Santa Cruz 70.3 Race Report

I decided to finish up the triathlon season with the Santa Cruz Half Ironman. Overall I finished 5th in my age group and 30th woman overall.  Not a bad way to end the first season in the 25-29 age group. I was a tad nervous to age up but it is a very fun experience to have to push so hard in competition and the finish is that much more rewarding. 

For now I am signing off the triathlon scene to focus on a few more trail runs and a marathon in November. Any more swim and bike is for fun and cross training, woohoo! I don't have any triathlons on the radar jut yet for next year, so feel free to leave a few suggestions. 





Swim

I don't always wear neoprene pantyhose,
 but when I do, I wear Blue Seventy

I absolutely love being the first wave in the swim, a few guys from the next wave caught us but as a whole it was a short span in the washing machine then a wide open course. Really happy with my Blue Seventy Fusion suit, after a short cold shock it warmed right up and didn't let too much water into the sleeves. 

Having the dock at the center of the swim allowed for some easy spotting. Also beneficial because staring out into the vast ocean provides a bit of an existential crisis, which I just don't have time for. I generally try to avoid ocean swims but this one went very well with a  total time just over 40 minutes.

What I do wish I had done differently would be to have some sandals or something waiting. The run to T1 was a third of a mile and part of it was on cobblestones. I neglected to do so thinking it would violate the rules about outside assistance, but there were many lined up at the exit. It turned out OK this time but is good to remember for the future.

Bike

WEEEEEE!!!!

The bike is always my favorite, while this one was marred with small annoyances I still got to climb up in the rank from 32nd to 5th. My handlebar tape decided it didn't want to be there anymore and my gear box kept opening up to say hello. Luckily both of these issues were easy to fix while on the go and were more noisy than anything else. My bento box full of caramel Bonk Breakers stayed shut and that's what matters most!

This course was less hilly than some I have done since coming to the Bay Area but was not without its tough parts. Right at the 20 miles mark as a decent 2 miles climb with the remainder being rolling hills. Best way to handle this kind of course is a power meter. Maintaining as consistent a power output as possible keeps the energy output lower, leaving more to finish the run. Hills will require slightly more to go up but ensure you take the recover time on the downhill when pedaling is not as effective. Using this methodology, I finish up the bike after 2:43 and get ready to run to the finish.

Run

The first photo, with a costume change!

This run felt down right perfect. I PR'd my half marathon time with a 1:45 finish and managed to maintain the 5th place I had gained on the bike. There was some touch and go with a few other runners but I dropped the last one for good with 3 miles to go and just had to hold on to the finish. As a forewarning to anyone considering running this race, the run finishes with a 3/4 mile stretch on the sand and has a two mile stretch of trail running right in the middle. My Bocos might have been a better choice for these stretches but the Distance Elites, as always, held their own. This also might be the first race where I put more Ruby's on after the finish to protect my feet from the sand in my socks!

See you all next year!

Full Vineman Race Report- Wine Goes Well with 140.6 Miles of Racing!

She tracked me down at the finish!

Another 140.6 miles in the books! Vineman was an very well organized local race and provided some beautiful scenery for the 11:49:40 I was out there for. That time got me to first place in my age group (Female 25-29) and fifth overall. Not quite on the overall podium but closer than ever before. Just have to keep trying!

Swim/Slosh Leg

Like a surprise group hot tub

Stepping into 72 degree water when it's only 50 degrees out is absolutely amazing. Nothing else makes me that excited to pop a wetsuit on and hop it! This swim was my first time doing a multiple lap swim which certainly broke up the monotony. Unfortunately, all rivers and lakes are low here right now, so most racers had to run the turnaround in the shallow water. Not much to be done about that and at least everyone had the face the same obstacle, so an even playing field. Ultimately I did a 1:20 swim, which is in line with my Ironman Texas time from last year. I would like to be swimming closer to a 1:10 time, I will let you know when I figure out the secret to that.


Bike Time!

So... I somehow thought this course would be 1,200ft of elevation gain. I really though I had found the race route from MapMyRide and couldn't help but think "1,200ft? Excellent! I am way over prepared for that!"

Pictured: Not 1200 Ft of Elevation Gain.

