Adventures In Triathlon

Play Tri Race Report: Her Side of the Story

In my dreams, I came here to tell y’all how I PR’d this course like a woman on fire. That I took 5, 10 mins off my time that I was already stoked about from Tri Rock. I knew I had it in me. At least, that I came across the finish line before the time of 3:25:52 and I triumphed in spite of injury.

Well, I’m afraid I can’t do that people.

I crossed the line at 2:47:06.

To be fair, the run was short (0.7 short of a 10k at 5.5 per my garmin) and the bike was (as advertised) 3 miles shorter than TriRock, and the transition area was very, very efficient and compact.

However, I’ve used some magical mathematics and normalized my time at about 3:09, so still a SEVENTEEN minute PR when I was holding back a little due to the knee’ster. If that’s all you cared about, feel free to jump to the comments and tell me how much I rock. Many more details below…

Pre-Race:

Saturday AM we loaded up Beastly the Xterra and headed to Irving TX. The drive was pleasant and without consequence. We got to the hotel, checked in super early since they had a room, got our packets (no line), ate lunch (I got a club sandwich and a salad – trying for less fat/protein and more carbs in my pre-race meals)… and watched some of the ITU race (Pan American Games) they were hosting that day and checked out the swim and run course… and then it was 2pm. Essentially, we were ready for bed minus driving the bike course (we’re never this early/efficient) so we did that and then settled in the room for a day of reading, movies, and just relaxing. It was actually pretty amazing – since we weren’t home we couldn’t do chores or do anything, so we just chilled and participated in the pre-race pajamathon.

Around 5pm we decided on room service for dinner and looked at the menu – everything was all FANCYLIKE, so we ordered off the kids menu. I got a grilled cheese and mashed potatoes, and Joel tried to order a turkey sandwich twice and they messed it up twice, so it was on the house (nice of them). We drifted off around 9-ish after having some sleepy juice. I was a little nervous but felt pretty ready to rock this. Oddly enough, I was mostly afraid of crashing my bike at T2 because my seat is so much higher now.

Also, earlier, we went to go hit the hot tub, and found this. No lifeguard for the plants where the hot tub used to be. So sad. I had considered getting in a pre-race swim but the lack of hot tub made me decide to skip laps in the tiny pool.

Joel woke up around 4am – I slept til like 4:30, and I tea’d and oatmega bar’d, used the facilities, and got ready and took a bath to warm up the knee in lieu of a heat pack. Being at the host hotel, we took our bikes and helmets and nothing else down to transition and got body marked, claimed good spots in our assigned racks, and headed back to the room. More using the facilities, listened to Titanium really loud (which is becoming my theme song for myself this year), tinkered around, and then we headed down about 6:15 to get our transitions actually set up (all the shoes and gloves and towels and stuff), get a quick warmup run, quick warmup swim, and then all of a sudden it was the pre-race meeting and we lined up and I said goodbye to Joel who was in Wave 2 and watched the pros start.

I had some nips off a honeystinger gel but couldn’t get it all down without a sour stomach so I left it under a tree (there were NO trashcans) intending to pick it up later. I didn’t. Oops. Sorry, Play Tri.

Swim: 32:06 (2:08/100m)

Even though I’m much faster and more confident in the water these days, I started near the back because I was terrified of full contact swimming and my knee. I didn’t want a stray kick to end my race. So, I hung back (and peed in the lake, sorry Play Tri!) and still even, found that it was roller derby in the water. I tried to stay near the wall since that would protect my knee but everyone else thought the same thing so it was no ones fault but…. ugh. After the buoy turn around, it freed up. Like, a LOT. Like, was I the last one in my wave? I looked back and around and no, but people spread out a bunch and it was hard to sight so I just hoped for the best and swam. I may have pushed one lady who decided that she wanted to swim on top of me repeatedly but y’know, slow down or go around, right?

The the course went up, and right into the sun. Sighting sucked, and worse, that was an out and back so swimmers were heading directly at you (if they were a little off course). Fun! I got a little discouraged and started some negative thoughts, but then I had the STOP, you’re swimming, you’re not injured, you’re in a very calm and very comfortable lake. Stop being stupid and just swim like a spider (when I feel strong, I feel like I’m crawling across the water like a spider, don’t ask, it makes sense to me), and I stopped trying to sight every 3 strokes and went to counting to 7. I passed a few people and had my last full contact incident and got up the stairs and into transition.

