The Third of Three (Vineman)

It's taken me a while to get to this blog post.  Between travel and an injured shoulder, I haven't had the chance to sit at the computer for any length of time.

On July 13, Randy and I competed in our third 70.3 triathlon in five weeks.  To read about Eagleman, click here.  To read about Syracuse, click here.

This one, Vineman, was in Sonoma County, California.  We flew out to stay with Randy's brother, Rod, in Walnut Creek for a few days before heading up.  While visiting, my brother-in-law invited us to join him in a ride call the Butterlap, which is unlike any ride we've ever done.  People of all ages and abilities on all kinds of bikes meet up at the Ferry Building to ride the streets of San Francisco.  It's probably only about 18 miles of riding, but it takes about two hours.  The group was large that night, and it stops at about four different places.  People bring along radios, six-packs of PBR, and other unmentionables.  It's a lot of fun and a great way to see the city.  There are only a few hills to climb and there is a "coaster race" down the last hill.  Basically, pedal until the top, then coast for over a mile and see who gets the farthest.  If you're in the Bay Area, check them out at www.butterlap.com.

 

Anyway, the next day we drove up to Guernville, where we rented a cute little house with Rod, his lovely girlfriend, Melissa, and her very fun and energetic daughter, Hannah.

The house was only a mile from the swim start.  The only thing we had to check in the day before was our run gear at T2.  The swim has a zillion waves because of the small area and we didn't start until 8:00 for Randy and 8:12 for me.  We rode down to the swim start/T1 at about 7:00 and got ourselves settled and ready.  Rod, Melissa, and Hannah came to cheer us on.

The swim is in the Russian River, which is very calm and very shallow.  It was pretty uneventful as far as triathlon swims go.  At the turnaround, my hands kept hitting the bottom, so I did a couple of dolphin dives to get moving quicker, which I find annoying since it breaks the rhythm.  There were a lot of people taking advantage of the fact that it was so shallow and they were stopping to rest or walk.  I generally swam around them.  My time was 34:56, which is a little on the slow side, but not a problem.

After tossing my wetsuit to Rod, I took off on the bike.  The bike course is beautiful, through the vineyards of Sonoma County.  The road surface left a bit to be desired, though.  I found it difficult to enjoy some of the downhills because of the potholes.  The big climb, Chalk Hill, at mile 45-ish wasn't as horrible as some would lead you to believe.  It wasn't an easy climb, but not kick-you-in-the-butt.  I was hoping to get under 3 hours for the bike again, but knew I'd be happy with anything within a few minutes of 3.  My time was 3:02:39.  Not the goal, but I wasn't disappointed.

After running my bike for what I think is at least a quarter mile from the dismount line to my T2 spot, I got ready to run.  I learned from my mistake at Eagleman and lathered on the sunscreen (SPF 100 this time - it came out as a sweater).  I had to run what seemed like another quarter mile to get out of T2 and onto the official run course.  About a half mile in, I realized I was going to be in trouble.  I had a side stitch, which I never have had while racing, and my right quadriceps was cramping.  I started to walk and stretch.  I got rid of the side stitch, but it wasn't until I got to an aid station that I could really help the cramp.  I put ice up into my shorts.  I don't know why, but it helped (probably psychosomatic).  I did the same at every aid station.

Unfortunately, the temperature by the time I started the run was approaching 90 and it was only climbing.  I decided to walk the uphills and run everything else.  Seemed like everyone else had the same plan.  The problem was that it was taking longer and longer to start running after cresting a hill.  I resigned myself to the fact that this was not going to be one of my better races and just concentrated on finishing.  It started to look like a death march out there.  Very few people were running and the volunteers at the aid stations were coming to us as we approached.  They were well-stocked and for that, we were all very grateful.  It was tough when we saw the ambulance go by, realizing that someone was probably in big trouble.  I managed to get to mile 11.5, with a lot of walking/running, when I decided to run the finish.  It was a slow run, but I managed it.  My run time was terrible (2:32:55), but I didn't really care.

I felt like crap after this one.  I knew I should eat, but I couldn't manage much.  Although, the watermelon tasted pretty good, especially when I added salt!

Needless to say, I did not get a spot to the 70.3 Worlds.  The first four people in my age group snatched them up, although most of the other age groups rolled quite far.  Randy just missed out, which was  bummer.

We got back to the house and Melissa had made us a big dinner, which was great...thank you, Melissa!!  They were great cheerleaders on a very hot day!  It was nice to have someone there, since we didn't know anyone else racing!

The next day, Randy, Rod, and I did a little wine tasting (of course) and even managed to get some ice cream.

We went home a few days later, despite some drama at the airport.  The race was tough, the trip was great and the company was even better.  Doing these three races so close together, at the end of the school year, and with some travel, was definitely exhausting.  I don't think we realized how tired we were until we got home.  But, it was totally worth it!

