Pleasant Prairie International Triathlon

Another fun local race with great weather, but this time a flat and fast course.  Thanks to these factors, along with a competitive field and strong VQ athlete and spectator support, I set a nice PR and won some prize money to boot!

After coming off an 'A' race (Ironman 70.3 Kansas) just 2 weeks earlier, my nerves for this race were low.  I was looking forward to the camaraderie you get with a local race, as well as a good workout.  Of course, as I always admit, my competitive spirit was still there.  I'm always looking to reach new levels in competition and within myself.  This race was no exception.  I saw the finish times of the winners from the previous year (2:13 and 2:14) and knew they were racing again this year.  Those times seemed like a bit of a stretch for me, so I was hoping for at least 3rd... top 3 win money ;)

With an hour drive up north, the 3 a.m. wakeup came early.  But, eating a home-cooked prerace dinner and sleeping in my own bed the night before a race is a rarity and totally worth the early alarm.  It really was a strange feeling- just hanging out, watching a movie at home.  I almost forgot I had a race the next day!



Heading out for a quick warm up (green cap)


We got to the race site a little after 5 and the first wave went off at 6:30.  ONSITE parking!!!  Another rare treat- this is an underestimated feature of a good race.  No shuttles, no stress.  We set up our transitions, made a few trips to the port-a-potty and then got suited up for a warmup swim.  I dilly-dallied in transition area too long and heard the announcement for people to start getting out of the water as I was still pulling on my wetsuit.  I ran over, got a quick couple minutes of swimming and was the last to exit the water (just setting the stage for the race ;)

SWIM:  My wave went off at 6:49 and included Females 34 and under.  There were about 70 or so women in the wave, but somehow it didn't feel crowded.  I never got kicked, punched or swam over.  I don't know if I even got touched!  The water was smooth as glass and perfect temperature.  I got into a good rhythm and really enjoyed the swim.  The best part about it was that I had a good picture of where I was and where I was going.  I think this had a lot to do with my new goggles.  My favorite race goggles were accidentally taken at the last race and I was forced to try something new.  The old ones were socket-type and mirrored to reduce sun glare.  The new ones are clear with larger coverage.  No leaks, no fog and a wider view.  Sometimes change is good!  So, since I could SEE, I knew there were several women ahead of me that I would have to catch on the bike and run.  I exited the water with a swim time of 27:15 (1:48/100)- not a fast time, but decent for me. 

As I ran up the beach, pulling off my my cap and goggles, I heard Dave Noda (part owner of VisionQuest) tell me Michael just exited the water and to go get him!  It's a running joke about the 2 of us.  We always finish within seconds of each other and because we always start in separate waves, we don't know it until the results are posted.  Michael beat me by 7 seconds and 39 seconds at the last 2 races.

BIKE:  My first time racing with power and I was looking forward to having those numbers as a guide.  Since joining VisionQuest, I've learned the importance of power and power-to-weight ratio on the bike.  Because I am light and have a 20 minute threshold output of 215 watts, my power-to-weight is pretty decent at over 4 watts/kilogram.  However, I was not fresh for this race and did not expect to see the numbers that I would have liked.  I tested on Tuesday and my average power was 20 watts lower than usual.  The rule of thumb is to ride about 90-95% for an international distance race.  On a fresh day, that would be 183-193 watts.  With my recent test result on tired legs, I'm looking at 167-175.  This is just a guide, however, and I ride mostly by feel and perceived exertion.  The course was flat and the wind was light.  I focused on a smooth pedal stroke and staying aero.  The result was good.  Another solid split of 1:06:45 (22.6 mph, 168 watts)- over 1 mph faster than I've ever ridden for this distance and good enough for 3rd fastest bike split overall!



starting the run



T2:  Thanks to a recent 'Transition Clinic' led by Coach Dan Litwora, my T2 was seamless at 58 seconds.  I've learned that, at this level and especially in shorter distances, the race can be won or lost in transition.  Both my transition times were right on par with the elite level athletes and that comes with practice.  I heard Noda again letting me know that Michael was just up ahead.  He started 3 minutes before me, so as long as I cross the finish line less than 3 minutes after him, then I'll have bragging rights ;)  But, my focus was on the women.

