Liked being back at FL 70.3 this year, partly because it’s an excuse to visit my hometown and partly because I just love this race. It’s all the things I like: early in the year, lightly rolling but not too flat, and most importantly HOT! It’s hot before anyone is acclimated but that’s mostly beside the point.

Although I feel like it was just the other idea that we brought a huge team down to FL 70.3 2014 and had a most excellent time last year, the trip for me was marred for the face that I had just been injured! My parents hosted the pre-race dinner again this year and we had a smaller crew but a fun crew. Also, my brother, sister in law, and two cute nieces are living in town now so we got to spend a bit of time with them which was great!

And though I managed to swim and bike last year it just wasn’t the same. Anyways, in the days leading up to this race, I certainly felt a bit nervous but then I kept reminding myself that I was blessed to be able to do the whole race! Race morning John and I were running late and it was a bit stressful. We flew through transition and I took my three First Endurance Pre-race capsules for a bit of a boost. I have been off the pre-race for awhile, but the Crossmans reminded me how great it is. I actually switched from the powder to the capsules for this race and I like them much better. With the powder I get nervous that I will accidentally over-do it. With the capsules just pop three 45′ before the race and you feel invincible!

Swim- So I have a confession to make here. I haven’t been swimming much. Gasp! So I knew this one was gonna hurt. In retrospect, it was the hardest part of my race! I certainly have had swims ‘on my schedule’ I just have gotten out of the habit a bit. This is hard for me to admit because it has never happened to me before. In my defense I had radio frequency ablation on my bad shoulder again in February and there is really no point in swimming for a few weeks after that, as I have a lot of pain at first and using that arm is somewhat ineffective after that. Also, my schedule used to set up so that swimming was just easier logistically. So basically I got out of the habit and with my revised schedule, it took more time and effort to get to the pool and those are my excuses. 🙂 Skipping to the end the swim was the hardest part of the race!

I had joked beforehand that beating Dan Jones was my swim goal and I did. Sorry Dan, I know that it irks you! But I definitely experienced all the consequences that come from lack of swimming… going anaerobic, being exhausted afterwards, etc etc. My time was, I believe, my slowest in years, BUT it actually was not much slower than last year and last year was wetsuit legal. The real swimmers definitely put in more of a gap this year with the crazy M shaped choppy non-wetsuit setup. I was pretty far back out of the water! This swim scared me straight and I set up a swim challenge within ATC so I can be shamed into swimming a decent amount before CDA. I won’t make it through a full IM swim at the rate I’m going.

I was very happy to get onto the bike. I biked a LOT this winter and tried something different, more polarized training, upon the encouragement of advisor Brian. Some people might not like this approach because it’s a lot of easy pedaling. Being at Energy Lab as much as I am though, and teaching classes where a lot of times, it doesn’t make sense for me to count on having my workout, sets up well for lots of easy miles. Our club’s participation in the USAT NCC really took it to the next level since we were trying to log maximum miles on the bike. Finally, I had some solid company most of the time, from lots of friends and regulars, and mostly with Carrie and Michelle who also decided to ramp up their training a lot.

I also am riding a new bike this year. I am fortunate enough to be a felt ambassador and am riding the IA4. It is a beautiful bike, extremely aero, and I have my best fit yet on it thanks to Matt at Podium. With my neck and shoulder issues I have always thought I may never be comfortable on a tri bike. This is the first time I have really stayed in aero without a problem throughout the entire ride. I also have a Pioneer power meter that measures pedaling efficiency and true right left power. I have been able to use that data to really dial in my fit. Unfortunately for this ride I was having technical difficulties and had to ride without the benefit of having my correct numbers.

Despite all those positives, I went in feeling a little bit uncertain about my fitness. As much as I just said I rode a lot of miles, the truth is that all my training has been organized around adding cylinders and not maximizing efficiency (yet.. CDA is the A race). Essentially I’ve only had two tempo rides this entire year.. and I’ve only ridden outside four times this year! So without numbers and without any race pace efforts I took it a little easy. Fortunately, even being conservative it was enough to score a 3′ bike PR for the 70.3 distance. I am excited especially as I know there is more where that came from.

I have never come off the bike so fresh and I was not bored, out of breath,or in pain during the ride. I was actually.. dare I say it.. having fun. I reminded myself multiple times not to do anything stupid so I was diligent with finishing my two flasks of EFS and drinking my aero bottle before each aid station. I also tried using Base Performance instead of breaking open salt sticks with my teeth and eating the insides like I normally do. Although I have to admit I have avoided trying the product because I am skeptical of hype, I have to say that I liked it better and it was a lot easier than juggling capsules.

The goal in my mind was a 2:35 so I was super pumped to have just under on my head unit (actual race time was 2:35 and change). Great way to start!

In my race rustiness I had actually forgotten socks that morning so I had to take a few extra seconds (but worth it in retrospect) to pull on my favorite compression socks (my old 110% ones.. so sad they won’t be making them any longer!) Had a slightly slow T2 and was ready for a run in the heat! I figured going in that with the heat I would be looking at mid- high 1:30s at best. I am carrying a little extra padding from the winter too and boy did I feel it! I knew that a lot of others would be feeling the heat even more though and that the key would be to just keep an even effort.

I liked the three loops because I got to see the ATC crew and my family on each lap.  I tried to get info from them on placement but the tracker was behind so it was hard to say. I know I passed a lot of women, but after the first loop it can be hard to tell which lap everyone is on. I wasn’t catching people as fast as I wanted to either, between my winter coat, lack of run miles, and lack of heat acclimation I felt fine but like I was missing a gear or two.

It didn’t bother me too much because I know I am still ramping up and my run’s not ready (but hopefully will be by Chat and esp CDA!) It does make the race more fun though to be running down people fast at the end. Overall I am happy with the effort and excited for the year. I ended up 5th in AG and 10th OA just barely landing on the IM podium.  The times were very tight  though. I did get a rolldown slot to Austria but we’re going to save that cash for some other fun trips (like Idaho!) and hopefully Australia 2016.

Everyone from our crew did great! John had a great bike time and rocked his relay along with his team and they ended up 2nd relay (beating team IRONMAN One and scoring some pint glasses). Lots of people struggled in the heat but we’ll get used to it soon!

 

 

Rest in peace Gretchen Gill. You were a strong spunky little lady and we will miss you!