I have 4 more weeks to get my body prepared and my game face on for Ohio 70.3, and I am definitely getting burnt out on training. I was telling both Ericka and John recently that I was looking forward to getting the triathlon over with and getting my life back again; it seems my entire schedule is currently built around working, training, watching the weather to see how it will impact my training, and making social plans around my training schedule. For instance, while I’ve been in possession of Brandi Carlile tickets for a number of months now, the only thing I could think about was how tired I was going to be that evening after a 50-mile bike, when I should have been elated at the chance to see this amazing artist perform at The Louisville Palace. I’m sorta over it, to be honest.
Some people have told me that they don’t necessarily like racing, but that they love the training aspect of triathlon. I’m the exact opposite – while I like the racing part, I tend to loathe the training. Now, don’t get me wrong – I love what the training provides for me….. a feeling of strength in my body, the building of stamina, seeing my body in a more positive light and (just as important) regular and multiple daily bowel movements! But there comes a point when I look at the schedule and realize that for the next three weeks my long days consist of a 50+ mile bike, a 2+ hour run, and 1.2 mile swim – and I get exhausted just reading my Training Peaks calendar.
Luckily, I am on a recovery week at the moment (I do a three-week build, one-week recovery training method), and am feeling so thankful for the break. Not only am I looking at no more than a 1.5 hour ride/30 minute run/2200y swim, I am also driving to Nashville this weekend to see my boyfriend who was out of the country for nearly two weeks. I think this fact has also played a part in my mindset, as I haven’t had him to look forward to. When my life consists of little more than working and training, it’s no wonder that I’m burned out.
All of this being said, I need to keep myself in check and remember that at least I have the capability to be as active as I am; that I have the mental and physical fortitude to train and race the way that I do (even as a back-of-the-packer most races). Instead of complaining about how tired I am, I need to remember that this kind of sore is the good kind because it means that I’ve been pushing myself to improve upon my endurance and strength. That, given my family history of heart disease and obesity, I’m making a choice every day to live a different lifestyle and try to at least negate some of what my DNA has cast upon me. So… for one more day I make the decision to lace up my shoes or don the bike helmet or slip on the goggles and muddle through another mile.
About Me
- Connie
- Louisville, Kentucky, United States
- After four years of long-distance running (5k, 10k, half-marathons) I got a little burnt out and decided to try my hand at triathlons. This blog is a journey into my training regime, as well as the play-by-play experiences I have had while competing in these amazingly fun events!
Monday, June 25, 2018
Monday, June 18, 2018
50 Mile Bike - Longest Ride of the Season
I had my longest ride of the season at 50 miles this past weekend, and while I felt mostly good throughout the entire ride, it definitely whipped my butt for the rest of the day.
I was riding with a new group – one that Ericka had ridden with a few weeks prior, but that I was unfamiliar with. I had ridden this route only once before, a few years ago, so while I wasn’t super familiar with the course, at least I knew what to expect in some sense. We got an early start at 6:45 a.m., which I was completely thankful for after completing a 25-mile ride and 1.5 mile walk the day before, starting at 2:00 p.m. – just about the most brutal time of day to start such a task.
Bill was our fearless leader, and while Tyson and Kenny kept on pace with him, Ericka and I often brought up the rear – more so on the hills. We came across some mild rollers the first 20 miles, including one long sucker that seemed to go on forever! We started at Iroquois park and made our way towards JMF – although we didn’t ride through JMF, which saved our legs a bit on the way out to the flood wall in Valley Station. It was mostly shady, which also helped keep us cool early on. We made a quick bathroom stop about halfway through at the boat docks in PRP, then continued our trek west as the sun only got hotter throughout the morning.