RUN:  I worked hard on the bike and didn't know what I would have left for the run.  But, from past experience in this race distance, I can usually pull out a good run despite a solid bike effort.  I didn't know where I stood in the women's field at this point, but I did know that because I started in the 1st wave of women that any female in front of me was certainly beating me.  There were a few out and back sections on this run, so I had the ability to see who was there.  I counted 4 ahead of me.  I had some work to do.  About 1/2 way in, I passed the 4th place girl, Karin of Well-Fit (another local race team).  She was friendly, let me know the girl up ahead in pink shorts was in 3rd and to 'Go get her!'  So I did.  I didn't know at the time that she was in the 40-44 AG, so I didn't have to just pass her, I had to gain 5 minutes on her!  But, I had 2 more women ahead of me.  They didn't seem within reach, but I kept up a solid pace.  All of my mile splits were steady at about 6:15.  My last 2 splits were 5:56 and 6:07.  As I was coming around the back side of the lake with less than a mile to go, I heard the announcer say Michael's name.  I looked at my watch and it read about 35:30.  I crossed the finish line with a run split of 38:20 (6:10 pace)- Fastest overall run split and another 10k PR!

My overall finish was 2:14:36 and 3rd place female.  I couldn't be happier with my performance and the result.  Everything came together for me in this race and I am continuing to see personal improvements in every aspect of the sport.  It's nice to see my hard work paying dividends.  Oh, and I beat Michael by 11 seconds.  He'll get me next time ;)

I have to give a shout out to Kimberly Goodell for looking out for me at the awards ceremony.  There was a mix up in the timing tent and 3rd place was announced as another woman, who was actually a DNF.  Kimberly, the overall winner, went out of her way to get the problem addressed.  That was so sweet and a true indication of her character.  Thank you, Kimberly- you are a winner in more ways than one! 

 

Ironman 70.3 Kansas

Despite not having tapered my training in the weeks prior, I felt fairly confident going into my first 'A' race of the season.  I did have 1 reduced training week, but the 2 weeks prior to that were my biggest training weeks to date at 16 hours each and the 2 longest rides I've ever done at 80 miles each.  These training weeks gave me the confidence in my fitness level, but left my legs less than fresh.  Coach Dan explained that because it's early in the season, it is more important to be as fit as possible than to be as fresh as possible and that I will have more taper for my races later in the season.  This is fine with me because, at this point, I need as much time on the bike that I can get!

To go along with the theme of this spring/summer weather, severe storms were forecast for early on race morning to last throughout the day.  They talked about a good chance of hail and tornadoes and I wondered if we would even race.  That type of thought process worked well because it took away some of the nerves and excitement and I slept like a baby for 5 hours until my 3am wake up.  Overnight, the storms decided to change course and passed just to the south of us!  We saw them off in the distance as we drove to the race start.  It was GO TIME!!!

Michael and I at the swim start

We set up T2, then T1.  I got a quick 20 minute warm-up run in and then headed down to the water.  The pros went off at 6:30 and my wave went at 7:06.  

SWIM:  This was the most brutal swim I have ever experienced.  I was kicked and punched like never before at the start.  I swam wide to avoid it as much as possible.  As soon as we got a few yards out, the water got extremely choppy.  I breathe to the left when I race and that's the direction the waves were coming from, so I took in water with almost every breath I took.  To make matters worse, my goggles fogged up- with that and the chop, I had a difficult time sighting and was probably zig-zagging all over the place.  To mentally get through it, I kept telling myself how much better it will be once I hit the turn-around and the waves are coming from the other side.  Well, it only got worse!  The waves were so big and frequent that they were crashing over my head and I was STILL sucking in water.  I tried not to get too negative, but I just could not wait until the swim was over.  It felt like it was never ending, but I knew I would be fine once I got out of the water and on the bike.  My swim split was 39:47- slowest ever and far from my goal of 33-35 minutes.  It was comforting to see/hear later that most people were ~5 minutes slower than usual (including the pros) and there was even talk that the swim course may have been long.

55.9 miles to go!

BIKE:  I was really looking forward to this bike course.  We drove it the day prior and the roads were open, smooth and hilly.  Just the kind of hills I like, too... long and gradual so you can get into a groove.  I stayed in an aggressive position for the downs and really took advantage of every ounce of speed I could get.  I was fairly conservative on the climbs, staying in the saddle, knowing that I have 2.5+ hours of riding ahead of me, as well has 1.5 hours of running.  I did not want to blow up too early.  I felt like I was doing a descent job of pacing.  I started to feel the burn in my legs not too far into the ride and this was a nice reminder that I need to do more training in the aero position.  Those muscles were not used to this.  About halfway through the ride, I made a friend ;)  A 38-yr-old woman passed me and we leap-frogged back and forth for the remainder of the ride.  We'd have a short conversation about the race each time one would pass the other.  A big shout out to Shea for your encouraging words- you rock!  About 3/4 into the ride, I was passed by a 33-yr-old... where did she come from!?  I was shooting for top 3 in my Age Group and didn't know where I stood at that point, but couldn't afford to let one go.  I rode my own race, but kept her in sight.  She was out of the saddle on every hill and I knew she would feel that on the run, so I'd get her back then ;)  My bike split was 2:43:29 (20.55mph), a few minutes off my original goal of breaking 2:40:00.  The winds were tough, but not an excuse.  I still have plenty of room for improvement on the bike.

