Monday, December 10, 2012

Ironman Texas 2011 Race Report

This has to be the most delayed race report ever. But, since I’m doing IM TX once again next year, and since my training partner, Eva, has asked for my insights on the race I’ve decided to finish it.

Some parts of this report I wrote shortly after the race, when the memories were fresh. Some I’ve been writing in the last few weeks, so I might be forgetting stuff. Regardless, here it is.

After a year and a half of doing triathlons, I decided I wanted to try the iron distance. I love endurance training and, even after a rocky first half-ironman, I realized that my heart is in the longer distances. So, after I finished the Austin (Longhorn) 70.3 in 2009, I started researching which full distance I wanted to try. Research I did, and I found the perfect one: Ironman Brazil. It’s held on Memorial Day weekend, during Brazil’s fall time, in a tropical environment to which I am used to race, and only one time zone away which would provide for minimal jet lagging. Oh, and did I mention it was in Brazil?

Well, being the newbie (and procrastinator) that I am, I didn’t realize the race would sell out so fast. When I decided to register, it was gone. I started looking for another race that wouldn’t be sold out. At the same time, rumors started going on that there would be a new IM race in Texas. In the end, I had IM France and the inaugural IM TX to choose from. While France was, well, France, there were a few pro’s that were making me lean towards TX including the lack of traveling time and expenses, being able to train in a similar environment, and the fact that it would be easier for friends to be there. Based on the title of this entry, it’s no surprise I ended up signing up for IM Texas.

After many many miles and hours of training. I arrived at IM Village in The Woodlands, TX on Thursday. Miguel and I checked in to the Courtyard, where a lot of other athletes were staying, and I did all the registration process that day. On Friday morning, there was a practice swim at Lake Woodlands which Andrew, Amy and I did, and yuck! that water was nasty, Texas Ski Ranch kind of nasty. It was also warm, so, no wetsuit for me, bummer! After the practice swim, we also did a quick bike ride around The Woodlands, but it was so short I’m not sure it was even worth it... anyway, we did it, and then proceeded to rack in our bikes. That night at the hotel, I packed most of the stuff so I wouldn’t have to waste time the next day. I even considered sleeping with my race clothes to save time in the morning, at the end I decided not to.

Saturday started early, as is the norm for any event, even more so for this one, because I was so anxious. I got a quick shower and got my hair braided. I had left most of my things ready, so there was not much to do other than filling the water bottles, making the PBJ sandwiches and waiting for Miguel to be ready (he’s not a morning person, at all).

Before the race Coach Jen had asked about my goals/strategy for the race. I’m glad that I wrote an email instead of just telling her face to face, because now, when all the endorphin rush is gone, I can take a good look at what they really were. Here’s what I wrote: “As for the goals, I'll be happy just to finish, excited to finish in under 15 and really-excited-can't-contain-myself if I get under 14 h. For the swim my plan is simple: just keep swimming. This is definitely my weakest sport, so I'll try to keep in pace and draft when/if I can, but at the end of the day I'll be happy if I finish before the cutoff. Judging by what I've seen lately, looks like the bike will be windy so I want get as much speed as I can on the first half and then deal with the headwind on the way back. (I'm crossing my fingers for no wind, but I guess I need to be realistic.) As for the run, I'm going to try running the first half and run-walk the second.”

Miguel had also asked about my goals. I think he was aware of the 17 hour limit, but he didn’t know of the intermediate cutoff times until two days before the race. I told him I would be fine and that, as long as I could 1) make the swim cutoff and 2) manage not to break or dislocate any bones during the ride, I would cross the finish line as an Ironman. Given my track record, the first condition seemed way more realistic than the second.


Morning Transition 

I didn’t have much to do on transition. I had to leave my Garmin and GPS on T1, put the water bottles, a PBJ sandwich and the gloves on the bike, and drop off the special need bags. To make it easier to carry, I put all the stuff in the T1 bag (including the bike/run special needs bags) and headed to transition. Once there, I went straight to drop the T1 bag, good thing because there was a long line to get in. I dropped the Garmin, turned on the GPS and put it in the race belt and pulled the gloves and the special needs bags from the T1 bag. Then I went to the bike, put the water bottles on the cages, the sandwich on the bento box, and the gloves went to the aero bars. I saw Miguel right outside the transition area fence, he had brought a floor pump in case my tires needed some air. I went to tell him that I wasn’t going to need the floor pump and that I would meet him outside, where Andrew was waiting.

So far, so good. And then, I go back to my bike only to discover that my special needs bags were not there anymore! WTF?!?! I looked around to see if someone might have moved them, but there was no sign of the bags. I asked around and nothing. Someone must have grabbed them by mistake. Ok, don’t panic, focus, what was on the bags? Well, I had already left the stuff that went on the T1 bag, and I had already set up what went on the bike, so just the special needs bags themselves. Ok, there wasn’t much there, they each (run and bike) had band aids, some wipes, and some painkillers, and then the bike bag had an extra PBJ and some water bottles that were actually for Miguel to have during the day. Ok, ok, I think I can live without those… well, I have to live without those, ‘cause they’re gone, so just let it go.

I made it out of transition and met with Miguel and Andrew. Later on Coach Jen and Amy joined us so we had a little photo session. Once we were all ready, we headed to the swim start. Not much happened there. I do have to say that going into the water, this was probably the most confident I’ve felt before a race start. I didn’t tear up, which I usually do before every race; I guess my mind was going to so many places that I couldn’t even focus on being emotional. Once I got in the water, I decided to hold on to a little dock right next to the entrance. I could hear the announcer urging people to let go of the dock and just go in and tread water. Well, that wasn’t going to happen; I’m a weak swimmer as it is, there was no need of getting tired by trying to keep myself afloat. So I waited there, until I heard the countdown.


