Ironman Ohio 70.3

I'll try to make this short. This was my first Ironman 70.3 branded triathlon race.  I've done the distance before from other race companies, but since this was the inaugural Ironman 70.3 OHIO and was a qualifier for the world championship for Ironman 70.3, I figured I would sign up (ironman has a very steep registration fee which is annoying to me but whatever).  Going into this race, I actually did taper well, at least I think.  My form was right where I wanted it to be ( I use training peaks to monitor my training so form is how ready you are to race).  My goal was to finish under 5 hours, but I was pretty sure I would finish well under 5 hours, I just didn't know by how much so I tried not to set a specific time goal.  When I signed up for this race when it first opened, my goal was to finish in the top 10 overall females and qualify for the world championships for Ironman 70.3 which is in the US next year, Chattanooga, TN.  My goal for the swim was 30min or less, but it all depends on how well I'm feeling, if the course was measured correctly, and the amount of people I would get caught up in.  So it all depends.  My goal for the bike was originally a 2:20, but I switched that to a 2:30 or less because I saw the wind was going to pick up to 10mph and there were a lot of turns on this course. My goal for the run was to hold an 8 minute mile pace, which is a 1:45 for a half marathon.

Ok onto what happened during the race :)

The swim:  Naturally, I started in the front, haha.  Oh I didn't get a chance to warm up in the am, bikes were not allowed out of transition which we put in the night before. Also no one was allowed in the water unless you were racing and I didn't want to run to warm up so I figured I would use the swim as a warm up haha but swim as fast as I could. The gun went off and I noticed two girls in my age group were swimming pretty fast on my far right. I was over to the left closer to the buoys because I like to hug buoys to swim the most direct route. Anyways it was super annoying at first like it always is especially in larger races. I would take a stroke and other girls were stroking all over my arms. Finally after about 400-500m I was able to pull away. I didn't notice the two faster swimmers anymore so I thought I was in the lead.  It's hard to tell in big events. Especially when you're in open water. I thought I had a solid swim, although I didn't feel quite as strong as I did in Sylvania, I was cold before the race started, too, so my legs felt a bit tight on the swim. Once I started passing a ton of people though I was no longer worried :).  It was a great swim, I finished in 31:04.  Not bad.  Mike and Chris Tracey told me I was in second or third place out of the water. Ok I can deal with that.

The bike:  I just felt like I was flying the whole time. I felt super fast!  My legs definitely felt strong on the bike. I could have held a higher wattage, but I think I did pretty well.  Halfway through I felt a little strange and didn't want my salted caramel Infinit. So I drank all the water that was in one bottle. Let that settle then finished the last salted caramel bottle during the last 45 min. I stopped feeling so weird and thought I did pretty well hydrating and fueling (it's nice to be able to drink your calories during a long event like this one ).  Let me mention one more thing, the turns. I would have been even faster but no one in this race knew how to turn. Which is typical of triathletes, I was once a slow turner and probably still am, but gosh I had to slow way down sometimes for people in front of me turning, that was the only annoying part. As far as the crappy roads, they were kinda crappy but I still felt like I was flying haha so I had a great bike leg.  There were small potholes, some gravely roads and a ton of patches everywhere.  The wind wasn't too bad either. Overall I thought my bike performance was awesome!  I PRd the 56 mi bike with a time of 2:26:41.  A 22.91 mph average I was shocked and excited!!

The run:  As soon as I got off my bike in T2, my legs felt pretty sore. I'm not sure why because I stayed in my power range but will look at the file later; I know I did start hard but not for too long.  When you train you don't typically bike 56 miles then run 13.1 at race pace so I think that's why.  Also, in transition I struggled putting my socks on. I debated going without but never have for a half because of the potential for blisters. I do for sprints and olympics but worry about the half distance.  Oh well.  Not like 30 sec faster would have mattered anyways in my placement lol.  My first mile was a 7:44 pace. I wanted to maintain 8:00 minute miles but that didn't happen. My legs just didn't have that in me today which was fine. I tried not to go too fast after that first mile and just kept a pace I could manage and it worked!!  Because with the soreness in my legs I couldn't push any faster.  I maintained an 8:20 pace, a 1:49:21 half marathon. That's a HUGE PR for me in a 13.1mi run in a 70.3 triathlon.  By about 6 min :).