I was playing with my nutrition, bringing with me a torpedo and one bottle filled with Infinit, while another contained only water. I didn’t bring any foods that required chewing, as I really wanted to see how I’d do with ONLY liquid nutrition. As has been the case in so many past rides, I started to feel myself bonk a bit with 10 miles left to go. And it was even more noticeable after the ride when I mentioned to Ericka that while the liquid nutrition seemed to work okay on the bike, I’d be in big trouble trying to go out for a half-marathon right after if I didn’t take in something more. I bought some Belvita breakfast crackers, which are thin and small and should be easy to consume during a ride, as well as some Fig Newtons. I’ll play around with these edibles during the ride next week, which should be a 55-miler or so.
Despite having a proper bike fit last year, my shoulders and neck do still feel a bit sore during and after long rides, but it’s much better than it had been prior – I’m chalking this up to “just the way that it is,” and dealing with it the best I can. My speed was a bit faster during this bike as well, at an average of 15.9 moving pace – the fastest I’ve ridden so far during a training ride. I’m still a bit nervous going into Ohio, especially thinking about the 13.1 mile run that will come afterwards, but I have plenty of long rides coming up during the next 6 weeks that will hopefully ease my mind about that – both physically and mentally. And although I’d hate to see a replay of Muncie 2015, in which I walked most of the half-marathon portion, I know that at the very least walking will get it done just as well as running – it just may take quite a bit longer.
I was riding with a new group – one that Ericka had ridden with a few weeks prior, but that I was unfamiliar with. I had ridden this route only once before, a few years ago, so while I wasn’t super familiar with the course, at least I knew what to expect in some sense. We got an early start at 6:45 a.m., which I was completely thankful for after completing a 25-mile ride and 1.5 mile walk the day before, starting at 2:00 p.m. – just about the most brutal time of day to start such a task.
Bill was our fearless leader, and while Tyson and Kenny kept on pace with him, Ericka and I often brought up the rear – more so on the hills. We came across some mild rollers the first 20 miles, including one long sucker that seemed to go on forever! We started at Iroquois park and made our way towards JMF – although we didn’t ride through JMF, which saved our legs a bit on the way out to the flood wall in Valley Station. It was mostly shady, which also helped keep us cool early on. We made a quick bathroom stop about halfway through at the boat docks in PRP, then continued our trek west as the sun only got hotter throughout the morning.
I was playing with my nutrition, bringing with me a torpedo and one bottle filled with Infinit, while another contained only water. I didn’t bring any foods that required chewing, as I really wanted to see how I’d do with ONLY liquid nutrition. As has been the case in so many past rides, I started to feel myself bonk a bit with 10 miles left to go. And it was even more noticeable after the ride when I mentioned to Ericka that while the liquid nutrition seemed to work okay on the bike, I’d be in big trouble trying to go out for a half-marathon right after if I didn’t take in something more. I bought some Belvita breakfast crackers, which are thin and small and should be easy to consume during a ride, as well as some Fig Newtons. I’ll play around with these edibles during the ride next week, which should be a 55-miler or so.
Despite having a proper bike fit last year, my shoulders and neck do still feel a bit sore during and after long rides, but it’s much better than it had been prior – I’m chalking this up to “just the way that it is,” and dealing with it the best I can. My speed was a bit faster during this bike as well, at an average of 15.9 moving pace – the fastest I’ve ridden so far during a training ride. I’m still a bit nervous going into Ohio, especially thinking about the 13.1 mile run that will come afterwards, but I have plenty of long rides coming up during the next 6 weeks that will hopefully ease my mind about that – both physically and mentally. And although I’d hate to see a replay of Muncie 2015, in which I walked most of the half-marathon portion, I know that at the very least walking will get it done just as well as running – it just may take quite a bit longer.
Friday, June 15, 2018
Interval Running
I started doing interval running in 2009, during a hot half-marathon that I wasn’t feeling from the beginning. I had read a book on Jeff Galloway’s method of running, and had a hard time convincing myself that I would be any faster if I took scheduled walk breaks – it just didn’t make sense to me. For those of you who are unfamiliar, interval running is when you run for so long (usually by minutes) with a pre-determined scheduled walk break in between; this is done over and over again during the entire course of the training run or race. The hardest part of this is making yourself walk early on, when you’re still feeling good enough that you don’t necessarily need a walk break.
