Semi-relevant background note: In 2007, I raced the Triangle Triathlon as the bike leg of a relay team. It was my first triathlon experience, and I was using it as a training stepping stone to my first solo effort. My relay team did well (3rd overall), but I had a lot of unreasonable anxiety about the event. Turns out that I was pregnant, and my hormones were just out of control. So, I put my triathlon career on hold a bit as I’ve detailed in other posts, but I vowed to one day complete the Triangle Tri on my own. Last year I did just that, and this year I did it again.
Race report proper: I went into this race well rested (unusual) and generally well prepared. I say “generally” because I know that I could have done more training on the bike leading up to the race and been smarter on the bike during the race, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
First, the swim (last year’s time: 21:36; this year's time 17:35)
Totally rad improvement, right?! I feel so happy about this. I’ve been swimming 3 times a week very consistently for the last few months (up from twice a week over the winter), and I am so much more comfortable in the water. This is especially remarkable considering that the water temperature in Harris Lake was a balmy 90 degrees on race morning (note: that was 12 degrees warmer than the air temperature). So, I knew that I needed to be even conservative than I normally would be in a tri swim (this time was 8 seconds slower per 100m than my wetsuit-legal Ironman swim, for example). The water was definitely warm. It’s so weird to feel sweaty coming out of the water, but I totally was—sweaty and red like a boiled lobster. Still, I felt like a strong lobster, and I was totally ready to head into the bike.
The bike (last year’s time: 59:13; this year's time 1:02:06)
Not so rad here. Don’t get me wrong: I think that averaging 17 mph is pretty cool, but clearly I can do better because I have. I attribute my “decline” primarily to the fact that I went on a whopping three actual outside rides before this race. I did the rest of the “rides” on my indoor bike. To my credit, though, the reason for this was that I just got a new bike fitting, and I really couldn’t ride before that because my bike was so wickedly uncomfortable. The other issue for this race was nutrition, and here I just made a rookie mistake. I made a game-time decision not to bring Honey Stingers on my ride. I’m not sure why beyond the fact that I had to take my bike pouch off my bike to put it on the car rack. I took off the pouch, said “I won’t need this it’s only a 17 mile ride,” and tossed it aside. Well, at 10 miles into that ride, stomach growling, I really missed that pouch o’ Stingers. And I had to make the call to hold back a bit on the bike to conserve energy for the run, since I could feel myself fading. Still, once again, I felt pretty strong (and comfortable!) during the ride otherwise. I didn’t even get what I call “the googly legs” getting off my bike to head into transition
Finally, the run (last year’s time: 28:31; this year's time 26:32)
Again, so jazzed about this. When I came intro transition off the bike, the first thing I did after grabbing my race number was dig the extra package of Honey Stingers out of my race bag and chop five. This calmed the belly a bit, even if it did add to my transition time. Aside: My transitions were basically the same as last year, but T2 was 30 seconds longer. I ascribe this to the Stinger saga, but I also have to admit that I didn’t practice transitions at all.
The run for this race is a little strange because it’s mostly trail-ish: grass, well-packed gravel/pine straw, some mud. There’s a substantial hill near the mile 2 marker that I suspect feels more substantial because it’s at the end of a July triathlon. And while I was certainly tired and ready to be done, I was also certainly not demolished. This feeling (or lack thereof) makes me almost as happy as the over :30/mile time improvement.
Overall, then, with the longer bike and T2, I took just over 2.5 minutes off my total race time (1:50:28 this year versus 1:52:52 last year). This put me 82/151 (vs. 93/164 last year) for women overall and 23/29 (vs. 25/33 last year) for my age group. This middle-of-the-pack finish doesn’t really bother me (well, not too much) though because I think this race has a really fast field. The top times for women in each leg were 11:17/46:03/20:30 (wow-za).
Takeways: Practice pays off, so I should probably keep hitting the roads every weekend on the bike (the trainer will just have to do for during the week because that’s all I can give cycling right now). Also, it ends up that a good bike fit kind of is like couples therapy for the bike and rider. I don’t hate my bike anymore. I actually even feel some affection for her again, and I suspect that our relationship will continue to grow as we train for the Finish Strong Aqua bike in September.