My overall time was 4:51:56 :). I am stoked.  PR by about 24 min!! And this was my first Ironman branded race!  I finished 3rd in my age group and 7th overall female and 68th out of men and women. There were over 2500 people who did the race so I'm VERY happy with my placement.  I did not make the world championships, however.  Ironman takes only the top 2 in each age group.  3-4 spots were offered for larger age groups, but since my age group only had 63 (only haha) females, only the top 2 were taken. I'm pretty bummed about that because I did finish 7th overall for the females.  It just seems like I should be going!!  Oh well guess you can't have it all.  I'm going to rest tomorrow, then shift my focus to the World championship in Cozumel for the Olympic distance (about half the distance of a 70.3 Ironman I did today) where I'm on the amateur team for Team USA!  So excited!!  And I get to watch Gwen Jorgenson race the pro race, and hopefully meet her!!

Triathlon is in my heart and soul, you can't help what you love and what you are passionate about. I probably will continue to compete in this sport for awhile.  I'm only getting faster.  I will figure out what races I'm doing next year after Worlds in Cozumel :)

Also, a huge thank you is in order to my husband, Mike, for supporting me during this race, and for helping me train on the bike and fixing my bike and getting it all ready to race for me always :). I owe him lol.


It was also nice to see so many people I knew, Team Toledo triathlon club was represented well today!  :)

Sylvania Triathlon 2016

I had big goals going into the Sylvania Olympic distance triathlon.  I wanted the overall female win, and I wanted to PR.  I had invited my parents and my mother-in-law to come to watch the race, and my sister and her puppy came, and so did Mike.  I really wanted to win it for them, too because I didn't have a great race at the World triathlon in Chicago last year where they were watching.  I also did not taper for this race, either, I just slept 12 hrs on Friday night and went for a short walk yesterday.  I am getting ready for the Delaware half Ironman 2 weeks away, where I hope to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 Worlds if possible, or podium, but they only take top 2 in each age group, and the competition is much bigger at an Ironman event.  I also wanted to race as fast as I  could for this Olympic distance tri to get an idea of how it will feel like in Cozumel, where I'm racing the same distance as today.

My goal was to win, and my time goal was a 2:15,  or close to it.  I managed to get pretty close, with a 2:16:11, which is a PR for me in this distance.  In addition to winning female overall, I happened to finish 2nd overall out of 108 for the men and women.....pretty cool!

The swim:  Before the swim, I was intimidated by a fast looking girl next to me in transition which made me more nervous. When we went off, she was on my left, and Meredith Erwin was on my right, and a few others.  After about 500m, the girl on my left started to fade, and I was able to hold my pace.  It was a great swim for me.  I felt strong the whole way.  Sometimes I don't always have a great swim, but today's swim was so strong and so smooth.  I ended up being the first female out of the water with a 23:10. 

The Bike:  I was really hoping to bike as close to an hour for the 40k as possible, but the wind made it tough to do that today. On the windy roads, I just let it be and tried to stay within my power range.  I had to shift down 1-2 gears, but it certainly saved me for the run.  I felt pretty strong on the bike and stayed within my power goals, so that was good.  I did this leg in 1:06:05, which is 22.57 mph.  (I really wanted closer to 24mph but the wind made it tough).  No other female passed me on the bike, so I was still in the lead when I got into transition, yes!!

The Run:  As soon as I exited transition, Liz Young said to me, "You were the first female out of the water, enjoy the run now," and that really helped me.  I did enjoy the run.  My legs ACTUALLY felt fresh.  I usually am somewhat sore off the bike.  I wanted to PR on the run, too.  It's something I'm always working towards since running is my weakness.  My legs felt fresh all the way to mile 3, I thought I would slow down then.  I just didn't know if I should push harder in the first few miles because I felt so good.  I bet I could have ran even faster than I did, but I had never maintained a 7:18 pace before for a 10k so I kept everything in check.  At about mile 5.6, Mike was in the road and started running me in.  I quickly asked him who was behind me, if there was a girl behind me.  He said no, so I kept running as fast as I could.  Just before mile 6, I asked him again if there was a girl gaining on me.  He said no, so I felt relaxed about this issue, haha, but still pushed hard across the finish line.  I won, and I PR'd a 10k in a triathlon with a time of 45:20, that's over a minute faster than my best from last year I am so happy!  All the intervals, tempo runs, and long runs in 90+ heat and humidity is paying off!  I'm so excited!  