I saw a 43-something on the clock, and at first I was confused that I swam so slow, but I did a little math and though that 7:12 start + 31-ish mins = 43 so I was excited!

T1: 1:58

This was a FABULOUS tri in many ways, but one was how efficient swim->T1->bike was. It was the first tri I didn’t use any sort of sandals. Up the steps, over a sidewalk, and T1 was right there. My bike was about midway from swim to bikeout on the end, and it wasn’t very big overall. I did a good job at executing, and very happy with my efficiency the first tri of the season.

Bike: 1:13:57 for 22 miles

The price I paid for a great swim and super efficient transition was my heart rate was SPIKING as I started to pedal. About a mile in, I realized I was nauseous and not feeling great, so I slowed my roll a bit and shortly after, my HR came down from 175, to 170, to 165, to 160, and I felt great. So, I resumed the semi-hammer pace of Olympic riding and my speed climbed from 15 to 16 and I ended loop 1 of the 3 loop course at 17.5. As my goal was 17 or above, and I usually get better as loops go, I was stoked. More like that, I said. In my head, I upped the ante to 18.

I coined a term today – “dude-holes”. Being one who has the lady-parts, I usually start in the later waves, and if it’s not a looping course, I only have to deal with women passing me. They are usually very polite – “on your left” “hi there” “good job”, or at the very least, they give you plenty of space if they’re sucking too much wind to say something. Not the dude-holes. These guys are on 10k$ bikes with disc wheels and 4% body fat and are passing you with inches to spare and nary a word. The first and second laps, I got really, really sick of the dude-holes and was super excited that I wouldn’t have to deal with them loop 3.

Never mind, guess what? Loop 3 was the worst! There were sprint dude-holes AND “my first tri” people going 2 mph and not knowing tri-ettiquite (aka – riding on the left, riding 4 abreast, etc). Sigh. I did my best to encourage all the first-tri’ers when I passed them and try to not get run over by the dude-holes.

It was not all rude people and terror – I actually quite enjoyed everything else about the bike. I love loops. Once, I rode a 50 mile bike ride in 3 mile loops and couldn’t have been happier about it, so 3 loops here was awesomesauce. There was enough up and down to be not quite just like riding on a trainer, but the elevation change total was ~350 feet total. I leveled up again in aero riding and rode in aero a lot, even around some corners!!! I loved my higher seat giving me more power. I loved seeing Joel twice (on his second out/my first back and his third out/my second back) and cheering for him. I’m pretty excited about a 17.8 mph ride – only tri I’ve ever done better was Kerrville Sprint.

Also proud of the fact that the thing I was most worried about – the bike dismount… I did the slowest ever, but still did a flying dismount. I’ve almost fallen every other time trying to get off my new higher seat trying to put a foot down with the other one still over the other side, but this time, it just clicked. I’m so going out to a soft place to practice for next time because it’s the first time I’ve ever attempted but… YAY!

T2: 1:23

Again, by the book. I noted I did better on the swim than the bike because more bikes were in than were out when I started. The only sucky thing was that I forgot to set out my run nutrition, so I forgot to grab it. D’oh! (next time I’ll put an emergency gel in a pouch)

Run: 57:41 for 5.5 miles (~10:30 pace)

Man, I wish I could claim this pace for 10k, but the course was short. I got out of T2, wobbled up the big grassy hill, got my legs under me, and settled into what was comfortable for just a bit. I looked down, and it was high 10s. Ok, that’s fine. I tried to bring that down to low 10s, and the knee started letting me know that it was not yet complaining, but warning. I took it easy for the first bit to see if it would loosen up, but every time I tried to go sub-10 it definitely told me no. Also, my tweaked back wasn’t 100% better, so my glute muscle on that side (it works it’s way out that way sometimes…) was voicing it’s opposition as well.