Imagine my surprise on course when I can't figure out why I am going 2mph slower than expected. I was able to make myself feel better when my Garmin told me I had completed 4,938ft of elevation, but it was a bit discouraging during the race. I just decided to hold my power numbers where they needed to be and the ride would be whatever it ended up being. This gave me a 5:38 bike time, which put me in line with the front running women. As far as I can tell I came off the bike in 7th or 8th place overall.

A few wineries at the back end were offering free tastings for participants, but it seems inappropriate to stop mid race. Maybe next time. For now I will stick with Bonk Breakers and PhD Nutrition during races. 

Newtons make me smile

The Lydia Shuffle

Almost done! The run course was split into three out and back loops. I spent a few miles doing this math in my head (it gets difficult to do at this point) and each loop is about 8.73 miles, and each leg is 4.37 miles, which is totally doable. Running 4 miles is definitely doable. Original plan was to run to each water stop and take a short walk break as I grabbed a drink and snack. However, there's nothing quite like 112 miles on the bike to make a molehill look like a mountain.

The loped course allowed me to see my Big Sexy teammates beast moding it through the course. Congrats to everyone on their great finishes!

Diablo Trails Challenge 50K Race Report

Long time no see!

Lookin' fresh

I know that I just had a post last week but I had some back-to-back races this month! However, these two races were very different beasts. Sunday I ran my very first ultra marathon at the Brazen Racing Mt. Diablo 50K and, while I can't really move today, it was an excellent experience. I finished up 10th overall woman with a time slower than I predicted (7:26:30 and 8 Bonk Breakers later) but rewarding all the same. I went into this race thinking "Well, I have done an Ironman, so I can do this right?" Whole different story, and while the mental play is about the same, this was one of the more physically tolling races I have done. I certainly wished I had some NormaTecs waiting at the finish line!

Brazen Racing really impressed me with how well this race was organized and I cannot thank the volunteers enough! 


To ease the description I broke the course up into a few sections:

 

Newton make trail running shoes to! BOCO!

Section 1: The flattest part

This section I held pretty strongly, only a few uphills worth walking on but mostly kept up a good jog pace and completed the section with a sub 11 min/mile average. That downhill got a little rough with a blister deciding that was a really good time to show up on the end of a toe, but nothing a band aid and some extra Ruby's Lube at the aid station couldn't fix. I spent most of this section with a few other runners making the course a lot less lonely than I expected. 


Section 2: Where I made the most gains

Here I was picking up girls left and right. I set it up as a mental game where I would run to different 'finish lines' and then have a walk break. Very similar to a walk/run marathon plan, but with a whole lot more walking. Regardless this worked really well and I was in the top 5 women but the time I reached the first summit and held on to it until the second. I also got a handful of gummy bears. YUM.

 
Section 3: The technical downhill

Oh boy. Nothing like a rock slide areas followed by an 8 inch wide soft trail with poison oak on both sides to keep you on your toes. I had be pumping myself up for the downhill and seeing this very tricky slow path was a bit of a mental punch. It was here where my overall placing (and age group) dropped down to my final placement.

 

Section 4: The hill I conveniently forgot.

My legs are not happy here, I was waiting for a wide open fire road going downhill at a steady pace. This hill was super rude and just popped up out of nowhere! Luckily I get to the top of this final ascent and know that no matter what I can finish because there's only 6 miles left. I can run 6 miles right? For sure.

Section 5: The final haul

This wasn't the rewarding easy downhill I had wanted but rather six miles of feeling my dead muscles bounce around. I met a rattle snake, named him Jeff and swiftly ran away. I was holding longer run intervals for the last few miles but unfortunately still taking a couple walk breaks to get there. I crossed that finish line and laid down immediately. A lot of runners were much more confident in their footing coming down and this is definitely something I want to work on. I think it's a matter of trusting your eyes and your feet as you get more comfortable on the trails.

 

Notice: I did not pass out.

Overall I learned a lot and already know trail runs are something I would like to see more of in my future. I would definitely make an effort to have taller socks and will be practicing my descents. Can't wait to do another!

HITS Napa 70.3- Kicking of the 2015 Season

Good chance to rock the new Zoca kits!



This race was intended as my opener/warm up race for the 2015 season. My goal was a top ten overall finish and age group win, neither of which happened but I did lay it down and go as fast as I could that day. This course was definitely a lot of fun and it also gave us a good excuse to go to Napa for the weekend! The huge benefit of the HITS race series is they had all four race distances available so both Meg and I got to race in the same weekend and have ourselves a weekend getaway.






