New York City Triathlon, Olympic Distance, July 14th, 2013

	Ideal		Acceptable
Swim	0:16:32	1:00/100 yds	0:17:00	1:02/100 yds
T1	0:04:20		0:04:30
Bike	1:10:00	21.0 mph	1:14:00	20 mph
T2	0:01:15		0:01:25
Run	0:52:30	8:27/mile	0:54:30	8:47/mile
Total	2:24:37		2:31:25

Two years ago I was a spectator at this race and loved every minute of it. I mean what’s not to love about competing in NYC? Great scenery around the Hudson River, lots of people offering support, the mile stretch of 72^nd street and Central Park! Ever since I was spectator I have entered in the lottery to compete in this event. I was never picked, until this year! This quickly became one event on my race lineup that I was thoroughly excited for. I also became more excited the closer I go to this race. A month prior I competed in Syracuse 70.3 and PR’d. I knew I was in great shape, the swim for the event is FAST, the atmosphere in NYC is amazing, and the list could go on forever!

I drove into the city the day before the race; hotel check-in was at 3pm. I arrived approximately an hour early thinking I could check-in early. WRONG. I checked in; however a room was not available at that time. I walked around the corner to the nearest pizza place, ordered my pre-race lunch pizza and scarfed it down in the hotel lobby. 3:10pm rolled around, still no room available. At this point I was getting anxious and pestered the lobby attendants until finally I was able to get into my room. STRIKE 1.
 

I made my way down to transition to rack my bike for the night. This event has close to 3000 competitors of all different ability levels. Therefore, there are two transitions. A red transition and a yellow transition. Red transition is closest to the swim exit, yellow is the farthest. Of course I was in the yellow transition! Being in this transition, I knew I had the farthest run from the swim exit, approximately 700 yards.

I went into transition and racked my bike on the designated rack. Depending on how you looked at transition, my bike was located just shy of the middle. I knew I had to walk transition a few times to familiarize myself with where my bike was placed. I walked to the swim in and then proceeded to walk to where my bike was. I then walked from my bike to the bike exit and then from the bike in back to my rack. I did this twice. I made note of the advertisements posted to the fence too as markers for where my race gear would be located. Once I felt comfortable and convinced I knew where my bike was for T1 and T2 I made my way back to my hotel room.

Race Morning: The night before I made sure to set my alarm twice because this race started earlier than most other triathlons I have done. The professionals were set to start at 5:50am! According to my calculations I was to begin sometime close to 6:30am so I wanted to make sure that I was awake, up and moving with some added time to spare. I set my alarm for 4am and 4:10am. My alarm went off and I looked at the time, 4:10am. I thought, “Why didn’t the 4am alarm go off??” My dad informed me that I slept through the 4am alarm! Wow. I didn’t even hear it. That means that it was going off for at least two minutes and it didn’t wake me. That has NEVER happened. Not even in my everyday life! I am usually very restless the night before a race, this night I was apparently knocked out! STRIKE 2.

I made my way down to transition to set up my bike/run gear quickly and then started the trek towards the swim start. From transition to the actual swim start is close to a 1.5 mile walk. Now add 3000 athletes trying to make the same trek, can you say crowded? It was relatively painless though and I made it up to the start in time to see the pro’s start. I couldn’t help but notice the current sweeping them down the river! I was pumped and mentally prepared for a FAST swim!

Swim: I entered the orange capped corral for females 25-29. There were two corrals for my age group. I walked right up to the front. The swim was a time trial start, so fifteen athletes were sent into the water every twenty seconds. I wanted to make sure that I was in the first group of fifteen in my corral. I always love listening to the pre-race chatter between athletes. I heard a lot of gals in my group talking about this race being their first. I remember thinking, “wow! What a huge race to choose for a first timer!”

I walked out onto the boat launch in the middle of the Hudson and found myself staring the river down! It really was an awesome feeling. Boats, kayakers, jet skis, lifeguards, spectators, EVERYWHERE! I put my toes over the edge of the launch and waited. Age groupers had to do a feet first entry into the water, only the pros were able to dive. The whistle blew, feet first jump and it was off to the races! I maintained a quick arm turnover until I freed myself of the pack and then settled into my pace. I started sighting and scanning for other females in orange and purple caps. I wanted to tick them off one by one! What an awesome feeling it was being carried down the Hudson. I was in a full body wetsuit and a quick current made this swim feel almost effortless. Normally my arms become sore and tired but they didn’t, not once during this swim! I tried to swim in the middle of the .9 mile stretch. However, at one point I became too comfortable and in the zone that I stopped sighting. Next thing I knew, I took a breath and was facing a huge boat! WHOA. My lungs also consumed boat fumes. Something I have never experienced during a tri. Definitely not a good taste/smell to have in your mouth/nose. I must have been flustered by the fumes, maybe even high on them (HAHA) because I found myself swimming far right and slightly off course. Great! STRIKE 3. Wasted time! I continued to pluck away at the purple caps (Females 25-29, corral before mine) and quickly found myself at the exit. The swim exit is a metal ramp and there are volunteers standing on the ramp in the water to grab athlete’s hands to help them exit. The ramp was steep and obviously slippery when wet! I grabbed a volunteers hand and ran up the ramp.