Two more big races, and then I can take a bit of a break.  Just a little bit, I'll relax in Cozumel on the beach the week after my race, and will stop swimming until next March or May.  As long as I keep cardiovascularly fit, it comes right back.  I love swimming, but it takes the most mental toll out of me because you are staring at a black line the whole time.  I'm looking forward to riding my fat bike more and fall running after Cozumel.  

It was so nice to have my family and husband there cheering me on, I really appreciated it!  It was also nice to race with a bunch of friends and people I know.  It was a great day, a great race put on by Elite Endeavors, as usual!  Thank you!!

Triathlon #2 of 2016: Mohican 70.3! ( Half Ironman distance)

I love this race.  It is extremely challenging, though.  Which is why it draws me back every year.  This was my third year racing it, and they change the course each time, the first year the bike had around 3,400 feet of elevation gain, last year had 37-3800, and this year was the highest, with 3,928 feet.  The  run this year had 516, about the same as last year.

Mike was racing all weekend with the Wheelmen cycling team, so he couldn't camp with me, and my sister had puppy classes, so I  asked my Dad to camp with me the night before!  Slept on the ground, in a tent, in my sleeping bag the night before the race, that's right!  It was fun.  We used to camp at Pleasant Hill Lake all the time when my sister and I were little.  Brought back memories.  Onto the race!

The Swim

I wasn't nervous at all before this race until I stepped up to the start line of the swim.  It is very low key, and not a lot of people do it, probably because of its challenging nature.  Mohican is extremely hilly for being in Ohio.  The swim was in Pleasant Hill Lake.  It's a nice lake, I think, but dark, kinda murky waters so you can't see anything while you swim.  They let some females start with the men if they swam a 30 minute 1.2 mi or less, so me and another female stepped right up.  She sprinted real fast off the start (like most people do then lose speed).  I prefer to certainly start fast, but not sprint to save energy, speed, and endurance for the rest of the swim.  It was a nice swim, I don't have much to say about it, I thought I swam pretty well, maybe could have gone a bit faster, but maybe not.  I did feel a bit of fatigue in my arms towards the end, I may have to start adding more longer sets, although 30+ 100s are definitely fun for a workout :). I mean like 400s and 500s.  Anyways, as I predicted, I did gain on that girl who sprinted off at the start.  However I couldn't catch her!  She was still fast, and I finished 20 seconds behind her on the swim.  No big deal.  I left transition with my bike before she did.  I ended up swimming a 25:20, but I think the course was short because normally I'm in the

28-30 min range.

The bike

So, on my directions for infinit nutrition, it says add 2 scoops to 24 oz of water, and this should be consumed every hour for a long endurance race.  That's 240 calories and hour.  In the morning I mixed 6 scoops of infinit in my water bottles, and I think it was too much.  I'll just be doing 4 scoops (480 calories) for training until IM OHIO (8/21) and see how i do running off the bike.  I had one 16 oz water bottle of just water.  About 45 min left on the bike, I had already drank all my water and infinit but a 24 oz bottle of infinit.  I wished it was water, so that tells me I did indeed have too much sports drink.  Fluid wise I felt great, did not feel dehydrated, I took in 80 oz of fluids.  I also think if I ingest my Infinit Nutrition during the first half-2 hrs on the bike, I can finish the rest with plain water to help prevent stomach cramps on the run.  I noticed the last two weekends that I was getting a cramp in the stomach, too.  Should have known!  But in the past, I would deplete myself and not take
in enough calories so I think I was worried about that.  I am much better at drinking on the bike now 

so it shouldn't be a problem. 

The bike was a 4 lap course.  I thought it would be a little boring, doing 4 laps, but actually it was quite nice because you knew what was coming after you completed the first lap.  So, I took off, in the lead, and I was taking my time and just settling in when the girl behind me passed me up.  I looked down at my power meter and decided I could pick it up and drop her.  So I did.  I saw her on the turn around each time, but each time she was further away :).  The hills....some rolling, some pretty steep both up and down.  The good thing, is when we got to the monstrous hill that seemed like it lasted forever, there was a nice lonnnng descent after it.  I felt so comfortable on my cannondale slice, I was better able to descend this year than years past, plus getting over my fear of descending this year has helped greatly.  I clocked in at 2:45, which is 20.4 mph. With 3928 feet of elevation, pretty stoked.  (Although, my Garmin had me at 52.2 mi and 19.1 mph for a 2:44:23, but for some reason my Garmin gets off a few miles sometimes, so who knows.  Either way, still good for me because the last
two years during this race I was only able to average in the low 17mphs..  I stayed within a

reasonable power range, too because I didn't want to kill my legs for the run.  I felt great coming off the bike.