The Swim

They sounded the alarm for starting, and, oh crap, I did not know that the first discipline in this triathlon had been changed to water kickboxing. I got kicked and elbowed so many times I lost count. I had to stop and fix my timing chip strap. Then I had to stop again to fix my goggles. It was rough, like I’ve never seen, but I guess that’s what happens when you have twenty something hundred people starting at the same time. I focused on making forward progress. I knew that all I had to do was get to the end of the swim before 9:10am and that was my only goal. As I went forward I was paying attention to make sure there were still people swimming around me… I was still getting some contact with other swimmers at the turnaround point, so I knew I couldn’t be that far behind. Since I didn’t think I was in trouble, time wise, I took some time to pee in the water. I apologize to the fellow swimmers for this, but really, that water couldn’t be any nastier than what it was, even if all of us decided to pee. I kept moving forward, now with almost no contact but I was still seeing a lot of swimmers around me. I decided I was still doing fine.

I took a while, but I made it to the canal; still, plenty of people around me, so no need to panic. Once I swam under the bridge I knew I was close. I finally made it out of the water and the official time marked 1:56 and some change; not my best, but not my worst either, and definitely less than 2:10, so I was really happy. (Later when I went to check my overall time, I noticed it was really 1:46:15; I guess the time was the pro’s gun time.) There was a TriZones cheering crew there; I saw Bonnie and Coach Jen and some other people, but honestly, my mind was somewhere else. Thanks to all who were there, I’m sorry if I can’t remember all of you.

I made it to my bag in the transition area, and the guy there said I could just put my gear there. I didn’t have to change clothes, so I thought I’d give it a shot. As I was putting my helmet and race belt on, this other lady said I had to go to the tent to put my gear on. That’s ok too, so I grabbed my bag and made it to the tent.

Once in the tent, I sprayed on sunblock like there was no tomorrow and geared up for the bike. There wasn’t much to do since I didn’t have to change clothes or take off any wetsuit. Still, somehow, putting my helmet, gloves and shoes on took over 10 minutes. I also made sure that the GPS was on and drank the 5-hour Energy Carolyne had put on the IM goodie bags. I had never taken 5-hour energy’s on a race, but I figured I would need all the energy I could take. When I was done I walked towards my rack and the nice volunteers had my bike already ready for me.


The Bike

Getting out of town was probably my least favorite part of the bike leg. Although the roads were closed for us in this section, there were still a lot of cars around, which make me nervous. There were also a lot of cyclists that I had to pass, because I’m a way better cyclist than I am a swimmer (but that’s not saying much). When I finally got into my rhythm, I reached into my bento box for my sandwich; it felt good to have something solid in my stomach.

Soon enough I left town and there very few cars to worry about, but I was surprised to see that there were still a bunch of spectators. Some of them were parked on the side of the street others were just out in their front yard, some were in big groups and some were by themselves, but there was no shortage of cheering. And on the few segments where there were no spectators, fellow cyclists would take on the cheering. “Good job”s, and “way to go”s as the occasional “this is Ironman” and “are we really doing this” were never scarce.

Before I hit the first aid station I found a tag partner. I LOVE having tag partners on a race. They make the ride so much more fun! She passed me in a leveled section and I passed her on a hill and then she passed me on the leveled section again; she mustn’t have been from Austin because the so-called “hills” were nothing worse than riding Parmer. I didn’t noticed passing her again, but after the aid station she tagged me again. The same thing happened after the second aid station. By the third time it was pretty clear to both of us what was going on, and when she passed me again she said “I have to stop wasting so much time in the aid stations”. I guess she did, because I didn’t see her again, so much for having a tag partner…

At some point around mile thirty-five I reached the state park. This section of the course was really nice. It had big trees that kept the area shaded and cool-ish. I noticed that the wind forecast must have been right, because I was going on much faster than expected. I thought about slowing down to conserve energy, but at the end decided to stick to my plan of taking advantage of the wind at the beginning and dealing with it when coming back.

As I progressed through the day I was very good on following my nutrition plan, which included three Clif Bocks every forty-five minutes (I had set up my Garmin to beep at every interval). I was also being extra good in the hydration plan because Coach Jen had said in the morning to drink, drink, drink, because it was going to be a very humid day. At every station I got some sports drink and I kept refilling my bottles through the whole ride. (Note to self: sports bras are excellent for holding bottles if you don’t want to be reaching down to the cages on the bike frame.)

I got to the special needs station, and there was nothing there to do for me, since my bags had mysteriously disappeared in the morning, so I kept going. Not long after that I started feeling the need to go potty, and not the “number” you can do on yourself during a triathlon... This had never happened to me during a ride. I was trying to figure out what could have caused it and then I remembered that 5-hour energy; it must have really hyped up my metabolism, darn! I should have known better not to try anything new on race day, but it was done, so no point fussing over it. I passed one aid station and there was a potty line; I decided to keep going. I passed a second aid station and it had an even longer line, I decided once again to keep going and hoped the next one was better. Well, I never made it to the next one. In between stations I couldn't hold it anymore; I looked around for a place to go on the woods, once I found it I got out of the road to a little dirt path covered on both sides by tall trees and did my business. (Thanks to Carolyne for including a pack of Kleenex in the goodie bag; I’m sure this was she had in mind when she put it there, but it saved my day!)

With that out of the way, I could go back and concentrate on the ride. I noticed that I had slowed down quite a bit from the first half, but I knew it was due to the wind. Since the average speed was still very good, I wasn’t very concerned, I just kept going. Some time after that I found a few TZers cheering along the road. Heather, Annette and Kristen, thank you for being there! A few more miles after and I had to go potty again. What?!?! Well, at least this time was just peeing, and that I had practiced doing while I rode. So I started cruising and tried to relax, but I just could not pee. Oh darn it! I didn’t want to lose any more time, but it just wouldn’t happen. When I passed the last aid station I saw that there was no line for the porta-potty, and I thought for sure the ones in transition would have a long line, so I stopped, again, and did my business. The last few miles back into The Woodlands were uneventful and I made it back to the dismount line in seven thirteen and some change.