SWIM TIME:  16:31, :59/100 yards, 1^st in Age Group!

After exiting the swim I now faced a 700 yard run to T1. I kept telling myself, “Relax. Get feeling back into your legs and set yourself up for a good bike!” I had a volunteer yell at me after exiting the swim that I have a “river beard” and to wash it off! EWW. I took my hands and wiped my face. Brown and green muck everywhere. I don’t even want to know.

Enter T1: Instantly I couldn’t find my bike. I panicked. How could this happen after I mapped out this transition numerous times the day before? I ran down the wrong aisle and wondered why I didn’t see any pink! I began scanning other aisles. How did I get into the aisle that I was in? Lost bike in transition = STRIKE 4.  More time wasted. I found my bike, still had to take off my wetsuit and put on my helmet, glasses and bike shoes. Once situated, I took my bike off the rack and went to run out of transition but now I heard a rattle coming from my bike. I look down and realized that my chain had jumped. SERIOUSLY? And how did that happen? STRIKE! I stopped in the middle of the runway, put it back on and once again tried to hustle out. I knew this transition was already going to be a long one considering the longer run and well my loss of direction! Now a mechanical! I get stopped behind three guys leisurely walking their bikes out of transition. And I mean leisurely walking. A snail’s pace. I couldn’t run around them because the exit was narrow. STRIKE. (I have stopped counting at this point)

BIKE: I hustle up to the mount line, finally on and all I wanted to do was to pound out this 25 mile ride! The bike starts out with a short straight stretch along the Hudson and then athletes make a sharp right hand, uphill turn followed by a sharp left turn at the top. In the midst of trying to pick up speed and making all these sharp turns I hit a pothole and my water bottle flew out. EVEN BIGGER STRIKE. I figured I would be fine with only carrying one bottle of Gatorade for this ride. It was only 25 miles. Well, I now had to do 25 miles with zero hydration. Panicked. Agitated.  Frustrated. I tried to calm myself down. Eh, 25 miles without hydration will be okay. It’s not like it’s a half ironman or anything. I didn’t feel so bad when I proceeded through the course and saw many water bottles on the ground. I knew I wasn’t the only one.

I rode the left hand side of the lane majority of the course. I passed a lot of people. But at the same time I found myself staring at the road the entire ride. The course was a main highway in the city, so that meant that there were potholes, cracks, craters, you name it, everywhere. I saw lots of athletes on the side of the road with flats. I thought, “Just what I need to seal the deal on the day, a flat!” So I ended up playing it safe. The heat started to take its toll on me. Leg cramps from dehydration arose around mile twelve. My right hamstring and right calf felt like they were going to snap! I took more nutrition than normal thinking it would help alleviate the issue. Nope. I had nothing to wash down the gels; the taste and stickiness sat in my mouth and was just nasty. I remember thinking on a few occasions during the bike, “Why am I doing this today?” I kept looking down at my bike comp and seeing my mph average and my overall bike time. I couldn’t help but shake my head in disgust. My average was nowhere near what I was capable of.

T2: I ran my bike into transition and my legs felt wobbly and my body felt woozy. But at least I was able to find my rack without incident. I threw on my run gear and headed out onto the 10k course.

RUN: Directly outside of T2 was a table with water and Gatorade. I grabbed water, poured it on my head, grabbed more water, poured it on my head and then grabbed Gatorade and chugged it. This was the first time I had any hydration in over an hour and a half! (Swim and bike compbined) After the table, there was a sharp right hand turn and an uphill. Wow. Talk about shuffling up that sucker! But I knew once I got up that hill it was on to 72^nd street and into Central Park! 72^nd street is closed to traffic for this event. There is so much energy at the point. There were spectators crowding around the police barricades, cowbells ringing, posters/signs everywhere, police officers standing at the intersection cheering, and not to mention the high NYC buildings surrounding you. I had a huge adrenaline rush running down the center of this street.