Meg starts the swim

Swim:

The swim was beautiful, very clear and clean water with a course oriented away from the sun. A tad on the cold side (mid 50s) but nothing a long sleeved wetsuit can't handle! I rented my wetsuit this time around, as the one I own is short sleeved but the BlueSeventy is peaking my interest. The long sleeve gave me a little extra buoyancy and didn't restrict my swim stroke at all. Swim time came in at 37 minutes, which is a significant improvement over past races but I'd like to be consistently putting out sub 35s some day. Better keep working! Time was still good enough to get me on the bike sitting in the top third.




Bike:

After a bit of a hold up trying to get my wetsuit off (no strippers at this event, strictly family friendly) I was off and away! As most people who follow this blog know, the bike is by far my favorite. This race was no exception, quite hilly but I was able to maintain an average power about the same as my normalized power at 170 watts. Bike time was 3 hours even, which might seem slow compared to my past race times, but did get me a top five bike split.

I broke one of my cardinal rules which is now new gear on race day but this was my first outside ride with my new Cobb Saddle and I have to say, totally worth the risk. Not a single comfort issue all race. In combination with some Ruby's, I was able to focus just on my power output and not worry about other issues.


Always good to start with a "wake up" hill





This course was also a good confidence builder as there were two turnarounds and I was able to keep track of my overall positions. I was sitting at 6th off the bike and ready to go for a podium.

Run:

At first the run was going pretty well, I had a good pace going, was keeping my heart rate under control on the hills, shoved a Bonk Breaker in my face, all that good stuff. Now to come clean, I started feeling some knee pain after a long run about a month ago and this was my first run since then. I taped my knee up during the transition (any tape I had on under the wetsuit was in a soggy pile in transition) and when it stayed on I had no problems.

 

And then I had some problems.

So KT tape is meant to have some time to set before movement, however in transition time, ten minutes isn't going to work. It unfortunately all came off in a ball of sadness at the third water stop and I had trouble from then on out. 7 miles later, I had fallen down to 11th spot overall and third in age group with a total time of 5:48.

What's ahead for me:

I am biting the bullet and going to a sports doctor to get my knee looked at. I am still hoping to compete in the Diablo Trails 50k Challenge this Sunday but also know that no single race is worth a season ending injury so we will se what the doc says and I will keep everyone posted. It is a race I trained very hard for so everyone keep their fingers crossed that I am told to take an aspirin and walk it off.

In the mean time, if I run Sunday, I will be running to support Save Mount Diablo. You can find my donation page here!

Ironman WC Kona Race Report 2014

Well guys, this was a tough one. I was looking for another sub-11 race but did not come in mentally prepared to make that happen. Every leg of the race took much longer than expected for various reasons but it all boils down to underestimating the course difficulty. Overall I did finish, 21^st in age group with a 13:02 time. It is time for me to take a bit of a break and recover but the next season will be a new age group so I’ll have to get speedy!

Pre-Race Week

Hanging out in a volcano crater, for funsies. 

We got to Kona a week before the race and got to see some amazing sights. Good news

about vacation is you can keep busy all day but still sleep plenty! We got to snorkel, zip-line and hike all around the island!

Food wise, fish here is excellent. Sushi is one of the most affordable dinners on the island. We did pack a lot of dry goods (cereal, quinoa etc…) which saved a lot on costs.

Race morning

This one luckily was a bit calmer than the morning of Ironman Texas. No long bathroom line and transition was right at the start line so we didn't have to factor in a long walk. We got there and were ready with plenty of time to wait.

 

Swim

All is well and good before I hop in

By far the most emotionally charged swim start I've been in. We had about five minutes treading water listening to drum beats and waiting for the cannon to go off. The anticipation along with the excitement of seeing the other three waves start made me a bit antsy on the start line. I knew coming into this race I would not be the first out of the water by any means so I tried to just set up a steady pace and finish it up. I felt great in the water, a bit choppy but nothing like Galveston was. The salt water also introduces some interesting factors like the face numbness and taste. Overall I came out in 1:35 which was far from what I was hoping for, but I looked forward to getting out on the bike course.

Bike

I started off very excited to get on the bike. It’s the leg I am typically best in and enjoy the most. At first it seemed like it would be great! Held a good pace the first hour, even in some of the hills and I felt less discouraged than I did immediately after the swim.

