I want to say that I think it is some sort of cruel joke that every half-iron (four different races) I've done this year had temps rising into the 90s. Surely Lake Stevens would have been cooler.. right?.... um, no way.
Swim:
Getting started I wanted to make the lead pack on the swim, unfortunately I was boxed in by some slower swimmers who were eager to be up front at the start. I gapped the group by swimming on the inside of the buoy line and surged hard to catch the leaders. I was a little hesitant to push too hard this early in the race, so I didn't quite catch them, but was still close enough to see bubbles in the water. By the turn buoy they were still only about 10 meters up and I could see there were about 4 or 5 of them. Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to sight anything in the sun and I just couldn't close the gap as they slowly swam away from me. I was feeling very solid and rhythmic out there (I've become very comfortable in my TYR Hurricane!), but because I was alone practically the whole time I was a bit slower than I expected out of the water at 28:30 and in 5th place.
Bike:
The bike course is rolling to say the least and at some points very dangerous. The race organizers leave the course open to traffic and some of the hills are steep enough to hit speeds of 50+mph on the bike. The plan was to pace evenly and hit 245-250 watts. About 20 minutes in I was passed by Josh Hadway, the eventual winner. I figured I would give it a go and try to hang with him a bit. I didn't expect to be able to, nor was I willing to blow myself up trying, but it was nice to have some sort of pacing for about 15 minutes or so. Once we got into the hillier sections of the course he flew away (he probably weighs 130 right?). From there on out I wasn't passed by anyone else and felt very good the first loop averaging 252. As many of the other athletes were on there first loop I was on my second and things became very precarious. It wasn't so much the athletes, but the cars trying to get around the athletes that were really clogging up the roads. On more than one occasion I had to wait behind a car that was going 10 mph because it wouldn't allow me any room to pass, nor would it pass any riders. Needless to say I was very frustrated as I lost valuable time out there. Nevertheless I still averaged 248 total watts on the course, which was exactly where I was supposed to be. However, I likely didn't pace myself very well and that second loop zapped my legs a bit. I decided to get out of the saddle a lot more on the second loop of hills and every time I did I could feel my quads cramp just a little. Not to mention that whole 15 minute section back to transition I was really struggling to keep my power up. When I passed a teammate on the way back and he asked how I was doing I tried to keep it positive and tell him I felt great... but it was a lie, my legs were feeling totally zapped. 2:34:00(avg. 22mph)
Run:
My transitions on the day were flawless and perhaps the only thing I felt really solid about. Unfortunately my transition to the run was a bit too fast as I went out a minute over goal pace. Not to mention I already felt miserable at this point, it was strange to feel so slow, yet be running way too fast. When I passed a pro women around mile 3 she said I was in 6th place (I do love running with the pro-women, most of them are super-friendly.) The run was really a roller coaster for me physically. With a long section of exposed asphalt and some decent hills out there my mind kept going from survival to attack mode. First 5 miles were survival as I worked my way out of a hamstring cramp and hung around 7 minute pace. Then all of the sudden I just felt great and hammered out a couple miles easily at goal pace. Then back to survival mode as my quads cramped, then a major side stitch that dropped my pace to 8 minutes. At this point I was doing whatever I could not to walk and by the time I worked my way out of it I was on the last mile and felt amazing running sub 6:30 pace. So, this tells me that my legs were definitely there and I messed up with pacing (bike or early run), or the heat just got to me. Nutrition was spot on with plenty of GU and I couldn't have taken any more fluid than I did (sorry to all the volunteers that I splashed as I grabbed everything in sight). 1:33:40 half marathon landed me 3rd in my age group and 43rd overall (15th AG overall.)
Although it was nice to podium I was rather disappointed on the day. But here is what I took away: 1. I'm definitely strong enough now to be at the front of the swim start. I need to make sure I'm there from now on so I don't get boxed in and lose the lead pack. 2. Because I am taller/heavier and these hillier courses hurt me I seriously need to focus on increasing my bike power this off-season. 3. V02 multisport crowd is the best around! (thanks for the support) 4. This was a vast improvement (6 mins) over my previous best time for the course and things are progressing still, I just have to keep working hard! Next big one is Pacific Grove olympic (Sept. 11th).