Back into transition a nice volunteer grabbed my bike and I made my way to the T2 bags. I found mine and headed to the transition tent. I had decided beforehand that I would change into dry running shorts and keep the same top, so there was some work to do. I was also putting on socks (which I do for half-m and longer runs) and spraying on some more sunblock. Again, the nice volunteers helped me out and I was done faster this time.


The Run

I ran out of transition and followed the directions to the running loop. As soon as I started moving I knew there was something wrong. Oh, my, God! My stomach felt terrible. I could feel all the liquids I drank while on the bike moving around in my belly. It felt like there was a hurricane/typhoon/tsunami in there. I had to do something fast or I was not going to be able to run at all. At the first aid station, I looked for the porta-potty. No line, thank God! I went in and threw up all the water I could. Not the nicest part of the day, but honestly, I was so hyped by the race and by the whole day, that I’m just now realizing that I puked in a porta-potty... nasty!

After that I tried to run again. The stomach was still complaining, but at least now I could jog. Slowly but surely I kept moving forward. Since the run course was a three loop course there were tons of spectators; everyone was cheering us on! I fed from the excitement of the crowd and tried forgetting about the tummy issues. I started thinking about my time; by my estimates I had done a 1:57ish swim plus a five minute transition (yeah, right!), lets say that’s 2:05 (I can’t do math when I’m running), plus, the 7:13 from the bike plus the nine-ish on T2, let’s say that’s 7:20is, so... 9:25-9:30 up to T2. Even with my lack of mathematical skills at the time, I knew that I had enough time to walk that marathon and still finish under 17 hours. That new found knowledge gave me some peace of mind.

At around mile six the loop took us back to the canal where the swim had happened in the morning. This was the BEST part of the run course. I guess they have apartments or condos around there because there were people having house parties and offering all sorts of things to the runners: burgers, hot dogs, beer, water; I passed on all, but I was thankful for all their cheers. Also, I knew that the TZ crowd was going to be somewhere along the canal and that encouraged me to keep moving. It was at around mile eight that I found the whole crew, it was beyond awesome to have them there. Coach Jen was there and she ran a for a little bit with me. She asked me how I was doing, I told her about my stomach and she said to try some coke on the next aid station and to just keep moving. I couldn’t see how it would be possible to put any more liquids in my stomach, so I skipped the coke, but I did keep moving.

At around mile ten -a little bit sooner than expected- my knee started bothering. I knew this would happen at some point, and I knew when that happened I would have to start walking. I remember being a little bit upset about having to walk, specially since I had been going so slow due to the whole stomach issue, but then I remembered, even if I walked this marathon I would be an Ironman come midnight. So I resolved I would run while it felt good, and I would walk as soon as I felt any pain on the knee. Again, just keep moving, one foot in front of the other. At some point, the unthinkable happened, well, unthinkable for me, because of all the things that could go wrong, this was one I had not pictured: my Garmin started complaining about low battery. How am I supposed to know how slow I’m going without the Garmin telling me? Well, nothing I could do now, is not like I could stop and charge it. Hmm, breath in, breathe out, and keep moving...

It took a while longer, but I was back at the canal and everyone was still having a blast. Now that I knew where the TZ peeps were, I knew that I had to run at least the stretch where they could see me across the water, and so I did. Once out of their sight (or so I thought) I took a walking break, then back to running, and back to walking until I was on the same shore side as the TZers. I started running again, and this time, when I approached them I started screaming “I need a watch, I need a watch!” like a crazy woman. Heather and Miguel responded to my plea and while Miguel was giving me his watch, Heather was calming me down. “You are doing great! You know, even if you walk the rest, you’ll still make it.” or something Heather-ish like that. “I know,” I responded, and thanked them, and kept going. One more lap.

The last lap was the hardest. Not so much physically, but mentally. The crowd was starting to leave, there were less and less people along the course. Add to that the fact that it was now night time, and I had been up since before the sun came out. I was tired; physically tired, mentally tired. At one of the aid stations the volunteers gave us blinkies; yep, I was one of them people with blinkies. Before I had started I had hopes, slim, but still hopes that I would finish before sundown; now I only had hopes of finishing. Those were some lonely long miles to get back to the canal. I wasn’t going as fast as I would have wanted, but I wasn’t stopping either... just keep moving...

Back in the canal for the last time I felt relieved. The house parties and the cheering were still going on on this part of the course; that gave me some energy. Again, I decided to run the part of the canal where I thought people -well, people who knew me- would see me. As I was running, and I think without any deliberate intention from either of us, I found a running partner. This tall guy and I, we found the same pace and we started running together and talking. We talked about the day, about the pace, about how much longer, about don’t give up because we are almost there.

At the second to last aid station we decided to walk together and it was there when I finally looked up to see his face, I was so tired I had been looking to the floor the whole time. When I did, more than his face, I noticed his hair which was neon green. Hey! I know you! You are Andrew’s friend, he had introduced us this morning. Oh, yeah. (It was John Tuggle) He said he wanted to finish in under 15, and I said I wanted to do the same; we had twenty five minutes and less than two miles to make it; pretty good chances on any given day, not so much after a hundred and thrity something miles of continuous movement. We decided to run to the next aid station.

At the last aid station we took a walking break. “What do you think? Run all the way to the finish line?” “Yeah, lets do.” Well, it was more of a jog than a run, but we didn’t stop to walk anymore. Closer to the finish line, we could again hear the crowd and the music. We were very near. When we finally got into the finish chute I saw the race clock and I swear I saw it mark 14:59 so I sprinted like there was no tomorrow. I could see the finish line, I was crossing it in under 15 hours! Tuggle also sprinted to the finish line. I crossed the finish line, and got my medal. I was beyond happy; I did not hear Mike Reilly call my name and say I was an Ironman, but I didn’t need it, I knew I was, and still am, an Ironman.


