Pewaukee Fun!
This race is a special one for a couple reasons: First, it was my best friend's FIRST triathlon and the first time I have experienced racing with a friend. Second, this marks my 20th triathlon I have participated in. And lastly, it was my best Olympic place to date.
This summer I have taken the risk to sign up as an "Elite". Leon's was my first "Elite" race and this is my second. When registering you can sign up as an Age Grouper, or an Elite. My wonderful coach (Jen Harrison) has a ton more faith in me than I do in myself and she continues to push me to the next level. I feel like I am in limbo in my Triathlon abilities. I am a pretty solid Age Grouper in small races, but I question if I am at that "elite" level yet. I am glad that I continue to step out of my comfort zones and take on these challenges because it is paying off.
This race is a small race so the few elite men and women all started together. I was talking to a girl next to me before stepping to the starting mat to run into the water. I had asked her if she was a strong swimmer (trying to get an idea if I could swim off her feet or not). She told me that her swim is her strongest area of the three. She then proceeded to ask me mine. I am still unsure. I always thought I was a strong runner but it seems like running is always injuring me in some way which holds me back. This race was no different. The week prior to this race my knees had been achy. I thought it was due to my new bike shoes and the positioning being "off". As the week went on, the irritating feeling kept progressing above my right knee. I used my TENS unit to help wake up my quad and alleviate some of the discomfort. I know part of my problem is lack of strength. I thought I have been doing better lately, but I guess I still need more. Going into this race, I was worried. During my jog on Saturday it did not feel good, but I figured as long as it doesn't get worse during the race, I can finish.
Meet My Pal Spaude
My fabulous pal Spaude (Alyssa) and I met my freshman year of college. The game of soccer is what brought us together.
We started to go on runs together. The pace would always get faster and faster because we were trying to keep up with the other one not even realizing who was actually keeping the pace. We always competed against each other, but in a good way- always helping to push each other to the potential that we believed the other had.
As you can see she was always the cool one, while me... I was the weird one
My pal Spaude here has become a fantastic runner! She has qualified and raced in Boston and I had the privilege of running my first half marathon with her. We talked the entire way and had a really good time during those 13.1 miles. After the race we said to each other we wished we could run together all the time because it makes it so much easier. We live in two different states making our time together precious.
So fast forward a few years and I had started doing triathlons and she would always say, "I want to do one too!" But never found time to register. Until finally, she had the motivation- coming back to competitions after having her first baby. Yup, that's right- she decided that 4 months after having her baby she would do her FIRST triathlon. (Don't worry- she was well prepared after running a half marathon prior to the triathlon and averaging 7:xx's!!!). This is great motivation for my own "post-baby" (whenever that happens...). See... friendly competition :)
And here we are. I am reflecting on what a wonderful experience it was to race with my best friend. So let's dive into that.
Pre Race
It was really fun being able to answer her questions and help her out along the way. I really enjoyed that aspect of this race. I still feel very new to this racing world that I still have tons of my own questions, but to be able to realize I do have a decent handle on it gave myself a little more confidence.
We drove the bike and run course on Friday before the race together. I forgot this race was going to be in Wisco and not in the beautiful "Flatlands" that I call home. So while driving the course, I realized this wasn't going to be the flat course I had envisioned. It wasn't anything compared to Syracuse, but I had to wrap my head around the fact this race was going to be more challenging than I had anticipated and not as fast as I had once hoped.
Matt and I were able to stay with Spaude and her husband on Saturday night before the race. Her husband Steve made a killer dinner for us and then Spaude and I went out to the grocery store for a little pre race snack. She reminded me yet again I was in Wisco while referring to me as a "FIB" while I drove out of the Meijer parking lot... (always laughing while we are together).
As I mentioned in my last blog, I can never sleep before a race. Matt and I are big UFC fans and it seems as though there is always a big fight card on the night before a race. This has become a tradition that we watch the fights and it helps me dose off to sleep, keeping my mind off of the race. Well, if you are a UFC fan, you know that it was not just any UFC night, it was UFC 200= a pretty big deal. At about 10:45ish I had to go upstairs because I was too distracted in actually watching the fights. Once I went upstairs, I still didn't sleep. The last time I checked my watch it was 2am and the alarm clock went off at 4, but I felt like I was awake before the alarm even went off.
Race Day
I had read in someone else's blog that they eat PBJ before a race. I pretty much gag down oatmeal before races and thought a PBJ was a genius idea. Maybe I would be able to actually enjoy eating on race morning. It was a success.
