TriSports.com Halfmax National Championship - 10/08/11

There was excitement in the air because it was race weekend!! Of course, the procrastinator that I am left packing to the last minute. After finishing some homework I finally had to crash, and ended up frantically packing Friday morning. Friday noon came and 4 adults and a baby piled into Jeff's fantastic new Power Wagon truck, with lots and lots of gear/luggage. ("duh Big Red truck" is no more & now we have to find a new saying for his grey Power Wagon). Jeff normally drives like a little 'ol grandma, but with Nicole in the back seat and him trying to prove the power of his new truck we got to Myrtle Beach in decent time. It would have been even faster, but my small bladder slowed us down. =) On the ride, like usual, we tried to mentally prep for the race by going around the truck and stating our goals & projected times for the next days race, and also setting up our plans for the day. My plan was to try and hold back some on the bike so that I would have my legs for the run.

Our motel was aah-may-zing! I have to say, Nicole did a fantastic job getting our motel room. The "room" was more like a LARGE apartment. Every room had a great view of the intercoastal waterway, with a perfect view of the swim course. This led to a great place for watching the pro's swim on Sunday.

Friday night came and I seemed to just lay there while the clock ticked by. Baby Addison cried here and there, but I think it was more the nerves and excitement for the next day that kept me up. 5am and it's time to wake up. Seriously?!? I tried to eat breakfast, but that wasn't working so well because I was wound up. My outside was telling a completely different story though. Krysta was like "you know we are racing today? You are so calm, what's up with you!" Well, I really wasn't calm. I knew this day was going to be a hard day, and I knew I was going to have to work for it. But there was pressure on me - self inflicted of course. This was my "A" race for the season, my training was there, I was healthy, the weather was cooperating and this was setting up to be my best half ever ... or so I thought / hoped / wished for. But, the day didn't play out to that end. What happened? I went from knowing it would hurt, but expecting a good day to talking myself out of DNFing (DNF = Did Not Finish).

The SWIM: 1.2miles. So, I was the only person in my swim wave with a non-purple swim cap on. Yes, somehow I had accidently grabbed a random hunter green SetUp Events swim cap & didn't realize it till it was too late. Oh well! I'm not really worried about the swim. Yes, 2/3rds of it is against current, but I'm a good swimmer so it is all good. Well, I had never swam in brackish water before & was not prepared for the absolute zero visibility it provided. There was no way you could draft because you couldn't even see the bubbles from other swimmer feet to guide you. I ended up having to sight about every 4 strokes. That wasn't even enough sometimes when you factored in the current. I took the turnaround buoy a little wide and that threw me out into the middle of the intercoastal waterway. The current kept pulling me farther and farther out towards the other bank and it was a constant battle to stay on course & my time reflected that. Finally I hit that last turn, climbed out on the dock and then ran into TA (TA = Transition Area) to find my bike.

The BIKE: 56miles. The course was in the shape of an "I" and it was 2 loops of flatness. We got to bike on an actual highway. How cool is that! With a flat highway at the beach guess what you get ... WIND! And lots of it. There was easily a 7-8mph difference after the 180 degree turns. Crazy I tell you! With the last turn on the first loop and heading back to TA to start the 2nd loop I started to feel weak. What? I've been holding back some, why am already feeling weak? This is weird. Oh well. Push through it. You knew today wouldn't be easy. You are racing for 70.3 miles. Come on legs lets go! I was able to keep my mph average the same, but my effort level definitely started to increase. At mile 43 I felt like I started to crumble. The most important thing to do on a windy course is to stay low in the aero position, and I couldn't. I had to keep switching from up on the hoods and back into aero. Aggravating for sure. And then the mind games start to play in my head. My nutrition and hydration has been spot on, why is my calf cramping? Why am I so puny?

The RUN: 13.1miles. I walked through TA and thought, oh this is not going to be pretty. This is when your mind comes into play and you are supposed to suppress all the negative thoughts and push through it. Yeah, that did not work for me on this run. The course was an out and back 3 times. At the aid station at mile 2 I saw Nicole and said I was D-O-N-E. She basically told me I'm mentally giving up, and I need to suck it up and keep going. She was right. Funny thing, there was another runner struggling & she said "wow, she's (Nicole's) mean. Can I run you guys!" haha! By the end of the 2nd loop I was in complete meltdown mode. Chin was wobbling, tears were flowing I was going to quit. All I could hope for was that Nicole was waiting at the end of that loop to kick me in the butt and make me keep going. She wasn't there, and I lost it, but I did make that turn to start the 3rd loop and I did finish that race. Sweet Jeff even came back and ran that last little bit with me.

If I'm going to be honest I'd have to say that this race has demoralized me. I felt horrible, and was over an hour longer than I expected to come in at. What happened? I don't know what happened. People say, you learn from your bad races. Well, I didn't learn what to change during the race, but I will probably take a couple Tylenol PM the night before & eat more the morning of the race! The bottom line is, I did finish! I got that finishers medal & I even got 3rd place in the Athena division. Neither of those would have happened if I had walked away from that run course.

The Nations Triathlon - 09/11/11

Being in Washington DC on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 was quite sobering. I am so glad I was able to be in our nations capital on that momentous day.