By the Numbers

Swim 2.4mi in 1:46:15 or 2:47/M
T1 10:18, I must have stopped to put makeup on
Bike 112mi in 7:13:08 or 15.5mph, pretty good for me
T2 8:38, just retouching my makeup ;-)
Run 26.2mi in 5:35:48 or 12:49min/mi
Overall 14:54:08, I’m not sure where did I see 14:59 while racing, must have been the excitement

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Kerrville Half Distance - Race Report

Disclamer: This was a long race and this is a long race report. If you are just interested in the times, scroll down... way down.

The last tri of the year, and the one that counted the most --in my book, anyway. First of all, even before I started paying attention to the Tri Series standings, this was my A race for the year. The culmination of a full season of training, a gauge of how much (or little) I’ve progressed in order to try IM next year, and just quite frankly my favorite of all triathlon distances. Second, and perhaps more motivating for the past few weeks, the last chance to beat Nemesis at the Tri Series age group.

Who is Nemesis? You might ask... well, let me tell you. Nemesis, who has a real name, but that’s not important at this time, is the only other person left in my age group for the Tri Series. A 27 year old from Marble Falls, with whom I’ve been battling it out after I saw her, with her perfect french braided hair, passing me in the run during the Lake Pflugerville Tri. We have been pretty even in most of the races, our times being less than a minute apart, except for Couples --where she gained about five minutes on me because of reasons still unknown to me-- and Tri Rock --where I messed up big time my nutrition, hydration, pace, and well, pretty much everything on the run, and she ended up gaining 10 minutes on me. So, after Tri Rock, with all the times added up she was 18:18 ahead of me.

Now, because I usually work on packet pickup (which allows me to know Nemesis’ bib number ahead of time), and because I can have, every now and then ;-), obsessive compulsive tendencies, and because I have a lovely husband who allows me to be crazy at times and serves as an accomplice most of the time... because all of that, I’ve been stalking Nemesis in every race since Lake P. It started out casually, as most stalking does, just checking her split times after the races. Then it progressed to having Miguel check out how she was doing during the race, and finally, it fully matured to him timing the gap between us and reporting back to me from the sidelines of the race. From all the time I had invested in stalking Nemesis I learned the following: 1) she is a rookie, or at least participated as so in The Rookie Tri, 2) she is a significantly better swimmer than me, no surprise there, as I usually struggle not to be the last out of the water in my wave, 3) I’m a better cyclist than her or I have a faster bike, either way, I’m usually about a mile per hour faster than her, 4) she is, also, a better runner than me, her pace usually being 15 to 30 second faster per mile, and she keeps a steady pace, I, on the other hand, tend to get slower, and finally 5) she does out-of-town/same-day packet-pickup. I would have loved to have more information on how her training was going in between tris and how she was feeling after every race, but I couldn't find her on Facebook to friend her under a fake name...

Anyway, the thing is that, since she passed me at Lake P, and I realized she would be the only other contender for the first place in the age group --there were originally more gals in the race, but they were way slower than us two-- I’ve been wishing all sorts of good things for her. Well, good and/or harmless things. I wished for her to be the maid of honor for some wedding on one of the race weekends... for her or her significant other to have a graduation... for grandma to have her 100th birthday... for her parent’s 30th anniversary... for her sister/brother to have a baby... or at the very least, for her to oversleep and not make it to the start line. See. All good or harmless things. Well, that ship sailed and since she was still here, and registered for the Half, and clearly she’s not the type to oversleep, come race weekend I wanted her to bonk, to make a rookie mistake, to not eat enough, or not drink enough, or go out too fast on the run. Anything, that would allow me to gain those eighteen minutes back. And let me be clear, just so you don’t go thinking that I’m the bad guy here, I only wanted her to be eighteen minutes and thirty seconds slower than me over all. That’s it, no bike crash, no fainting, no DNF or DQ, just enough for me to beat her...

Well, now that my motivation has been clear, we can move to the actual race report.

A few months back, when Miguel and I were planning all the race weekend logistics, we decided to drive to Kerrville on Saturday morning, stay that night and then return on Sunday after the race. Pretty straight forward plan that would allow us both to work on Friday, it would allow me to volunteer and do packet pick-up on Saturday, go to bed early and be rested on race morning, and then he would drive me, all sweaty, salty and sore, back to Austin. Well, because of the nature of his job, he was notified ten days before the race that he had to be in Springfield (aka Middle-of-Nowhere), MO until Friday, and the earliest returning flight would take him back to Austin Saturday at 2pm. I tried changing my volunteering assignment to packet stuffing, but I guess it was already too late because I was still assigned to packet-pickup on Saturday noon. No biggie, I asked around on FB and several of the TZ peeps generously offered to take me to Kerrville. At the end of the day, I decided to go with Mohamed and we were set for him to pick me up on Friday. When he stopped by that afternoon, I was all packed and ready, but when he tried putting my bike in his rack it wouldn’t fit. I was not expecting that, but at the same time, I was not surprised, because that’s the kind of thing that happens when you have a kid sized bike. Again, no biggie, we just racked it in my car so that Miguel would bring it Saturday afternoon. We went back to Leander where we met with Mohamed’s family and off we were to Kerrville.

(Side note, huge thanks to Mohamed and his family for taking me to Kerrville and opening their hotel room doors to me. It was great spending time with them and getting to know them.)

On Saturday morning I went out to volunteer. I found Stacy, the volunteer coordinator, and told her about my bike situation and how it might or might not make it to “mandatory bike racking” on time depending on whether or not Miguel’s flights were on time and on how much it was raining on the way. Lovely Stacy said that would be no problem, that if he made it a little after 6 transition would still be open, but if not, to bring the bike Sunday morning. Good. So I called Miguel and told him that there was no big rush, to just make it to Kerrville with both him and my bike (and my car) in one piece. Once my volunteering shift was done, I hitched a ride with Nancy and Roy to leave my T2 bag and then to my hotel. Shortly after they called me to go to dinner and I hitched a ride again, this time with Julie, to go to the restaurant. It was really nice getting to see mostly everyone, if not everyone, before the race. Some had already raced and were racing again the next day... crazy people. I also spoke with the ones in my table about the whole Nemesis situation and they all have the same advice: stick to your plan, let her make the mistakes, stick to your plan. Julie gave me the most hope, assuring me that it was possible to get back the series in the last race.

