An emotional week and Harvest Moon 70.3
It's been awhile since Boulder 70.3.... I felt like training had been going pretty well. Coach had pushed up the volume, especially over the labor day weekend (23 hours of training in a week, yikes!)... My run was up and down, sometimes great, sometimes really crappy. Bike had been holding pretty steady, and swim was doing ok.
Going into Monday, I was ready for race week. I raced Harvest Moon last year as my second 70.3, and it was a doozy. Last year we had NASTY winds for the entire day. Cross winds. The worst. My time was significantly slower, because of the winds (6:52), so I was just hoping for better weather and a course PR because of that!
After I returned home from work on Monday night though, my week turned awful. My precious kitty, Keary, whose been with me every day for over 14 years died unexpectedly in my arms (I know she was old, but she's been healthy and there was no real indication that Monday would be her last day with me). It was awful. My focus was gone, and I had no real desire to do anything but lie in bed and cry. I took Tuesday off from work, and literally laid on the couch and stared at the TV. I knew that losing her would be hard, but I never imagined it would be that hard. I can't really say much more about it, or I'm going to start crying again.
Along with some other personal stuff going on in my life (relationship drama, work drama), needless to say, I didn't feel like working out this week, and certainly didn't feel like racing. Sometimes, you just have to suck it up, though, I guess.
Towards the end of the week, I convinced my mom to come out to visit for the weekend. She flew in Saturday morning. My mom is a master in getting her way, so she had hardly been her for 30 minutes and she had picked out a place to go adopt a new cat. I certainly wasn't thrilled, but I figured it was better than a big fight. Saturday afternoon, we picked up my packet, and played with the cat. Went to Texas Roadhouse for a pre-race steak dinner. When I picked up my packet, I was also able to get my race wheels back. Though then I had a hard time trying to get them back on. It was awful. I ended up throwing in the towel, and figuring that the bike mechanics could probably help me the next morning (luckily they were able to, but I took my road bike as a back up just in case, because I was having such problems with the brakes that I wasn't even able to get my non-race wheels back on).
We woke up around 4:15 on Sunday morning and got the car packed and rolled out of the house about 5:30. I had wanted to leave a little earlier, but I forgot how much time it takes to pack up the car, especially when you're taking two bikes and race wheels. We arrived at the Res a little after 6:00, which ended up being plenty of time to get the new wheels on, set up transition, and get mom situated for her marathon spectating event. It was a chilly morning, I was a little afraid that it would be a cold day, but it did warm up once the sun rose... well, a little bit. But so far at least, there wasn't any wind! So glad for that!
They closed transition and had a quick briefing down by the water. I had Mom wait on the shore while I swam to warm up a little bit. I wasn't sure if I wanted to wear my booties or not. Water temp was about 65. In the end, I swam without them, though I probably should have worn them. It took almost all of the bike before my toes weren't numb!
I was in the 7th wave for the swim, so I had to wait for awhile for our wave to start. Our wave was pretty small, so that was nice. A few 100 yards into the swim, and I could tell I had pulled away from the group. I had to stop once or so on the way out to find the next bouy. (On the way out we were swimming right into the sun). I felt like I swam a pretty straight line, though my garmin shows a few little jets in and out. Swim felt really good. About 200 yards or so before the finish line, I started kicking the legs to return the blood flow to my feet. Waited until my hand touched the sand, put my feet down and got out. I looked down at my watch and saw 23 minutes, but also 1700 yards, which is short for a 1.2 mile swim. So I wasn't sure if maybe my watch had malfunctioned or if the course was short (looking at everyone's results I think the course was a little short). My 100/yard pace though was 1:19, which is my best pace so far this season.
SWIM TIME: 23:32 (2016 was 37:51--but that too was effected by the wind)
I ran through transition, managed to get my wetsuit down with not too much struggling, and found my bike. (note to self, don't mark your bike location off the tent the bike guys set up, because when transition closed, they took down their tent. Doh). I threw on my bike shoes and helmet/sunglasses. Thought about taking some warm gear with me (I brought it all), but then decided I should be ok with out it. I haven't worn socks with my bike shoes all year, but I probably should have, my toes were numb. A few other times I was cold, but I think if I would have added layers, I just would have gotten too hot.