We get to transition and it was pretty cool having my friend with me the whole time. Usually Matt and I have to split up to set up our transition areas and do what we need to do. With Spaude, we did everything together. We set up her transition area and then mine and then did a warm up together. (Although- I did do the swim warm up on my own :)
Swim (800) 14:34 (I had 13:43 on my watch)
So that girl that told me her swim was her strongest area- she wasn't lying. Her swim is essentially what kept us a part the rest of the race. This race is a run in start and I started towards the back of the elite group. I am trying to gain that confidence for the next level. It seemed like they were gone pretty quickly from the start. As I started to sight to the first buoy, I thought I had a really good line and I noticed there was a pack of swimmers further out to my left. I trusted my own sighting and stayed tight to the course, but I am really never sure if I am accurate, or if I should be going with that group. Either way, I turned the buoy and realized I was still with other elite swimmers and didn't feel so bad. There was a time I think I settled in a little too much when I should have been strong the entire way with such a short swim. On the last turn buoy you were sighting directly into the sun which wasn't helpful. I believe I passed one of the females on the turn and got some distance. Coming out of the water I really had no idea where I was within the ladies.
Bike (21 miles) 1:01:38
I was alone for pretty much the whole bike. I knew I didn't want any females to pass me, and I needed to catch whoever might be in front, so I chugged along as best I could. This race was a time trial start as well. What that means is even though I started in the first wave with the Elites, there could still be a female that started 15 minutes after me, and I wouldn't know if she was beating my times or not, so I had to keep moving. I noticed I was over my "planned" watts, but I felt good and because it was a shorter race and perfect weather, I wasn't too worried. The hills slowed me down here and there. An area I do need to get better at. As I approached T1 I took off my shoes and proceeded to stop at the dismount line (still need more practice with the moving dismount). I was able to run very smoothly in with my bike which was a positive for me.
Run (on my watch it showed short of 6.2) 41:25
To prevent any further knee pain/discomfort, I put on a knee strap/brace before the bike to keep my knee cap in place. I started to run out of transition and so far so good. Matt was at the start of the run and told me that the first place girl was about 1 minute ahead of me. I believe I pushed hard on the run, but I wonder if I held myself back a bit because of my knee. I felt comfortable at a certain pace and didn't want to press my luck to make it worse. The first 2 miles or so is an out and back section and I knew I would be seeing the first place girl at some point to get an idea of our gap. The first time I saw her it felt like there was a pretty solid gap between us. I kept trucking along as I thought there could still be other females who started behind me that could catch my time. After the 3 mile, the next couple miles were all up hill. The only good thing about that was I knew we were coming back the same way so I would have the down hill to finish. We ran past the finish at the 3 mile and there was a spectator that yelled to me, "You're catching her". I got a little excited and hopeful that maybe I could catch her. I saw 1st again and she seemed a little closer than the last time I saw her, but I didn't know where the next turn around point would be. As I made my way out of that turnaround, the guy directing us told me that I was going faster than she was and that I was making up ground on her. The next time I saw her, I felt like these people were all lying to me, but I looked at my watch and thought if I keep my pace, maybe by the 6 mile mark I would catch her and it would be a mad rush to the finish. Unfortunately, the distance was shorter and I didn't get the chance to get that time and distance I needed.
As I was approaching the finish line I saw 1:59:30. I had planned to be around the 2:00 mark with these distances and as soon as I saw that number, I wanted under 2:00. I did it.
Final Results: 1:59:53, 2nd Overall Female
First place and I were pretty close other than our swims.
She swam 12:05 compared to my 14:34 and she pretty much held that lead. T1: 1:22, me- 1:16 Bike: 1:03,me- 1:01:38 T2: :59, me-1:02 Run: 41:03, me- 41:25
I was very pleased overall with this race. I was super happy that my knee didn't give me too much trouble and I was able to make it through the race. And I was SO HAPPY TO CHEER ON SPAUDE AS SHE CAME IN TO FINISH! She had a great race too!!
Spaude was 1st for the 30-34 Age Group! And 11th Female! Not bad for her first time ;)
And she beat my run by 13 seconds... And the competitiveness begins again! :)
I am a firm believer that this race recap will not be the only time you are hearing of my friend Spaude. I believe there will be many more races in our future.
I have to say a HUGE thanks to my wonderful husband who is always supporting me. While I was crying (literally) about my knee and the frustration I was going through pre race, he was there telling me how much he believed in me. I really need to start believing in myself, but in the meantime, his belief along with others' helps carry me through.
