Hot Damn!
This is my improvement in just 1 year. SB Tri long course was my very first race (top line) & now this year (bottom line) it’s my first repeat race & I can finally compare some data! My love of numbers and analysis came out in full effect as soon as the results were posted. Just sayin’… with having a few races under my belt and being coached for the last 8 months… proof is in the pudding! I cut time off and moved up in places in EVERY SINGLE category including transitions.
I did a lot of reflecting (shocking, I know) on how I felt this year compared to last. This year I definitely felt more confident about the race and also allowed myself to be ok with whatever happened (flat tire, bonks, negative self-talk, etc). Thankfully I was able to avoid most of that but remained aware (in the back of my mind) that things can go wrong at any time regardless of how prepared you are… but if they do it’s not the end of the world. Of course I dealt with my mind out there & all of its typical obstructive comments “why do you keep signing up for this?” “you know you can just walk if you want to”, but this time there was a lot less of that chatter because I was having FUN! Not once did I think that I couldn’t do it. I was more concerned with my time, keeping up with Michelle and pushing myself further into the “pain cave”. I wasn’t injured or too sore, but even up until today I was tiiiiiiiiired. A satisfying tired, though, because it’s my proof that I went all out.
The day before the race I went through my typical pre-race jitters, neediness wantiness, and the Taper thoughts of “am I getting sick?” “I have a sudden pain in my leg/arm/foot/toe etc”. I left enough time to get in a pre-race workout, set out all of my stuff the next day and visualize the race. Lucky for me, Ironmen make great sherpas too! Big thanks to John for dealing with my “race brain”, feeding & transporting me, and being there on race day with a sharpie and camera in hand! Aside from reviewing my race & nutrition plans, we talked about mantras & manifestations for the race & what I wanted to manifest for this race was “Present. Relaxed. Fun. Best Effort.”. I knew that my performance would be so much better if I could stay in the present moment. I also wanted to remember “best effort” as my answer to any questions my brain spit out.
On to the ACTUAL race report!!
4am wakeup call! Oh, it’s very dark out… I can still see all of the stars. Yikes it’s going to be a long morning. Time to get some breakfast down the hatch & my hair into the usual french braid. Socks with sandals? Sure, who cares. We got to East Beach at 530am sharp, & I was thankful to have enough time to pick my spot on the bike rack and meticulously set up all of my race gear, get body marked, and pose for all the paparazzi shots before getting kicked out of the transition area. I’m also thankful that Michelle was there with me as the SBTri reps for the 25-29 age group! We ate our pre-race GUs and went for a short warm-up swim to get out some of our pre-race anxiety. Before I knew it, I heard the “1 min mark!” and at 7:35am the “three, two, one, GOOOOO”.
SWIM
For every open water race, I’m at a borderline dangerous heart rate until I swim around the first buoy. (So at this point, no caffeine is in my body.) From the sand to the first buoy I’m trying to keep up with everyone but am also trying not to get kicked in the face & minimizing the amount of ocean water I swallow. After the first buoy, by body will naturally calm down & get into a swim rhythm that I can maintain for most of the race. I had an idea of how the swim would go from doing Reef & Run every week so I didn’t have any huge surprises. East Beach water often feels like I’m swimming in a washing machine, so I expected that & was exactly what I got! I had a hard time finding any rhythm and felt frustrated that I wasn’t keeping up with my age group & kept running into buoys (y’know… the HUGE inflatable ones that are bright orange and yellow that you’re supposed to see from miles away!?). I also thought “eff this. I’m not doing Carp. I’m done for the season”.The way back in felt a lot easier & I was very glad to be out of the water. I still hate that swim just as much as I always have! I was in T1 getting my bike stuff put together and told John that my swim felt like ****. He was timing me & said I came in at 44min (same as last year, ughhh.) which only added to my frustration. My heart sank & I thought “crap. I have nothing to show in 1 year’s time. Coach AB isn’t going to be happy about this” and “I really need to make up time on the bike and run now”, “I wonder how many people in my age group are in front of me?”. You can imagine my happiness when I saw that my official time was under 40min! I’ll take it. Shaving 5min off a swim time is good enough for me.
BIKE
I’ve trained on this course every Saturday morning for… I don’t know how many weeks, so I knew the location of every incline, pothole, and where I could throw the hammer down to shave some extra time. I felt really strong and present the whole time on the bike and was actually having a really great time! If you’ve read my previous race reports, you can imagine how awesome I felt saying “on your left” to other racers for a change (especially when it was a guy! mwahaha). Also, having caffeine in one of my water bottles definitely helped. Weeeeeeeeee!! J The only downer of the bike portion was the USAT officials on the motorcycle that caught me on my way to Gobernador. There was a group of 5 people just in front of me & I was so concentrated on keeping up with them that I may have been drafting. Please, like I know how to draft. But sure enough, the official was writing down my race number while simultaneously giving me the stink eye. I resisted the urge to protest or say something unkind, & told myself that if I got a penalty I would be ok with that. Rules are rules. Luckily, I didn’t! I think it may have been just a warning. I got that out of my mind & continued to push myself on that course as hard as I could and hammered down in my big chain ring after climbing Toro. I was so happy to see the “Toro Canyon 400ft” sign & Kelly’s smiling face at the top! I knew I was in the homestretch & was so thankful to have bursts of energy from seeing my mom, aunt, cousin, Marisa & Andre out on the bike course! My mind quickly changed (see above) to “oh I’m definitely doing Carp or another race this year”. Typical. I came into T2 shaving over 20min off my time from last year. Yes! Redemption! I took a quick mental pause to be thankful for no crashes, injuries or flat tires. Ok, now time to shave off even more time on this run. “Hmm I wonder how far out Michelle is on the run course… I wonder if I can catch her.”
RUN
I knew I should’ve ran the first mile a bit slower, but I couldn’t help myself! I was feeling great an was keeping an easy 8:45 pace all the way up Shoreline. I had meant to stop for a bathroom break before the mile 5 turnaround, but I had just passed a girl in my age group so I tried to hold the pee and the pace as long as I could. I passed quite a few people on the run and said hello & good job to a few people I knew or that had been running next to me for a while. Finally saw Michelle at mile 4.5! I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch her, but I felt better knowing I wasn’t THAT far behind. After stopping at the turnaround (I couldn’t hold it any longer! I understand why people just let it go in races now haha), it was hard to regain that same pace even though some of it was downhill. I kept a 9:30 pace for the last 5 miles and tried to pick people, not in my age group, to run with. East beach seems sooooo far away when you’re running towards it for 3 miles! It definitely helped seeing so many familiar faces though! I’m pretty sure that Marisa, Andre and Alex got their hands on a teleporter somehow… I don’t know how they were in so many spots along the race!! At mile 8, my mantra became “just don’t stop running”. My heavy legs just wanted to be still but I knew I’d be disappointed in myself if I let my mind win. I went through the much-awaited balloon arch (9 mile marker) and the SB Tri wave of people, & concentrated on chasing down one of my deemed “rabbits”” until the finish. And just like that it was done! The mind goes into immediate amnesia about any struggle or self-talk during the last few hours and the sole thought becomes “I just want to sit down”. I was worked & out of breath, & wanting the volunteers to hurry and take my timing chip off so I could drink 5 gallons of water and sit for a minute.
But… it was all worth it. I exceeded my expectations and felt like I was racing this year compared to just surviving the race last year. I felt like I really did put in my best effort & had a really great time overall. Now… it’s time to go aero & to focus on speedwork. J Yep, still in it to win it.
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