T1: 2:11 (2016-2:44)
Starting out on the bike, right away, I noticed that my stomach felt much better than Boulder 70.3 (current theory is that I ate too much before Boulder 70.3 started). I drank some water out of my aero bottle, and relaxed into it... the first part of the course is a false flat, followed by some hills, then a fast downhill, and then some more flats/small climbs. I wanted to stay really on top of my nutrition. I had a gu, and some of my drink (skratch + carbo pro), and settled in to do some work. The wind had mostly stayed away, so I was very glad for that. I finished the first loop and looked down at my watch and saw I was averaging about 20 mphs! Score! just had to keep it up for the second loop.
About 5 miles into the second loop, I felt the bottle on the back of my bike fall out. CRAP! At the time I thought it was just my extra bottle of water, so I wasn't too concerned. About 15 miles later, when I reached back to switch bottles, I realized it was my drink mix that had been rocketed off my bike. Damn it! That made me change up my nutrition plan a little bit. I usually get the majority of my calories from my drink mix, and then supplement with Gu/shot blocks. I had to switch it up and eat more Gu this time (which luckily, I had packed a few extra). My quads felt tired especially on the last lap of the bike, so I was really concerned that I wasn't eating/drinking enough. I grabbed a gatorade at the last aid station (which I really don't like, but I didn't feel like I had much of a choice at that point), mixed it with some water, and tried to chug as much as I could for the last few miles of the bike.
Bike: 2:43, average 20.4mph (2016--3:11--again nasty winds)
T2 was pretty smooth, ran in, threw on socks--yes warmth!, running shoes, and grabbed my race belt. Stopped in a porta potty and was running out, when I saw a few friends who cheered me on!
T2: 1:47 (2016-2:01)
Run:
I was nervous starting off the run that I was gonna blow up. Due to my injuries, the run is always a struggle for me. Everyone passes me and it can be quite discouraging. Not to mention painful. I ran out of transition, and legs felt ok (well as ok as they ever do after getting off the bike), and stomach so far was holding strong. My watch buzzed at the one mile mark with a 9:30 first mile. Oops. Bring that back a little. The next couple miles had some good hills (I still walk all the hills, just seems to work for me, and help me get a few mini-breaks). I noticed though that when I was running, I was holding about 10:30 or so minute miles. Which for me is FANTASTIC. I didn't know if I was going to be able to hold that pace the entire time, but I sure wanted to try. The weather was great, cool, but not too chilly. I was leading for athenas (or I was pretty sure I was) until about mile 4, when another Athena girl passed me. I knew she was a strong runner, and would likely get caught. It was a little bitter sweet--I was happy that I had held her off on the bike, but disappointed that I was getting caught. I had a minute of "this sucks" but then remembered that the race is only really with myself, and kept pushing on.
I rounded the first lap around 1:05 (for 6.1 or so miles), and was really happy with that. I saw my mom and some friends, and told myself I just had to keep going. Around mile 8 or so, my stomach started to give me problems. I was really burpy. I had been drinking gatorade and water at every aid station (and I ate 1-2 oreos at a couple of them, and a gel about half way through. I realized once I was on the run course, that I had totally forgotten to pack any nutrition in my race belt. Opps. I can live with whats on course, especially for the run, but I do like it when I have my own stuff better). I switched over to plain water and that seemed to help a little. I faded towards the end of the run, and was struggling to maintain around 11 or 11:15 min miles when I was running, and of course slower when I was walking the hills. BUT I figured I hadn't rested at all for this race, was over-exerted from a hard week, and that fading a little is a sign that I put it all out there right? Nothing worse then crossing the finish line and feeling like you could have done more.
I ran into the finishers shoot, saw my mom, and then had the most epic slip and slide finish ever! I actually got to really slide this time, which was awesome! Of course my shoes were soaking wet after that!
Run time: 2:19:15 (run course was only 12.5 miles or so, from what I can tell. But by pace definatley my fastest per mile--11:03/Boulder was 12:01. And probably my best half ever (in IM or not)--- previously was 2:27 at Rock and Roll Half). (2016--2:58!)
I had accidentally hit the stop button on my watch after the swim, and had to restart it, so I knew what my bike and run times were and could kinda do the math, but had no idea what my total time was. I had missed breaking 6 hours at Boulder 70.3 by 12 or 13 seconds, so I really wanted to go under that (i didn't realize at the time that the course was short on all 3 legs). After I finished, they have these little computers where you type in your race number and it spits out your splits and total time. I printed mine and about nearly fell over. My poor mom, I think she thought I was really going to faint. 5:29:15. WHAAAAT?!?! Even adjusting for the short course, by my best guess I did about a 5:40 or 5:45! WHAATTT??