Mid-way through the run and feeling the burn

RUN:  Ahhh... my comfort zone.  The goal here was definitely sub 7 minute pace.  I felt good for the first half of the run and all of my splits were well below 7 minutes.  I passed a couple girls in my Age Group that I saw, but didn't know how many more were ahead of me.  There were lots of sharp turns and out-and-backs in this 2 loop course, so I had the ability to see who was in front of me as we passed in opposite directions.  I didn't see anyone in my age group within reach and my last 3 miles were a little slower at just over 7 minutes each.  The final out-out-back seemed never ending.  I was so ready to be done at that point and wanted so bad to find that final turn-around.  Once I did, there was a little over a mile to go and I felt like I was dragging it in.  When I came around the final corner and saw the finish, I also found a huge burst of energy and sprinted it in.  Where was that energy 20 minutes ago???  My run split was 1:30:19 (6:53 pace).

Me and Chrissie Wellington at the Finish Line

I crossed the finish and saw Chrissie Wellington, multiple World Champion and 3-time winner at Kansas.  As she put a medal around my neck, I almost started crying and told her it was an honor to meet her and Congratulations on her race.  She was amazing.  I cannot brag enough about her.  She stayed until the final finisher came down the chute and ran along side her for those final meters. 

I finished 5th in my Age Group in a time of 4:56:55, within a minute from the 3rd and 4th place girls.  I had no idea they were right there!  After chatting with the 4th place finisher, also name Adrienne, at the awards... she said the same thing!!

Overall, a fun race and a great day!  We got so lucky with the weather.  Perfect temperature... a little windy... but so much better than hail and tornadoes ;)  It was icing on the cake when I learned that the Ironman podium goes 5 deep (thanks for that info, Michelle).  And turns out the top 2 finishers already qualified for the World Championships at previous races this year, so I got a rolldown slot!  Now I have plenty of motivation to get even faster!

Top 5 Females 30-34

Michael and I with Kristy at the finish

A huge THANK YOU to Kristy, the spectator of the day!  I know I looked mean on the final miles of the run, but I really appreciate you running around all morning cheering and taking pictures.  It was so nice to have a familiar face on the course.  Watch out, Mom and Lindsay, you have some competition for the Best Cheerleader award ;)  And look out for her at future triathlons.  She is an up-and-comer in the 25-29 Age Group... and a FASTY!!

Also, a huge Congrats to Michael on his 2nd Half Ironman finish and 20 minute PR!!  WooHoo!

Galena Triathlon Race Weekend

Most fun race weekend... Ever!  I didn't put a whole lot of pressure on myself for this race and was mostly just looking forward to a good time in a beautiful area with a great group of people.  Although, I did have a little anxiety the day before the race trying to figure out the logistics.  There are 2 transitions to set up and T-storms forecast for the night before the race as well as on race day.  The big decision was... set up the night before and have my belongings exposed to the possible elements... or set up the morning of and have to deal with driving back and forth to the 2 transitions on race day.  We opted to leave our bikes to save ourselves the morning hassle, which proved to be a fine decision since the weather held out till race day.

This was a fairly local race- 3 hour drive from Chicago.  Michael and I headed out early afternoon on Friday.  We went straight to the swim start/transition 1 to pick up our race packets and rack our bikes.  We ran into several familiar faces while there, which was nice, and ended up grabbing dinner with a couple fellow VQers at Vinny Vanucchi's in town.  Downtown Galena is TOO CUTE!  I wished we had more time to walk around and check out all the little boutiques, etc.  But before we knew it, it was 9pm.  We checked into the hotel, laid out our race gear for the morning, and then to sleep.