At around a quarter past six, and while we still in the restaurant, Miguel called to say that he had made it to Kerrville. By the time it took him to pick me up from the restaurant and back to T1, there was no one there but the security guard. Ok, back to the hotel it is. I took all my sweet time to pack my stuff for race morning, go over my race plan, visualize all that I had to do, what should go right, what could go wrong, yada, yada, yada. I set up the alarm for 4:30 next morning and went to sleep early.

On race day morning I woke up early and got ready. At the hotel I ate a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich because that’s what I would eat if I was home and a cheese danish because it was there and I’m a sugar junkie. Miguel and I put the bike back in the car, took all of my stuff and headed to T2 to drop off my water bottle. It did feel kind of silly going to T2 just to drop the one water bottle, but it was part of the plan. Turned out it was a good thing we went there, because I was also able to lay out all of my running stuff, which I thought had to remain in the bag.  After that Miguel drove me to T1 to, finally, drop of the bike and set up my transition. I spent some time trying to find a place to put the bike, since all the racks were full, in the end I squeezed it as best I could between two other bikes. (Yes, I know, I was that person that racks way to close to you after you have already claimed a spot, but I had to do what I had to do.) I had mostly everything ready when I realized that I had set up the aero bottle, but I had not filled it up with water. Vickie and Carolyn came to my rescue and lent me a couple water bottles so I could get some water from the water monster. With transition ready I headed out to find Miguel who had my wetsuit, goggles and swim cap. I saw Red and Gayla who were hanging out on Red’s truck and asked me if I wanted to sit there to put my wetsuit on. It was already past seven, but I wanted to go pee before I got in the suit so I went to do the line for the porta-potty. Once I took care of business I went back to the truck, then I realized that the truck Red and Gayla were sitting on was not red, which meant it was not Red’s. So, whose truck was it? They didn’t know, some volunteer’s maybe, that didn’t stop me from hopping in to get suited up.

After that Miguel and I started heading out to the swim start when we heard Heather screaming at us: “Miguel, yes, Miguel, come here. Seriously, come here, I think the wetsuit is broken”. Wait, what?!?! The zipper had broken. Miguel and I tried fixing it and then Julie and Rey also stepped in; we went to the J&A’s mechanic’s tent to see if we could put it back together, but we were not successful. Heather was surprisingly calmed about it, I would have been flipping out. Well, there was nothing else to do, so we all headed out to swim start, for real this time. I could hear Logan counting down, so I knew at least the first wave was already out, but I really had no idea what time it was. We saw Mohamed there, and then, just like that, Nemesis walked by. I showed everyone there who she was and asked them to keep an eye out for her. It must have been pretty late, because Heather kept insisting we go closer to the start. As usually happens, someone approached Miguel to ask him if he was the event photographer, soon enough he was taking pictures, I was helping him with his gear... next thing I know Heather is no longer there. Hmmm, ok, it must be really late. So, I started sprinting to the start line and I saw all the purple swim caps were already gathered together, but they were not in the water, so that was good. We all started walking into the water and while I was still going down the little dock I heard Logan counting again, ok, this is not good, I am not ready. Oh crap, here we go, I put my goggles on and decided it was ok, I’d just swim diagonal towards the first buoy, and I really had no other option because before I could think about it I heard the siren.

At that time something took over me and I just started swimming. I forgot all concerns I had about my shoulder acting up, which it didn’t, or about the water being too cold, which it wasn’t... I was just swimming and swimming. At some point I looked to my side and I saw Heather, wow, this wetsuit makes me really fast! That or it was still the first few hundred meters and I was not tired yet. Anyway, I just kept swimming, and before I knew it I was at the first turn-around, a quarter of the way through. (I’m not really sure that is true, but I like to break the swim into segments... it gives me hope.) Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming. I tried to draft my way through and I saw the people from the finish line, so I must have been half-way through. Just keep swimming and I passed a few of the white swim cap men, that’s always good. I got to the last turn around buoy and I just felt great. When I finally got to the swim finish I grabbed a volunteer’s hand, and once I’m out of the water, what do you know, it was Heather next to me. Even better, I look up and I see Nemesis’ perfect french braid. Life is good; I know I can gain big time on the bike.

I got my wetsuit stripped and decided to walk up the hill. I put my bike gear on, and the swim gear in the bag and walked to the bike mount line. Miguel was there to tell me that Nemesis had just left, which I kind of knew already. So I started pedaling. Right out of transition a girl up front had a crash. She said she was ok, so me and the others around kept going. Once out in the street I was going pretty fast (for me); I passed several people, which is the only thing I like about being the last wave, and I said my ‘good-job’s and ‘have a good ride’s, but as much as I pedaled I couldn’t seem to be able to catch up to Nemesis.  Finally, after almost thirty minutes I found her, ok, now we are talking. With that out of the way I continued with my plan. Drink regularly, eat every thirty minutes; I took advantage of the wind during the first half of the loop and made sure to pedal purposefully (© Coach Jen). When the route turned into the chip sealed road, I started feeling some cross-wind, but it was not bad, in fact the only time the wind was really bad was when we got into that little street for the turnaround. Once out of the chip sealed roads I saw Elle, she was looking great. I asked her how she was doing and she was indeed feeling great, but she said she had to pee big time, and she didn’t know how to do it on the bike. Darn it! Darn inception! Now I had to pee, and I didn’t practiced that, and I’ve never been able to do that under the pressure of a race... Oh, well, I kept going; I figured at some point it would just happen.