The run

I wanted to run a 1:50 for the half at Mohican, or maintain 8:30s since it's so hilly.  I was running an 8:18 for the  first mile which felt great untilllll the side stomach cramp came.  I dealt with that the whole rest of the run.  I had stop and walk it out and number of times which sucked for me mentally because I never like walking during a run.  I walked some up hills.  Walked at aid stations. I took my EFS gel with me, but couldn't consume any because my stomach hurt so bad.  I ran when I could, walked when I had to.  I ended up taking two small cups of coke (which I don't like) but thought maybe it would help my stomach .  It didn't. Oh well, you can't always have a great race.  Once I had to slow down after the first mile, the second place girl gained on me and passed me around mile 3.5-4. It sucked because I know I could have ran much faster.  She had a good run, and may still have won even if I was able to run faster, but I would have put up a good fight!  Despite all that, I still ended up getting second place overall, and I shaved something like 30min off my time from last year. I'm pretty happy with that!

Triathlon #1 of 2016: Island Lake Triathlon Olympic Distance

I was the overall female winner at the Island Lake Triathlon today, and PRd by about 4 minutes on that course, so it was a pretty cool feeling.

The Swim:  1500m.  They changed the swim course this year (today was my 4th year racing this race).  It was just a straight line out toward the back of Kent Lake, and back.  We swam two laps of the course.  So, the air temperature was close to 80 and very hot and humid at the start.  I had emailed the race director earlier in the week to get the water temp, which was 69.  Today, it was 72.  I wasn't going to bring my full wetsuit with the sleeves in this heat and humidity, so I grabbed my sleeveless.  I even took it with me into transition.  However, I was starting to sweat just walking around.  I truly don't like wearing those things, because I feel restricted in everything, breathing, kicking, arm pulling, etc.  I only like to wear them when the water temp is below 65.  Even then, still sucks.

I made the decision not to wear one, because personally I thought it was just too hot.  Also I didn't want to have to deal with the extra time being in transition, lol.   I get that it can help you swim faster, but today, I thought it was in my best interest not to wear one(pretty much everyone else wore one, haha)  I get pretty warm when I swim anyways, so I just wore my Team USA suit!  I had a great swim, wore my earplugs to prevent dizziness, and stayed as close to the buoys as I could to swim my fastest.  My swim time ended up being 25-something, which is normally slow for me, but I looked at everyone else's time for the day and everyone seemed slow.  So I think the change in the swim course may have been slightly longer than 1500m.

The Bike:  I honestly wasn't fully recovered from a run workout I did earlier this week.  I noticed the soreness right away.  I was using this race as training, but still, it was too much.  So now I know what not to do the week of a race.  Despite that issue, I managed to clock in at a 1:06-something (official results not online yet and I forget the milliseconds).  That is a 3 min PR for me on that bike course (not a PR for the 40k, just that course)  I think that course is challenging because there are a lot of small hills the whole 40k.  It usually kills my legs.  My wattage was ok, it could have been higher if my legs felt fresher, but I'll take it!  Oh, and my Cannondale Slice with my Rolf Prima race wheels make for a very smooth, fast feeling ride!  I also did better on cornering for myself.

The Run:   Killed me.  It always does.  47:33, not bad, that's a 7:39 pace in this heat and humidity.  Since I was already sore, plus the bike, I felt it in my legs.  I had a hard time.  I seriously thought the second place female would catch me because I saw her after the turnaround, twice, lol, because we had to do two laps.  I tried to run faster, but the heat didn't want my body to go faster, either.  So I just let it do what it could in the heat, and was ok with being passed if that should happen because I wasn't about to get heat exhaustion.  When I got to the second turnaround again, I saw the second place female around the same spot, maybe closer.  I didn't want to get passed, I wanted first since I was still in the lead, so I booked it (well, as much as I could in that heat) the last mile.  That was hard, because it was hot.  My work paid off, though, because I finished first yay!!