I typically go into my runs with an idea of doing either 4:1 or 3:1 and adjust it according to how I feel. Often, I will start off with a longer run, and then change it to something shorter when I become fatigued – this typically won’t happen in a 5k or 10k, but anything longer and I am almost certainly running less than what I started with.
I set out on Wednesday’s run with a plan to do a 2:1 interval. It was just at 90 degrees, and even though I set out at 5:30 p.m. the sun was still beating down, making it difficult to want to attempt a longer interval. The running portion of my intervals tend to be anywhere from a 9 to a 9:30 pace; it’s just the speed my body wants to go. For a 2-hour jaunt, however, I had to check the Garmin periodically to make sure I wasn’t pushing it too hard as I wanted to make sure I could get back home after my initial five miles.
At my turn around point I took note that it had taken me one hour to achieve 5.2 miles. This is significant, as I wanted to see how much distance I could cover on the way home in the same amount of time if I changed my intervals to 1:1. The 2:1 were already become more difficult the longer I ran, and I was trying to conserve water before I could make it another 1.5 miles or so back to a Heine Bros I would be passing on my way back home. I was running at just under a 12 minute-per-mile pace with my walking breaks, so I felt pretty confident that I would be able to get right around the same mileage.
The run was supposed to only be a 4-miler, however, I was feeling good and decided to get my 2-hour run scheduled for later in the week out of the way. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself throughout all of my years of training for tri’s and long-distance racing, it’s that I should take the opportunity to complete a longer training day when I’m feeling energetic and in a good head space. Not knowing how I’d feel or what the weather would look like in two days (my regularly scheduled long run day), I knew I’d be kicking myself if I completed a mere 4 miles and then felt unmotivated or overly tired on Friday. By the time I got done with the run, I was happy that I had completed it and gotten it out of the way – this meant that now matter how I felt in a few days, I could at least muster a 4 miler, even if I had to walk it, and not have it hamper my training.
Coming up on the last few miles, I knew I was going to be close to the 5-mile mark for the second half, for a total of 10. It still baffles me that I can run just as much mileage in the same amount of time while cutting back on the amount of minutes I run. But… this is the method I used for Tri Louisville and it seemed to work well for me, so I suppose this will be my same plan for Ohio. I can’t remember what exactly my plan was going into Muncie in 2015, but I walked most of it. I’m determined not to do the same thing this time around, and hopefully have a better finish.
Today, I have a 1:40/:20 brick planned, with a 3-hour bike tomorrow morning. My longest swim will take place on Sunday at 2,550 yards. Like I told Ericka yesterday, with both of us feeling and finishing so well at Tri Louisville, the goal at this point is to keep up the training plan, which will results in (hopefully) the same result in Ohio.
I typically go into my runs with an idea of doing either 4:1 or 3:1 and adjust it according to how I feel. Often, I will start off with a longer run, and then change it to something shorter when I become fatigued – this typically won’t happen in a 5k or 10k, but anything longer and I am almost certainly running less than what I started with.
I set out on Wednesday’s run with a plan to do a 2:1 interval. It was just at 90 degrees, and even though I set out at 5:30 p.m. the sun was still beating down, making it difficult to want to attempt a longer interval. The running portion of my intervals tend to be anywhere from a 9 to a 9:30 pace; it’s just the speed my body wants to go. For a 2-hour jaunt, however, I had to check the Garmin periodically to make sure I wasn’t pushing it too hard as I wanted to make sure I could get back home after my initial five miles.
At my turn around point I took note that it had taken me one hour to achieve 5.2 miles. This is significant, as I wanted to see how much distance I could cover on the way home in the same amount of time if I changed my intervals to 1:1. The 2:1 were already become more difficult the longer I ran, and I was trying to conserve water before I could make it another 1.5 miles or so back to a Heine Bros I would be passing on my way back home. I was running at just under a 12 minute-per-mile pace with my walking breaks, so I felt pretty confident that I would be able to get right around the same mileage.