A little after an hour into the ride I started seeing signs that I was headed back to Kerrville. Before I knew it, there was a right turn and I realized that I was at Water St headed to the finish line area. I looked at the computer and it said it was one thirty something into the ride and I figured that if I could ride at the same speed I might be able to make the low three hours for the ride, since the first loop was a bit longer than the second one. When I passed the finish line area it was a rush of adrenaline! There were so many people cheering. I saw Mohamed’s family, I saw Miguel with the camera, several TZ familiar faces and a bunch of spectators. That was great! When I passed the T2 detour, things started turning a little bit lonelier, but I did see Jenny and wished her good luck, she was also looking really good. At some point I passed a relay woman with a red jersey and said good luck; two minutes later she passed me and said good job; two minutes later I passed her again, so this time I said ‘well now we’re just playing, so, you’re it!’. I took a while longer, maybe five or ten minutes before she tagged me and disappeared ahead; she was going strong and I was sure this time I would not be able to tag her. Back into the chip sealed road and close to the turnaround I found Travis and Kim G; at some point I also saw June and Vic, not at the same time, though. And then I guess I took a turn at the wrong place, because, holy cannoli, where did this wind come from? I mean, I was here an hour and a half ago, wasn’t I? I pedaled for some time and then decided it was time for a new plan; there was no point of looking at my average speed, which was seriously dropping, so I decided on concentrating in the purposeful pedaling and let the speed be what it wanted to be. All of a sudden it started to rain, and well, that’s just lovely, isn’t it! No! No, negativity today, I convinced myself that it was raining for all of us, not just for me, and went back to the pedaling with a little more caution because of the wet roads. When I was approaching the sharp turn into Hwy 173 the volunteers signaled to go slow because there was a rider down in the curve. I tapped on my breaks and was very sad to see that the rider down was my tag partner. “Oh, no, I’ve been looking for you, but this is not the way I wanted to find you.” She said she was ok, and cheered me on. Well, she must have been ok, because she tagged me back with five miles to the bike finish, this time I knew I would not see her again, so I just said “Go get’em!”. When I started seeing signs of town again I was relieved, but also I was thinking that I hadn’t been able to pee yet. Hmm, something would have to be done.

Well, when I got into T2 and saw all that grass, a light bulb turned on. I remembered way, way back, probably my first season with TZ, reading a race report, and I think it was Little Pam’s, saying she had peed in transition while sitting down. What a great idea, I might just do the same, and no one would notice, because of the grass. So I sat down there and took all the time to put on the socks, shoes, race belt, visor... and to pee. When I was done, I drank the 5 hour energy, grabbed the water bottle and ran out. I thought I had seen Nancy, but that couldn’t be because there is no way in this world that Nancy and I are in T2 at the same time, unless she was there to pick up her bike. Later I learned that Nancy had three flats on the bike (and still placed!), so it might have been her after all.

Out to the run course, the plan was simple: a gel every three miles, water often, I would try to run the first two loops and run/walk the last two. I went through the first half of the first loop trying to keep my pace; I might have seen some people out there, but I can’t remember. Then at the turnaround I decided to keep an eye out and see if I could spot Nemesis --it’s easy for my mind to wander when I’m running, and I usually don’t pay much attention to my surroundings. Now that I was more focused, I remember seeing Coach Jen, Red, Nicky, Vicky, then back into the paved area and after the hill, Nemesis looking very strong. It was over twenty minutes after my run start, but I couldn’t tell how far into her run she was, I figured we were about two miles apart. Heading back to the finish line, and close to T2, I saw Annette cheering, and then once at the finish line area Miguel and all the TZ cowbellers were there. Miguel informed me I had a twenty minute lead coming out of the bike. Good, I just had to keep up with my race.

I started the second loop feeling good and still running; things were going well. Around the T2 aid station I saw my tag partner and high-fived her; I also saw Kristen. Back into the grass/wooded area I saw the Kims, Gayla and Sandra. When I got to the turnaround, it was about five miles and I decided it was ok to walk before the 6 mile marker, so I started the run/walk strategy. I tried to run for ten minutes and walk for one, and it was working ok. I saw Red again, then Nicky and Vicky, then Nemesis again still looking good. Hmm, I should have timed it... I saw other people around: Heather, Jill, Jenny, Elle, all looking good. At the finish line Miguel was there to report the gap had been twenty minutes, still, last time around, but that was thirty minutes ago. I sure wished I could have had one of those radios, like the guys in the TdF, with instant information, but this would have to do. My water bottle was now empty, so I walked through the aid station and refilled the bottle. The third loop was more run/walking. I saw Nancy and Roy, looking absolutely adorable together. I saw Sandra and we ran together for a while. This time, when I got to the turnaround I made a mental note of the distance my garmin was reading. I kept my eyes open for Nemesis and saw her out on the paved hill section, about a mile and a half behind me; but, this time, she was walking. Uff, ok, I have a fighting chance. Once out of the paved hill, when it was time to walk again I started feeling pain in my knee. Oh no! Not now! I walked further and then my calf started hurting. Oh crap! That’s not my knee acting up, that’s my leg cramping. Well, suck it up princess, ‘cause we are on a deadline here!

When I made it to the finish line area to start the last loop Miguel was there with new information. At the last checkpoint Nemesis had been sixteen minutes behind, but walking; it was going to be close. I told him I would try to speed up the last loop, but I was cramping big time. I started running again and went all the way out to the first aid station in the grassy area. I was out of water again, so I took the time to refill and walk. After my minute was up I started running. Once again at the turnaround I noted the distance on the garmin and headed back for the home stretch. Up the paved hill and about a mile left to the finish line I saw Nemesis, walking again, and 0.88 miles from the turnaround. Oh, I hate doing math when I’m running. I settled for thinking that was about a mile and three quarters behind me... at about twelve miles per hour if she was run/walking... darn, I really hate to do math when I’m running... that might just be twenty minutes, too close for comfort. So I really tried running the rest of the way. I cramped again and had to walk maybe for twenty seconds, but the rest was running, and when I saw that finish line I was the happiest person in the world.

