Pre-race day:
I had an early start on Saturday with a swim session with my swim guru Jim. Really good (tough)session followed by a very easy spin class. The class itself wasn't easy but I went easy on myself to stay fresh for race day. It was a fairly light run week - I had a bad day with my Thursday run but all in all, I was in decent running shape.
After my workouts, I went home and fell back asleep for two hours! Lil' Mama (she's one of our cats) and me resting comfortably on the sofa. Next thing I knew, it's almost 1p and I hadn't even really eaten lunch. Grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Trek Bike Store to by a toe thingy. You may think I'm making this up, but apparently, that's what they call it on the package. Race time temps were supposed to be in the high 40s/low 50s and I did NOT want cold feet. After my 2 hr ride on Wednesday in 50 degree temps, I had learned a lesson.
Headed over to Scheels to get a windbreaker for the bike (no, I didn't own one) and some bike nutrition. My evening race bag preparation was not as thorough as usual, because I preferred spending my time watching the 2-hr season finale of Downton Abbey. Kicked the cats out of the bedroom, got in bed around 11:30p and slept soundly.
Race Morning:
Up at 6a, with a light breakfast: 1 Power Grain Waffle with almond butter and a gallon of coffee. My friend and neighbor Niki Kubiak came over around 7 to load her bike onto my car since we were riding together. Quick aside: Niki won the overall female division of this race. And her husband Gerald (previously mentioned) crushed some fools in the 800 meter masters race at the Drake Relays on Friday. So between them and my husband who is also an elite runner and triathlete, we have the fastest block in Omaha. I slow down the collective time of our block but I get an "A" for effort.
We arrive at the race site around 8a with plenty of decent options to drop our stuff in transition. If I have a choice (which I did for this race), I prefer to have my bike close to the "bike out." Niki warms up and I basically hang around for a while. Two trips to the porta-potty and I'm ready to roll.
Race:
The race is a 2.5 mile run, a 14.5 mile bike and a 2.5 mile run.
Run Split 1: I start off easy and pick up a pace which I ended up maintaining for the entire distance: 9:10 pace. This is my first race using my TomTom GPS multisport watch and it's awesome. It has an average pace function which was incredibly helpful. Knowing that I was actually running a 9:10 really kept me motivated.
Bike Split: Winds were initially light but picked up out of the ENE. I struggled to maintain a 15 mph pace through about mile 4. At that point, we had a tailwind and I was flying, averaging around 20 mph. Of course, all good things must come to an end and the course was out and back...which meant headwinds and crosswinds. SUCKED. My average mph dropped to 14.6, which is not great. I didn't kill myself on the bike which is probably why. My friend Alyssa Godesky who is a pro triathlete once told me that I should ride like I don't have to run after. Unfortunately, I did not follow that advice on this one...got a little lazy on the return.
Run Split 2: After the initial wobbly jello leg thing, I was feeling pretty good. My goal was to average sub 10:00/min miles and I averaged around 9:38. So pleased.
Final time:1:49:26 - Run1 00:22:46 - T1 00:01:43 - Bike 00:59:58 - T2 00:01:04 - Run2 00:23:52 Podium finish: 2nd place for Female 40-44
Reflections: Great run performance and I felt so strong. Transitions were pretty tight. I could use a little more brick work and I think I can really improve the bike to run. Bike needs A LOT of work. After my Lincoln Half Marathon next week, I start shifting my hours to the bike. I plan to have the bike make up 50% of my training time and I think that will make a big difference. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment