Arizona 70.3

The helmet made the flat courtney pic... but not the race... DOH!

The goals for AZ 70.3 were pretty simple. Don't get hurt. Have a good race as a last one before AZ, see the parts of the course that would be the same. And a bonus goal would be to break 6 hours, since I had missed that goal by a few seconds at Boulder. I can put a check on all those boxes! Success!

Left at the crack of dawn Friday morning and got to AZ without any troubles. A few trianimals came down with me. Carley, Kris, and Dean. I've said it a million times, but I'm so thankful for the friends this sport has given me. And especially finding trianimals this year.

We hung out at the condo, got checked in at the expo, had some dinner and just relaxed Friday. Went to bed pretty early since we had been up early! Saturday, we got up and got a quick bike and shake out run done. Checked in our bikes, drove the bike course, did some errands and got our stuff together. And watched ND absolutely destroy USC! BOOM!!

trianimals in AZ!

Enjoying meeting facebook friends in person!

Got up Sunday morning about 4:10am or so. Got in the car, and had some trouble getting to the venue because of closed roads. Finally made it, and realized walking from the car that I didn't have my helmet. FUCK. I prayed that the vendor would be there and I could by one. No such luck. I wandered over to what I thought was the bike store tent to ask them if they sold them. Turns out it was a tri team tent. I asked if anyone had an extra helmet. I was in full on panic mode. Some guy spoke up and said he had ridden down to the venue but wasn't racing and I could use his. I thanked him so much, tried it on, and it fit like a glove. I literally didn't have to adjust it an inch. After making sure it was ok with the rules, we devised a plan that I would hand it to my friend Andy as I ran out of T2.   Andy and I met on a triathlete group on facebook about a year ago when I had made a comment about ND, but until this weekend we had never met in person.  It's amazing how this sport brings total strangers together, my race was made possible by a total stranger, and Andy agreeing to help out so I could race.  Neither of them had to do that.  But I'm so thankful that they did!  I took some deep breaths. Got my transition set up and got ready for my swim wave. I was in the third or fourth to last wave, so I had awhile to wait.

waiting for my swim wave to start

Swim---
Just as my group was getting ready to get in, I saw Dean getting out of the stairs. I yelled for him for a second and then got in to swim to the start bouy. The water felt pretty good and was pretty dirty. Glad I went with my dark goggles as the sun was coming up. Got to the start bouy and had to wait about 5 mins before they let us go. Start was pretty calm. I got out front quick. One girl hit my feet a few times, but other than that was calm. They put the swim waves 8 minutes apart which was great. I caught people, but I had a good few minutes without anyone which is much better than other races where we are only a few mins apart.

I honestly always feel like the swim is super long. Lol. I felt like I swam pretty straight. The bouys weren't too hard to see. We had a little bit of chop, but not too bad. Got to the end of the swim, and made my way to the stairs.

Running into T2

Swim time: 29:35. About a minute slower than at Boulder, but a lot of things could have caused that. Looks like everyone was a little slow. Good enough for first in my age group though and second female overall, 17th overall (men and women)

T1: pretty routine here. Got wetsuit stripped. Got my bike stuff on and ran out. Time 3:04

Bike:

So no joke the bike course has about 65 turns. And at least 10 u turns over the 3 loops. I don't have very good bike handling skills. So I was nervous. I wanted to hammer it. But I also wanted to be careful around the turns. I didn't want to ruin IMAZ by crashing bad... that mission was accomplished. Bike felt great. My nutrition plan was right on. 2.5 bottles of drink mix, 3 gu packets, and a salt thing added to one of my bottles of water. Every aid station, I would grab a water, dump half of it on me, the rest in my bottle, and then chuck it by the end of the aid station.

The course is mostly flat, which played to my strengths well. I spent a lot of time passing people  because of my late swim wave. I swear I didn't see another woman pass me.  I knew that women in my age group would pass me on the run, but I kept trying to push the bike, figuring that I could at least gain some time there.

Towards the middle of the third loop, I was just ready to get off the bike.  My butt was hurting a little bit, and my quads were starting to get a little fatigued.  I downed some extra salt, and really focused on being sure to get enough liquid and calories in on the last part of the bike course.  I was happy to make the final turn and get in the "finish" lap instead of the "lap 2 and 3" lane.

Bike split: 2:48.07 (2nd in age group, 29th out of all females, and 318th of all males and females)
I didn't realize until after the race, that I was actually leading my age group going into the run.  That's never happened to me before!!! Ever!! I knew this bike course played to my strengths in the flats.  I can't wait to spend some time really working on turns and come back and rock it even more.  I think this should really count as a bike PR.  Boulder is technically my PR at 2:47:41, but this course is actually 56 miles (boulder is only 54), and actually had more elevation gain (though admittedly in hills that were not as long as in boulder).