My overall time was 2:21-something.  I could have gone faster if my legs were totally fresh.  Now I know what I need to do during race weeks.  But I think the humidity and heat had an impact as well!  I have a feeling it's going to be hot this summer.  So we better practice running in the heat!  Cozumel will be hot, so I am glad I have this race under my belt.  Happy adventures!  :)

ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Chicago 2015

I woke up at 5:30am race morning.  I ate an apple and a few pretzels because I wanted to wait until 3 hours before to eat a bit more substantial, which was a bagel with PB.  I usually eat a banana, not an apple.  So maybe that's why I had stomach issues on the run.  Who knows.  Transition was open from 6:00-9:20am.  I wanted to get there early to get ready.  It was a cold, windy morning, and my wave didn't go off until 10:33 am.  So, maybe that was a mistake, standing and sitting around being chilled.  About 50 min before my race started, my family and friends found me down by the pier of Lake Michigan and we snapped some photos.  

The swim:  Once we were allowed in the water, we had maybe a minute or so before the gun went off.  I made sure to be up by the front.  I'm happy with where I started this swim.  But gosh, there were a lot of fast swimmers!  This is World- level, let me explain.  Not National level, and for sure not local level where I always place.  So it was tough!  I about had a panic attack a minute into the swim because I saw all the leaders swim way ahead and I couldn't keep up and the cold water and I was swimming somewhere new....I told myself to calm the heck down because I know how to swim, and to swim well.  So that's what I did!  It was still challenging because it was a little wavy.  Not bad at all, but just a bit choppy.  And disheartening seeing swimmers way ahead of me :). Once I reached the stairs to get out I was really relieved. Ripped my earplugs out of my ears, pulled my cap and goggles off, and pulled my wetsuit down to my waist.  The run to transition was looooonnnngggggggg.  The longest I've ever had to do, I think, and then transition was lonnnggggg.  So once I reached the mat to cross transition, I had to run to basically the end.  And I also got confused even though I practiced beforehand.  I suddenly ducked under the rack where I thought I was.  And I was, but my bike was facing the opposite direction lol I should have stayed where I was.  I also ran past my spot, which I never do, because the dang transition was too overwhelmingly huge!  So I hurried up, grabbed my bike and took off running with it through MUD. Because it rained last night.  So at the mount line, I had a tough time clipping in because there was mud on my cleats.

The bike:  I was worried about the bike beforehand because the course was confusing.  I felt like I knew the course because I looked at it so many times online (no opportunity to ride it beforehand) but it was still confusing on paper.  But it was well marked, I had nothing to worry about.  It was very technical, with 8 uturns and I don't know how many other turns.  I didn't know how I was doing because my average power was low because of all the slowing for turns.  I just tried to kill it as much as I could.  I knew some girls in my age group were ahead of me, and only 3-4 passed me on the bike so I knew I was doing well there.  The bike was 2 laps.  Once I got to the dismount line, I almost fell over trying to unclip my shoes because of the mud in my cleats.  I managed to unclip safely, though, and ran the long trek over to transition.  Again I had to run with my bike to the very end of transition where my spot was.  Took off my bike gear, grabbed my shoes, and took off.  Then I realized I had forgotten my garmin.  I turned around and was going to go back for it, but I didn't see my bike and didn't want to waste anymore time so I decided to run without it, which I've never done.  The run is my weakest, so I like to have something for pacing.  I already had that going wrong for me.  Also...my garmin said 22.9 miles once I was TO MY SPOT in transition.  That's a short 40k(24.5mi)....About half the race was through tunnels lol.  Super interesting course through Chicago.  

The run: Once I took off running without my garmin, my legs did feel like bricks, and just kept getting worse.  I was so mad,  I had done some good runs leading up to Worlds.  I tried to tell myself I was running at least a 7:30 pace.  And maybe I was at first, but the side stitch soon set in.  Felt like a huge bubble of air on my right side I couldn't do anything about.  I'm not sure why.  It was either the apple, or possible dehydration, I didn't drink my full 40 oz of heed on the bike.  It was too technical and lots of people.  I tried to drink as much as I could though, I drank close to 3/4 of it.  We had to run 3.5 laps.  That sucked, too.  Because you run past the finish line 3 times.  I knew in my head 3.5 laps but since I didn't have my garmin, it was hard to tell where I was.  I made sure to keep note.  I even asked a Team USA girl who said to keep it up, run with my heart since I left my garmin, if we ran 3 full laps, then the half lap.  She said yes, so I was comfortable.  I felt myself slowing down throughout the race.  That side stitch just kept getting worse and worse....ugh.  A Canadian in my age group passed me, so I tried to keep up with her, even passed her for a bit, then couldn't hold that pace and she ended up passing me.  I really tried to run as fast as I could with that side stitch.  Ohhhh welllllll I was happy with my swim and bike time.

