I suppose it's good form to write a race report before I race again, so here goes. In case you aren't keeping track at home (I don't blame you, it's tough enough for me to keep track of my own life!) Greg and I raced "Tri in the Buff' on Saturday - a tri, despite it's name, discourages nudity and actually makes you wear pants (or shorts. Or a trisuit. Or a swimsuit. Your call). I know. I wasn't a fan either, but hey, rules are rules. We last did this race as a sprint tri in 2006, which turned into a duathlon, so in order to preserve the fun nature of trying new shit this year, we decided to sign up for the Olympic race.
Seemed like a good idea at the time, until the week before the race my mom landed in the hospital twice (she's ok now), I managed to inhale poison ivy during a pit stop of a run and spread a rash all over my lower body (Yes, ALL over. I didn't stutter) and we threw a birthday party for twelve six year olds. Who said life was boring? Thankfully, I got in a few awesome workouts during the week, and felt that even with all of the life stress, I might just have it in me to race.
Race morning dawned freaking early (3am) and humid as shit. We headed out to Evangola State Park, which is about a two hour ride - and a half hour into the ride I realized that my Gatorade endurance was still chilling in the fridge. Epic fail. I tallied up my caloric bank, searched in my tri bag and found Shot blox from Placid 2018 (those don't go bad, right?) for the race and figured I would be alright, if slightly low going into the run where I could slam some Gatorade at the aid stations. On the fly problem solving, am I right?
We checked in with little fanfare and headed to transition to set up our gear. I took a little course recon (it only took me four tries to figure out the bike out, because I've got the smarts), checked out the lake (fingers crossed no swim cancel this time!) and got all my crap together. Spent a little time with the Tri Go guys pre race, discussing important things like did mermaids actually exist, bad cake, the world record for holding your breath, and why my swim stroke sucks (they get a lot of mileage out of the latter. I'm always happy to supply them with something to keep them amused, of course).
Greg and I donned our wetsuits about 7:30 to get in a little warm up, and after 14 years of racing I did something I've never done before - I tore a giant hole in my wetsuit leg. Eff. Between this, half my nutrition still in my fridge at home, and a severe lack of sleep the night before, I was not in the best frame of mind.
Not gonna lie, after coming in 4th overall at Keuka, I had done a little race stalkage and tried to figure out what I needed to do to place overall at this tri. I had figured a 2:45 might do it, which was 3 minutes lower than my best effort at the distance and possible on a good day. Then I spotted a few freaking fast people in the race and decided if I couldn't place overall, I would shoot for an Age Group win in order to punch my ticket to 2020 Age Group Nationals (what have I become.....I'll tell ya, this year has been dangerous!) At this point, I had doubts about both, so I took a few minutes to breathe deep and remind myself how much I love doing this stuff. For the first time in a long time, I didn't fear the bike (which is good, because despite my wishes...they have never cancelled the bike leg of a race I've been in. Ever). I knew I could pull together a decent run. And I knew that, even though I wasn't amazingly fast, I could hold my own and shake out somewhere in the top third in the swim. And even without all that....I remembered how much I damned love this sport. How much fun I have doing it. And to just go play like a kid and have a good time! And before I knew it, it was time to dance. Let's do this!
The men went off in wave #1 for the Oly and the women followed 5 minutes later. As we headed into the corral a race official came to check out one woman in our group who was wearing a different color cap. She assured him she was in for the Oly and that she was, in fact, a woman, by grabbing her boobs. He backed away like he was stung and we all busted out laughing. I shared a quick pre race good luck with Mary Eggers and we headed into the water to take off! We laughed at the men and their shit sighting, and one woman observed that we were likely hanging out in a nice lake of men's piss (OMG, this sport). Before we knew it, the horn sounded and we were off!