Swim:
Getting started I wanted to make the lead pack on the swim, unfortunately I was boxed in by some slower swimmers who were eager to be up front at the start. I gapped the group by swimming on the inside of the buoy line and surged hard to catch the leaders. I was a little hesitant to push too hard this early in the race, so I didn't quite catch them, but was still close enough to see bubbles in the water. By the turn buoy they were still only about 10 meters up and I could see there were about 4 or 5 of them. Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to sight anything in the sun and I just couldn't close the gap as they slowly swam away from me. I was feeling very solid and rhythmic out there (I've become very comfortable in my TYR Hurricane!), but because I was alone practically the whole time I was a bit slower than I expected out of the water at 28:30 and in 5th place.
Bike:The bike course is rolling to say the least and at some points very dangerous. The race organizers leave the course open to traffic and some of the hills are steep enough to hit speeds of 50+mph on the bike. The plan was to pace evenly and hit 245-250 watts. About 20 minutes in I was passed by Josh Hadway, the eventual winner. I figured I would give it a go and try to hang with him a bit. I didn't expect to be able to, nor was I willing to blow myself up trying, but it was nice to have some sort of pacing for about 15 minutes or so. Once we got into the hillier sections of the course he flew away (he probably weighs 130 right?). From there on out I wasn't passed by anyone else and felt very good the first loop averaging 252. As many of the other athletes were on there first loop I was on my second and things became very precarious. It wasn't so much the athletes, but the cars trying to get around the athletes that were really clogging up the roads. On more than one occasion I had to wait behind a car that was going 10 mph because it wouldn't allow me any room to pass, nor would it pass any riders. Needless to say I was very frustrated as I lost valuable time out there. Nevertheless I still averaged 248 total watts on the course, which was exactly where I was supposed to be. However, I likely didn't pace myself very well and that second loop zapped my legs a bit. I decided to get out of the saddle a lot more on the second loop of hills and every time I did I could feel my quads cramp just a little. Not to mention that whole 15 minute section back to transition I was really struggling to keep my power up. When I passed a teammate on the way back and he asked how I was doing I tried to keep it positive and tell him I felt great... but it was a lie, my legs were feeling totally zapped. 2:34:00(avg. 22mph)
Run:
My transitions on the day were flawless and perhaps the only thing I felt really solid about. Unfortunately my transition to the run was a bit too fast as I went out a minute over goal pace. Not to mention I already felt miserable at this point, it was strange to feel so slow, yet be running way too fast. When I passed a pro women around mile 3 she said I was in 6th place (I do love running with the pro-women, most of them are super-friendly.) The run was really a roller coaster for me physically. With a long section of exposed asphalt and some decent hills out there my mind kept going from survival to attack mode. First 5 miles were survival as I worked my way out of a hamstring cramp and hung around 7 minute pace. Then all of the sudden I just felt great and hammered out a couple miles easily at goal pace. Then back to survival mode as my quads cramped, then a major side stitch that dropped my pace to 8 minutes. At this point I was doing whatever I could not to walk and by the time I worked my way out of it I was on the last mile and felt amazing running sub 6:30 pace. So, this tells me that my legs were definitely there and I messed up with pacing (bike or early run), or the heat just got to me. Nutrition was spot on with plenty of GU and I couldn't have taken any more fluid than I did (sorry to all the volunteers that I splashed as I grabbed everything in sight). 1:33:40 half marathon landed me 3rd in my age group and 43rd overall (15th AG overall.)
Although it was nice to podium I was rather disappointed on the day. But here is what I took away: 1. I'm definitely strong enough now to be at the front of the swim start. I need to make sure I'm there from now on so I don't get boxed in and lose the lead pack. 2. Because I am taller/heavier and these hillier courses hurt me I seriously need to focus on increasing my bike power this off-season. 3. V02 multisport crowd is the best around! (thanks for the support) 4. This was a vast improvement (6 mins) over my previous best time for the course and things are progressing still, I just have to keep working hard! Next big one is Pacific Grove olympic (Sept. 11th).
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