Raleigh 70.3 - Race Report (EPIC)

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says "I'm possible"! -- Audrey Hepburn

Bottom line - I didn't meet my BIG goal of sub-7:00, I'm not sure I finished with a smile (pictures later), but I finished and after thinking about it, I'm pretty happy.  Also, I know what I need to work on for IMLOU - and that's what matters, right?  And I'm on top of the world, 'ay!

I've tried to cut these corners, try to take the easy way out, I kept on falling short of something

I coulda gave up then but then again I couldn't have 'cause I've traveled all this way for something

I take it in but don't look down

'Cause I'm on top of the world, 'ay, I'm on top of the world, 'ay
Waiting on this for a while now, Paying my dues to the dirt
I've been waiting to smile, 'ay, been holding it in for a while, 'ay
Take you with me if I can, Been dreaming of this since a child, I'm on top of the world.

I figured I'd put this song in your head, because I was totally singing it to myself during the race on Sunday.  Sometimes because I believed it, sometimes because I was willing it true...y'know - it was that kind of day.

Next bottom line:  I didn't beat my time from Patriot's last fall, but I improved on the swim (yeah me) and the bike (which was 2 miles shorter but much more challenging).  I fell apart on the run -- I think because I gave too much on the bike and because I didn't follow my nutrition plan.  Yes, I'm a dumb ass.

Here's a comparison of the races by the numbers:

LEG	2013 Patriots		2014 Raleigh
Swim	53:36		50:09
T1	6:08		5:13
Bike	3:36:54		3:35:11
T2	2:24		3:52
Run	2:42:38		2:51:04
TOTAL	7:21:37		7:25:29

On to the gory details...

Pre-race details:
We drove down to Raleigh on Friday night because there was an "Iron Kids" race on Saturday morning before the expo opened.  Here's a picture of the girls after the race with their medals:

It was supposed to be a mile race, but given their times, there's no way it was that distance.  That being said, my oldest KILLED it - she was the first girl in, laying on the heat at the very end to pass another girl.  She was also only behind 4 or so boys.  She's amazing...too bad she doesn't like racing.  The little one did great too - she could have run a shorter race, but she ran the longer one and did just fine.  So proud of my girls.

After the race, we went to the expo.  Since it had just opened and every other parent was headed that way too, I waited in line forever, but once I got into the process, check in went very smoothly.  I will say, top-to-bottom, WTC is a class act.  I understand why people shell out the big bucks for their races - more on the awesomeness as I go on.  Then I headed over to the athlete briefing - very thorough, concise, clear...I was feeling good.  Also, because I'm a bit sappy - I loved this:

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.  :)

After the briefing, etc., we got some lunch and headed out to the lake to check in my bike and do a little practice swim.  Bike check in was a madhouse, but again, even given the number of people it went smoothly.  One thing that made me a little nuts was this busy-body woman that was coming around telling people to deflate their tires.  Last year it was so hot that tires kept popping overnight.  It made me nervous because I wasn't going to have my own pump in the morning...they wouldn't transport with our morning bags and husband didn't want to carry a pump all day - totally get that.  I did deflate my tires some, but then spent the rest of the night obsessing about it.  You know, that's how I roll.

After that, we went for a little swimmy swim on the other side of the lake - they weren't letting us swim at the race site.  Mostly I laid around and let the girls play, but I did get in the water and it was OK.  

Then we drove the course.  Holy hillacious.  Elevation graphs are meaningless on paper.  (And yes, I know LOU will be worse.  I know.)  Got some pizza, got some beer, went back to get some sleep, didn't, woke up a hundred times and then it was time to go!

Race morning:
I've never done a 2-transition race before.  Hubby dropped me off at T2 in the morning where I set out my running stuff and then I hopped a bus to swim start/T1 where we had left my bike the night before.  As the bus pulls into the parking lot, the body markers starting CHEERING for us.  It was flipping awesome.  I felt like a rock star and I hadn't done anything yet.  And then they announced wetsuit legal and I felt even more like a rock star.  And then I took my bike to the mech tent to reinflate my tires, where I failed miserably...managing to completely deflate my front before giving up entirely and letting a wrench do it for me.  Yes, I am that incompetent.  But at least I knew it was done right.

And then the long waiting.  Because you know I was on bus # 2 down to the water but not swimming until forever after the start...wave 13 (lucky....) of 21.  Ate a couple uncrustables, drank some gatorade, and waited for the family to arrive.