Mile one was complete and just as quick the rush wore off when I entered the park. Legs cramps resurfaced. The run now became a matter of surviving and I knew I faced a lot of hills in Central Park, including Harlem Hill.

Now let’s talk about Central Park. Who wouldn’t want to run there? Well, on this day and at this particular event, CP is not closed to the public. So there were you’re everyday walkers, runners, cyclists, dog walkers, rollerbladers, stroller pushers, etc. etc. etc. And here is the kicker. These people were not moving for racers, the racers were moving for them! It was up to the athletes to maneuver around them. I can’t even begin to count how many times people ran out in front of me as I was running. So, I had 6.2 miles to complete, after a swim and bike, in heat and humidity, in a park loaded with hills, dehydrated, cramping and let’s add on moving around Central Park’s finest. What a cluster.

“SURVIVE.” I found myself repeating this many times during the run. Luckily they had aid stations every mile. Already depleted, I knew I had to grab everything I could at each station. Water. Gatorade. Ice. I took the ice and put it in my sports bra until it melted into chunks. I took two chunks and held one in each hand. I swear I feel better running when I am holding onto something. Weird, I know. At this point my feet and shoes were soaked with water and sweat. I had blisters forming, and definitely more than one! Must keep moving forward! Hills, cramps, blisters = not a good time.

FINISH: I made a right hand turn into the finishing chute and I was really not excited to finish. I can honestly say that I have never been at that point in any race before. Not excited to finish? Not excited to hear your name announced? Not excited to receive the finisher medal? I was not excited in the least bit! I didn’t feel accomplished in any way. I had high hopes for this race/event and was thoroughly disappointed. I knew that on a good day I would be able to PR on this course, especially with a swim as fast as this one. But those cards did not fall into play. I was nowhere near a PR, in fact I was close to fifteen minutes off my last Olympic distance time. I did not rank as high as I knew I was capable of either.

After having time to digest this entire disaster of a race, I have realized that not only do triathletes need to be physically tough, but mentally tough as well. On this day I was neither. I mentally broke down and because of that I physically broke down as well. It is hard to race when so many negatives arise. It was hard for me to keep things intact mentally. However, I have never had a truly “bad” race. I guess it was my time to get a bad one under my belt!

As I write this, I can’t even remember the course scenery. All I can remember are the negatives. This is one race that I will not do again, but I am happy to have crossed it off my bucket list. Unless you are a professional or elite athlete competing in this race, it is not for competitive age groupers. The course is crowded in all three legs, and is built around first timers. It certainly was not the race that I had hoped/looked forward to.

NYC Triathlon. Swept under the rug. Lessons learned. Move on. Keep smiling.

	Ideal		Acceptable		NYC TRI '13
Swim	0:16:32	1:00/100 yds	0:17:00	1:02/100 yds	16:31	:59/100 yds
T1	0:04:20		0:04:30		6:18
Bike	1:10:00	21.0 mph	1:14:00	20 mph	1:21:11	18.4/mph
T2	0:01:15		0:01:25		1:30
Run	0:52:30	8:27/mile	0:54:30	8:47/mile	0:59:58	9:40/mile
Total	2:24:37		2:31:25		02:45.30

Syracuse 70.3, June 23rd, 2013

	Ideal		Acceptable		2012 Pocono 70.3
Swim	0:28:15	1:20/100 yds	0:30:00	1:25/100 yds	0:31:10	1:36/100 yds
T1	0:04:00		0:04:30		0:04:40
Bike	3:06:30	18.0 mph	3:10:30	17.7 mph	3:05:56	18.07 mph
T2	0:02:15		0:02:45		0:02:54
Run	2:20:00	10:41/mile	2:25:00	11:04/mile	2:26:30	11:10/mile
Total	6:01:00		6:12:45		6:11:10

I was so incredibly nervous for this race. A month out I was questioning whether or not to do it because of the marathon injury I battled with for four months! I even had some training partners suggest I pick a race later in the year. But those of you who know me, know I don’t back down without a fight. So I knew going into this race that my swim and bike were where they needed to be, the worry, as it always is, was the run. A week before the race, a training bud of mine dragged me out for nine miles and I completed them. It certainly gave me a little more confidence. However nine miles compared to 13.1 miles after a 56 mile bike is a different story, but I stayed positive.

I was privileged to have my number one fan along for my journey to Syracuse, my Dad! We drove up the day before and went directly to the race site. I instantly fell in love with the venue. The only other 70.3 I did was 70.3 Pocono Mountains in September 2012. This race was so much bigger, had a lot of vendors, food, and lots of athletes! After picking up my packet and visiting the Official Ironman store ( I spent too much money!) I went down to transition to figure out where my bike would be. Then I ventured down to the lake to scope out the swim. The first thing I noticed was the long run from the swim exit to the swim in. This was the longest T1 I have had to map out. I thought lucky for me my bike was right there from the swim in. The only downside was I had a long run out of T1 and a long run into T2.

