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September 10, 2006
I'm a Duathlete Too
Fun weekend. Very fun weekend. I just can't even believe I have to go to work tomorrow again already though. Can't think of that now. Much work left to be done.
ANYWAY - on Saturday morning we left for The Great Lake Escape, a triathlon in Marblehead, OH. Our trip was wrought with difficulty. Nothing too horrible, just stuff like getting lost (about 5 times), almost losing the bikes off the roof of the car (about 3 times), etc... stuff that in the end all worked out and will now make for very good stories. It was so fun to travel to a race with a group of teammates again. I felt like I was in college (or perhaps high school given our level of maturity). Teammates = Fun.
We finally got to the race site around 3 pm on Saturday, checked in and we all went for a easy 12 mile ride on the bike course. It was soooooo windy by the lake (Lake Erie) and as we were checking in and talking with the race director, the first talk of cancelling the swim the next morning started to arise. Of course I've heard of this happening but I've had nothing but perfect weather for all my races this season so it didn't really occur to me that I might eventually have to deal with bad weather. Yuck.
We got some dinner, showered, got ready for the next morning, watched football, etc... and before I knew it it was 4 am this morning. Triathlon wake up calls can be rough.
When we got to the race site again this morning it was windy but the lake really didn't look that bad. I was excited that we would get to swim afterall. It was pitch dark and so it was pretty funny to watch people try to set up their transition areas in the dark. Now I know why they don't have tris much later than September in most areas... :)
Anyway, around 6 am they made the announcement that the swim was indeed cancelled. The ferry service that takes us out into the lake and the coast guard (who was apparently going to be making sure nobody drowned) both vetoed the swim. MAJOR bummer. I was really disappointed. I mean I know they were only doing it for everyone's safety but I was really looking forward to the swim. It's still my weakest event but I like it and I still do make up time on people in the swim.
The swim was changed to a 5K run instead so our race was a 5K run, 40K bike, 10K run. Yuck. You would think a runner such as myself would be pumped about such things but I was not feeling good about it. Oh well - suck it up and lose the attitude I told myself!
Now let me tell you a little about the run course too because that plays into things. It was ON THE BEACH - meaning there was quite a bit of running in the sand. For the most part you could run on harder, packed sand but there were definitely areas were you were running through loose, very soft, very calf-hurting sand. Rough. If it wasn't on the sand it was on single track trails. A very neat course but not necessarily a fast course. Add some wind and that's why I would have rather just swam. On the bright side of things it was a cool morning and the run course was flat so that would help on the run.
So we started the run in kind of a time trial manner which involved me basically starting last because I had one of the last numbers. In other words, I had a lot of people to catch! I had a really hard time passing people though because running on the beach was tight and once you got on the trails it was very hard to pass. After the race was over I decided that was a good thing because it kept me from running that first 5K too hard and totally being wiped out for the 10K at the end. Regardless, first 5K split - 20:42. T1 time - :49. It's a lot faster to get on the bike when you're not trying to rip your wetsuit off too.
The bike was great. It was a flat, very fast course but also VERY windy in places. The tailwind was great - I was going 28 MPH and barely pedaling but the headwind was nasty. In certain places I was getting such a strong crosswind I felt like I was going to topple over on my bike. I had to fight to keep upright. It's time like those that you wish you weighed a little more. :) Regardless, I passed all the women ahead of me on the bike and came into the transition as the 1st woman, but with another woman (who I actually know pretty well!) right on my tail. Bike time - 1:05:52 (22.6 MPH average). T2 - :49 again. I'm getting good at getting my feet out of my shoes while on the bike and taking off from there.
Next up, the 10K. I gotta tell you. I was feeling good. I knew the woman right behind me was probably a weaker runner than I am but I also knew that she is extremely tough so I was trying to put some distance between us right off the bat. I think it may have worked. I pushed hard for the first 5K and then started to back off just a tad and then we started to run through very loose sand and all I wanted to do was keep moving foward instead of backward! I felt like I was going so slow (and indeed probably was!) but we finally got out to a fast fire-road type trail and to the finish. I held off 2nd place and was very excited to (A) win my 3rd race, (B) get in under 2:10 (final time - 2:09:55) and (C) be done. Yes, very glad to be done.
My 10K split was 41:45. I couldn't believe it! 6:45 pace for me on all those trails and in the sand is quite pleasing. The cooler weather and flat course helped of course but still, I was pretty happy. I was also very happy that our Trizilla team did so well - I won, we had the individual men's winner, 3rd woman overall, 1st clydesdale male, and winner of the men 25-29 age group. Great team performance and very exciting to see everyone do so well.
So now we are home and my body is protesting. I knew running in the sand would make me sore but WOW - my calves and hip flexors are screaming. I'm afraid to wake up tomorrow morning. Could be ugly. But it's well worth it. After quite a few years of trying to train hard and being disappointed with injuries it's very rewarding to have some hard work pay off in races and for things to click. Quite a blessing for sure.
Week's summary
Monday - off
Tuesday - 3500 meter swim w/4x(300,200,100) in am, 33 mile ride w/10 mi crit in pm, 2x25 pushups and 2x100 crunchers
Wednesday - bike/run interval workout (5x800 m run, 5x5 min hard bike) - 2.5 mi running, 22 mile riding, core/feet exercises
Thursday - 3200 yd swim (shorter, faster stuff), 2x25 pushups and 2x100 crunchers
Friday - 1600 yd swim w/6x50 in am, 30 min easy run in pm
Saturday - 12 mile easy ride
Sunday - Great Lake Escape 5K run/40K bike/10K run
Monday - off (I hope!)
Posted by beth at September 10, 2006 7:52 PM
Comments
Congrats on a successful race! Especially with the last-minute change in the race's layout! Rest and recover well!
Posted by: Meghan at September 10, 2006 8:57 PM
Congratulations Beth! Sound like a fun time. I also miss those van rides with my teammates...
Posted by: Caitlin at September 10, 2006 10:00 PM
hi! YAY! yeah, even though i am a "runner" i was weirded out for some reason that they were going to change my last race to a du. BUT, obviously you pulled it together very nicely! again, YAY!
Posted by: Audrey at September 10, 2006 11:28 PM
Thanks for stopping by my blog. You Trizilla racers were smokin'. I had no chance to even get close to you. My calves and hips were toast by the end of the race and my hips are a little sore this morning, but otherwise I'm happy with how things turned out.
Love your blog title. I like that saying from the book.
Posted by: Eric at September 11, 2006 7:42 AM
WOW... great job... bummer about the swim... hope your calves and hip flexors recover
Posted by: Kranky C Dale at September 11, 2006 10:15 AM
go Beth!... GO!!!
what do you know:
you swim to stop running,
but surprises keep coming,
go Beth!... GO!!!
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at September 11, 2006 11:27 AM
Go Beth Go!!!!
What an awesome race. You are a great triathlete, and you always write really fun race reports!!
Posted by: barb at September 11, 2006 11:40 AM