When I crossed the finish line, the race clock was reading seven hours and a couple of minutes; I started eighteen minutes behind, so roughly six hours and forty-five. That was a huge PR for me, about thirty minutes less than my last Half! Forget Nemesis, I was just so excited about my time! I asked the volunteer to take me to the ice bath, which I discovered after Tri Rock, and will highly recommend to anyone. Miguel came to see me and I told him about my time, he said he was proud of me, regardless of what happened with Nemesis, and I told him I was too. And I really was proud of my race, which is not normal, not because I’m usually sad or otherwise not satisfied about my races, but because most of the time I’m like, meh! one more... Not this time. This time I really pushed myself, and payed attention to my race and how I was feeling, and I followed the part of the plan that made sense, and I adjusted what was necessary, and I had a freaking 30 minute PR!

Since I was getting really comfortable in the ice bath, Miguel left to go potty and also to get me some food. Moments later Eva walked in to ask how I was doing, and I told her I was fine, just chillin’ in the ice bath. I told her about my PR and Nemesis. We chatted for a few minutes until my toes went numb and it was time to get out of the kiddie pool. I waited for Miguel right next to the finish line, just to see when Nemesis finished. It took me forever to do the math, because, apparently, I can’t do math either during or right after a race, but I figured when the race clock read seven twenty three I would be safe. So I waited and she didn’t come across. She was either really out there still, or I had missed her while at my post race ecstasy. I later saw Coach Jen and told her about the PR and she said I could check my official time in the computers. I went over there with Miguel and he checked it out for me. Official time was 6:44:41, so thirty minutes and twenty seconds better for the distance, yey! He also checked on Nemesis, but she was showing as DNF, which I figured it meant she was still out there, so first place AG in the Tri Series, double yey!

We hung out for a while and I saw a bunch of teammates. At some point Nemesis did cross the finish line; I was happy, because I really didn’t want her to hurt herself or DNF. I’m guessing she bonked or cramped or both, I’ve been there, and it’s not pretty. Miguel said I should go and say good job or something, but it felt kind of weird to be talking to your stalkee, so I didn’t, maybe next time. We listened through the awards ceremony and headed back to T2 to pick up my stuff. Walking back we saw Shayla, and I learned that she was part of the stalking crew and was responsible for the timing while Miguel was doing the scouting. Thank you Shayla! After I picked up all my stuff and packed it back into the car, jumped in, and Miguel drove me home. And that’s it, Kerrville Half Distance Triathlon 2012.

A few closing remarks,
1) Wetsuits make you really fast! This was my fastest paced swim out of any triathlon I’ve ever done. (Ok, if anyone thinks that the course was short, just shush it, I don’t want to hear it!)
2) I definitely need to carry my water bottle (or a hydration belt) during the run. I ditched it for Tri Rock and it was a disaster, I carried it this time, and what a difference it made!
3) Ice baths and compression socks have to be two of the best things ever invented! Yes, I was tired and sore Monday, but today I can already go up and down the stairs at my place without cursing.
4) In my experience, it’s not possible to do a Half (or IM) without losing a toenail. 
5) Kinesio tape leaves some really funny tan lines.
6) On a more serious note, it really does take a village to do one of these events. A million thanks to all of the people who were there throughout the season. To Miguel for being ever understanding, sherpa extraordinaire, and my number one fan. To Jen, for putting the plan together, for pushing me and helping me achieve my goals. To all the TriZones family, for the all sweat, blood and tears that we share, and also the laughs and the cheers! And thanks in advance to Eva, we will be sharing a lot of weekend mornings together girlfriend. Here’s to IM TX 2013!

Finally, my official splits:

Kerrville 2012 vs Longhorn 2010

Swim:     46:29 (2:24/M)        52:15 (2:45/M)
T1:    3:12            5:41
Ride:    3:18:35 (16.9mph)        3:20:09 (16.8mph, but with no wind)
T2:     5:05            3:04
Run:    2:32:28 (11:38/mi)    2:53:52 (13:16/mi)
Total:     6:44:41        7:15:01

Thursday, July 19, 2012

A lesson on humility and keeping up with my schedule

So today I had the bright idea of heading downtown to Jack and Adam’s and join the shop ride. They’ve been having daily rides during the Tour de France and every day the shop ride mimics the terrain for that day’s stage (i.e. flat ride for flat stages, hilly rides for “medium mountain” stages, big hills on Pyrenees and Alps stages).

I thought, well, the ride is hilly, and my schedule calls for a hilly workout, so.... why not go check it out. I got there early and started talking with some of the other riders. They were discussing how some of the riders like to speed it up the whole time and how they don’t slow down even in the inclines and how they had averaged 20mph in previous mountain stages. Hmm, maybe this is not my kind of ride. But, since I was already there I decided to give it a try.

The first 10 minutes of flat riding were fast, but I was able to keep up, so I naively thought that maybe, just maybe I would be able to do it. Ehm, no! At the first sight of a hill, not even a mountain, I absolutely knew I was not going to make it. I decided there and then -12 minutes into the ride- to go back the same way I had come. One of the other riders had a mechanical (his chain broke) so he was also turning back. I offered to go get my car and give him a ride back to the shop, but he declined saying he was going to do some barefoot running on the trail. (WTF! but, hey, it’s a free country.)

As I was hauling back my sorry, slow butt to the car, feeling stupid for even considering that I could ride with the cool guys, I remembered there is a cross street going back Barton Springs Rd that has a somewhat steep hill going up to the Barton Hills neighborhood. Miguel and I had parked there not too long ago and I remembered it being quite a hike on foot. So, since crazy-let’s-go-run-barefoot-at-the-trail guy didn’t need a ride back, and since I was already downtown ready for a hilly workout I decided to turn into the hill to check it out. Once I was at the top, I decided to continue riding through the neighborhood streets, taking every opportunity I could to go up the hills. And so I kept riding, street after street of this unknown neighborhood, hill after hill on this impromptu ride.

