Unofficial Columbia Race Report

The good news is that there was no rain. I woke up at 4AM and checked the weather forecast which indicated no rain in sight. What a relief! I was able to eat something, unlike last year when I couldn't stomach any food because I was so nervous. We got to the race around 5:30. (Note to self: this is way too late. We had to wait forever to park and were parked much further away.) The start of the race was delayed 30 minutes due to traffic issues. I watched the first few waves go off and then headed to my start.

The race director announced that my age group was the largest (they split us in half), and my wave had the most women in it. Boy, could I tell! It was way more packed than last year. I had a really hard time getting into any rhythm. I did a LOT of breast stroke and finally got into a pattern of alternating between breast and freestyle.... that is until I got kicked in the face and my goggles almost came off. That's when I decided breast stroke is the way to go. I have no idea what my time was, but I felt much better getting out of the water (didn't feel like I was going to puke) and I actually ran (slowly) through transition. It still felt slow, but I didn't struggle as much as last year.

The bike started off well as I passed several women right off the bat. I was determined to do better on the bike this year, but honestly, I still struggled. I felt like I really pushed the downhills, but the uphills were still a challenge. This is really a weak area for me. I got passed- not as much as last year, but still more than I wanted to. I think I went faster than last year, but not as much as I wanted.

T2 (transition from bike to run) was good. I won't beat my time from last year because my bike rack position was terrible. Hopefully next year it will be better, but it also could be worse. Nothing I can do about this. I did the best I could.

The run... oh the run was terrible! My legs were very weak at the start but I felt like I was somewhat pushing it. I checked my time at a mile and it was 9:50. Yuck! I probably would have been better off not checking it as I think it discouraged me. My legs were shot from the bike. There are two very large hills on the run and I walked them both. This is the girl who ran 16 miles last weekend. I tried to will my legs to feel better, but they wouldn't. I think the heat actually played a factor because I didn't start my race until right before 8 so it was 10 as I was running and very hot and humid. I pulled myself together on the last mile (I knew it was flat from last year) and was really able to pick up the pace. I still passed a lot of women on the run, but I thought I'd be able to shave a few minutes off my time.

I was disappointed at the end of the race. I didn't immediately know my time but knew I didn't make my goal. I would even be surprised if I beat my time from last year. They are supposed to have a printout for you of all your splits within 20 minutes of finishing, but they were having technical problems, so I never got it. I was able to get my official time which was 2:13:55- almost exactly 2 minutes faster than last year. I was somewhat disappointed, but it didn't last long. I'm thankful that I could compete again this year. I learned a lot and I'll take any improvement in time that I can get.

I am an iron girl!

Rain, rain go away....

I'm here.

It's raining.

I think it's going to rain in the morning, but clear up around 10AM....when I'm finished. Oh well, I'm 2 for 2 on doing triathlons in the rain this summer.

At the moment I'm not super nervous. I was earlier, but I've calmed down a lot. I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow. I think the anticipation and the hype of this race in particular makes it even harder.

My bike placement isn't as good as last year. It's near the beginning of the bike start. That will be good when I'm leaving the swim, but bad when I'm returning my bike before the run. Oh well...

I'm ready, I'm excited and I'm going to do my best no matter what the weather conditions are.

3 days....

I'm done with my workouts. Totally. Yesterday I swam in the morning and ran with my 2 oldest in the evening (3+ miles). This morning I slept in. YEAH! There will be no more workouts until the real thing. Tomorrow we head up to PA and then back down to MD on Saturday.

So... I'm making myself post my goals. As my good friend Barbara knows, I never reveal my "real" goal. It's actually a very complicated three tiered system where I calculate different sets of goals based on three possible outcomes: if I have a bad day, my probably goal, and my "this is what I really want to happen" goal. (This is the one I keep to myself.) I'm sure I'll pay some counselor big bucks someday to try to figure out the root of my goal issues (I'll just save myself some money and somehow blame it on my mom :))

Got all that? Here it goes:
My time from last year was 2:15:48. I placed 176th out of 334. Not even in the top half. So, my #1 goal is to at least finish in the top half, reagardless of time. The breakdown of my time was: swim 23:53 (153rd) T1 4:09 (185th) bike 1:13:57 (223rd ouch!) T2 1:17 (46th) run 32:34 (104th).