T2:  So I ran into transition, switched my shoes, grabbed my arm coolers, race belt, and held on to my helmet.  I was actually really surprised that the volunteers didn't notice.  But they sunscreened me down, and I handed the helmet to Andy to give back to the guy who was so kind to loan it to me.  T2 time: 2:08

Run:  I ran real quick into a porta potty (forgetting to lock it of course, so two people busted in on me), did my business and then was off to run. 

Those who follow this blog know that I'm not a runner.  Far from it.  My leg limits me alot there...But I've made pretty big strides in my run this year. Before the race, I said I really wanted to have a great run as a confidence booster for IMAZ.  I'm most worried about that damn marathon at the end of the race!

Starting to run the legs felt a little awful, but I told myself that is almost always the case.  Just calm down, and let the legs settle in.  They seemed to do that around the mile mark.  My goal was to try and keep all my miles under 11 min pace AND to not walk anything but the aid stations.  Some may find this hard to believe, but I've actually never done even a sprint triathlon without walking!

I've been hurting a bit in my hips and back lately.  I could tell my hip wasn't 100% when I started running.  It just felt a little bit off.  But it didn't feel so bad that I couldn't power through it.  Just mostly kinda tight.  Otherwise the legs felt pretty good.

At each aid station, I took water and dumped it on my cooling sleeves, ice in the bra and hat, and then a cup or two of cold water, gatorade, and coke, and I did base salt about every other mile or so.  I didn't eat any gels or solid food.  I just didn't feel my energy level lowering, so I thought I was ok.  I know I'll need to do that for the run at IMAZ, but I've practiced that alot in training, so it should be fine.

I should mention that it was HOT HOT HOT on the run.  The high while we were out there was about 92 degrees.  Plus no shade, plus concrete all around.  It doesn't make for the best running situations, BUT honestly, in some ways I think it helps me in comparison to my competitors.  I'm not a runner.  But I can suffer.  I don't mean that to disparage from anyone else.  And I'm not sure if it's full training, or just my body adapts better, or mental toughness, or what it is.  But last season my best run was at Tempe 70.3, where it was 95 and 100% humidity and people were dropping right and left.  And this year, it seems like a lot of people struggled on the run because of the heat.  I'm not saying I didn't suffer, trust me I did.  But I managed to get through it.

I didn't quite hit my goal of keep every mile under 11 minutes, but I did a pretty good job of holding even splits, and all were under 11:30.  I found that I was comfortably holding about 11:30, but that if I keyed in and pushed myself, I could get back into the 10 minute range.  We circled the water we had swam in earlier that morning, which is like torture in my opinion.  I really just wanted to get in and swim back to the finish. 

I finished the first lap, and remember thinking that wasn't too awful, and I could do it again.  I was a little annoyed that even the runs had a few out and backs....lol...  I can't say that I remember much about the second lap.  I remember that I wanted to walk, but I didn't let myself... I was GOING to get through the whole thing running (except aid stations).  I was proud of that.

Finishing the first lap of the run

I got back to the beach park, and we ran (of course uphill), around the park and then down the finish line.  I was so happy to be done.  I about collapsed into the arms of a volunteer, but managed to stay up right, get my picture taken, and then meet up with everyone.

Run: 2:23:08. This was where my big improvement came.  My best run in a 70.3 before this was at Boulder (I'm not counting harvest moon, since the course was so short), at 2:37. 

Total: 5:46.00.  Good enough for a 14 minute PR (all from the run! Slightly faster transition times made up for the little bit of extra time on the swim).

I had wanted to break 6 hours after just missing breaking it at Boulder.  I was shocked that I ended up that much under!! When I got my phone back and looked at results and saw that I was 9th in my age group!! I've NEVER been in the top 10 in my age group.  I've never even been in the top 20!! 

We stayed for the roll down of world championship slots.  This year it's in South Africa! It would have been really cool to go, and in some age groups it rolled down a few spots, but not in mine.  Oh well, wasn't meant to be.  I'm still THRILLED with 9th place and 5:46!  It's a great way to end my half season!

Up next of course is IMAZ.  Just 27 days away.  Time to really focus and finish up the last final details!  Crazy!!

T3!

Breakfast the morning after.  Ooops.  And that bacon is to die for!!

 Arizona full numbers came out while we were still in town.  Eerie.  Being at the venue about a month before hand is making this feel really, really real.  Just a couple more weeks and I'll be heading down again for the full!