Total: 5:29.15, second place! (Prior best time 6:00.12 at Boulder 70.3) (prior course time 6:52.00 in 2016)
I'm super happy with that performance, and I think I'll be riding that high for a little while. It goes to show you that our bodies are capable of great things, even when the preparation isn't entirely what we had hopped for. It should be a great sign for IMAZ, which is as of today (9/19), just two short months away! My season is quickly winding down, which is kinda strange. I may or may not run a half marathon on 9/30, and then just AZ 70.3 next month before the big dance.
It will be here before I know it! Crazy! Body was definitely tired yesterday (didn't help that the kitten doesn't like to sleep), but feeling much better today. Just a quick recovery spin tonight, and then back to training tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who came out on Sunday and cheered and supported me! I couldn't do this all without you!!
Going into Monday, I was ready for race week. I raced Harvest Moon last year as my second 70.3, and it was a doozy. Last year we had NASTY winds for the entire day. Cross winds. The worst. My time was significantly slower, because of the winds (6:52), so I was just hoping for better weather and a course PR because of that!
After I returned home from work on Monday night though, my week turned awful. My precious kitty, Keary, whose been with me every day for over 14 years died unexpectedly in my arms (I know she was old, but she's been healthy and there was no real indication that Monday would be her last day with me). It was awful. My focus was gone, and I had no real desire to do anything but lie in bed and cry. I took Tuesday off from work, and literally laid on the couch and stared at the TV. I knew that losing her would be hard, but I never imagined it would be that hard. I can't really say much more about it, or I'm going to start crying again.
 |
| Keary cat. Another 15 years with you would not have been enough. RIP my darling. |
Towards the end of the week, I convinced my mom to come out to visit for the weekend. She flew in Saturday morning. My mom is a master in getting her way, so she had hardly been her for 30 minutes and she had picked out a place to go adopt a new cat. I certainly wasn't thrilled, but I figured it was better than a big fight. Saturday afternoon, we picked up my packet, and played with the cat. Went to Texas Roadhouse for a pre-race steak dinner. When I picked up my packet, I was also able to get my race wheels back. Though then I had a hard time trying to get them back on. It was awful. I ended up throwing in the towel, and figuring that the bike mechanics could probably help me the next morning (luckily they were able to, but I took my road bike as a back up just in case, because I was having such problems with the brakes that I wasn't even able to get my non-race wheels back on).
 |
| Idk if getting another cat so soon was what I wanted. But she's here. I think her name is going to be Riley. |
I was in the 7th wave for the swim, so I had to wait for awhile for our wave to start. Our wave was pretty small, so that was nice. A few 100 yards into the swim, and I could tell I had pulled away from the group. I had to stop once or so on the way out to find the next bouy. (On the way out we were swimming right into the sun). I felt like I swam a pretty straight line, though my garmin shows a few little jets in and out. Swim felt really good. About 200 yards or so before the finish line, I started kicking the legs to return the blood flow to my feet. Waited until my hand touched the sand, put my feet down and got out. I looked down at my watch and saw 23 minutes, but also 1700 yards, which is short for a 1.2 mile swim. So I wasn't sure if maybe my watch had malfunctioned or if the course was short (looking at everyone's results I think the course was a little short). My 100/yard pace though was 1:19, which is my best pace so far this season.
SWIM TIME: 23:32 (2016 was 37:51--but that too was effected by the wind)
I ran through transition, managed to get my wetsuit down with not too much struggling, and found my bike. (note to self, don't mark your bike location off the tent the bike guys set up, because when transition closed, they took down their tent. Doh). I threw on my bike shoes and helmet/sunglasses. Thought about taking some warm gear with me (I brought it all), but then decided I should be ok with out it. I haven't worn socks with my bike shoes all year, but I probably should have, my toes were numb. A few other times I was cold, but I think if I would have added layers, I just would have gotten too hot.
T1: 2:11 (2016-2:44)
Starting out on the bike, right away, I noticed that my stomach felt much better than Boulder 70.3 (current theory is that I ate too much before Boulder 70.3 started). I drank some water out of my aero bottle, and relaxed into it... the first part of the course is a false flat, followed by some hills, then a fast downhill, and then some more flats/small climbs. I wanted to stay really on top of my nutrition. I had a gu, and some of my drink (skratch + carbo pro), and settled in to do some work. The wind had mostly stayed away, so I was very glad for that. I finished the first loop and looked down at my watch and saw I was averaging about 20 mphs! Score! just had to keep it up for the second loop.