Swim:

Here I am, looking darn elvin in my swim cap, no?  Yes, I really do swim with my ears out - although I'm reconsidering that decision now.  I had water in my ears the rest of the race and that's a little discombobulating.  

 Here's my starting wave.  I'm in here somewhere.  Really.  :)

So the way the swim worked is that a wave went off every 4 minutes.  It was 600 something out to the first turn, 750 to the second turn, and nearly 600 down to the finish line.  It was clockwise, which is good because I breathe right - but I had some problems sighting on the way out.  Also, at some point the wave(s) behind me caught me and swam over me, but that didn't cause me as much stress as you might have thought given my skittishness with the swim.  Really it was the sighting that threw me.  So much so that I freaked because I couldn't find the red turn buoy.

Do a little experiment with me.  Put your right hand out straight in front of you, parallel to the ground.  Now bend your elbow up.  See how your hand is like a foot or so from your face?  So I was looking for the turn buoy when the kayaker at the corner asked me if I was OK.  I said yeah, I was just having a hard time seeing the turn buoy.  He said look to 2 o'clock.  And there, about as far in front of me as your hand is from your face right now, was the red buoy.  Yeah, I need to work on that sighting thing.

After I made the turn, the sun situation was better and I was able to sight much better on the across and back legs of the swim.  And remarkably, looking at the Garmin data for my swim, I was pretty much spot-on course.  Sweet - considering.   Also sweet was the fact that I beat last year's swim time by over 3 minutes.  I didn't realize it until I was out of the water - I was sure I was dead last in the water and way over an hour, but as I came up the ramp on my way to the wetsuit strippers, I looked down & saw my time & did a little happy dance.  :)  (Thanks again, POW!)

T1 to Bike:

Another thumbs up to WTC - the wetsuit strippers were awesome.  They were pretty aggressive - basically pulled me off the course & started unzipping and yanking and all sorts of things.  They had a little drama getting my suit over my watch, but after they were done, they even stood me back upright and sent me on my way.  Loved it.

Got all my swim stuff packed into the transport bag, bike stuff on, and headed out.  Mistake # 1 - I forgot to shove some food in my mouth...I was so anxious to get out there.

Here I am (in a fuzzy picture) exiting T1 at the sunscreen line.  Mistake #2 - sunscreen UNDER my trisuit in the morning.  I am horribly burnt where my trisuit slipped during the day and didn't get sprayed.  Ooops.

Bike:

I'm telling you - the bike was really flipping hard.  WTC's guide says something like 1250 climb, but my Garmin says double that.  I believe my Garmin.  :)

And can I just point out that 36.1 mph max speed.  That was me going down a big hill yelling "Holey crap!  Holey crap!  Holey crap!" the whole way.  

So more props for WTC -see that difference between moving time and time - my little 3 minute break?  Yeah, that was a potty stop.  I'm not a podium contender, so yellow socks are not really on my radar.  Ewww.  Anyway, I pulled up to aid station 3 and there were volunteers in front of the portas.  I wanted to park there so I yelled "bathroom, bathroom" and this guy comes flying over, holds my bike for me to get off.  I start to take my bike to rack it and he says "No, I got it - go, go."  So I went, came back - figured as long as I was there I'd refill my hydration bottle without getting sports drink all over my body and bike, and he held my bike while I did that too...then he watched for traffic behind me as I got back on and told me when to take off.  So awesome.  

And yes, I realize that without the 3-minute potty stop, I would have been closer to beating Patriots...but you gotta do what you gotta do.

So the bike course was hilly and it seemed like there was a consistent headwind as we headed east to Raleigh from the beach.  But I rode strong, passed folks on the climbs even, and felt really good until about mile 50 or so.  At that point I was SO over the climbing.  Good news - I was very comfortable on the bike and in aero.  Bad news - there was a cruel up hill into T2.  I had it in granny (or what constitutes granny with my compact crank set) and I could barely make it up the hill.  In fact, I dismounted way before the line because it was going to be less painful to walk my bike in than to ride it 10 more feet up the hill.  