Swim: 28:10 (1:46/100)
The swim was a two loop rectangle, with 4 sight bouys. Going into the race, I had thought we were going to need to run to shore and dolphin dive back in, which was dispelled by the race officials. YESS. The water was 76, which was pretty warm for Lake Erie, and slightly choppy on the way out. The start was a bit congested, but I usually aggressively seed myself because I don't mind the scrum and can hold my own. As usual, I really had no clue where I shook out in the swim, as I usually end up swimming alone about halfway through and can't really figure out if I'm that damned slow or just in between the pocket of slow and fast people. My goal for the swim was to be comfortable, and try to get out of the water in under 30 minutes, both of which I accomplished. This was a three minute PR at the distance, so my time at the pool is clearly doing something this year! I exited the water feeling good and began the (always) uphill run to transition. My T1 time was slow as shit, and somehow I ended up running my bike out with my helmet still hanging on my handlebars. Way to do it live, Rae.
Bike: 1:17:42 (19.5 mph)
This was the test, as always. I went into the race with a few goals for the bike leg - to go under 1:22 (such a weird goal, but 18.5 seemed doable), to ride fearless, and to get myself in aero. The course was a double loop and it's been 13 years since I've done one loop, so my thought was to get the hang of it in loop one and let it rip in loop 2. The entire elevation gain of the course was less than 700 feet, so I decided to take it aggressively and see what I could lay down. The first 5 miles felt great, then we hung a right turn at an intersection with a light and no volunteers that made me a bit queasy. Yikes. I admit I took it conservatively for this busy stretch, but we turned again to a quiet road about 9 miles in, and I noticed that at mile 10, I was averaging almost 20 miles an hour. WHAT. I decided to re- evaluate my goal for the bike and go under 1:20. Which I freaking did! Ended loop 1 in 38 minutes and change, and negative splitted that baby on loop 2, which was awesome because I now knew the course, but slightly more challenging due to the sprint athletes on the course in loop 2 (which was fine, just more cluttered). I got passed by two women on the bike that I think were in my race and passed a ton of men in the Oly and a few women. I'll take it.
Notes for the bike - I still need to work on descending in the right gear (I tend to pick a gear and just get married to it rather than shifting and gave away some serious free speed going downhill) and freaking aero, which I did not get into. I have some stretches to work on this around me, and plan to do so post Musselman for Barrelman fun. I'm starting to feel comfortable in the actual position, but still have reservations about riding in it around cars and other cyclists, as I'm not really sure about "steering". I'm also aware I have little choice in the matter about transitioning, as my teammates will never let me live it down if I don't freaking just do it soon. (Peer pressure. It's such a good thing. No, I'm not kidding).
Back to our riveting story. I managed to dismount without looking like a moron and headed into T2 for my favorite part - the run!
Run: 48:22 (7:48)
This run is a total shit show. It';s about half road and half grass/mud/tough mudder bullshit, with about 47 turns in each of the two loops. With that out of the way, you all know I live and die by the run, so as I made my way out of T2, visor and race belt in hand, I was grinning like a little kid. Since it was a two looper I knew I would A) find my friends out on the course, and B) Do a little recon on where I shook out for the women's race. They only put race divisions on the back of your calves, but I knew two women in my race that passed me on the bike and at least 4 others that I assumed were ahead of me, so my goal was to shake some of them out so I could at least Age Group place. About a half mile into the run I spotted Greg, who was looking determined (he does not do well with the heat and it was humid AF). High fived the boy, Mary Eggers, and a few other buddies in mile 1, and clocked it in 7:32, which was likely too fast! I slowed a bit without a choice as miles 2 and 3 were mostly off road terrain. I made my first pass to an athlete I didn't expect to even touch at mile 2 and felt pretty amped, until I hit the fire swamp shortly after and almost lost a shoe to the lightening sand mud bog we had to jump over. Awesome. There was about a quarter mile section that was just pure mud and a few ditches to jump over that I was not a fan of, but we got some more road toward the end of the loop and I opted to add a little distance to stay on road. At the end of loop 1 I saw the Banter, who told me I looked terrific (I love it when he lies to me) and to go chase down my husband, who was about a minute up (well, really not, as he had a five minute head start, but I had no time for such corrections). I found Greg and Mary shortly after, who both told me I looked way to friggin happy, which I took as a sign to speed the hell up. Check. Finished loop one in 23:45, and did some quick mental math - I realized that my 2:45 goal was total garbage and that if I could pull off a sub 50 10k, I would go under 2:40. Holy shit.