So, I ran the pace I could. While I definitely wasn’t 100% easy pace, it was moderately challenging, I could have definitely pushed a bit more if I was 100% healthy. And, y’know, had not had a month off running and just been cleared to do 1.5 miles with a mandate for slow ramp up just 12 days ago. It was a huge zigzag course – down a street, up a street the same side, down the other side of the street, up that side, around a u-turn, and repeat for the Olympic. It was pretty much flat, some slight incline/declines, but I think it registered as a total of 6 ft ascent, heh.

Also, I got to see Joel every zigzag! He stayed steadily one slot ahead of me (I tried to push to catch up once and the knee said nooooo), and looking for him helped distract me from the run, my knee being stiff, my glute stinging, and when I was on the last down and he was on the last up, I could tell he made up a little ground and I told him to finish strong. I came back around the u-turn, up the last area, tried picking up the pace as much as I could, and he met me a bit before the end and ran me in across the last street and I saw the clock when I crossed – 2:58.

Holy crap, I knew I was going to PR today as soon as I finished the first bike loop, as long as nothing blew up on the run, but I had no idea I was going to finish sub-3 on the clock (I knew it was short but still…).

I am proud at my head for the run. At no point did I get negative. When I realized my knee was going to hold me back, I realized it was what it was, and I pushed as far as I could and no further. I didn’t ever think, “forget it, I may as well walk”. I felt pretty darn awesome and happy all day. Getting to see Joel 7 times on the run helped. A great spectator cheered every time ANYONE went by and made me happy. There was cold water and powerade at each stop, so I didn’t even need my nutrition.

Finish: 2:47:06 – 8/12 AG, 50/79 gender, 217/279 overall (this seemed to be mostly seasoned triathletes and club so… can’t complain… I didn’t DFL!)

My normalized time was about 3:09 – I PR’d the swim by 7.5 mins, the bike by about 6 mins at the same pace for 25 miles, and the run by 2 mins for the same pace at 10k. That took me to -15.5 mins, or around 3:10. Giving myself ~1 extra minute credit for better transitions (instead of the about 5 mins I did better, because transition was way smaller)

Apres-race:

While I definitely was done running when I finished because my run miles have been severely limited by the injury, I felt great – no sickies, just wanted some cold powerade and to walk around, and celebrated with Joel because we both had great days. I beat him by 2 mins today. I smoked him on the swim and transitions, and he beat me on the bike and run. We both felt great after and got our stuff and headed from the transition to the hotel (100 feet, love staying at the host hotel), got a shower, packed up, got out, got our prize (In N Out – this is the reason we race in Dallas-area), and rode home.

The traffic was pretty awful and stressful, but we made it home and enjoyed some patio time and reflected on our awesome races!

Notes:

-I told Joel after this race, I would know what I needed for Buffalo Springs 70.3. It’s very clear. Run endurance re-build and some bike endurance in the bank. I’ve spent the last two-ish weeks doing less, but longer sessions. I’ve been careful to ride the line of doing enough to prepare, but never too much so that my knee gets any more whiny than just being a little stiff. I’m pretty ok with where my speed is at under the circumstances, and these last two weeks was dedicated to time in water/on saddle/on feet continuously. I only wonder what awesome I could have done with a full training plan and look forward to seeing what I can do for Kerrville. For BSLT, it’s survival mode.

-I have no idea if the swim was short. Some people said it was (someone quoted 1375m). I’m taking it at face value and saying not, especially since I didn’t do a great job sighting. The water felt fast so I’ll take it. 🙂

-I loved everything about this race, minus the dude-holes. I’m pretty sure this is on the annual list.

-I think I’m about 1-2 years away from a new bike. I have always said I’ll get a new bike when I couldn’t easily remove weight from the bike naturally by defluffing, so I have about that long to get down to true race weight. Because I drool every time I see a sexy Qunitana Roo with a disc wheel…

Sunday is Tri #2 of the year for me – Lake Pflugerville. I had a really great performance last year, so I’m hoping I can beat that and make it even more awesome!

(2959)

PlayTri Olympic – Flat and Fast!

This is a few weeks after the fact, but I will try to remember everything properly.