I made sure to attend the athlete meeting because a very respectable triathlete that I know who did this race last year said that there would be a no passing zone within the last two miles of the bike course. He advised me to be aware of that and to make sure when I’m on the course to get ahead of the slower cyclists. I guess he had to learn the hard way the year before and was held back on the final stretch. During the athlete meeting the race director announced that this year they did away with the no passing zone but just to be careful because there will also be runners on the course too.

After the meeting my dad and I drove the bike course. Another great piece of advice I received and will pass along to other triathletes. Drive the bike course! Know where the turns, hills, declines, etc. etc. are. I could not believe the beauty that this course had to offer. I was in awe. I took mental note of the hills, I counted four with at least two of them requiring me to get out of the saddle. I was excited to get the show on the road after driving the course! I decided to ignore the run course entirely, I didn’t want to totally psych myself out for that! We drove to the hotel, got dinner and settled in for the night.

Race morning: I underestimated the morning traffic for this race. No idea why but it was never a thought that crossed my mind. I think I waited at least thirty minutes in traffic that morning. I rushed to transition to set up my gear with a little over fifteen minutes before transition closed. I headed down to the swim start just in time for the horn to sound for pro start. I put on my wetsuit, swim cap and goggles and jumped into the lake for a warmup swim.

The swim: 1.2 miles. Wading start. I made sure to line up in the middle of the pack and in the front. The horn sounded and off we went. I always start off quicker to get a comfortable spot in the water. At first it’s all a big herd, people kicking and splashing all over the place. I’m pretty sure I caught a few hands to the face. At one point I had lake weeds wrapped around my neck. I was a bit freaked out by that. Yes, even those swimmers who are confident and comfortable in the water get a little panicked at times! I was able to get into a comfortable position and settled into my pace. My goggles fogged up slightly but not like they normally do. Next thing you know, a lifeguard on one of the kayaks yelled at me to stay on course! I stop, pick up my head and look. I was swimming way wide and off course! I sprinted back towards the buoys and tried my hardest to stay as close to the buoys as possible. I made a right hand turn onto the next straight stretch of the course and kept plugging away. Swimming off course round two! I was thinking what the heck is going on? I NEVER swim off course. I knew at that point I needed to truly get my head in the game. I made the right hand turn for home and increased my arm turnover and kick a little. I didn’t want to blow out my legs on the swim. Being one of the stronger swimmers, I always seem to catch the slower swimmers (from earlier waves) approaching the finish. So the trampling and kicking and splashing seems to come back the closer I get to a swim finish. I remember jabbing someone point blank in the neck. Sorry! But what goes around comes around. I got kicked hard in the quad. OUCH!

I put my head down and kept my arm turnover up and swam as far as I could up to the shore, dug my hands into the lake bottom, stood up and ran out of the water. I remember thinking, wow that swim went fast. I looked down at my watch, not the greatest swim time, would have been faster if I hadn’t swam off course twice! Oh well, sweep it under the rug and keep on!

T1: The longer transition run didn’t bother me when I was actually doing it. I was surprised to see how many athletes were on the ground or standing to the sides and getting assistance in taking off their wetsuit! That was a first. I remember thinking, you are doing at half ironman and can’t get your own wetsuit off? I ran into the transition area, found my bike, got my gear on quickly and made my way towards the bike out. The run to the bike out was a little ticky because there were athletes in the aisles and on the ground, trying to put on their gear. It was an obstacle course with a bike!

The bike: As I stated earlier, I drove the bike course the night before so I knew what to expect. The first twelve miles of this course were all uphill. The best way to describe it is, a climb, followed by a semi-flat stetch, leading to another climb. Kind of like a shelf. I remember looking down at my average mph and it was SLOW! I was thinking oh no, there is no way I am going to do well on this course. But after those first twelve miles, the course had some great decents and flats. I put my legs to the test and pounded it out. It was hot and there were some crazy head and crosswinds. I felt like the wind was in my face the entire time. I knew that with as hard as I was pushing it, I had to make sure to take nutrition every 30-45 minutes and to hydrate! I slowed down slightly at every aid station and grabbed a water bottle. Half of the bottle was dumped on my head, chest, arms and legs and the other half I drank. I must repeat that the scenery on this course was awesome! At one point you are cycling parallel to a lake. Breathtaking. I was lucky enough to get a great shot of it!