About 5 miles into the second loop, I felt the bottle on the back of my bike fall out. CRAP! At the time I thought it was just my extra bottle of water, so I wasn't too concerned. About 15 miles later, when I reached back to switch bottles, I realized it was my drink mix that had been rocketed off my bike. Damn it! That made me change up my nutrition plan a little bit. I usually get the majority of my calories from my drink mix, and then supplement with Gu/shot blocks. I had to switch it up and eat more Gu this time (which luckily, I had packed a few extra). My quads felt tired especially on the last lap of the bike, so I was really concerned that I wasn't eating/drinking enough. I grabbed a gatorade at the last aid station (which I really don't like, but I didn't feel like I had much of a choice at that point), mixed it with some water, and tried to chug as much as I could for the last few miles of the bike.
Bike: 2:43, average 20.4mph (2016--3:11--again nasty winds)
T2 was pretty smooth, ran in, threw on socks--yes warmth!, running shoes, and grabbed my race belt. Stopped in a porta potty and was running out, when I saw a few friends who cheered me on!
T2: 1:47 (2016-2:01)
Run:
I was nervous starting off the run that I was gonna blow up. Due to my injuries, the run is always a struggle for me. Everyone passes me and it can be quite discouraging. Not to mention painful. I ran out of transition, and legs felt ok (well as ok as they ever do after getting off the bike), and stomach so far was holding strong. My watch buzzed at the one mile mark with a 9:30 first mile. Oops. Bring that back a little. The next couple miles had some good hills (I still walk all the hills, just seems to work for me, and help me get a few mini-breaks). I noticed though that when I was running, I was holding about 10:30 or so minute miles. Which for me is FANTASTIC. I didn't know if I was going to be able to hold that pace the entire time, but I sure wanted to try. The weather was great, cool, but not too chilly. I was leading for athenas (or I was pretty sure I was) until about mile 4, when another Athena girl passed me. I knew she was a strong runner, and would likely get caught. It was a little bitter sweet--I was happy that I had held her off on the bike, but disappointed that I was getting caught. I had a minute of "this sucks" but then remembered that the race is only really with myself, and kept pushing on.
 |
| I never look good running...lol |
I rounded the first lap around 1:05 (for 6.1 or so miles), and was really happy with that. I saw my mom and some friends, and told myself I just had to keep going. Around mile 8 or so, my stomach started to give me problems. I was really burpy. I had been drinking gatorade and water at every aid station (and I ate 1-2 oreos at a couple of them, and a gel about half way through. I realized once I was on the run course, that I had totally forgotten to pack any nutrition in my race belt. Opps. I can live with whats on course, especially for the run, but I do like it when I have my own stuff better). I switched over to plain water and that seemed to help a little. I faded towards the end of the run, and was struggling to maintain around 11 or 11:15 min miles when I was running, and of course slower when I was walking the hills. BUT I figured I hadn't rested at all for this race, was over-exerted from a hard week, and that fading a little is a sign that I put it all out there right? Nothing worse then crossing the finish line and feeling like you could have done more.
I ran into the finishers shoot, saw my mom, and then had the most epic slip and slide finish ever! I actually got to really slide this time, which was awesome! Of course my shoes were soaking wet after that!
Run time: 2:19:15 (run course was only 12.5 miles or so, from what I can tell. But by pace definatley my fastest per mile--11:03/Boulder was 12:01. And probably my best half ever (in IM or not)--- previously was 2:27 at Rock and Roll Half). (2016--2:58!)
 |
| Finishing the run (i think?) |
Total: 5:29.15, second place! (Prior best time 6:00.12 at Boulder 70.3) (prior course time 6:52.00 in 2016)
I'm super happy with that performance, and I think I'll be riding that high for a little while. It goes to show you that our bodies are capable of great things, even when the preparation isn't entirely what we had hopped for. It should be a great sign for IMAZ, which is as of today (9/19), just two short months away! My season is quickly winding down, which is kinda strange. I may or may not run a half marathon on 9/30, and then just AZ 70.3 next month before the big dance.
It will be here before I know it! Crazy! Body was definitely tired yesterday (didn't help that the kitten doesn't like to sleep), but feeling much better today. Just a quick recovery spin tonight, and then back to training tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who came out on Sunday and cheered and supported me! I couldn't do this all without you!!
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