Overall, a good time at my first World event.  I was just happy I made it that far, really.  I had a really great year, too.  I either won or placed top 3 in all the local triathlons I did.  I swam solid this year, PRd on the bike, and on the run.  Pretty bummed about my run at Worlds.  But you cant always have the best race possible, not even at your goal race, I guess.  This is a good learning experience for me because I usually do well under pressure.  Puts me in my place.  My body just didn't want to cooperate today :(.

So, next year, there will be more bike to run workouts starting in the winter, and not halfway through summer like this season....I was doing one a week, moved up to two 5 weeks before Worlds.  Also, more quality over quantity runs this year, too. I should also be very happy, too, because I used to injure myself a lot running.  I made it at a higher level these last 2 years without running injuries, I consider that a success!  I'm not swimming until maybe February or March.  I always pick it up real quickly.  I will be focusing on my run and bike more next season for Cozumel Worlds!!  

Thanks to all my friends and family who have supported me throughout the years, and especially to Mike who had to deal with me and my sometimes cranky self from heavy training haha.  Now we can enjoy the rest of the year with a little less stress.  We have some things planned, looking forward to the fall.  

Will I ever stop this?  Probably not.  I get too much joy and sense of accomplishment out of it,  I'm sure there will be times in my life when I have to stop exercising so much, like when we start having kids, maybe one race a year?  Haha.  I enjoy endurance exercise and the outdoors too much, love the adrenaline I get from it.  Now for a bit of a break, time to enjoy fall weather and the holidays, and more time for my other love, crocheting!!!!!!

USA Triathlon Nationals 2015

I've been far too busy racing and training this summer to even write about my other races!  I have some time, so I figured I'd write about Nationals.  I wasn't even sure if I was going to do Nationals this year.  About 4 weeks before, though, I signed up :).  My thoughts were, I'll give it my best shot, but Worlds 2015 is what I'm training for, and hope to taper well and go my fastest at.  So, with that mindset, I did not race at my fullest potential last week.  Also, I just wanted to qualify for Worlds 2016, I didn't care what place I took in my age group.

The swim:  The water temperature of Lake Michigan the day before was 63.  On race morning, they claimed it was 65.  But as soon as we jumped in, it definitely felt 63 or colder, the coldest I have ever swam in!!  Before the swim, I was debating on whether or not to wear my sleeveless wetsuit like last year, or the full wetsuit.  Glad I chose the full.  Here is where I first messed up my chances of getting a better swim time.  My goggles were dirty.  If you saw some of the pics Mike posted, I was trying to clean them.  Once I jumped in and warmed up, they  fogged up right away.  Great.  Being a good swimmer, I wasn't too worried, but it definitely had an effect on seeing the buoys!  Note to self, make sure your goggles are cleaned.  I cleaned them when I got home, lol.  So, last year we all started treading water.  I think I was somewhere in the middle before the gun went off last year.  This year, we had to hold onto the dock.  I also positioned myself far left.  Bad idea.  For some reason, from where I was, it looked like a direct path.  Nope.  When the gun went off, all the fast swimmers seemed like they were in the middle.  So, I had to swim over to the middle.  Once I did this, though, I got stuck mid-pack it seemed.  I was in the midst of the chaos.  I never am, I'm usually up front, or at least chasing the lead swimmers!  I couldn't move much.  I almost started hyperventilating because I couldn't get out.  It was scary.  But then I told myself to calm down because you're a good swimmer.  So, I did.  I looked around for the next yellow buoy, which was very hard to see with my foggy goggles.  Got around that.  Finally, on the turnaround, I was able to fish my way through all the swimmers and finally have more room to swim in a direct path.  I was good from then on.  Except the part where I wasn't sure to keep the orange buoy on my right or left.  Kept it on the right just in case.  I saw people doing both.  So.....after all that chaos...I think I could have swam at least a minute faster :(. But maybe it was good because my legs were more fresh for the bike and run.  I'll never know.  What I do know is that I certainly emailed Team USA about the swim for Worlds so I can know in my mind the best path to take while swimming.  The run to T1... It was long, but same as last year.  And after doing many tri's, definitely not the longest to T1.  I did struggle with my wetsuit strap a bit to pull the zipper down, but it wasn't bad.  Guess I'll tell you my swim time.  22:35 :). Still rather fast.