I ended up riding for an hour and not feeling sorry for myself anymore. I might not be fast or powerful enough to go out with the good guys, I might never be, but I’ll keep riding, taking every mount-- I mean, hill I can at my own pace.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Lake Pflugerville Tri and Chiqui Roo’s debut

This is probably the best, and also the most uneventful race I’ve had to date.

A few weeks back, for my birthday, Miguel and a few of my alcahuete friends put some money together to help me start a new bike fund. Thanks to their pretty sweet birthday gift, and with some good old financing help, I went down to Jack and Adam’s and, after trying it out for a week, got a new Quintana Roo Dulce.

I had been using the new bike for a few weeks now, and it was obvious that it was faster than my Felt, but I hadn’t had the occasion to test just how much faster it was. So, with that in mind and in order to do some final training Lake Pflugerville Tri, I decided to go out and do the LPT bike course a week before the race. I ride around Pflugerville often and even time-trial there every once in a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was able to comfortably do the tri course at 17.4mph when my best TT speed to date had been 17 flat (and that was pushing it the whole way). With that in mind, I decided to set some goals for LPT. I played the numbers game and decided I wanted to do the 500m swim in 12:30 (2:30/M), the 14mi bike in 47 minutes (17.9mph) and the 3mi run in 27:30 (9:10min/mi) and that would leave me with three minutes in transitions to finish in an hour and a half. Other than the swim time --which wasn’t so much of a goal as it was a realistic assessment of my abilities-- I knew I was going to have to sweat it every minute of the race in order to beat those times.

Come race day I woke up extra early, as usual. Everything went according to plan, which meant we actually did make it out of the house by five and were at Lake P by 5:30. Ok, that was a little too early, considering the race started at 7:30 and I had the dead last wave at 8:09. Once everything was unloaded from the car, I made it to transition where Carolyne body marked me. Jess was also there, and I asked them about the TriZones rack, but neither of them knew where it was, so I decided to rack on the best place available, which turned out to be four racks from the bike in/out. I took my sweet time to set up transition since I had what seemed like all the time in the world. Once I was done I was heading out when I finally saw the TZ rack. I guess it was a good thing that I didn’t rack there because it was packed!

I waited patiently in the team tent until it was time for the pros to start; said my hello’s, my good luck’s, you know the usual deal. Once it was 7:30 some of us went closer to the lake in order to see the swimmers make it in and out of the water. I watched all the men start and once the women waves were about to begin, I decided it was a good time to make my way to the start line. Before I left for the start I reminded Miguel of what my goal times were, so he would have a good idea of when to expect me at the different spectating points. Off went everyone close to the start line, and soon enough there were only white caps left. We were starting 49 minutes after the Open wave, so I made some quick calculations to figure out that I had to cross the finish line before the race clock read 2:09 if I wanted to beat my goal. It didn’t take long before they send us off.

Once the swim started I went out about 100m and my goggles started to fog; it wasn’t a problem for the first two buoys, because they were pretty big and bright, but I couldn’t see the turnaround buoy, so I had to stop for a moment and clear the goggles. They started fogging again as I was turning back to the swim exit and I had to stop one more time to fix them. Other than that and some hydrilla at the end, which I was expecting, the swim was pretty uneventful. As I was running out to T1 I saw Miguel who said I was on time.

I made it through T1 at a decent pace, not the disaster that was Rookie T1, and since I was pretty close to the bike out, I didn’t have to run too much in my cleats. Once comfortable in my bike I started to purposefully pedal ((c) Coach Jen 2012) my way through. The first stretch of the course on Weiss Ln is always pretty fast because there is usually a strong tailwind. Supposedly, there wasn’t going to be any wind in Pflugerville for the race --yes, 7-8mph wind in Pflugerville is NO wind-- but I was still going pretty fast, so I was convinced the gods had decided to blow a little for me. The only good thing I can think about starting on the dead last wave, is that hardly anyone passes you. I’m a slow swimmer, so not only was I on the last wave, I also made it out of the water pretty close to last. The thing is, not only was I not getting passed, I was passing a lot of people --rare occurrence for me. In what felt like no time I was out of the rolling hills and on to the recently super smoothly paved segment of Cameron Rd, and I was again convinced there had to be some wind out there helping me out. After the making it out of Cameron and into Pecan, I decided to look at my watch. Any day that I can make it to the corner of Pecan and Weiss before 35 minutes is a good day; when I looked at the watch it read 29 something. Holy crap! That hour and a half goal is starting to feel very real! I kept on pedaling on to 130 and then around the lake to finish the bike leg. When I made it back to Weiss I looked at the watch again, it was reading 18.4 mph. Oh yeah! When I dismounted on T2, I saw Miguel and shouted something about blowing my time and being so happy. Then quickly made it out to the run.

If I had to chose just one word to describe the Lake P run, it would be boring. If I had to fancy it up, I would say uneventful. There is not much to look at, but the person in front of you, not much of a scenery, very few spectators, not even a tree. Still, one good thing about it is that you can see -and hear- the finish line from about a mile and a half out, which I find very encouraging. (Actually, you can hear the finish line all the way through). So I just focused on keeping my pace and trying not to get passed. The first goal was accomplished, the second, well, not so much.

As I approached the finish line my Garmin was reading 9:05 for my average, so I knew I was doing good in time. Then, once at the finish line, I was able to see the race clock reading 2:06:something. Yey! At least two minutes less than my goal time. I just couldn’t believe it! My teammates and I stayed until the last person crossed the finish line, and then watched the award ceremony.

Finally, at home, I was able to check the official results:
- the swim: 12:31, pretty much what I expected. I need to do something to get faster...
- T1: 2:05
- the ride: 45:18, and 18.6mph. Holy cannoli, that’s fast, very fast for me. It must have been the new Chiqui Roo :-)
- T2: 1:05
- the run: 26:16, and 8:45min/mi. Well, that’s fast, but it’s also questionable. My garmin read the distance as 2.8 miles and that would put me closer to 9:05min/mi, much more believable...

Total time was 1:27:11, almost three minutes better than my goal time. Yey for the little victories that keep us racing!