Based on last year, the places where I can improve the most are the bike and transition #1. I felt awful getting out of the water last year (like I was going to puke) and I walked to my bike. I can't predict if that will go better this year. Obviously the bike is weak. I hope my last few weeks of training will help that. I do know I'm way more comfortable on it. I'm hoping to take at least 5 minutes off the bike.

My T2 time was amazing, but it had more to do with where my bike was racked than me. It was very close to the end of the bike and the run start was close too. That was all luck. It could be really different this year and my time won't be as good.

I'm also hoping to take some time off the run. With my marathon training, I'm hoping that 3.4 miles won't be so hard. Last year I had way too much energy left at the end, so I'm hoping to push a little harder.

I think I can take around 6 minutes total off my time. A lot depends on bike rack position. I think my swim went way faster than I thought it would last year and I won't be surprised if that number goes up this year. Basically it will be a successful day for me if my bike is faster and my run is faster and I feel like I gave it everything I have.

4 days....

I'm starting to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think about the race. It's a good thing. I'm nervous, but it's a good nervous.

GREAT NEWS! The weather forecast has changed from 60% chance of scattered thunderstorms on race day to mosty sunny skies, 82 degrees and only 20% chance of rain. That's a major stress relief for me.

I swam this morning. I wasn't really into it. It was mostly just to loosen up and get a short workout in. I'm toying with doing one last brick tonight. The problem is I have a meeting at 7 and don't know if I have time to squeeze one in. I'll be fine without it but will feel better if I do it.

Tomorrow's blog... my time goals!

5 days- Oh my!

I've reached the end of my training and tomorrow starts the taper. What a day it was!

5:40 AM- swim 50 lengths
1:30 take girls to pool for 2 1/2 hours
5:00 make something up for dinner- it turned out to be salsa chicken, quinoa and green beans.
5:20 Barbara arrives to watch the girls while hubby and I bike with some friends. Thank you Barbara!
5:40 leave for 18-20 mile ride
7:30 return from 26 mile bike ride (yes, that is correct!), throw on shoes and go for a 1 mile run (think brick).
8:00 put little girls down and sit in front of computer in a daze.

What a great way to end my training! I'm exhausted, but happy.

9 days and counting....

Today is an off day- a very much needed off day. Yesterday I swam and biked. The bike was good, the swim was not. I was so tired when I got up at 5 that I was fighting to keep my eyes open on the way to the pool. I got in 40+ laps (lost count), but couldn't shake the tiredness. I ended up taking a nap around 11:30 AM. It helped tremendously! Later on, I went for a 10 mile bike ride (6:30 PM), and it was great! My legs felt strong and my time was great. I think that 18 mile bike ride on Monday really helped.

I woke up at 7:30 today- didn't feel refreshed, but I know it was good for me. I'm going to try to drink a lot of water today, stretch a little, and just chill. I may even sneak a little nap in there too :)

11 days to go...

I should title this my training plan. I have 11 days left until my tri. I'm going to focus on two things- more biking and putting some "bricks" together. (That's when you go from one event to the next without stopping.) Today's workout was a wash, which is okay because I've had some hard workouts the past few days.

Saturday was a 15 mile run. I'm putting my splits here just so I can remember them. My long run pace should be around a 10:15-10:30. I was supposed to do 25 minutes of marathon pace (9:40) thrown in. I was able to do that. The first 13 miles were great, but the last 2 were really hard. I took an ice bath for the first time and it was extremely painful, but I think it really helped me recover.
My splits:
Mile 1-10:29
Mile 2-10:11
Mile 3-9:52
Mile 4 10:01
Mile 5-10:12
Mile 6-9:57
Mile 7-10:15
Mile 8-10:08
Mile 9-9:53
Mile 10-9:36
Mile 11-9:22
Mile 12-10:11
Mile 13-10:19
Miles 14-15 I don't actually know how far I went there. I had to add on mileage and it wasn't marked. My time as 18:55 for both.

Sunday I went for a short bike ride with a good friend. It was a good way to loosen my legs.

Yesterday I swam in the morning and biked 18 miles in the evening. I have a reason to be tired!