I felt great the entire course and brought it home the last 10 miles for a better mph average than I had anticipated, given all the climbing in the beginning. On a side note, I should have kept count of how many MEN on the course complimented me on my color scheme. I just responded with “thanks! If you’re going to do it, do it in style!” And I have one more little bit of advice for dudes , do not wear a white tri suit. I know it’s supposed to aid in heat management. However, when you are soaked from sweat and biking in the aero position ahead of me, your suit is going to be see through. Yes, I saw a crack!

T2: The run in from the bike was an obstacle course as well. Some athletes just seemed to be in another world standing in the middle of the aisle. I remember yelling at one as I ran in. A female athlete who was behind me and about to head out onto the run was laughing and said how unbelievable it was that people were unaware of their surroundings. I racked my bike, threw on my running gear and out onto the run I went. Another decent T time for me.

The run: I had to mentally push myself through this course. I knew ahead of time that a.) it was a hilly one and b.) there were two steep hills that I would run twice. This run was a two looper. Great! I told myself to think of the course in terms of 5k’s. I would run four 5k’s and a little extra. Well, I didn’t even start my watch on the run and I’m glad I didn’t because the first two miles my legs felt horrible and it felt like forever. I remember thinking this is going to be a long day. The heat had started to take it’s toll. I passed a Pro female who was walking! I’ve never seen that before. The pain on her face said it all. I kept reminding myself, “one foot in front of the other, just keep moving forward.” Since I didn’t take note of the run course the day before I had no idea where to expect the first steep hill. I had a slight idea but I kept waiting for it. I passed the first aid station and went right down the line of volunteers and grabbed everything. Water, pour over head. Water, pour over head again. Ironman Perform, drink. Water, pour over head. Ice, dumped into sports bra and pants. Sponges, two in bra straps, two in hands. Keep on keepin’ on!!

Shortly after I was staring the first steepy dead on. I started to run up it and next thing I knew my heart rate was through the roof. I thought my heart was going to bounce right out of my chest! I decided at the point I had to walk the hill. I was walking the hill with pretty much every other athlete out there on the course. That pretty much became my routine the entire run course. 1.) Grab everything at every aid station. 2.) Walk every hill. 3.) One foot in front of the other. 4.) Keep moving!

Since it was a two loop course I was able to pass my Dad twice on the run course and a few other spectators that I knew. It was very uplifting! But I’m sure I made a lot of people laugh when I passed them. I was juggling a wad of ice in my bra and my pants, sponges in my straps and in my hands. A total overheated mess! I knew that in order to complete this run I had to stay as cool as possible. I had to just survive! Honestly, it was something about holding those cold sponges in my hands that seemed to get me through. Another great thing about this course was that there were spectators on course with water hoses! I ran through every one to cool off.

I have never heard so many people suffering on a run course. The grunts, screams, painful facial expressions, the amount of walking, it all truly told the story. I have also never heard so many people farting. The amount of gels taken in and the scorching heat I’m sure did not help. I couldn’t help but laugh everytime I heard the toots! I’m laughing now just thinking about it.

My run was not fast by any means, however I took the turn for home like I was an Olympic sprinter! I looked up at the clock as I passed under the finish line and realized that the clock read the overall race time. I started twenty-five minutes after the pro field. If my calculations were correct, I thought I had just PR’d on this course. And in fact I did. I struggled every step of the way on the run yet still managed to struggle my way to a PR. I thought how was that possible? This course was way more difficult that Pocono 70.3 and way hotter!

 I have just recently finished reading Chrissie Wellington’s book, who by the way is one of my triathlon idols. She reads the poem “IF” every race morning. There are a few verses of that poem that sums up my day in Syracuse completely.

“If you can keep your head when all about you  are losing their…   If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you…

                                         If you can wait and not be tired by waiting…

    Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it”  - Rudyard Kipling

	Ideal		Acceptable		2013 Syracuse 70.3
Swim	0:28:15	1:20/100 yds	0:30:00	1:25/100 yds	0:32:48	1:33/100 yds
T1	0:04:00		0:04:30		0:03:37
Bike	3:06:30	18.0 mph	3:10:30	17.7 mph	3:02:52	18.37 mph
T2	0:02:15		0:02:45		0:01:40
Run	2:20:00	10:41/mile	2:25:00	11:04/mile	2:25:23	11:05/mile
Total	6:01:00		6:12:45		6:06:20

 

Pocono 70.3, September 30, 2012

Better late than never!! Here's how my first 70.3 went...