Stay tuned for the complete recap of the weekend and race!

Open Water ... Scary!?!?

What just touched my leg!?!  >  I can't see anything when I swim.  >  I'm in the middle of a lake!  >  I don't think I can make it!  >  I can't breath!  >  HELP!!!!!

Does this happen to you when you start the lake swim of the triathlon? Don't feel bad. It happens to many people. Whether it is because you haven't been exposed to lake swimming or maybe it is the anxiety of the race getting the best of you. Being out in the lake is one of the best ways to help overcome this.

In an attempt to get the TNT athletes ready for their open water swim, I went to the lake several times as support for my team as they exposed themselves to this type of swimming. Each time they swam about 1 mile and worked on their sighting in Lake Hartwell while I kayaked next to them. There was definite fear for some of them. Others picked it up like it was nothing. The Open Water Swims and Transition Drills are by far some of m favorite TNT training days!

By the last time we swam out there, all of them realized that they could do the swim for their triathlon. They believed in themselves ... and I would call that ... SUCCESS!!

Transition Drill Time

Transitions. They can make or break your race ... seriously! Think about it. If you take 1 minute in T2 while your competitor takes 2:30, they have to run 30seconds faster than you per mile (for a 5K) just to keep up with you. That 1:30 difference can make a big difference!

So, if they are important how do you make them fast? Practice. practice, and some more practice. This practice involves trying out different setups, a different order of putting things on, maybe different gear. You don't have to do loads of races to get this practice. Instead, you can do "mock" triathlon/transition drills.

Every time you finish a bike ride practice getting off your bike. Now, that might sound silly, but when stop riding ...
- Do you unclip your shoes?
- When do you take your shoes off?
- Do you completely stop before you do all that?
- How fluid/efficient is the movement?

Now, don't get me wrong. Those aren't the only thing that go into a fast transition, especially since all that happens outside of the actual transition area (TA) ... but it's a good start.

Before our Team in Training (TNT) athletes went to their big race, we practiced their transitions. Oh what fun it is to torture them. =) Jeremy Davis, president of SetUp Events, gave us a few transition bike poles to practice with. We made it a competition between them all and had prizes from our awesome sponsor TriSports.com. Nicole also got some gifts from her other sponsors to spice up the pot.

It was a great day. Athletes learning what works for them, what makes it efficient, the rules of transition ...

Practice your transitions ... what's to lose, but precious seconds off your race time!

Greenville Sprint Triathlon

This is a race that can't be missed. It's right in my backyard and all the big wigs of local triathletes come out to play. Fun times for sure! Besides the Westside Aquatics Center has gotten a complete make over and I was anxious to swim in their new pool. Some of my Team in Training (TNT) triathletes even decided to come out and race.

The morning started out early, as do all race mornings seem too. Not sure what the issues was, but I was all discombobulated this morning. Almost forgot to set out my helmet in my transition area! Finally got all set up and checked on my TNTers. Headed out for a quick warm up on the bike to check the gears. All as good, so time to walk up to the pool. Uh oh, had to run back to my transition and put my socks out ... and sungalsses ... oh, and grab my swim cap! Ok, now all ready.

SWIM: Seeing as I had signed up the day prior, my race number was at the end of the participants. Thankfully SetUp Events changed their timing for pool starts and I was able to jump in with Nicole. Funny thing, we get up there and this girl in front of us was talking about how these two girls always give her a beating in the pool. Pretty sure we are those girls. Heehee! For some reason she always starts before us, and then we have to climb over her in the water. Lady, please change your swim time and start with people that actually swim your speed!

At this point I am already excited to swim, and then we find out we are allowed to dive in ... yay! Boy was it fun to see athletes try and dive when they aren't used to it ... can we say BELLY FLOP! My swim went great. I had a great dive and caught someone before I even took my first stroke. A couple laps later I came up on that girl (from the starting line), but I was nice and went wide when I passed her. =) With abotu 75 meters to go, I lost my swim cap, but other than that the swim went well. Didn't completely find my groove, but was still very happy with my swim.

BIKE: 57 seconds = run in, socks on, shoes on, helmet on, sunglasses, & run out with my bike ... I've seen faster, but I'll take it! The bike starts with a long gradual up hill and continues with rolling hills. I reached the top of that first long hill, turned right and started cruising until this truck & trailer zoomed past me and then slowed down. I seriously could have gone right up onto the trailer if the ramp was down. Crazy! We slowed to almost a complete stop, so me being the impatient one did the illegal thing and passed on the right. Ahh, shocker. Yes, I broke the "riding rules of conduct," sorry. Susan passed me with a few miles left on the bike. I tried to hang close and was able to run in the T2 with her.

RUN: YES! I beat Susan out of TA! But, of course she passed me before the first turn like I was standing still. This was a 2 loop course. I pushed through it & got to that finish line!

Frank Roth ... a-m-a-z-i-n-g! He pulled and pushed my sore muscles into submission. =)

This race was one of my TNTers first triathlon. He is a cancer survivor and his such a happy spirit about his everything. He has pushed his body passed his physical goals. Watching him cross that finish line was not only humbling, but also inspiring!