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