Day Before:

I packed up Beastly the Fierce (my Xterra) Friday night, and we went to bed at a decent hour. We drove out to the DFW area early Saturday morning, and made the normal stop at Collin Street Bakery just past Waco for their famous fruit cake and some cherry ice box cookies. This is becoming a tradition for DFW races, since it marks just past the half way point, and the bathrooms are clean. Also, come on, its the best fruit cake in the world, one of the best most calorie dense bento box treats ever made. So 2 slices of fruit cake, 6 cherry ice box cookies, 2 chocolate chip cookies, 2 lemon cookies, 2 waters and a bathroom stop later we got back on the road.

We arrived at the hotel at about 11am, and were able to check in right away. So, that was awesome. While we were checking in the 2013 ITU Pan American Cup Mens wave started, so looking out the window we got to see them jump in the water and take off. We hauled everything into the room except the bikes and then went to park Beastly in the parking garage. This was the first time I had taken Beastly into a garage that low, and the antenna kept hitting pipes and stuff on the roof. Kinda scary, I wonder how many people killed their bikes going into there if they were on the roof. We parked and then decided we would feel safer with the bikes up in the room. So up to the room we went with the bikes, made sure everything was in order and that we didn’t need to replace any parts then decided it to get some lunch.

Eating at the hotel was not in the plan, but we were so hungry and we couldn’t find anything good on yelp in the local area, so hotel food it was. I ordered a chicken sandwich, and it come out as a well done chicken breast with some sort of herbs pressed into it. The bread was grilled with lots of butter or buttery substance and it was served dry. I asked for mayo and mustard, and they brought me the works. I wish I would have gotten a picture, I think they gave me about 1/3rd of a jar of mayo. But thats ok, it was DRY and did need the help. The salad had cucumber strips in it, and I can’t stand cucumber… ugg… oh well. For dinner we decided we would eat elsewhere.

After lunch we walked out to check out the ITU that was going on, and got to watch the last wave of men off the bikes and start their run. It was just a bit before 1 and very humid. I felt bad for them, but they were booking it. The Canadians looked like they were not used to the heat and humidity, some of the USA guys looked OK, but some looked like they were melting too, but the group from Mexico, not only had a great cheering section, but they looked fine. Something to say for living in a hotter climate for heat training. We waited a while and cheered people on, walked almost the full length of the run course, although the athletes were doing 8 loops of it, we only did 1.

Back up to the room to do some reading and maybe a tiny bit of napping, then we went and drove the bike course once the ITU was done and they finished picking up the cones and what not. When in the car it felt like there wasn’t even a single hill on this course. Well maybe one but it was only about 12 feet long and maybe 3 feet of incline. No biggie. Back to the hotel to rest more and prepare.

Dinner time, we still can’t find anything we want, so room service. They messed up my order, then later brought me the right order, so I got it for free. Very nice of them. After dinner we just tried to sleep. I had about half a Drank, if you haven’t had a Drank, or a Sippin Syrup before, I say try it out. They really do help you fall asleep on nights when you need to. Its part of my pre race routine. Fell asleep and the alarm was set for 4:30am.

Pre Race:

Wake up! Normal routine of Bathroom, then go get a bucket of ice. Drink as much ice water as I can, then fill the camel backs. Transition opened at 5am, so we walked the bikes down to get our spots on the rack and get body marked. I got spot 1 of my rack, and Leah got spot 3 or so on her rack. We headed back up to the room for to relax for a bit longer, grab out transition bags and to not have to use the porta potties. Its nice staying at the host hotel for these reasons. I showered, applied sunscreen, body glide, and DZ-Nuts (Amazing for longer rides.) Put on the trusty tyr tri-suit and headed down to transition again.

Once down there the racks had started to fill up and the sun was just starting to rise. I got inline to get my timing chip and had a kid no more than 15 behind me looking very nervous he was doing the my first tri distance and couldn’t figure out how to put the chip on the strap, so I showed him and did my best to help calm him down. I ended up standing there for a few minutes showing people how to put the timing chip on the strap. Its amazing how many of the my first tri people I guess didn’t look at the instructions in their packets (Oh right there were almost no instructions in this packet.)