Then around mile 30 the winds picked up.

Now, I know everyone said the course was windy but I figured ‘Hey it’s windy in Texas I’ll be so prepared!’ I quickly learned my mistake. While Texas coasts have a strong and steady wind, Hawaii has a strong and steady cross wind with frequent gusts that were storm worthy. At one point I was going 8mph DOWN a hill pushing into the wind and a gust took me right out. I failed to keep myself upright and was only 40 miles in at this point. Mentally this was starting to break me and I pushed through the remainder of the bike course for a 6:30 total time.

Unfortunately I planned nutrition based on my past race times and only brought three Bonk Breakers which was enough food for about 5 and a half hours which put me in a bad starting position for the run.

Run

At this point I was just mentally pushing myself to finish. This entire course was well beyond the difficulty I expected and I was not prepared and not proud of that. I did know that I did not come to Kona to DNF and so long as I had any say in it I was going to finish.

First ten miles is relatively flat with strong crowd support and I was simply trucking along. Getting to see Meg and several family members along the way helped significantly. It did get a bit difficult once the sun set (6PM in Kona) and I strongly recommend bringing a headlamp or flashlight for this race if you plan on having over an 11 hour race. Good news is the entire way back from the energy lab I could hear the finish line crowd getting louder and louder. I start my trek down Palani and see Meg who has a whole crowd riled up. This helped with one last flat stretch that was much longer than expected. We all know that you have the run the last stretch though because everyone is watching after all. I got through the finish.

Lessons learned:

• Just because the water is calm on Friday doesn't mean it will be Saturday. Never ever assume race course conditions.
• This is not a course for small riders to ride deep rim wheels. Reducing the cross section would have likely helped more than having the aero wheels.
• Also not a great course for long-tailed TT helmets. The wind sweeps up underneath and it pulls up and strains the neck the entire ride. A Rudy Project Wing 57 would have been much more suited for this race.
• There are only two stations for sunscreen, if you burn easily consider carrying some or covering up. I also brought a sample size tube of Ruby’s Lube which helped when the run just kept going.
• Always pack more food than you need, you never know what the course has in mind. 

     Might be a while until the next check in, everyone enjoy the holiday off season!

Road to Kona built by bricks

Here we are with less than 7 weeks to go until Kona! I swear these things creep up a little faster every time. Same as with Ironman Texas I do my 'super brick' at about 8 and 4 weeks out from the race.
 
You might have noticed the lack of updates. Since Ironman Texas I haven't had any big races or workouts. I have however been out of town the last four weekends so didn't get any run over 15 miles in or bike rides over 70. As such this brick went about as you would expect it to with that little preparation.
 
The idea is fairly simple, 1 hour swim, 90 minute rest, 5 hour bike, 90 minute rest and 2 hour run.
 
The Swim
 
Yesterday my Garmin swim watch decided it was done functioning (waterproof is a relative term) so I don't have an exact lap count. I believe it was somewhere between 3100 and 3300. The swim itself was fairly uneventful, but an eventful swim is rarely a good thing. At this point in the year swimming become the preferred exercise just because it's air conditioned.
 
After a quick rinse off I polished off a Bonk Breaker and a few glasses of water and I was ready to ride!

 
The Bike
 


I cannot stress enough how important
it is to reapply sunscreen

I struggled through this one. It was a few too many steps beyond warm and I couldn't seem to pull my
power up where it needed to be. I did a 160 average at Ironman Texas and only managed 138 during this. While some of this can be attributed to the heat, it was also my longest ride in a month so I accept some fault. I finished with 93 miles under my belt and ready to sit. Thankfully Ruby's Lube made it so I could still sit! 
 

Throughout the ride I finished off two more Bonk Breaker bars and 9 bottles of water or Gatorade and 1 bottle of Bio Fuse. The bonk breakers cut into 8 pieces a bar are perfect for a bite ever 15 minutes.


 

The Run
 
So 5PM rolls around and it's still 102 degrees out. Running in the heat is an entirely different animal and it's important to remember that your paces are dramatically affected by heat and humidity. Always watch your heart rate and base your pace off that.

I started the run with three miles strung together at which point my heart rate wouldn't stay below 180bpm so I started taking a walk break every mile. 10.9 miles in two hours is not ideal but I'll take what I can get!