The Second of Three ('CUSE!)

Yesterday, I raced the 70.3 (half-ironman) in Syracuse, NY.  This was exactly two weeks after finishing the Eagleman 70.3 in Cambridge, MD, which you can read all about right here.

This was a completely different course than Eagleman and I was a little - okay, a lot - concerned about it.  Whereas Eagleman was flat as a pancake, Syracuse's bike course starts with about twelve miles of climbing and the run has a killer hill in the middle of the two-loop course.  Everyone kept talking about the hills.

At Eagleman, my goal was to go under 6 hours, but I missed it by 1 minute. I didn't have a time goal for this race, but I have realized that I tend to hold back on the bike.  I ride a half-IM like I ride a full, always going one gear easier than I know I can do all in an effort to save my legs for the run.  So, instead of a time goal for Syracuse, I decided to go all out in the bike, really push the climbs and keep it in a big gear that I can spin at 90+ RPM on the flats.  Since the run course sounded like it was going to be hellish anyway, I figured hammering the bike couldn't make it worse.

My swim wave started at 7:55.  The 1.2 mile swim is in the Jamesville Reservoir and was measured at 68 degrees on race morning, which meant wearing a wetsuit.  Randy's wave was starting 20 minutes after me and, as we are pretty close in the swim, we thought it would be fun to see if he can catch up to  me before the end of the bike.

The swim was relatively calm, but weedy.  For the first 300 yards or so, I kept pulling weeds off of me.  All was fine until I rounded the second turn.  At that point, I was running into a lot of people from the waves that started before me.  At one point, I got elbowed by someone swimming breaststroke, followed quickly by a backhand to my nose by someone swimming backstroke.  If you have to swim backstroke, you probably shouldn't be in a triathlon.

Anyway, I swam a 34:26, which was about 3 minutes faster than the non-wetsuit swim at Eagleman.  My first transition was slow, which only tells me that I really should spend some time practicing transitions.

I headed out on the bike and wasn't quite sure what to expect.  In the two weeks since Eagleman, I was not feeling strong on the bike.  Not that I was doing big, hard rides, but even on the easy stuff, I was feeling tired.  Luckily, that wasn't the case here.  I found myself spinning up the hills and pushing right over the top, passing many people along the way.  I felt great!  The biggest climbs were over at mile 12 and after that, the rest of the course is rolling.  I was able to push a big gear and I found myself passing more people than I usually do.  Yes, I got passed by others, but I was holding my own.

I started to realize around mile 30 that I could go under 3 hours for the bike.  I had clocked a 2:59:15 at Eagleman, which was the first time I'd gone under 3 hours.  At mile 54-ish in Syracuse, there is a no-pass zone.  Unfortunately, I ended up behind a guy who was going too slow for me and I missed my 3 hour mark by ten seconds.  Ugh!  In my heart of hearts, I know I would have been under 3, but I'll take the 3:00:10.  Hey, I just had the same bike split on a hilly course as I had on a flat course!  Apparently, I like hills.  Oh, and Randy caught me at mile 50.  He's fast!

As I came into T2, I checked out the clock.  I'd been racing for 3 hours, and 40 minutes (give or take with transitions).  That's when it dawned on me that maybe I could break the 6 hour mark for the race.  That has been something I've wanted to do for so long, but I could never get it together on any given day.  Unfortunately, I had to run as fast as I ran (which isn't fast) at Eagleman (did I mention it was flat there? and hilly here?).  So, I slugged it out.   The run course, quite frankly, sucks.  It's a two-loop out-and-back course.  About a quarter of a mile is run on a grassy hillside - terrible for anyone with knee or ankle problems, which includes every runner I know.  I either jogged or walked it.  I was surprised by how good my legs were feeling, so I settled into a pace that was manageable.  Then I saw the hill.  It's not pretty.  I admit it - I walked.  When I got to the top, I had to make a right hand turn, but it was much flatter there, so I started to run again.  Then I saw the other hill.  Crap, that thing was steep!  I decided to power walk it.  I think I made the right decision because I was walking past people who were "running."  The top of the hill is the turnaround, which means it's time to run downhill.  That sounds great until you start doing it.  My quads were not happy, but I was able to run.  I finished my first loop in a little over an hour.  I could still make it under 6 if I kept the same pace.  My plan for the second loop was to basically repeat what I did in the first loop.  Power walk up the hills, walk through the aid stations quickly, and run everything else.  The downhills totally sucked, but I managed to run that course over 6 minutes faster than Eagleman for a time of 2:09:51.

Woohoo!!!  Not only did I finally break the 6-hour mark, I managed to clock a 5:52:43!!!!  How could I possibly have PR'd on that course?  Craziness!