I had been told this was a long 10k, but the first loop clocked in at 3.12 so i knew, unless I was a total idiot (which, let's keep that option open) that it wasn't really long. Loop 2 was more of the same ole as loop 1 - I picked off another two women I thought were in my race, including another I was pretty sure I had no business passing. As I kicked it in for the final mile, I noticed the rain and a distinct lack of people toward the finish. As in, I had to dodge people on the sidewalk to make my way to the home stretch. What? I crossed the finish line....no announcers, no faster friends yelling encouragement or obscenities....no nothing. I stopped my watch, confused, and headed toward the timing tent, where I met up with the Banter and he told me they called the race due to lightening. WTF?? How did I miss that??? I looked at my watch, which read 2:37:41 (actual official race result (2:38:10)) and had a heart attack, as my 11 minute distance PR now meant nothing. We headed over to the officials tent, where they quickly confirmed that anyone on the run course when the race was called (which I was) would have a time. OH HAPPY DAY!! I shook my head in disbelief and gave the Banter a sweaty gross hug and told him I PRed by 11 minutes, to which he shook his head and said "So much wasted talent. You have so much potential." Which, A - shut up, and B - What else did I expect. He's still my favorite somehow, which means I have questionable taste really enjoy his epic visions for me and deep down supportive friendship. Stay tuned for more on this, as post race I've made some moves that I think are gonna make waves (We are still discussing sports, people. Get over it).
Post Race
 |
| Nutrition fails - Freezer Gatorade I found at home and my year old shot blox. |
And Tri in the Buff was a wrap! I ended up with an official 10 minute PR at the Oly distance, and I was super happy with the way the race was executed. Oh, you want to know the actual results? Well, a few hours later we found out, I did not, in fact win my age group.
I came in 3rd. Overall. HOLY SHIT, I HIT THE OVERALL WOMEN'S PODIUM!. I cannot believe that freaking happened. Of course, since they cancelled the awards ceremony, there was no actual podium, but I took the liberty of re-creating the moment for you:
Whew, I think I'm ok with third. That was some tough competition, but next time I'll work on catching my BFF's Rinny and Daniela. They were good sports about it, of course. I'd like to thank the academy for your support, my husband for putting up with this bullshit training I'm doing, the Banter for being a pain in my ass, and the Tri-Go guys for their constant harassment amazing assistant coaching efforts and encouragement. No really, I appreciate the hell out of everyone's help. I am totally blown away with this race - I've never even considered a podium finish. I've never considered going under 2:45 in the Oly distance, let alone under 2:40. I'm feeling...Unstoppable. Which happens to be my new running jam by the Score....
Every
spotlight
Every
sound byte
Everybody
who gave up
Is
just the fuel for
Wanting
it more
Than
anybody against us
Ooh,
they can say what they want now
Ooh,
'cause we'll be screaming out
We
can be heroes everywhere we go
We
can have all that we ever want
Swinging
like Ali, knocking out bodies
Standing
on top like a champion
Keep
your silver, give me that gold
You'll
remember when I say
We
can be heroes everywhere we go
Keeping
us down is impossible
'Cause
we're unstoppable
2019, baby. This year has
already taught me so much. It's taught
me that you have to be willing to challenge all pre-conceived notions of what
you can do. You have to be willing to be
afraid, to look foolish, to step off and just freaking go for what you
want. Because if you step back and play
it safe, you might be more comfortable, but you will never, ever know what you
are capable of. It's still terrifying. I still wonder each day if I am making the
right choices with most of my life as I make these big jumps. But then I know that life is too damned short
to play it safe, and if I don't test myself to see what I can do, I'll look
back and always wonder what would have happened I I had just....jumped. Well, its time. To jump. To
do it. Next up is Musselman 70.3, which, I have no idea what I can do,
but I sure as hell know 3 things - 1. I'm not placing any limits on
myself, 2. I'm gonna go chase those big scary goals down, and 3. I'm
gonna have a blast doing it.
Let’s do this thing!
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