The run was supposed to only be a 4-miler, however, I was feeling good and decided to get my 2-hour run scheduled for later in the week out of the way. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself throughout all of my years of training for tri’s and long-distance racing, it’s that I should take the opportunity to complete a longer training day when I’m feeling energetic and in a good head space. Not knowing how I’d feel or what the weather would look like in two days (my regularly scheduled long run day), I knew I’d be kicking myself if I completed a mere 4 miles and then felt unmotivated or overly tired on Friday. By the time I got done with the run, I was happy that I had completed it and gotten it out of the way – this meant that now matter how I felt in a few days, I could at least muster a 4 miler, even if I had to walk it, and not have it hamper my training.
Coming up on the last few miles, I knew I was going to be close to the 5-mile mark for the second half, for a total of 10. It still baffles me that I can run just as much mileage in the same amount of time while cutting back on the amount of minutes I run. But… this is the method I used for Tri Louisville and it seemed to work well for me, so I suppose this will be my same plan for Ohio. I can’t remember what exactly my plan was going into Muncie in 2015, but I walked most of it. I’m determined not to do the same thing this time around, and hopefully have a better finish.
Today, I have a 1:40/:20 brick planned, with a 3-hour bike tomorrow morning. My longest swim will take place on Sunday at 2,550 yards. Like I told Ericka yesterday, with both of us feeling and finishing so well at Tri Louisville, the goal at this point is to keep up the training plan, which will results in (hopefully) the same result in Ohio.
Monday, June 11, 2018
Tri Louisville - Olympic Distance
The week of the Tri Louisville Olympic triathlon was a taper week for me, as I did nothing more than a short brick (25-mile bike, 2-mile run) and my regular routine of walking the dog rather than 5 workouts in a 7-day period. It was a busy week at work, and I just didn’t have it in me to do anymore. Because I had been consistent with my training plan up until this point, however, I felt confident going into the race on Sunday morning.
I had been watching the weather all week, as the forecast had been calling for scattered thunderstorms with a high near 90 degrees – both of which can make for a difficult race for several reasons. Luckily, I woke up to fairly blue skies and no sign of rain just yet. It was starting to get warm, but it wasn’t unbearably hot or humid as Kentucky summers often tend to be. I got into the transition area around 6:00 a.m. to set up my spot and saw many of my Landshark friends already there. The race director had given our club 6 bike racks, so it was nice to all be set up together.
After taking in some nutrition (Cliff Bar) and hitting the potty one last time, Ericka and I made our way to the start of the swim. Our wave would be going off at 7:48 a.m., which gave me plenty of time to stand around and get anxious. I always get nervous just before the start of a triathlon – I’m not sure why this still is. My nerves at the start of half-marathons ended years ago, but no matter how long I’ve been doing tris (9 years now) I still get super antsy just before; I suppose it’s because so many things can go wrong in a tri versus a mere foot race.
Hopping off the dock and into the Ohio, the water was exceptionally low and my group sank up to our knees in mud. This is the part I was least looking forward to – feeling squishy, gross mud between my toes and the fear of what I would step on as we waited for the gun to go off, signaling the start of our swim. When it was finally time to submerge ourselves and move forward, there was still quite a bit of shallow water to get through, as each swimmer had their own way of muddling through. Some continued to walk out even further until they hit more depth, while I began my freestyle right away, sometimes dragging my fingertips along the bottom of the river for a few strokes.
Being a slow swimmer, I wasn’t surprised to find myself in the back of the pack shortly after we took off. Not long after the start, my anxieties about just how long and daunting this swim was began to sink in and I wondered how I could get myself out of this murky, deep predicament I put myself in. No one could blame me for quitting if I were to have an anxiety attack, right? Of course, this was just a fleeting thought before I convinced myself to keep swimming along – remembering the words of praise and encouragement I had just received that morning from my boyfriend. He had called me a “bad ass,” of a girlfriend, but how bad ass would it be if I were to give up less than 200 meters into a swim? Bad ass or not, I swam along to the first buoy before hooking a left and heading downstream for the majority of this first portion of the race.