This was my first 70.3! I chose this race because it was in my hometown and my family/friends would be able to watch and cheer me on at different parts of the course. The bike course was practically in my backyard!

Of course I was extremely nervous leading up to this race. I guess it was the fear of the unknown. This is a big distance to accomplish. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. I wasn’t so worried about the swim/bike portion, but I dreaded having to run a half marathon afterwards. Heck, a half marathon is difficult to run by itself, not to mention following a 56 mile bike ride!

Saturday morning I went to packet pickup and then ventured to T1 to drop of my bike and set up that transition. I took some time to walk through transition to familiarize myself with the swim exit, and bike out. I took a stroll down to the water’s edge and checked out the buoys, went over the swim course a few times and then walked from the swim exit into transition and to where my bike was. I wanted to make sure I was very aware of where everything was located and what path I needed to take. Once I felt okay with T1 and it’s set up, I jumped back in my car and made my way to T2.

T2 was located at my alma mater, Stroudsburg High School! I set up my bike-run transition, took note of the bike in and run out sections and drove home for a pasta dinner!

4:30am wake up. I gathered my last minute items, which wasn’t much because everything was already in transition. I went to the shuttle pick up and rode the shuttle to the start. The ride seemed like forever! It must have been my nerves. I got to the swim start and went immediately into transition to check out my bike and other belongings. I had a hard time trusting that everything would be exactly the way I left it the day before. I checked my bike computer, my brakes, my tires, etc. etc. I probably even double checked everything. It was a very cold morning and I knew it was going to be a cold race. I put on my calf sleeves (hot pink of course!) and a pair of arm warmers for the bike. I put my wetsuit on halfway, took my transition bag to the bus and ventured to the swim start.

The swim: You did one clockwise loop around the lap. The buoys were kept to your right. This was not my best swim. My goggles kept fogging, I had to stop and clear them out. I could barely see in front of me and it just seemed like forever. But, then again, it was a 1.2 mile swim! I had a goal time in mind, but that time was based on all of my eggs falling right into the basket. Not on this swim. Swim time: 31:10, 1:36/100 yards.

The bike: I was fairly confident about this bike course. I trained on this course numerous times leading up to race day. I knew every turn and every hill. What I wasn’t prepared for was the weather. I normally do very well in cooler temps therefore I refuse to wear added layers. I had on my tri suit, calf sleeves and arm warmers. I was sure I would be fine. Well, the bike course starts out with a 4 mile decline where I rocked over 30 mph. By the time I got to the bottom, I was an ice cube. My hair may have actually been slightly frozen. The next good chunk of mileage was all flat. I found myself trying to bike harder to get my blood flowing and to hopefully warm up. Wrong again. I don’t remember exactly at what point I started to feel my fingers again, but I remember it was a good chunk into the ride. This course had probably two decent sized hills, but it was mostly a bunch of rollers. About ten miles from T2 at the top of a decent roller, stood my assistant swim coach from college. Now, he’s not just any assistant swim coach. He was probably the toughest swim coach I have ever had. He is both mentally and physically tough. He always knew how to keep me going. He always used to tell me, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going. So… what are YOU going to do??”  And then, shortly after seeing him, I was able to see my parents and sister on the course! It brought such a smile to my face. That long of a race it’s nice to see familiar/supportive faces. Coming into T2 the crowd support was amazing. The course crosses over Main street in Stroudsburg, and let’s just say it was packed! Spectators everywhere. Yet another smile on my face. But that smile quickly faded, after all, it was time to run! Bike time: 3:05:56, 18.07 mph.

The run: I took my hand held fuel bottle with a small bag filled with cliff shot vanilla gels. I exited T2 and set forth on a 13.1 mile run. I knew the run course but can’t say I was as familiar with it as I was the bike course. Around mile 2 I saw my parents on the course. I felt terrible. I thought to myself, “How am I going to get through this?” But I refused to walk. I didn’t care how slow I went, but I wouldn’t walk. “One foot in front of the other, keep moving forward. One step forward is one step closer to the finish.” I can’t tell you how many times I repeated that. Around mile 6 was a doozy of a hill. I felt like I was CRAWLING. But I knew that what goes up must come down. I looked forward to that downhill on the way back, it was an out and back course after all! I took water from every aid station and either drank it or dumped it on me. Yes at this point of the race I was hot. I don’t do well in heat either. Volunteers were also giving out coca cola, but to my luck when I asked for it they ran out. Go figure! I really don’t have much to say about the run other than it was the hardest part of my day. But I was able to suffer through it. Athletes made a left hand turn onto Main Street and looked the finish line dead on. At this point I was too exhausted to bring a smile to my face, but believe me when I say, inside I was smiling. This was such an accomplishment. I failed to mention that before the race I had a goal time in mind for the run. I wanted to run a 2:30 half marathon. I figured with all things considered, I would be happy with 2:30. Well to my surprise… Run time:  2:26:30.