Here's my plan until the tri:
8/12- swim in the morning, bike 10 miles in the pm (hard)
8/13- off
8/14- swim in the morning, bike 10 miles in the pm
8/15- 16 mile long run
8/16- long bike (18+ miles)
8/17- swim in the morning, bike 10 miles in the pm
8/18- off (possibly do 8 mile run that is scheduled)
8/19 short brick- bike and run (last workout before tri)

My hope is that I don't tire myself out too much. I'm walking that fine line between being really ready and overtraining.

Should have stayed in bed!

I was scheduled for an 8 mile run this morning. The plan was to go to the gym and use the treadmill as it's been very hot and humid here. The temp was supposed to be 74 at 5 AM. I figured it would be better for me to stay inside. I was also supposed to do some tempo work so I thought a treadmill would be good for that too. I woke up at 5 and felt very tired. It took me until 5:30 to get myself together and head out the door. On the way to the gym I decided to turn around because I was running so late it would be a stretch for me to finish my workout before hubby had to leave for work. It was getting light out anyway.

As soon as I started to run I knew it was going to be ugly. I felt like I was barely moving. I was soaked from sweat almost immediately. I struggled for almost 2 miles and decided it wasn't worth it. I knew if I kept runing I'd end up hurting myself.... so I walked. I ended up meeting a woman from my neighborhood who is also training to run the Richmond Marathon. It was so nice to talk to her and I ended up being so glad I walked. I ran/walked 4 miles. Not what I intended, but I'm glad I didn't stay in bed afterall!

Culpeper Sprint

Once again, I've been bad about posting. My runs have been going great- my longest is 13. The leg feels awesome! I've been swimming 3x a week and feel pretty good about that too. The problem is the bike. I haven't been out on the road in over 6 weeks. I've been on my trainer 2x a week for 45-50 minutes but it's not the same.

My goal for this tri was to use it as a training run for the Columbia. I wanted to get some open water swim practice in and also get on my bike. I knew I'd get killed on the bike but at least I'd be getting an actual bike ride in. I wasn't worried about the run.

I drove up to Culpeper Saturday afternoon to pick up my packet and look at the race course. It's a 16 mile bike course and it was very pretty. It starts out on a big hill and is rolling from there. There are some sharp turns along the way, but it didn't seem too bad. The run was hilly, but again, I wasn't worried about the run.

Sunday morning we left the house at 5:50 and the sky was very overcast. I was stressing about the weather all week because I didn't want to ride my bike on wet roads. We got all settled with about 15 minutes to spare and hung out by the water. My goal for the swim was to do more freestyle. I wss the 4th wave and I started on the outside because I didn't want to get kicked. The swim actually went pretty well. Except for a few wayward swimmers running into me, I didn't get stuck. I swam way more freestyle which was good, I think. My dilema here is that I swim breast stroke about as fast as I swim freestyle. Not a good thing. I figure with both being equal, I'd pick breast every time because I can see. I'll have to work more on that. I was encouraged because when I did do free, I swam really straight.

I took my time in transition because I wasn't "racing" and I didn't care. Also, apparently my oldest daughter has been using my bike helmet. Because I haven't actually been riding my bike, the first time I put it on was as I was about to start the bike leg. It was way tighter than I usually wear it. There was no time to fix it so I wore a super tight helmet. It was lightly raining as I started the bike. This turned into pouring and I got to the point when I just wanted it to be over. I got passed so many times it started making me mad. I knew I wasn't going to do well, but I still hate to get passed. I don't mean just someone getting in front of me. These people were flying by me like I was standing still. Not fun. There is a very sharp turn at the end of the bike that I was praying about as I was riding. I didn't care how slow I went, I just didn't want to fall off my bike. I made it and off to the run I went.

My transition was good- except for getting the helmet off. I couldn't. It was tight and I actually contemplated what I would do if I had to run in it. Luckily, I managed to get it off. When I started, my legs were dead. I seriously couldn't feel my toes. My socks were soaking and I felt like I was shuffling. I haven't practiced any "bricks" and I can tell I need to. It took about a mile to get feeling back in my legs, but then I felt pretty good. I passed tons of people which felt good. I finished strong and as usual had way too much energy when I finished.

I was completely exhausted after I was done. I was just so happy to have it over with. I need to seriously work on my bike in the next three weeks. I also need to work on some bricks to get my legs used to going from one event to the next. On a good note, I'm not sore today. I was going to swim this morning but decided my body would appreciate the rest.