Swimming .9 miles in the mighty Ohio becomes a bit mundane after a while, so I can’t quite recall what, if any, thoughts went through my head. I was focused more on where the next buoy was so as not to get too far off course and keeping track of when I needed to make my final turn back to shore. I had long given up on counting, or caring about, the number of swimmers who went off in waves after mine who passed me. When that last turn did finally come, resulting in a now perpendicular-to-the-shore swim, I got a bit concerned that the current would continue to take me down river, so I picked up my pace a bit to ensure that I would safely make it out of the water where I was meant to – at the docks of an abandoned restaurant, lined with volunteers and spectators cheering us all on as we finished up the first of three legs.
Climbing out of the water was a bit challenging, as there were no volunteers there to help us out, and the steps that were to aid us didn’t go down into the water very far. When I finally did get myself up and out of the water, I felt a bit woozy as I made my way to the wetsuit strippers – pulling off my goggles and swim cap in the interim. I was cognizant enough to stop my watch when I hit dry land and saw that I had swam nearly a mile in around 32 minutes – this is a huge achievement for me as it is super-fast compared to the times I typically see in my pool swims.
I walked swiftly to the transition area and plopped myself down on the ground to wipe off as much of the mud and water I could from my feet before donning my socks and cycling shoes, as well as the rest of my cycling gear, before rolling my bike out of T-1. As I got onto my bike I hit my Garmin to signal that I was leaving transition to start my cycle. This technology proved to be my biggest struggle of the day as I was never able to get it to the screen I needed to keep track of my distance and speed. Not wanting to waste any more time, I began to peddle onto the course and go by feel rather than what an electronic device strapped to my wrist told me.
The course for this particular tri consists of 4 loops – starting with the majority of mileage accumulated by heading west through downtown, only to turn around and head back towards the transition area after a brief bypass down River Road. Olympic distance is 24.8 miles officially, so I knew after I finished that first loop in 23 minutes I was making good time. As long as I could finish the cycling portion in under 1 hour 40 minutes, I would stay on par with my training speed of 15 mph. If I could finish in 1:32, I would keep up the same pace I finished that first loop in – this became my goal.
Some people dislike loops, but I don’t really mind them. I tend to do a lot of math in my head in order to keep occupied while running and biking, so being able to check off the number of loops I’ve done versus what I have remaining always helps. Plus, I know exactly what to expect on the course this way. As I rode those 24.8 miles I heard a lot of my Shark-mates cheering both myself and others on as we peddled along. There were so many other Landsharks out on the course that day, and it was great hearing those words of encouragement. And since the bike course runs parallel to the running course, I was also able to shout out a few supportive words to those who had already completed their bike or were doing the duathlon that day. It was truly great hearing and seeing all the shows of support everyone had for one another, and personally kept me moving along at a great pace.
Side note: I’ve been playing around with my nutrition on the bike and took some mini pretzel with me to try out on the course. I shoved three into my mouth at one point and noticed that it is impossible for me to cycle, chew, and breath all at the same time. Because of this I had to chew with my mouth opened while simultaneously huffing and puffing through my peddle strokes. Pretzels and deep inhaling make for a horrible combination, and I ended up coughing off and on during the next 5 miles, feeling the remnants of pretzel tickling my throat. This further proves my theory that, at least for me, liquid nutrition while I bike is probably the way to go.
After hopping off the bike and changing out my gear in T2, I realized that I had 1 hour and 15 minutes to run the remaining 6.2 miles in order to get a PR. My best Olympic time thus far was 3:19:49, which I accomplished two years prior on this same course. And while a 1:15 10k is pretty much cake during a typical road race, it’s not always feasible after just spending 2 hours swimming and biking – but I was willing to give it a shot. I had already decided to do a 1:1 interval, given the heat and my wobbly legs. And although I feared this strategy would get monotonous real quick, I knew that I would only hamper my speed and quicken fatigue if I tried anything more.