We put on our running shoes and got about a half a mile warm up run in, I was feeling good and loose, and slightly caffeinated, thankfully I had got my regular pre-race beverage of choice this time, and was able to eat my sun butter bar before leaving the room. After the run I took a quick stop at the porta potties since there wasn’t much of a line, then we went down to where the ITU swim start had been the day before. Once there we were informed by the guy with the loud speaker that that wasn’t the swim start for this race and we all had to crush back to the exit of transition to the steps. No biggie, I was in wave 2 of the day, so I got to hang back and watch the pros start before wading in. I gave Leah a hug and a kiss and wished her a speedy race then got in line with my wave.

Swim: 1500m 36:46

At Rookie this year I decided to get in the thick of it for the swim, and I figured I would go for Middle of Back of Pack this time. So I inched up so there were about 10 or so guys behind me and about 70 or so ahead of me. As they started to count it down people in front started to back up, so I ended up way more Middle of Pack than I wanted to but that’s OK. I am going to learn to love the washing machine / melee at some point. I think I started decently, I tried to not get run over and didn’t give any extra arm room to people that were trying to claw at me, but I did find myself drifting to the “wall” on the left hand side. I ended up smacking my hand into the NO Diving and No Swimming sign that was coming up out of the water about 100m in, but thats nothing compared to the guy that hit is head on it that was a few second behind me, I felt bad for him.

Back to my swim, I was feeling decent rounding the first marker, my sighting has been a bit off this year, I really need to practice it, I had drifted out a bit then had to fight to get back to the group. Once there there was the normal melee of going around the marker, with some people punching and clawing, and others freaking out. I just took a wide round of it but I did hear one guy apologize to another guy for something. I thought that was nice of them.

Hit the second marker and it was a inside to the left so super easy, but at this point the wave of guys behind me had caught up, one of them grabbed onto my ankle the way you would expect the creature from the black lagoon to, and he pulled on me as hard as he could (at least if felt that way) to get ahead. It irritated me and it felt like he had cut my ankle somehow, but I tried to let the feeling pass and focus on long arms, early vertical form and kicking slowly. By the time I got myself back into my swim and out of wanting to check to see if my leg was bleeding, I had a kayak yelling at me to move over, I had drifted into the other swim lane. Ha, that’s OK, I was maybe 200m out from the u-turn portion and I wasn’t close to running into anyone, so thanks kayak guy, it would have been bad if anyone was around.

With the last long leg of the swim, I was starting to be passed by the women’s and relay wave, I am not a fast swimmer and don’t pretend to be. I came close to running into the wall at one point because I was zoning out and not paying much attention. But I felt like I was going fast so I guess it worked. Once I could easily see the stairs out I decided to pick it up, since there were a few people ahead but a bunch of people behind, and I didn’t want to have to wait to get up the stairs by being in a line. So I tried to time it so I hit the stairs right as the person in front had hit the top of the stairs. Great execution on my part. A volunteer helped me up and guided me to the not quite as slippery spot, again thank you. Then into T1.

T1: 2:29

My bike was very near bike out and a little to the side, but I was a little bit disoriented coming out the the water and going up the hill. There were lots of volunteers shouting at me to watch out for slippery areas, so that was nice, but added to the distraction. Once I found my bike, I did what I practice, well sort of. I messed up setting up my transition, I had everything laid out exactly how I wanted it, but instead of putting the camel back off to the side of my helmet (Everything else is in my helmet) I put it on top. So when I picked up my camel back, my helmet tipped. My glasses, gloves and shades fell out all over my area. No biggie I start to recover, Sock, Shoe, Sock, Shoe, gloves, glasses, helmet, then I notice my Garmin isn’t there. I spend a few seconds looking , then realize like a dummy I tossed it in my transition bag after the warm up run. Grabbed it, put it on, camel back on then out to the road I went.

Bike: 22M 1:12:11

What a great bike course this is! Not quite as flat as I thought it would be from the drive, the bridges did have a little uphill to them, then right about mile 3 there was a nice little grade of about 2%. It was a 3 loop course that was well laid out, and had lots of police and volunteers around. On lap 1, I took it as quick as I felt comfortable, since I knew I had 2 more laps, I wanted to get used to the course more than I wanted to pound out the first lap and mess up the rest. I finished loop 1 at right about 24 minutes. Oh, something new I had done earlier in the week was to set up an alarm on my garmin that went off every 10 minutes to remind me to eat. This worked GREAT! I don’t often forget to hydrate, but on the bike I can forget about nutrition easily, so this helped out a lot.