I got a solid 5 hours of sleep plus 2 hours of 'not sure if I was sleeping or awake' sleep.  With my recent sleep issues, I'll take it.  Still, I felt groggy and less than awesome on race morning.  We had our free continental breakfast, drove to transition 2/finish area to setup our run gear, parked at the remote lot (big grass field) and boarded a bus to the start.  Everyone was chatty and full of energy on the 17 mile drive. Michael and I were really enjoying the view- green, hilly countryside and farmland with cows, horses and goats roaming around.  It reminded me of Ireland.  It was about a 30 minute drive and we arrived at the start a little before 8am.  The first wave went off at 9am, so we had a little time to do a quick 10 minute ride and short run to get loose.  My wave (F30-34 L-Z) went off at 9:36 and since the swim was only 600 meters, I was able to watch the first several waves start and finish their first leg. This was a nice distraction, as I was feeling my usual 'whatever' feeling at this point.  I usually get neutral-to-negative energy right before the race and during the swim, but I shake it off once I get on the bike and the race really begins for me.

SWIM:  This was the first triathlon swim that I didn't get punched or kicked.  Other than the cold water (60 degrees), it was a fairly enjoyable swim.  I got into a good rhythm with sighting every 4 strokes and did a decent job of swimming a straight line.  Still no rain at this point, but it was cloudy and that made it easier to see.  I was out of the water in ~10 minutes (10:32 official split) and into the rocky transition area.  Helmet and sunglasses on, socks and shoes on, wetsuit and goggles in the transition bag and off I go with my bike.

BIKE:  You mount your bike just prior to the first hill of 8% grade.  I was warned this was a hilly course, but didn't have the chance to preview it prior to the race.  I quickly learned that hilly was an understatement.  This course was SO FUN!  The roads were smooth and curvy and you were either going 30+ mph down a hill or grinding a low gear up one.  There were no flats, but a few soul-crushing false flats.  It started to rain about 1/3 way into my ride, but I was actually not too bothered by it.  I was a little more cautious on sharper turns, but those were few and far between.  I felt like I was pacing pretty well, but I know I lost some time on some of the long downhills.  Being unfamiliar with the course was a major disadvantage.  I found myself sitting upright and even braking a little on some of the steep, winding downhills because you could not see what was up ahead.  The last mile or so was all downhill and I coasted into T2 after ~50 minutes of riding (18.6 miles).

RUN:  My 2nd transition felt pretty smooth.  Unfortunately, the time didn't take for the results so I never got my official T2 or run splits.  The run starts on a super steep downhill and I felt like I was just arms and legs flailing out of control.  Then it went right into a steep uphill.  It wasn't until after about the first mile that I finally found my legs and a little bit of a rhythm.  I enjoyed the run, but had a hard time pushing myself to the limit with the terrain.  With about a mile to go, I saw coach Dan on his cooldown with another one of his athletes.  I was flying down a hill and I don't think he liked the fact that I had enough energy still to smile and wave ;)  The last mile was mostly downhill and the finish line just popped up around a corner out of nowhere.  I've never crossed a finish line with this much left in the tank.  I was a little frustrated with myself because of that.  According to my watch, my run split was 26:08 for 4.3 miles (6:05 pace).

After a few minutes of chatting at the finish, I went out for a cooldown with Michael and another teammate, Josh.  We ran the run course backwards and then hung out under the tent at the Awards Party.  We had good food, but no sun yet.  I was still soaking wet and freezing!  Another lesson learned... leave some dry clothes in a protected bag at T2 for after.  The sun eventually came out and I soaked up every ounce of it I could get... and of course ended up with some pink shoulders afterward- oops.  We had several teammates collecting Age Group awards and a few top 3 overall finishes.  Go VQ!  I finished as the 2nd Overall Female and collected what would be my favorite finishers' prize to date... a 2 night stay in a 2-bedroom rental house of my choice in Galena!!  Yay- now I get to come back for a training weekend!

A little grilling and hanging out on Saturday evening and then some rest for another hilly ride on Sunday.  It was warm and sunny to start and we split off into a guys group and a girls group.  The girls 'group' consisted of me and Shannon.  We had a great time riding the hills of Galena and couldn't get over the views atop some of the long climbs.  It was super windy and threatening storms.  With the amount and intensity of storms/tornados recently, I was a little anxious about getting caught out there... especially when it started to get dark.  Fortunately, we made it out unscathed. 

Overall, a fantastic weekend!  I am learning from every experience and took alot away from this weekend.  This was great practice with the 2 transition setup, which is what I think I'll be dealing with on my upcoming 'A' race in a few weeks.  But, most of all, this was a great reminder of why I really do this stuff... it's fun!  VisionQuest is comprised of amazing talent and personality... I'm proud to be part of the team.