As I made my way down the side walk I got some more words of encouragement from volunteers and fellow racers alike. This continued to fuel my endorphins as I felt great both physically and mentally going into my last leg. I had been getting in more brick workouts than I normally do, so I knew that the heavy feeling in my legs would subside the longer I was out on the run. I was able to keep up the 1:1 intervals pretty well and began to play leap-frog with a gal who was running continuously (albeit slowly) as her own strategy. At one point we began to converse about how many times we had passed one another, joking that as long as we kept within eyesight we each knew that our pace was on point. The clouds that had previously rolled in now began to dissipate, and it was back to the late morning sun beating down upon us as we finished up 2 loops of the course.
Ericka, who had crushed my time on both the swim and the bike, was walking more and more as I reached her during the last 2 miles or so of the race. It seemed to be getting hotter by the minute, and I had already lost my leap-frog pal who went ahead of me as my pace also began to slow down. Seeing that I had approximately 15 minutes to finish the last portion of the race before my PR cut-off, I struggled to run as much as I could, making sure I was walking no more than one minute at a time.
Finally, I rounded the last corner and could see the Finish Line up ahead. As I mustered up the remainder of my strength, my pace got quicker as plenty of Landsharks and other spectators cheered from the sidelines, calling my name. As I passed by I threw my arms up in the air and declared, “PR, baby!” I was both relieved and excited to make my last step across the finish line, knowing that I left everything I had out on the course, and that my training had paid off that day.
Despite my initial anxiety getting into the water, the heat of the day and my Garmin snafu, I can honestly say this is the best I have felt during an Olympic distance triathlon. I think the training I’ve put into it as I work my way towards Ohio, as well as having a more positive mindset during my races has helped. There have admittedly been races in the past that I loathed the entire time, for whatever reason. I also now have someone in my life who is so incredibly supportive and encouraging to me, and who I can share and relive these race experiences with that make me much more excited to push myself and compete at my best. While I will always have my friends to support me, being able to verbalize with someone after the fact all of my emotions, worries, concerns and excitements of the day adds a little something special to the experience. And I am so thankful to finally have someone in my life who “gets it,” as much as I do.
Of course, Ohio training continues as we are now down to the final 7 weeks before my “A” race. As long as the weather cooperates, and I continue to follow my training plan I think this race will also be a success for me. I will have my ride-or-die, Ericka, there alongside me with Karen as our Sherpa as we conquer twice the distance of the Olympic (sans the swim – which is a mere .3 miles further). I will need to continue to experiment with my nutrition, and spend some time working out that darn Garmin so that I can actually keep track of pace and mileage for this daunting race. Until then, I swim, bike, and run along building strength and endurance towards my second 70.3 finish.
Final Results:
Swim (.9 miles) 31:55
T-1 5:25
Bike (24.8 miles) 1:26
T-2 2:03
Run (6.2 miles) 1:08:53
3:14:17 - 5+ minute PR
I had been watching the weather all week, as the forecast had been calling for scattered thunderstorms with a high near 90 degrees – both of which can make for a difficult race for several reasons. Luckily, I woke up to fairly blue skies and no sign of rain just yet. It was starting to get warm, but it wasn’t unbearably hot or humid as Kentucky summers often tend to be. I got into the transition area around 6:00 a.m. to set up my spot and saw many of my Landshark friends already there. The race director had given our club 6 bike racks, so it was nice to all be set up together.
After taking in some nutrition (Cliff Bar) and hitting the potty one last time, Ericka and I made our way to the start of the swim. Our wave would be going off at 7:48 a.m., which gave me plenty of time to stand around and get anxious. I always get nervous just before the start of a triathlon – I’m not sure why this still is. My nerves at the start of half-marathons ended years ago, but no matter how long I’ve been doing tris (9 years now) I still get super antsy just before; I suppose it’s because so many things can go wrong in a tri versus a mere foot race.