 

Black Bear Sprint, May 19th, 2013

Black Bear Sprint, May 19^th, 2013

Well as most of you know I struggled with a running injury since the middle of February. I trained for the Rock and Roll DC Marathon all winter and ended up sidelined going into taper. Once the injury happened, I put all my energy into swimming and biking. A few weeks out of Black Bear, I managed to suffer through a few 2-3 mile runs. I was originally signed up for the Black Bear Olympic distance, but figured that with minimal run training, I would switch to the sprint distance. I knew a 5k was easier to gut out than a 10k, especially after the BB bike course! So I emailed the race director and switched to the sprint distance. I still didn’t have much confidence going into this race. After all, I didn’t have one single brick workout under my belt since Fall 2012!

The week before, I met a great friend and training partner for a brick workout at the race site. We did the sprint bike course and ran a 3 mile run after. I completed it. My confidence started to come back and of course I started to make goals of what I wanted to accomplish on race day. I knew that my swim and bike were strong so I came up with these goals and also created the chart provided below with the help of a good friend.

1.)    I wanted to be the first female out of the water.

2.)     I wanted to have a better bike time than I did the year before

3.)     I wanted to just survive the run.

 

4.)     I wanted to place first in my age group.

 

	Ideal		Acceptable		2012
Swim	0:09:10	1:07/100 yds	0:10:55	1:20/100 yds	0:09:12	1:07/100 yds
T1	0:01:25		0:01:45		0:01:25
Bike	1:03:30	17.0 mph	1:05:30	16.5 mph	1:05:24	16.5 mph
T2	0:00:51		0:01:00		0:00:51
Run	0:28:45	9:15/mile	0:29:30	9:30/mile	0:25:57	8:21/mile
Total	1:43:41		1:48:40		1:42:49

       As most of you know, a year ago I did the sprint and I missed winning my age group by 4 seconds. I was passed on the run with .1 to go. To anyone I spoke to the week leading up to the race and including race morning, I told them that was not going to happen again. I didn’t care what I had to do, I was coming back this year and winning my age group.

So, race morning came and I realized I never checked the weather. The drive up there was misty rain. I love getting to the race site early and getting a good spot on the bike rack. I hustled everything to transition and by the time I got there, everything was soaked! I remember the race announcer saying that by 7am the rain was expected to stop. Well it didn’t. I was able to chat with a lot of my triathlete friends in and around transition before I made my way back to the car to try to stay warm/dry.

I met up with my parents and sister before the swim start. I put on my wetsuit, gave my belongings to my family and headed towards the water. 60 degree water on race morning holds the record for my coldest swim yet. Even as a swimmer, I have to admit I was a little nervous as to how my body would react. This was probably the only time I have ever been happy to own a full wetsuit. I absolutely hate them and always feel like my arms are restricted and I was being choked, but with water temps that low I was happy. I slowly walked my way into the water and calmly inched my body further into it. I told myself I would use the swim out to the start buoys as my warm-up. Once I was wet up to my shoulders I got out and went to the start.

I swam out to the swim start feeling smooth and ready to rock. I positioned myself in the front next to a girl who I have competed against the past 2 years at this race. Those past 2 years she beat me out of the water both times. This year I looked at her and thought to myself, “that’s not happening this year!”

The gun went off and she took off! I managed to stay on her heels. We were the two lead swimmers. I know from the past 2 years that she starts off strong but eventually fades. I told myself to just relax, stay on her heels and blow by her at the end. We spent a lot of time passing men in the wave before us. I was still on her heels at the turn for home. As I made that turn, I kicked it into high gear. I put my head down, increased my arm speed, stronger pull, a strong kick and blew by her. I exited FIRST out of the water. Goal one, accomplished.

The first thing I heard coming out of the water was people cheering my name. Talk about adrenaline rush! Little did I know I had some great friends and family there cheering me on. I heard the race official radio “first female out of the water,” and then asked me my number and radioed that too. Once again the weather sucked. I tried to get my wet suit off as quick as possible, throw on my bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses. I didn’t care about drying myself off or putting on warmer clothes. I knew that if I was to succeed at winning my age group I had to be as quick as possible. I saw out of the corner of my eye the girl that I beat out of the water. Her bike was racked directly across from mine. I took my bike off the rack and out of transition I went.

