popping salt tablets to combat electrolyte loss, and got my calories from sports drink and cola instead.  Unlike at my half races last year, in which I'd had to slow to a walk through most aid stations to make sure I got everything, I made sure to at least kept jogging.  A couple times this meant I missed one thing, but with the more reasonable temperature (instead of 80-85* and humid, typical for summer in Wisconsin) it wasn't disastrous and I made sure to pick up whatever I missed at the next station.  A bunch of women passed me during the run, but at that point calf numbers were wearing off and it was hard to tell who was on lap 1 vs. lap 2, so I just kept focusing on myself.  As I came down the final stretch and watched the pier get closer and closer, I realized I was on track to break 1:45 and gleefully tore towards the finish line. Bonus: absolutely no chafing, thank you Trislide!!!
run time: 1:42:54
Total: 5:01:43, 1st F25-29, 17th amateur F

entering the finish chute!

 My major take-home points for a good long course race:

• learn as much as you can about the specific race conditions: course, weather, locations of on-course support, and make a plan accordingly
• know your body, and be prepared to adjust your plan on the fly

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way this race turned out.  If you read my pre-race blog post, you know that I'd been a bit apprehensive . I was expecting to finish between 5:05 and 5:15.  One of my goals this season is to finally break 5 hours. This was my 4th time turning in a half iron between 5:00:00 and 5:02:00, and actually 3 of those were between 5:01:40 and 5:01:50- uncanny!  It was a bit frustrating to be so close again, but 5:01 is pretty good for this course.  My finishing place was also decent- in the high teens is where I've finished in the amateur field at other big races in the past 2 years, but the field at Oceanside is deeper than most of those. Still, I'll be hoping for 5th-10th at big races a couple times this year.

By discipline: I think I swam about as fast here as my current fitness would allow: check!  My bike wattage was a little bit lower than some of my better races last season, but I know that will come back soon with more time outside on the road.  The run is the part of this race that makes me do a little happy dance.  It has lagged significantly behind my swim and bike in the past, and my half iron runs have been consistently ~1:50-1:53.  One of my other goals for 2013 was to break 1:50 in a half run leg and to get in the 1:45 ballpark.  To do so in my first race is a testament to how much effort I've put into cadence and form work with Coaches Jessica and Bill at SBR Coaching over the winter.  It looks like I'm finally bringing the run closer to the level of my other two.  It's not quite there yet, but this was a big step!  Next up: trying to find some speed for Collegiate Nationals.

Final advice: wear your sunscreen, kiddos.  If you guessed that my race number started with "19", you are correct...

Early Season Experimentation

The Race
As a native San Diegan, I've had the city of Oceanside on my radar for a long time- it's only about a 40 minute drive from where I grew up.  My family took frequent trips up to the harbor when I was a girl to enjoy the beach, stroll through the cute shops, and generally just take a little break. When I took up triathlon and learned there was a race that began in the harbor, it immediately went on my "to-do" list.  The bike course even goes through the Marine base at Camp Pendleton, where one set of my grandparents met.  Last summer I noticed that the 2013 race would fall at the end of UW's spring break week- at last the timing was right, and I signed up.

Eye-Yi-Yi
As luck would have it, over winter break I developed an ulcer on the cornea of my right eye, a problem I also had once in high school.  I have been a contact wearer since 8th grade and switched to daily contacts after the first problem.  This time, after treatment and evaluation the doctor concluded that my eyes were having too much of an allergic reaction to the contacts, and that I would always be prone to problems while wearing them.  Essentially he put his foot down: I needed to be in glasses full time, or have vision correction surgery.  My lifestyle as a triathlete is definitely NOT conducive to glasses, so surgery it would be.  The scarring on my right eye from the past ulcers meant that Lasik was not safe on that eye, and even the alternative procedure (PRK) was a bit trickier than normal.  I trust my San Diego ophthalmologist completely- he is one of best in the US and helped me through my previous problems, knew my history.  I wouldn't want the procedure to be done by anyone else.  So we formed a new plan: since I would be out in CA in March anyway for the race, I would now arrive a little bit earlier, have the surgery immediately, and leave a safe cushion of a few days between healing and racing.

ready for some quality laser time

All in all, my preparation so far this year has not quite been ideal.  My fitness, particularly my swim fitness, took a bit of a hit over winter break with the eye problem, again last month with a bad flu, then with some "forced taper" due to the eye surgery.  Still, I have had a few good workouts this spring, particularly run workouts, and put in some quality time on the trainer. At this point, my left eye has fully recovered, at least.  Vision in my right eye is still a bit blurry (though not as bad as pre-surgery) so I'll have to be patient with that one and I was cleared to race in a temporary contact to "balance me out" better.  With everything that's been going on lately, it's hard to know what to expect from this race.  This is the longest one I've done this early in the year, and it's a bit scary for me to pick a half as my first race of the season.