Lap 2 was more of the same but I tried to pick it up a little bit, I did it in about 23 minutes, so edging a little time on. It was great that at each turn around I got to cheer on Leah. I was doing the best I could to try to make sure that she didn’t catch up to me. By the last lap, the my first tri people started to pour onto the course, and it got crowded. Some of them were riding cruisers, and mountain bikes, and I have no problem with that, but some of them were riding together as a group, 4 across or more blocking most of the road. That part was annoying. At that little hill at mile 3 for the 3rd time I had a lady on a equivalent bike to mine catch up then ask if she could draft behind me for a few. I said sure, then put the gas on to leave her in the dust. Drafting is not allowed in this sport, people.

I rounded the last turn around and started to think about my dismount. I am OK at it but it was kinda crowded at the bike in, so I took it slow, probably slower than I needed to, but I survived and there were no injuries, so lets call it a perfect dismount.

T2: 1:37

Bike to rack, shoe off, shoe on, shoe off, shoe on, helmet off, camel back off, grab visor and race belt and grab my new addition to my t2, my hand held water bottle. I should practice this more, it wasn’t my fastest t2, but I don’t feel I did bad at all.

Run: 6M run. It wasn’t 6 miles it was about 5.5 miles…. 56:40

This was going to be fun, the course was all on 1 street, a down, and up on one side then a down and up on the other side, then 1 more loop of the same. The first stretch was all down hill, the second all up, third down and fourth up. Repeat. The total elevation change was something silly like 7 feet. So as flat as you can expect in the DFW area. I think the best part of this run was being able to see Leah at almost every turn. I was about 6 minutes ahead of her on the run. But lets do the real run recap here.

Right as I get to the “start” of the run out of transition, I am fighting with my hand held. Somehow I loosened the strap on it, so it doesn’t want to stay tight, but its not so loose that it will go flying. I am running at about 10:15s at this point, and while fiddling I slow to about 10:30s, that was my goal pace for the day BTW. Some lady behind me said “No, no, don’t start walking, I need to pace you.” I turned and replied that 10:30s was my goal pace and she swore then took off saying she would have to find someone else. Funny stuff I tell ya. It made me happy though, that my 10k fast 10:30’s was someone else s walk pace 🙂

My pace stayed great, I was able to even though it was getting hot and sunny, keep up with my hydration and nutrition, 1 full bottle by mile 4 and 1 gel at mile 3. About mile 3.5 or so some older guy was pacing me on the side, he was in the 50’s age bracket and I thanked him for not being in my age group. We talked for a while and it made the whole next mile fly by. Once we hit the next water stop though he said he would see me at the finish line and somehow put it into another gear, one that I did not have at that point.

Finish:

I ran into the finish as strong as I could, trying to make sure I looked good for the camera. Nothing like a finish picture where you look dead, upset and or looking at your watch. I was also able to pass a few people from the shorter distances at that point on the way in.

I got my medal, removed my timing chip, grabbed a water, then headed back out onto the course. I wanted to make sure Leah was doing well and run her in if she was having any issues. When I caught up to her she was looking good, and maybe a little bit tired. But I ran her in about a quarter mile then let her hit the finish on her own. We found each other then went to go pack up transition.

Overall it was a great race, but a little unorganized. I am spoiled by the Jack and Adams and High Five events, but the playtri event did good. There were a few incidents, not that happened to me but that I saw happen or heard about afterwards that scares me. A few people cutting the bike short, 1 auto + bike accident, a few bike + bike issues and a wipe out. Then with the 2 loops of the run on the Olympic vs 1 on the sprint some of the people were confused, I saw at least 1 sprinter go for the second lap and no one stopped them and I heard of multiple Olympic distance people only did one lap.
Reports from people with 910xt’s saying that the swim was 1375 not 1500 and the run was half a mile short. The distance issues could be due to a new course layout, but I would hope they will be fixed by next year.

(1935)