…I know, boring title, especially for me…was really hoping to call this blog entry something like “the cherry on top” (..of a great season) or “Vegas Baby!!”…but that was not how Sunday turned out.
I went into this race with a lot of hopes, but really trying to focus on a single expectation for myself – leave it all on the course, no holding back, and really just do my best. The last two weeks of getting back to speed training had looked pretty promising, and the Augusta course favours me…and so I admit that I did have very high hopes for a PR, a sub-5, and a good shot at a slot. But as we always say in triathlon – you never know what race day is going to bring.
The reality is, Sunday turned out to be a very tough day. The weather was not in our favour, and at 5am when we got up to get ready it was already 74 degrees and almost 100% humidity. Far from ideal. But still, I was feeling good. Had a nice San Juan reunion in transition with JLess, Vallee and Christine. Met Z outside of transition for final words of advice and encouragement. And then went back to the hotel to wait for my 8:44 start time…ya, also not ideal. Just means longer in the heat on the run.
Finally down at swim entry, I donned the wetsuit. I am no longer afraid of the wetsuit. Possibly because it is a little big on me now after IM training, and therefore not as tight, but at any rate, I’m comfortable in it, and don’t really think about it anymore. It was stinking hot already by this time. Compare and contrast to last year where we were kinda glad to have wetsuits on because it was actually a tad chilly. Jumped in the water, and the buzzer went off, once again seeming to surprise me for some reason. Tried to stay in middle of the river, catch as much current as I could, but the river sure seemed slower to me. Got kicked quite a bit in this race, almost lost my goggles once, and just generally didn’t enjoy the swim. Not that I ever ‘enjoy’ the swim, but this is Augusta, and so it’s usually not so bad. I didn’t feel tired per se, but I sure didn’t feel as good as I did in Canada (well, on the second half anyway). I literally had to keep telling myself, this is nothing compared to what you just did. I’d hoped for a similar or better current to last year, and given my swimming improvement, expected to be somewhere around 26-27 minutes. So clearly I was not thrilled with the fact that my swim time was a mere 15 seconds faster than last year. 28:43.
Well, that’s okay, I figured I could make up the few minutes on the bike where I’d been conservative with my goal time. I flew through transition, as is the norm for me, at 3:22. Out on the bike, I started the necessary passing that occurs when you are in such a late swim wave. Heart rate started out pretty high, in fact I think it was a ridiculous 180 out of T1, and took me a good 10 miles to bring my heart rate down to my target zone of 157-162. Once I got there though, I was able to stay in that zone for the majority of the ride, the larger hills excepted (both up and down). First 20 miles, and I was a little slower than I’d hoped at about 20.5 mph. Power was good though – and was interesting to race with power, this being my first race ever with it. I kept on, and really didn’t experience anything unusual on the bike, aside from the idiot standing on the side of the road with a sign saying “stay home, get off the roads” …clearly oblivious to the amount of money we had been infusing into his community. I had kept a pretty consistent effort over the ride, and at about 40ish miles, I was not happy with the clock, and decided I could put a little more pressure on. Pumped up the power, and still managed to keep my hr at the upper end of my goal range, while managing to up the power to about 178 avg power for last 10-12 miles. Average power for the ride was actually 166. So not too shabby, but clearly room for improvement there…unfortunately, total time was 2:43, an average speed of 20.5 mph…about 5-6 minutes slower than I’d wanted, and slower than last year. Interestingly everyone was slower, so not just me.
Again, T2 was lightning fast at 1:13, and I was off on the run. Really felt hopeful about my run, given my performance over the last few weeks. Imagine my surprise when I found a terrible cramp in my side, and found myself completely unable to bring my heart rate down from zone 4 unless I actually stopped running. First 3-4 miles were far from my target pace of 7:45…more like 8:20-8:30. WTF?? And I was in a LOT of pain. The support out there by the Sport Factory crew was absolutely phenomenal, and it helped to get through it, but holy god, I hurt so bad. I eventually had to do some walking, just could not do otherwise. Janet found me around mile 5.5, and I was able to run with her for a bit. This helped tremendously, but finally had to stop again and told her to keep on going. Then, somehow I managed to lose the cramp around mile 8 for about 2 miles, and was able to pop the pace back up. Actually caught up to Janet again. After that though the cramp was back but on the other side, and it didn’t leave me again. I ran most of the 13 miles in excruciating pain. I’ve had these cramps regularly in the past, but have not experienced them in months, and they really took me by surprise. I ran the entire run in zone 4, with an average hr on the run of 169, insane. Three of the miles were 10 minute miles – I mean seriously, I haven’t run 10 minute miles all year. The heat and the humidity was just brutal. Time on the run was an extremely disappointing 2:00…far from my target of 1:45. HUGELY disappointing, since I know I am much better than a 2 hour half marathon. :(
So at 5:17 my final time was nowhere near a PR, and not meeting any of the 4 time based goals I had put out there, and which I honestly thought were mostly pretty attainable and reasonable. Extremely disappointing. Interestingly though, despite being 11 minutes slower than last year, I managed to exceed my placement by two spots, coming in 11th in my age group, top 6%. Which yes, is good, but just not where I’d hoped to land.
In the final analysis, I have to accept a few things. 1) this was a bonus race and so my results are great from that angle; 2) I did meet my true goal of leaving everything out there…not sure I could have done much more; 3) in the last month I’ve completed an ironman in a pretty good time, undergone surgery, and had a pretty bad car accident…so all things considered, I have to be pretty pleased. Still doesn’t stop me from being disappointed. But it sure does make me hungrier than ever for that slot next year.
I’ve reviewed the results with Z. My biggest question was really why my hr was so high right from the get-go on the run. That just has not been a problem for me this year, and I’ve run in much worse. My hr on the bike was where it was supposed to be, so this should not have happened. All we can surmise is that I am tired, after everything I’ve done, and I was simply dehydrated. And I was definitely that, which seems to be a common theme this year. This is what prevented me from pushing the pace on the run as I had expected to be able to do. And the high hr is what generally causes my side cramps. The thing that hurt the most after the race?? My ribs and abs, from working so hard to overcome the cramps. In fact, walking the next day caused the same cramps, and it hurt to even walk slowly. I couldn’t keep up with Anne as we alked through the airport on our way to Denver. Kinda made me wonder how I managed to run almost 13 miles like that, in zone 4 no less. It’s amazing what you can push yourself to do in a race, and what a little adrenaline and competitive drive can accomplish.
Bottom line is you never know what race day is going to bring. Everyone was slower this year, not just me. Matt did an analysis of the temps and this year was 7-10 degrees warmer than last year, providing a pretty clear explanation for at least some of my issues. I’m happy I was able to push thorugh it, and as Tracy said, god love her, you didn’t give up and that’s all that matters. And that’s true.
Above all else, I am so grateful for an amazing coach, and amazing support from friends and teammates. Having the Sport Factory out there was really one of the best race experiences I’ve ever had. Never been cheered so loudly and so often in any race, and it was truly amazing. Tracy, Anna, Matt, Mark, Chris, Kevin, Suzanne, Amanda, Natalie, Amy, Mo (my roomie) and everyone else – thank you so much! The second loop through the run, I was hurting so bad, but doing my best to keep my form and run it well, and they cheered so loudly – the girl beside me turned and said ‘wow, they really love you’, and I just smiled, and said ‘YES! They really do!!!’. Was a really wonderful feeling, to be so supported. I love TSF!!!! Huge thanks to Mark for bringing my bike to and from Augusta - thanks bud!
So my season is done. And it’s been a great season.
Happy Training!
Kat
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