Every pizza is a personal pizza when you
believe in yourself.

Post Workout

As always it was vitally important to rehydrate after this. I finished the run feeling severely hung-over, but four tall glasses of water and some electrolyte later I was like a functioning human being again. I will probably follow the long workout with a short easy spin the next day to get the muscles more recovered.

So my road to Kona is built by brick. Not all of them are pretty ones but they all move me forward regardless. This was not a particularly fun experience but it's an important part of getting ready for Kona!

Ironman Texas Race Report: on the road to KONA!

GOING TO KONA!

I am incredibly happy with the results of this race. I won my age group division by a comfortable margin and met my 'A' goal of an 11 hour finish time. Now we get to go to the big island in October! 

The week before:

I had a very careful diet in the week leading up to the race. One bottle of Biotta beet juice each day and my favorite pistachio cranberry quinoa for lunches. Packing is always the most stressful part so my whole room was covered in lists of different categories of things and small piles of stuff. Looked entirely ridiculous but I promise it worked out. Good news is it all fit into my Ogio transition bag.
Picked up Megan (my one-woman manager and cheer squad) up on the way to race check in so she could keep me on track!

Race morning:
I showed up when the transition opened so I could fill up my tires, put bottles on the bike and check my power meter. Lo and behold, the battery on my power meter isn't working. After a few minutes of panic, I decided to take the battery out of my heart rate strap and put it in the power meter as my only advantage in triathlon is the bike leg. I figured I could decide while riding if I wanted to switch it back before the run started and that there was no use in panicking more when there was nothing I could do to change it. Lesson learned for next time: bring the extra batteries on race day. 

The mile walk to the swim start wasn't bad, just had to follow the giant masses of people. Once we got there however, we saw the longest line I have ever seen for a pot-o-potty.

Swim:



When I still had 30 minutes to go.

I just barely made it in the water on time! A very long wait (40 minutes) for the bathroom left me with 4 minutes to get to where I needed to be. I was hauling myself across the parking lot, Meg pulling my wetsuit all the way on while running and pushing through the crowd. I got to exactly where I wanted to start and the gun goes off!

So I started far off to the right, about three rows back and just sighted off the farthest buoy I could see. As a whole the swim went quite well and I finished up with a 1:16 which is twenty minutes faster than last year. I will concede that the wetsuit helps quite a bit.

Bike:

As soon as I pulled my helmet out of the bag the visor popped right off (Hint: this is not supposed to happen). Took a minute or two trying to pop that back in before I got started and about four miles down the road it pops out on one side so I just tucked it into the ear flap and rode like that. Overall not a major issue, just irritating.

Power wise I held a normalized power of 161 watts and an average speed of 21mph. The way out had a slight tail wind and some strong headwinds made the return difficult. Course was wonderfully supported with water stops every 10-15 miles and great volunteers directing turns.

On the bike I ate three Bonk Breaker bars and 8 scoops of Perpetuem drink mix along with 4-5 bottles of Perform and a bottle of water. Luckily I had Ruby’s Lube keeping me comfy in the saddle.

Run:

I spent the last ten miles of the ride thinking about how I could minimize the time spent on getting the one working battery I had from my power meter into my heart rate strap for the run. Again, big thanks to the volunteers that helped with this! Unfortunately once I got on the run I had a sneaking suspicion my heart rate strap was not reading correctly.

As I am pretty sure I'd be dead.

So I ran the marathon just by feel, walking the water stops and finishing with a 4:15 marathon. I drank 1-2 cups of water at each stop and ate 5 Roctanes in total along with a few orange slices. The cooler weather and carpeting in transition made for a much more pleasant run than last year.

I thought I had no possibility of making my eleven hour time goal, but I came around the corner and saw I had 20 seconds to get up that last hill. I was pushing so hard I thought I might cry and everything just hurt but I crossed that line, meeting my time goal by the skin of my teeth with a 10:59:50 total time.

The fourth leg:

I drank a pint of beer at the finish, for a variety of reasons I strongly (STRONGLY) discourage all you future Ironmen from doing the same.

Lessons for Kona:

1. Bring the extra batteries the morning of the race.
2. Get to the port-o-potty with at least an hour until race start.
3. Don't ever panic. The race will happen one way or the other just roll with it.

Check out who shows up at minute 7:30!