I hustled up to the mount line. One of the volunteers cheered me on telling me that I was the lead female. I knew that it was time to take on some hills. I am very familiar with this bike course, I have done the race twice in the past and have biked the course in training quite a few times. I knew where “the hills” were and where the rollers were. But let me tell you,  it’s a very different feeling being one of the first out on the bike course. I was practically riding solo the entire time. I was passed a few times by guys on the course, but I found that I kept waiting for a female to pass me. I looked behind a few times to see if I could see any female approaching. Anytime I heard a chain shift or heavy breathing behind me, I waited to be passed by a female. It never happened. I did a lot of self-talk to relax, because I knew that I would need to relax if I wanted to bike quicker than I did the year before. I felt that I have gotten a lot stronger on the bike and was capable of doing so. But at the same time, I didn’t want to completely blow my legs out because I knew I had to attempt a run afterwards. The race announcer kept saying during warm ups to use caution on the course, to slow down, take turns easy, etc. I said the heck with that! I was on a mission.

At the first good climb on the course I rode side by side with a male age grouper, 30-34. He told me to keep pushing it, that I was the first female, to give it all I got, and that he would try to stay out of my way. We rallied back and forth throughout the course. He would get ahead of me and then I would catch up to him. We went back and forth for a good portion of the ride. But it was on the second climb that he said something that really hit home. I thought I was powering up the hill, when he came blowing by to my left. He looked at me and said, “I told you to push it! Let’s go! You’re in the lead! I have cancer and I’m beating you! How does that make you feel?” Wow. I felt a lot of respect for him and the sudden urge to really pick it up. I stayed close behind him the rest of the course. I believe that, thanks to him, I was able to beat my time from last year. Goal two, accomplished.

I have never led a race before. I have only been doing triathlons for 2 years now and never thought I would ever lead a race. But I am happy that I gave myself that opportunity. Leading a race is extremely mental. It’s like a mouse being chased by cats. I was constantly wondering who was behind me, how far back the second female was, etc. etc.

The run:

I will never forget the feeling of running out of transition and onto the run course while hearing the race announcer say, “And our first female is headed out onto the run course!” I got choked up!! Hold it together I kept telling myself. Just run.

Not even a quarter of a mile out onto the run I heard pounding footsteps and a female talking behind me. Those of you that know me and have followed my past race reports know that the run is my weakness. As terrible as it is to say, I was not surprised to be passed shortly out of the gate. Off she went and I kept shuffling along. And shortly after that another female passed me.

I had no idea that the run course changed until I approached a not so nice hill leading up to mile 1. I remember looking at it and thinking “GREAT!” I managed to grind my way up it and by that point my legs started to feel better. I just kept telling myself, “one foot in front of the other, just keep moving forward.” At the halfway point I was able to see that a fourth girl was behind me. I told myself not to panic, stay relaxed and keep the pace. About a quarter of a mile from the finish that fourth female passed me. I knew at the point that I would finish fourth overall. I kept my head up and finished strong. Here is the best part. Guess who was the first person ready to congratulate me at the finish line? It was the male age grouper that pushed me through the bike. I gave him a huge hug and thanked him for pushing me. Goal 3, “survive the run,” check!

 

I knew from where I finished the run that I won my age group. Goal 4, accomplished!

This race taught me a lot of things. Even on our worst days we are capable of so much. Did I feel 100%? No way. My knee still hurt. I considered not doing the race at all. The conditions were terrible. But I thought, you know what, if Chrissie Wellington can compete in and win Kona three weeks after a terrible bike crash, I can gut out a sprint triathlon!!! And that is exactly what I did. Even though my swim, T and run times were all slower than the year before, this race has proved one thing to me….

"Even when you think you are having the worst day, it could actually end up being your best. It is up to you how you choose to let it end.”

 

And on that note..

Keep on, keepin’ on!

	Ideal		Acceptable		2012		2013
Swim	0:09:10	1:07/100 yds	0:10:55	1:20/100 yds	0:09:12	1:07/100 yds	0:11:04	1:21/100 yds
T1	0:01:25		0:01:45		0:01:25		0:02:09
Bike	1:03:30	17.0 mph	1:05:30	16.5 mph	1:05:24	16.5 mph	01:03.5	16.9 mph
T2	0:00:51		0:01:00		0:00:51		0:01:50
Run	0:28:45	9:15/mile	0:29:30	9:30/mile	0:25:57	8:21/mile	0:29:21	9:28/mile
Total	1:43:41		1:48:40		1:42:49		01:48.2

 

What’s next??

Syracuse 70.3, June 23^rd, 2013