Race "Goals"
Since I'm not quite sure where I stand right now, my race plan tomorrow is basically to be flexible(!).  If nothing else, this race will be a fun chance to race by my hometown and get in a solid long workout.  Because it's close, a lot of family will be able to be there to watch.  It definitely helps a ton to see friendly faces during a race! Hopefully it will be a good way for me to clear out the cobwebs and burn off some nerves before I line up in Tempe at Collegiate Nationals in 2 weeks.  Every year I definitely get a bit rusty on my transitions, etc. during the winter months, and it's already been valuable to spend time practicing race skills like bike dismounts in prep for this race.

Taking my BlueSeventy out for a practice swim!

Tomorrow will also be my first race representing Team Rev3! Our 2013 kits won't debut until Knoxville, but my teammate Holly generously lent me her 2012 kit for the weekend.  If you'll be in the area, look for me rocking the awesome blue and green Pearl Izumi Rev3 kit!

It's the little victories...

This is the time of year (at least up north!) when it is easy to start getting frustrated.  Most athletes have been training for the new season for a few months.  Athlete or not, many people's favorite activities are getting continually pushed aside by the cold, wet weather.  Everyone seems to be sick.  Spring is close, yet at times seems so far.  Work and training drag on.

When I took the time in the fall to write out some and areas I could improve for 2013, bike handling was one item that popped off the page.  Early this year I'll be competing at a number of races that require good handling skills.  These include the draft-legal race at USAT Collegiate Nats in April and the hilly course I've been hearing about at Rev3 Knoxville in May.  On technical courses, it's easy to lose a lot of time if your cornering skills aren't up to snuff.  And in draft-legal races, poor handling can result in ending up on the pavement, or putting other people there.  Either way, not good.  One of the ways I planned to work on my handling was riding on rollers.  I'd never done it, but knew it would be good for me.

4laps = 4 180's.  Probably in a pack.

For those of you not intimately acquainted with cycling equipment, rollers are metal cylinders, about a foot long, that are attached to rails.  When you ride a bike on top, the turning wheels spin the metal rolls so that you can ride in place, inside. Since the bike isn't attached to the rollers in any way, starting and stopping take some skill.  Just riding requires concentration.  If the bike tips, so do you.  Drift too far to either side, and you ride off of the metal roll and crash.  The whole process is an exercise in balance.

silvery rolls of death

Anyway, the end of February rolls around and I have not mustered the courage to hop on. As many of you know, I am not the world's most graceful person.  I hurt myself often enough to have stopped paying much attention to it.  From early on I've gravitated to sports that require strength and fitness, rather than coordination and skill.  I'm also the type of person who cherishes a sense of control.  To many people, hopping on rollers is not a giant deal.  But to me, the prospect of trying to balance on them was terrifying.  With races looming, it was time to bite the bullet.

The standard advice for learning how to ride rollers is to set them up in a hallway, so that you can hang on to the walls as needed to start, or catch yourself from falling far.  Wanting all the help I could get, I did this, grabbed my helmet for good measure, and trekked upstairs with my tri bike.  Luckily Coach Bill was around to give pointers.  I was reminded of my first time trying to clip into bike pedals outside-- it had taken 20 minutes of pep talk from friends while I freaked out before I took off and did it.  This was a similar experience.  Freaking out, nervous giggling, check.  How do I clip in my second shoe?  Which hand do I want on the wall while I start to ride?  How can I transfer that hand to the bars without falling over?  What's the best way to save myself if I go down?

After about 10 minutes of alternately riding slowly with one hand on the wall, flinching, catching myself, and trying not to hyperventilate, I pinpointed the largest source of my terror.  It wasn't so much me that I was concerned about injuring... it was my pretty carbon bike.  I had visions dancing through my head of punching a hole in the down tube with a cleat as I fell, and my nerves were not helping the learning process.  So I rolled away my pretty bike in favor of my pal Fred the Commuter.  He's red and metal and has simple pedals and only goes one speed.  He's virtually indestructible.  Perfect.

Armed with confidence, I worked my hand down the wall as I rode... then experimented with lifting it off the wall slightly and balancing... then moved it to the bars with my other hand.  Honestly, it felt momentous. The joy was a bit like learning how to ride a bike for the first time.  I was doing it.  A couple minutes at a time, a little break, then a few more.  I got comfortable enough to adjust my hands on the bars, my position in the saddle, my cadence, etc.  It was kind of... fun.

Sometimes you just have to suck it up and do the things that try your patience and make you look like a giant dork in order to take steps forward.

Case in point.  This was not meant to be a photo op.  Sneaky coach.

I may look dumb, but at least I'm not in a heap on the ground with a hole in my tri bike.  And now that I know I can handle the rollers on my commuter, I can graduate to my tri bike the next time.  I WILL get the hang of this.

This is a great time of year to finish fixing the little things we claim we are going to work on in the off season, before spring racing arrives.  So the next time you find yourself frustrated, in a rut, bored with your winter routine, or sidelined from one of the activities you'd rather be doing, try picking something small to master.  Maybe something new.  Maybe something that seems trivial.  Practice taking off your wetsuit in the shower.  Practice flying dismounts at your neighborhood park.  Embrace the baby steps!

What little things are you doing now to get better?