T1:  I struggled with my darn wetsuit again getting it off over the ankles!  The timing chip was flat this year, so I had no excuse.  Guess I have to practice more.  This transition was about 15 sec faster than last year still, so I was happy.

The bike:  Here is my true strength.  Yes, the swim is my strength as well, but after seeing I came in 21st on the swim in my age group, and 11th on the bike, I believe cycling is another strength.  I flew past a bunch of the fast swimmers in my age group, it was great.  So that put me in a good position for the run.  I don't have much to say about this except I held back just a little bit because I wanted a good run.  I have killed it on the 40k in 2 tri's this summer, and wasn't able to run well.  I biked a 1:05:11.  22.9mph.  My average power was 210watts.  My FTP (threshold number) is 240, I could have pushed harder!  So I will be doing more hour-1.5 hr bike to runs up until worlds to get used to the pain of running after.  The 1:05:11 is not my potential.  I went faster in June.

The run:  Well, I PR'd with a time of 46:35.  Could I have gone any faster?  No, not at this point in my training.  I started speed work 5 weeks ago, lol, after a cycle of hill repeats.  I did this because I wanted to get a great run at Worlds, the end goal.  I did not want to end up injured from too much speed work.  Next year I will do things a bit differently, but I am rather happy with my run!  I did slow down after mile 4 of the 10k, but that's ok because I'm not done training yet.

My total time was 2:18:44.  I could have been faster because of my swim and bike.  They take the top 18 for Worlds.  Last year I made Worlds because they took 25 in each age group when Worlds is in the home country.  It's in Cozumel next year.  Even after the roll down, I was sitting at spot 20.  My placement and times were faster than last year, so I'm pretty happy.  I may still have a chance if 2 people back out.  They roll down to the 25 athletes in each age group if someone backs out.  Even though, I'm not sure, it would be very expensive.

Also, I have learned my lesson.  I got pretty sick this week.  I have done something 5 weekends in a row.  Another reason I could have been faster at Nationals.  July 12, womens 60 mi road race, July 18, sprint tri in Defiance, July 26th, extremely hilly bike tour in the Cuyahoga Valley, August 1- Olympic distance tri, I only did this because I signed up for it and thought I could compete in the elite wave, but that didn't happen because I did not get a 2:15 or faster.  And then the weekend after Nationals.  NEVER AGAIN!  One-two races a month in the summer from now on.  But at the same time, I have done very well this season, so I'm happy.

I am looking forward to continuing training soon, feeling better today.  I do hope to PR there, but you never know, each course is different. I am so happy that I qualified last year for Worlds this year in Chicago, because I doubt I would be able to afford it if it was out of the country!  I feel very lucky. 

Grand Rapids Triathlon 2015

Grand Rapids Triathlon 2015 (Olympic Distance-1500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run)

I had one goal today for this triathlon:  be as aggressive and as fast as possible on the bike.  I also had wanted to get in the top 3 overall to win some money.  I actually succeeded in both!  I’ll start with this weekend.

Saturday morning we had to wake up at 4:20am to drive to Mike’s road race in Mt. Pleasant, MI.  I was a bit worried this would have an effect on my race today since I had to get up so early and drive to Mt. Pleasant the day before.  I tried to sleep in the car during his race, but that didn’t go too well.  I was pretty exhausted all day long.  It’s ok though, it was the only way this weekend would work the best.  So once Mike finished his race (on his cross bike because his road bike was in the shop since he crashed), we drove over to Grand Rapids, MI so I could pick up my race packet.  Lots of driving in one weekend!

As a result, we were in bed by 9pm.  I got about 8-8.5 hours of sleep and felt awesome race morning.  However, when I woke up, Mike looked at the forecast.  Rain and thunderstorms the whole morning.  It was POURING when we drove to the start of the race, but eventually slowed some once I got out of the car, thank goodness!  I was running a little late, because I took my time in the morning and thought maybe the race would be delayed.  I gave myself about 30 minutes to set up transition.  Well…that didn’t happen.  The road was blocked off where we were going to turn, so we had to turn around and go all the way around here and there to get to the start.  I had 10 minutes in transition.  Mike dropped me off, you had to walk about a half mile to get to transition.  I started walking, and realized I left my helmet in the car!  So I called Mike, thank goodness I had my phone with me, and I ran back to the car to grab it.  Then I ran to transition.  Nice warm up, I thought.  10 minutes to set everything up.  I used every last minute.  And I had to run back to put my sunglasses in, which I didn’t need anyways and lost L Lesson learned, make sure you know where you’re going race morning and give yourself plenty of time.  This is my number who knows how many triathlons, I should have this down LOL.  The blonde in me :)