As I crossed the finish line, I got my medal and hat and then I heard the announcer call the name of a friend of mine.  She was about 30 seconds behind me.  Her goal?  To go under 6 for the first time too.  Yay!

We stayed for the 70.3 Worlds roll-down, but there were no spots to be rolled to us.  Everyone in the northeast is trying to qualify, so it's tough.  I'm not disappointed though.  That race exceeded my expectations and I am so happy to have finally put together all the parts of a half to reach my ultimate goal.

I'm racing another 70.3 in three weeks.  How these past two races will affect the third remains to be seen.  I think I got a lot of confidence in Syracuse, so I'm looking forward to it.

The First of Three (Eagleman)

On Sunday, I raced the Eagleman 70.3 in Cambridge, Maryland.  It is the first of three 70.3's that I'm racing this year.  All are within 5 weeks of one another and the goal (hope?) is to get a spot at the 70.3 World Championship.  The Eagleman is a very popular race.  The athletes are experienced and fast!

I was looking forward to this race because it is flat and I've never done a flat triathlon (at any distance).  When we arrived in the morning, it was announced that the water temperature was 76.5 degrees, making it a non-wetsuit race.  Great!  I bought a new wetsuit this year, but I'm always happy to not wear one.  I hate wetsuits.  I did, however, get to wear my swim skin, which probably does nothing for speed but makes me at least look like I'm fast.

Once we got ourselves settled in to transition, I had to wait over an hour from the pro start to my own start at 8:00.  Randy and Matt had already taken off on their swims (as did everyone else I knew at the race), so I patiently waited for my swim in the Choptank River.  The water temperature was great and I settled in pretty quickly.  The course was easy to see, but the water was murky.  I would hit someone in the legs without actually seeing them.  But it was a relatively calm swim and I started passing people in my own age group, then people in the waves before me.  I was more than halfway through the course when I started seeing the green caps coming up behind me.  They were flying by!  I jumped onto the feet of one of them to draft my way around two ladies who were in my way.  That was fun!

I exited the water with a 37-minute swim, which is pretty typical for me in a non-wetsuit race.  T1 was uneventful.  I loaded up the sunscreen and headed out for my flat bike ride.

About 10 miles into the ride, I realized my mistake.  I'd forgotten my electrolyte tablets.  And it was hot and sunny.  I haven't been in hot, sunny weather yet this season, so I wasn't ready.  I tried to compensate by drinking a lot of Gatorade, but I started to feel the cramps around mile 30.  My quads and my feet (?).  Because of the flat course, you are in the same position the whole time and utilizing the same muscles the whole time.  I had to make a conscious effort to stand or sit up, but it didn't help.  I managed to go under 3 hours for my ride, which I was happy about, but I was concerned that the cramps were going to affect my run.

I hopped off the bike and was going to run to my transition area when I felt the cramps.  So, I walked the bike in.  I took some time to get my compression socks on, spray on some more sunscreen, and hit the porta-loo, then headed out on the run.  Oddly, the cramps were gone.  It took a good mile to settle into a rhythm, but I managed to move along.  It was hot and sunny.  I knew I was cutting it close to going under 6 hours, but I also knew that I had to take advantage of the aid stations if I was going to survive the heat.  Since the run was an out-and-back, the aid stations serviced both directions and were pretty cramped.  I walked through each one, downing water and Gatorade and cola, grabbing a Gu or potato chips (for the salt), and using the cups of ice to cool off (in my hat, in the legs of my shorts, in my jersey pockets).  I knew it was slowing me down to do all of this, but I knew that if I tried to blow through the aid stations I would get in trouble later on.  Besides, they were so crammed with people and garbage that I'm not sure I would have been able to run through them!  I manage to maintain a little over a 10-minute pace, which means I was doing relatively well while I was actually running.  Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough to get under 6 hours.  I ended up with a time of 6:01.  I'm a little disappointed, but I know that I did the best I could under the conditions.

After the race, we attended the roll-down for the 70.3 World Championships in Mont Tremblant.  Since I'm not placing in the top two in my age group, the roll-down is my only chance for a spot.  When they got to my age group, the spot just kept rolling down until they asked if there was anyone who wanted it.  Three of us jumped up.  One of the other two was faster than me.  Bummer.  However, I had spent some time talking to this woman earlier and she was super excited, so although I'm bummed I didn't get the spot, I'm glad she was so happy!

All in all, it was a pretty good race.  I ended up with a pretty bad sunburn, despite the sunscreen (I may opt for SPF 50 in the future!).  Afterwards, Randy and I went out for some Maryland crabs, which I've never had before.  They were covered with Old Bay seasoning - nice and salty after a sweaty race!  Yum!

I spent this week on recovery and will get myself ready for Syracuse 70.3 next weekend!