Another lesson in racing a “B” race. As most of you know, my focus this season is Olympic and Sprint. So, what am I doing an early season 1/2 IM for? Great question. Well, Norm and I registered for this race last year, knowing that is sells out and not really knowing what our 2009 plan was going to be, but we signed up anyway…it is our ‘hometown’ race! So after forming my 2009 season plan my plan for this 70.3 was “long training day” aka “B” race.
In making a race day plan, I looked at my last couple months of training and deduced I could definately do a sub 35 swim. Knowing that last year I rode far to hard on the first 25 miles, I figured I could replicated last year’s time or slightly better solely by executing a better pacing strategy on the ride. The run, I thought I could replicate last year’s time as well, I have been running strong since the marathon in January, and keeping up with speed & tempo work the last month. So, best case scenario I can come in close to 5:30, worst case I am around (hopefully beat) last year’s time of 5:40:52.
Race week taper was its normal emotional rollercoaster. I want to do well, because I always want to do well!! duh! But knowing my lack of training for this specific race AND for this distance – I am doubting my abilities, all week! This is not a fun mental state, nor is it healthy for race day prep. So, I talked to my good friend Gail and got on the right track mentally. I know what I capable of given the training I have done thus far this season. And the above was indeed doable! So by Wednesday I was excited and looking forward to the race. Race morning was no different than any other….”get me there, in the water and let’s go!!!” So much tension leaves my body once the gun goes off!
First of all THANKS to all my friends who came out to cheer and my friends on the course for the waves, nods and encouragement! Especially the Bellas, you were fantastic and your cheers helped me through a really tough run!!!
The swim was good, I swam the buoy line to the turnaround, had to manouver around a few others. The sun was blinding, as always on the way back and I had to actually stop twice to see the bouys and be sure I was on course. I got in under 35 minutes, in and out of T1 in 3:44 ish. The first half of the bike I held back a bit knowing and remembering the mistake I made last year AND thinking ahead to those handful of monster hills on the far side of the course. Those hills were far less daunting this year than last!!! Having pre-rode the last 8 mile stretch and knowing it was downhill, I was as happy as a clam to get to that right turn even though there was some crazy crosswind, headwind, I am not sure what it was, I will call it ’swirly’ wind! Coming into T2 my legs were a bit tired, but again, happy as a clam to be done with the ride in 3:02ish!! I headed out on the run and about 100 yds into it I felt a rock in my shoe, I stopped and fixed that right away! Got to the first corner, not even 1/4 mile in and both quads are starting to cramp. In the next 1/4 mile, I contemplated walking…I hurt bad, but not that bad. “Can I run through this for 13.1 miles? It is only going to get worse, right? Maybe it will go away?…..Just keep running.” The cramping went on and off in my quads just above both knees the whole run! My first loop was just a bit slower than I wanted, but I thought IF I can hang on to this pace, I will finish OK. This is a “B” race, it is okay! I kept thinking “if this were a true training day, I would NOT run through this pain….don’t be a wuss, just keep running!” Miles 7-9 were slow, then I got some sort of motivation and picked it up a bit, I was back to 8:30-8:40 pace to mile 11. My inner thigh cramped up and I was stopped in middle of the road screaming! I hobbled forward trying to keep moving, it took at least 2 minutes to stop cramping and I was finally back to a 10 min/mi jog. I looked at my watch (URGH!) and I knew I was going to be very close to last year’s time. I literally had to use gravity (forward lean) and my cadence to move forward, if I used any force from my legs they would seize up from calf to quad, at this point I had resolved in my mind ‘just get it done’! After about a mile of very slow running, I was able to pick it up to just over 9 min/mi. Norm met me with about 3/4 mile to go, thru the sand, over the bridge to the finish, 5:41:43, 51 seconds slower than last year! Straight to medical for several ice bags where I sat for at least 40 minutes!
I had a great swim and bike ride. My lack of long rides and long bricks set me up for a not so pleasant run! Lesson learned! And a lesson I preach quite often “You can be a fast runner and do a ton of run training, BUT if you don’t train the bike sufficiently…you are NOT going to run well off the bike!!”
I am happy (as a clam) to be in recovery mode and looking forward to Mountain biking this week with my friend Kay who is coming to visit from AZ! Another “training race” coming up in two weeks, then a big training push (a few races, B’s, in there) to Regional Olympic Distance Championships in Ventura at the end of June!!