Finally, I need to stick to my nutrition plans no matter what my car bike rack tries to make me believe. Sheesh.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
4 on the 4th (aka my birthday race)
A birthday race seemed like a good way to start my 37th year, and since this race was in Carrboro (not Chapel Hill, where I refuse to race; see Tar Heel 4-miler post below), I figured I’d go for it. Race morning, though, was incredibility hot and humid. So, I just decided to not push myself too hard (because it was my birthday after all): I would go out at a strong but reasonable pace and try to maintain a moderate effort. My goal time when I signed up was 32 minutes. I also, though, decided to run this race without the Garmin and rely thus just on perceived effort. I did end up using a stopwatch, which I was glad for in the end because I was able to at least get mile splits without worrying about “instant” pace.
After Jen Dixon and I did a ½ mile or so warm-up, we wandered toward the start. No one seemed to know exactly where were lining up or when we were starting, so the gun took more than a few of us off guard. The first mile was fast (a lot down hill). I hit the mile marker at 7:30, so I knew I’d best back down. The second mile was more even, but I was still feeling good, so I managed to tackle it in 7:50ish.
From there, though, it was pretty much downhill (not literally, alas). Mile 3 was just plain hard. I was getting really hot and tired, and it was everything I had to finish it in about 8:30. At the mile 3 marker, the watch said 28 minutes exactly, so I knew that I’d have to really motor to get an 8-minute mile at the end. When I realized that the last mile was essentially rolling hills, I decided to just stick with the moderate effort plan and not destroy myself on my birthday. I forgot this plan a bit when I hit the track leading to the finish, so I was feeling really craptastic when I finally arrived at the finish.
Official Time: 33:01.85. I think that I could safely subtract 15-30 seconds for the time it took me to cross the start line after the gun since it wasn’t a chip start, but I’m not going to sweat it. It was my birthday (have I already mentioned that?); I was ultimately just there to have a good time with my friends and get a good start to the day. Still, that time was good enough for 7th in my age group, and it was 18 seconds better than my Tar Heeler 4-miler time, so that’s a pretty nice birthday treat.
I’m also pretty psyched to be so close to my goal given the weather. Everyone was miserable, and almost everyone I talked to said that they lost between 1.5 and 2 minute per mile between miles 1 and 4. In my pre-race photos, I look all happy and smiley; the post-race photos I look like I was just seconds from passing out. I had so much sweat running into my eyes that I had to take my contacts out and walk around the post-race festivities half blind.
Takeways: I think that going into a summer race with realistic and flexible expectations was a smart move. I’m hoping that if I stick with the moderate speed work and consistent low-key, Garmin-less training throughout the summer, my fall race times will be all the better. That said, no more summer races (unless there is swimming involved too).
After Jen Dixon and I did a ½ mile or so warm-up, we wandered toward the start. No one seemed to know exactly where were lining up or when we were starting, so the gun took more than a few of us off guard. The first mile was fast (a lot down hill). I hit the mile marker at 7:30, so I knew I’d best back down. The second mile was more even, but I was still feeling good, so I managed to tackle it in 7:50ish.
From there, though, it was pretty much downhill (not literally, alas). Mile 3 was just plain hard. I was getting really hot and tired, and it was everything I had to finish it in about 8:30. At the mile 3 marker, the watch said 28 minutes exactly, so I knew that I’d have to really motor to get an 8-minute mile at the end. When I realized that the last mile was essentially rolling hills, I decided to just stick with the moderate effort plan and not destroy myself on my birthday. I forgot this plan a bit when I hit the track leading to the finish, so I was feeling really craptastic when I finally arrived at the finish.
Official Time: 33:01.85. I think that I could safely subtract 15-30 seconds for the time it took me to cross the start line after the gun since it wasn’t a chip start, but I’m not going to sweat it. It was my birthday (have I already mentioned that?); I was ultimately just there to have a good time with my friends and get a good start to the day. Still, that time was good enough for 7th in my age group, and it was 18 seconds better than my Tar Heeler 4-miler time, so that’s a pretty nice birthday treat.
I’m also pretty psyched to be so close to my goal given the weather. Everyone was miserable, and almost everyone I talked to said that they lost between 1.5 and 2 minute per mile between miles 1 and 4. In my pre-race photos, I look all happy and smiley; the post-race photos I look like I was just seconds from passing out. I had so much sweat running into my eyes that I had to take my contacts out and walk around the post-race festivities half blind.
Takeways: I think that going into a summer race with realistic and flexible expectations was a smart move. I’m hoping that if I stick with the moderate speed work and consistent low-key, Garmin-less training throughout the summer, my fall race times will be all the better. That said, no more summer races (unless there is swimming involved too).
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