Mistake #3 - NOT FOLLOWING NUTRITION.  On my 50+ mile practice rides, I had been working on uncrustables, gu, and yogurt covered pretzels...along with gatorade.  All of that.  Problem is that on the race, I wasn't as comfortable eating as I am when I'm by myself.  First - no bikers around so if I get a little wiggly, no harm no foul.  Second - I actually usually eat my uncrustable at the turnaround, standing on the edge of the road.  Third - I usually enjoy my yogurt pretzels.  Well, during the race I never got my uncrustable out even.  I ate 2 gus.  I drank my gatorade + a refill of sports drink and water.  And I tried to eat pretzels, but they were drying my mouth out too much, so I gave up on them.  So -- again -- not nearly enough fuel to sustain my efforts and it showed on the run.  I need to really truly get my nutrition nailed down because it's a serious flaw.

Mistake #4 - pushing the hilly course.  I was curious to see what I could do.  To be honest, after driving the course on Saturday, I was a little petrified of the hills...so when I got out there, I really worked them.  And maybe I gave a little too much.  I wasn't "hammering" the hills, like everyone warns you about, but I wasn't taking them leisurely either...and that's probably a fine line I need to work on drawing.  I want to put in a good performance on the bike - it's the longest leg and the place where I can make the best time (it's my best leg as far as vis-a-vis other competitors too)...but not if it shuts down my run like it did.

T2 to Run:

So here I am coming into T2.  There's a smile on my face.  It could be because I was finally not on my bike.  It could be because I thought I could still meet my time goal (although hubby explained later how it was not really possible).  Most likely, the smile is because I was flipping delirious.  And I was.

I found my racking space and my run bag, but the two beyotches that were on either side of me had racked their bikes so close together, I couldn't squeeze mine in.  I didn't want a penalty for misracking, so I stood there for a while until my brain worked a little bit and I racked my bike by a single brake.  I hoped it would still be standing when I got done.  

The other problem was that in T2, I was a little lost.  Like mentally.  I'm assuming it was the exertion + no eating combination.  I don't usually get loopy (at least when there's no wine involved), so that's all I can think.  I wasn't really sure what I was doing or who I was and I did NOT feel well at all.  But I headed out on the run course, because once you get to T2, it'd kind of suck not to finish, y'know.  I'm a sucker for medals.

Leaving T2, since I was all discombobulated, I forwent the sunscreen ladies.  Mistake #5.

Cheerleader Interlude:

So, you wonder what my cheerleaders do while I'm out on the course?  Wait, obvs.

 They read.  They wear capes and look down the street to find out if I'm coming.  They chase me around the course taking unflattering pictures and telling me to suck it up.  (OK, he didn't actually say that - that's what my brain was saying...but hubby was in the vicinity at the time.)  They are the best.

Run:

Once out on the run, I realized I felt really crappy - a little light-headed, a little sick to my stomach...so I started just running when I could, walking when I couldn't, and eating/drinking at every aid station.  Pretzels.  Sports drink.  Water.  Bananas.  Oranges.  Cola.  You name it, I shoved it in...and it started to help - which is why I think that one BIG problem is that I screwed up my bike nutrition.  I negative split the 13.1 miles (barely).  I'm bummed that I was so freaking slow on the run, but honestly, I gave it all I had and that's all I could do.  Lessons to be learned - but also proud of myself, because I did NOT feel like heading out for 13 miles when I left T2.  I wanted to curl up and cry instead.  So I should be/am proud - not of my time, and not of my stupidity, but of my persistence.  

 So, yeah, that's me rocking the neon calf sleeves.  Remember, calf sleeves are the new sexy - and I had no problems at all with calf cramps.  That's a win.  (It looks like there are a lot of people behind me...don't be fooled - I think I'm on lap one and they're on lap two).

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  Trisuits are so flattering...said noone ever.   That being said, I'm thinking a little less junk-in-the-trunk would suit me better for LOU, so I need to be a little more careful about what I eat and drink the next couple months.

And here I am crossing the finish line!  YEAH ME!  Hey now, I'm a rock star.  (Don't ask me about the cats...it made me laugh...)

Here I am after the race with two of my three favorite cheerleaders.  There is nothing better than hearing them all tell me how proud they are.  Thanks, crew!  I love you.

So I think I have pretty much figured out what I need to work on between now and IMLOU...and I'm still looking to go sub-7 at Muncie...the bike is flat and fast and I WILL have my nutrition dialed in.  Yes, ma'am.  That' is priority number one for now.  That and recovering quickly from Raleigh and getting back to business.