Anyways…onto the swim!  It actually stopped raining when we started.  My wave was the very last wave that went off.  This was the Clydesdale and Athena Nationals, so there were women of all ages and Athena in my Olympic women wave.  This was the first race where I wore my long sleeve wetsuit, too.  It actually worked out great, fits well!  As soon as we went off, everyone sprinted.  I started out in the front, but it’s always annoying when you have who knows how many swimmers splashing around you in the water.  After about maybe 30-40 seconds, I was able to pull away, thank goodness, and follow who I thought was the lead girl.  I enjoyed the swim, it was out, around, and back, nice and fast.  I got dizzy again pretty early on.  I’m not sure why I keep getting dizzy now during the swim.  I wonder if it has to do with the cold water?  If anyone knows, let me know haha.  At least this time it wasn’t so bad and I didn’t almost fall over multiple times.  I ended up with a 23:27 for the swim.  Pretty good.  Second place overall swam a 20:17, I guess I never saw her, and the girl in front of me swam a 22:50.  That was the girl who I thought was first out of the water, and me second.  Nope! 

T1:  Well, I was a bit out of it and dizzy again, so I felt I needed to take my time getting my wetsuit off, shoes on, and helmet on.  I certainly tried as fast as possible, but it was still slow compared to the 2 girls ahead of me.  2:43.  Yeah that needs some work.  Oh and I started running the wrong way with my bike LOL.

The Bike:

As I said…my goal today was to go as fast as possible on the bike.  I was tired of having sub-optimal bike times lately when I know I’m strong.  My watts/kg is 3.77, I should be able to put out a great 40k time.  At Island Lake, it was 1:11, but I was very fatigued from the 4 hour high effort at the adventure race the week before.  So I wanted to redeem myself.  My goal was a 1:05.  At Nationals last year it was 1:07:03.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pull off a 1:05 but I was going to try my best.  I didn’t even care about my run much, I just wanted a good bike time.  Mike adjusted my aero bars, so I was lower, and more aero.  He also let me borrow his aero wheels for the race.  I would have had a disc wheel, too, but the one we ordered didn’t quite fit, so I couldn’t use that for the race today.  Which is OK.  When I left transition, I thought I was in second place.  So, I pretty much rode as fast as my body would let me.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have my power tap because I had Mike’s aero wheels.  With my power tap, it’s on one wheel, and you can’t switch it between wheels.  I really wish I knew what my power was!  I was passing people all the time, and near these two guys for most of the race.  We kept passing each other the whole time.  Towards the very end, I blew past them finally, turned and looked around because I thought I saw a female, stared at her right in the face, then took off :)  And I was in second. 

I have a 2000 Ironman Cannondale that I bought off a friend for cheap.  It’s aluminum.  My 40k TT time was 1:02:48!  That’s 23.7 mph I can’t believe it!  I’m still shocked!  My thick yet small Italian curvy legs can put out some power :)  Who says you need a Carbon frame to be fast??  The bike course was very flat and fast, hardly any turns, so that helped for sure.

T2:  2:11.  Horrible.  But I was so out of it from cycling so hard I couldn’t help it.  I should practice these I guess.  But it’s hard when you’re out of breath during the actual race.

Run:  Well, I got passed in the first mile by the girl I passed on the bike.  Her bike time was 4 min. slower than mine, but she had a fast swim and transitions, so that’s how I was able to catch up to and pass her on the bike.  I struggled on the run.  Not much to say about this except my legs were so sore from pushing so hard on the bike, that I think it definitely effected my run.  It was also pretty humid.  No matter what positive thoughts I was telling myself, I just couldn’t make my legs run any faster.  My run time was 48:54, which is a 7:52 min/mi pace.  At Nationals and Island Lake I was able to run a 47.  Still not that fast, but ohhh well.  I’m super happy with my bike time.  Hopefully I can get my run time down some by the end of the year.  At least a 46:00 would help.

So, my overall time was 2:20:05!  That’s a PR for me by about a minute and 40 seconds!  3^rd overall female, second place female was 2:17:00, and the first place female was 2:11:50.

It was a great day!