Hopping off the dock and into the Ohio, the water was exceptionally low and my group sank up to our knees in mud. This is the part I was least looking forward to – feeling squishy, gross mud between my toes and the fear of what I would step on as we waited for the gun to go off, signaling the start of our swim. When it was finally time to submerge ourselves and move forward, there was still quite a bit of shallow water to get through, as each swimmer had their own way of muddling through. Some continued to walk out even further until they hit more depth, while I began my freestyle right away, sometimes dragging my fingertips along the bottom of the river for a few strokes.
Being a slow swimmer, I wasn’t surprised to find myself in the back of the pack shortly after we took off. Not long after the start, my anxieties about just how long and daunting this swim was began to sink in and I wondered how I could get myself out of this murky, deep predicament I put myself in. No one could blame me for quitting if I were to have an anxiety attack, right? Of course, this was just a fleeting thought before I convinced myself to keep swimming along – remembering the words of praise and encouragement I had just received that morning from my boyfriend. He had called me a “bad ass,” of a girlfriend, but how bad ass would it be if I were to give up less than 200 meters into a swim? Bad ass or not, I swam along to the first buoy before hooking a left and heading downstream for the majority of this first portion of the race.
Swimming .9 miles in the mighty Ohio becomes a bit mundane after a while, so I can’t quite recall what, if any, thoughts went through my head. I was focused more on where the next buoy was so as not to get too far off course and keeping track of when I needed to make my final turn back to shore. I had long given up on counting, or caring about, the number of swimmers who went off in waves after mine who passed me. When that last turn did finally come, resulting in a now perpendicular-to-the-shore swim, I got a bit concerned that the current would continue to take me down river, so I picked up my pace a bit to ensure that I would safely make it out of the water where I was meant to – at the docks of an abandoned restaurant, lined with volunteers and spectators cheering us all on as we finished up the first of three legs.
Climbing out of the water was a bit challenging, as there were no volunteers there to help us out, and the steps that were to aid us didn’t go down into the water very far. When I finally did get myself up and out of the water, I felt a bit woozy as I made my way to the wetsuit strippers – pulling off my goggles and swim cap in the interim. I was cognizant enough to stop my watch when I hit dry land and saw that I had swam nearly a mile in around 32 minutes – this is a huge achievement for me as it is super-fast compared to the times I typically see in my pool swims.
I walked swiftly to the transition area and plopped myself down on the ground to wipe off as much of the mud and water I could from my feet before donning my socks and cycling shoes, as well as the rest of my cycling gear, before rolling my bike out of T-1. As I got onto my bike I hit my Garmin to signal that I was leaving transition to start my cycle. This technology proved to be my biggest struggle of the day as I was never able to get it to the screen I needed to keep track of my distance and speed. Not wanting to waste any more time, I began to peddle onto the course and go by feel rather than what an electronic device strapped to my wrist told me.
The course for this particular tri consists of 4 loops – starting with the majority of mileage accumulated by heading west through downtown, only to turn around and head back towards the transition area after a brief bypass down River Road. Olympic distance is 24.8 miles officially, so I knew after I finished that first loop in 23 minutes I was making good time. As long as I could finish the cycling portion in under 1 hour 40 minutes, I would stay on par with my training speed of 15 mph. If I could finish in 1:32, I would keep up the same pace I finished that first loop in – this became my goal.
Some people dislike loops, but I don’t really mind them. I tend to do a lot of math in my head in order to keep occupied while running and biking, so being able to check off the number of loops I’ve done versus what I have remaining always helps. Plus, I know exactly what to expect on the course this way. As I rode those 24.8 miles I heard a lot of my Shark-mates cheering both myself and others on as we peddled along. There were so many other Landsharks out on the course that day, and it was great hearing those words of encouragement. And since the bike course runs parallel to the running course, I was also able to shout out a few supportive words to those who had already completed their bike or were doing the duathlon that day. It was truly great hearing and seeing all the shows of support everyone had for one another, and personally kept me moving along at a great pace.
Side note: I’ve been playing around with my nutrition on the bike and took some mini pretzel with me to try out on the course. I shoved three into my mouth at one point and noticed that it is impossible for me to cycle, chew, and breath all at the same time. Because of this I had to chew with my mouth opened while simultaneously huffing and puffing through my peddle strokes. Pretzels and deep inhaling make for a horrible combination, and I ended up coughing off and on during the next 5 miles, feeling the remnants of pretzel tickling my throat. This further proves my theory that, at least for me, liquid nutrition while I bike is probably the way to go.
After hopping off the bike and changing out my gear in T2, I realized that I had 1 hour and 15 minutes to run the remaining 6.2 miles in order to get a PR. My best Olympic time thus far was 3:19:49, which I accomplished two years prior on this same course. And while a 1:15 10k is pretty much cake during a typical road race, it’s not always feasible after just spending 2 hours swimming and biking – but I was willing to give it a shot. I had already decided to do a 1:1 interval, given the heat and my wobbly legs. And although I feared this strategy would get monotonous real quick, I knew that I would only hamper my speed and quicken fatigue if I tried anything more.
As I made my way down the side walk I got some more words of encouragement from volunteers and fellow racers alike. This continued to fuel my endorphins as I felt great both physically and mentally going into my last leg. I had been getting in more brick workouts than I normally do, so I knew that the heavy feeling in my legs would subside the longer I was out on the run. I was able to keep up the 1:1 intervals pretty well and began to play leap-frog with a gal who was running continuously (albeit slowly) as her own strategy. At one point we began to converse about how many times we had passed one another, joking that as long as we kept within eyesight we each knew that our pace was on point. The clouds that had previously rolled in now began to dissipate, and it was back to the late morning sun beating down upon us as we finished up 2 loops of the course.
Ericka, who had crushed my time on both the swim and the bike, was walking more and more as I reached her during the last 2 miles or so of the race. It seemed to be getting hotter by the minute, and I had already lost my leap-frog pal who went ahead of me as my pace also began to slow down. Seeing that I had approximately 15 minutes to finish the last portion of the race before my PR cut-off, I struggled to run as much as I could, making sure I was walking no more than one minute at a time.
Finally, I rounded the last corner and could see the Finish Line up ahead. As I mustered up the remainder of my strength, my pace got quicker as plenty of Landsharks and other spectators cheered from the sidelines, calling my name. As I passed by I threw my arms up in the air and declared, “PR, baby!” I was both relieved and excited to make my last step across the finish line, knowing that I left everything I had out on the course, and that my training had paid off that day.
Despite my initial anxiety getting into the water, the heat of the day and my Garmin snafu, I can honestly say this is the best I have felt during an Olympic distance triathlon. I think the training I’ve put into it as I work my way towards Ohio, as well as having a more positive mindset during my races has helped. There have admittedly been races in the past that I loathed the entire time, for whatever reason. I also now have someone in my life who is so incredibly supportive and encouraging to me, and who I can share and relive these race experiences with that make me much more excited to push myself and compete at my best. While I will always have my friends to support me, being able to verbalize with someone after the fact all of my emotions, worries, concerns and excitements of the day adds a little something special to the experience. And I am so thankful to finally have someone in my life who “gets it,” as much as I do.
Of course, Ohio training continues as we are now down to the final 7 weeks before my “A” race. As long as the weather cooperates, and I continue to follow my training plan I think this race will also be a success for me. I will have my ride-or-die, Ericka, there alongside me with Karen as our Sherpa as we conquer twice the distance of the Olympic (sans the swim – which is a mere .3 miles further). I will need to continue to experiment with my nutrition, and spend some time working out that darn Garmin so that I can actually keep track of pace and mileage for this daunting race. Until then, I swim, bike, and run along building strength and endurance towards my second 70.3 finish.
Final Results:
Swim (.9 miles) 31:55
T-1 5:25
Bike (24.8 miles) 1:26
T-2 2:03
Run (6.2 miles) 1:08:53
3:14:17 - 5+ minute PR
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