It would seem as if the pandemic might be the ending of this blog, given the amount I've been writing lately. Sorry, suckers, it isn't - you're stuck with me. With the staggering levels of boring adulting going on this spring, I've been YET AGAIN slacking in my mindless athletic drivel. You're welcome. Luckily, we can thank Mark Wilson's successful events for the return of the ever famous RACE REPORT (okay, only famous to Erin. But I love her enough to keep doing it because I like talking about myself "for my public". The things I do for you guys.
As you might guess by now, I recently paraded around for fun in lycra race season 2021 has OFFICIALLY begun! I don't know when I've been more excited, nervous, or terrified for a season, TBH. The whirl of emotions has been real this year, as we all know, and going into 2021, I was a hot mess (what else is new) of thoughts - I CANT WAIT to race again, how do I follow up on the sheer success of 2019, can I still run fast, did having COVID affect my ability to race....ya know, all normal stuff compounded by a world pandemic where life has been turned on its head.
My training so far this year has been consistent but with some hiccups - now that I'm focusing more on the bike and swim, I've felt like my run times have been taking the fall for it (err....not falling. That's the problem). My two A races are both not likely to happen, because they are both in Canada (Ironman Mont Tremblant and Barrelman), which has led to a slew of back up planning, back up for back ups, and...well, you know the drill. I've been doing reasonably well with sticking to my training plan - my swim times are getting faster, I'm feeling better on the bike, and my runs...well. See above. I'd had a few failed speed workouts and a sub par (in my opinion) lactate threshold test....so I did what I usually do in such situations. I whined. My coach told me to suck it up. I, uh, trained harder. Doubted myself. Then turned to the Outlaw for his predictably bad ideas that are always fun.
Bad idea #1 - spring duathlon. It's still up in the air as to who originally brought this one up, but nonetheless, with minimal convincing, we both signed up for a May 1 duathlon - produced by the same RD that put on Cassadagaman last year (which was no small feat in 2020!). The race was a short course du - 2 mile run, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run - in Randolph, NY, which was super close to one of my best friend's houses and some of the wonderful runners I met last year during the Run for CF (check out this years challenge - and consider donating!)
I decided to treat this race as a training race - aka, no special taper and a general "fuck it, let's see what I can do" mentality. I had just come off of a recovery week and felt ready to go - until the Wednesday before the race when, for no reason at all, my legs decided to remind me how I felt post Ironman 2010....I couldn't walk down the stairs without help, and my quads were absolutely killing me. I trained through it on the bike, scrapped one run (first skipped run in years, which killed me, but apparently was wise and I'm listening to my body - aww, look, I CAN be taught!). Lest my coach think I'm intelligent or something, the day before the race I packed up, headed out to Salamanca for a day of heavy furniture lifting and a four mile run -
cause that's good race prep! (See more race prep photos to the left - I take this super seriously, people).Spent the afternoon before the race helping my friend clean out her house, catching up on gossip, and laughing our heads off while busting up furniture with an axe (this is totally therapeutic). I met up with some of my favorite ladies in Catt county for a nice run, because I wanted a good excuse to blame my bad race on never get to see them and a happy hour run is where its at!
Post run, the Outlaw and I did a little bike course recon - the 10 mile loop was full of rollers and nothing innocuous - one sharp, short hill, a few weird turns with loose gravel, and the last half mile in a ridiculously "townish" stretch of road with no shoulder....seemed to be doable.
The run course was a one mile out and back with one hill and seemed pretty fair as well - given the elevation gain of the run at Cassadagaman I was a little leery of this RD's notion of "flat" but I put both courses as decent with enough challenge to make me work!
I honestly had no idea what to set as a race goal - my coach gave me the "Go, have fun, kick names and take ass" charge (no, I meant what I said). Sadly, I'm not in the market for ass, so I decided to go with the former. Privately, I had two goals. Go under 15:00 for both run segments (sub 7:30) and to get off the bike with no "I could have gone faster if..." bullshit. I hoped to average 19 on the bike for no particular reason other than that felt respectable. I'm not great at short stuff - I usually warm up and go faster for Olympic to Half Iron stuffs, but hey, season opener.
Race morning dawned sunny and...frickin cold. It was 34 out, with a real feel of 27. Fantastic for running. Not great for feeling fingers, toes, or anything else for the bike. Eff. I had meticulously packed for the race, including....a sleeveless trikit and arm warmers. OMG. Because my friend Lauren is amazing, she lent me a base top and her sons lego gloves. She's a keeper. I nibbled my way through a bagel and hit the race site with about an hour before go time. Set up transition, pinned on my race bib (yep, forgot my race belt and this sucked) and headed out for a quickie.... err.... warm up run...with the Outlaw. We did a mile with a few strides, predicted doom and gloom for the race (this is totally normal) and headed back from last minute pee breaks and transition review. (I really hate duathlon starts for the former reason. Triathlons were made for pre race wetsuit relief. No, I didn't stutter). With ten minutes to go, the RD walked us through logistics, we took a deep breath, and were OFF!!
Run 1: 13:58 (6:59 mile)
Right away, as several fast dudes and women zoomed past me, I realized that I
was slow as shit against some stiff competition. I tried to settle into a rhythm while doing some semblance of zooming and counted the women as they passed me....one woman...two women....three women! (insert my inner cookie monster. Ohhh....cookies sound good). Alright, so that little thought in my brain of the podium was a nice dream while it lasted for approximately one minute. I ignored my watch because I didn't wanna know. The little sucker beeped at one mile just after a hill at 6:58 - oh well, then, maybe I'm not slow, everyone else is just a zoomer! I tried to keep the pace consistent on the second mile, got passed by two more women with wings on their shoes, clocked mile 2 in 7:01 and jetted (or something resembling jetting) into T1 just shy of 14 minutes. I was completely jazzed with this pace - would it bite me in the butt on the bike? Who knows!
Bike: 30:41 (19.4 mph)
From our course recon yesterday, it seemed the first 3 miles of the bike were the worst. I got stuck behind a dude coming out of transition and was going slower than I would of liked (who am I?) but the road was a little rough to pass so I sat up, drank some water and made my pass just after the first turn a half mile in. My goal was to average 19 on the course - again, I'm not great at short stuff, and about five minutes in, the mid thirty temps became a thing and I couldn't really feel my toes or fingers. Get some cycling gloves, Rae. I cat and moused with a woman for a few miles and passed her on an uphill yelling - come get me! as I zoomed down the next hill. Wait, what? I zoomed?? I did! I was smiling like a beast, working my little shifters to find the best gear and enjoying the hell out of the ride. I passed one...two....three more women (the cookie monster count was so much more fun this time!) and even the one sharp uphill (where YES, I did use my small chain ring!) felt strong. I was averaging about 19 for the first half, and the second half, despite some frozen winds, averaged almost 20. I hit T2 conservatively as there was a ton of loose gravel, smiling my damned head off and feeling legit about the bike (turns out I actually snagged a Strava QOM segment for the bike course in 19.7, which cut out the gravelly parts in the beginning and end. I strongly suspect this course record will last until next weekend but hey, I'm not complaining!)
Run 2: 14:24 (7:10 mile)
Coming off the bike, I was freaking frozen solid. Again, I didn't want to know what I was running. I settled into a one, two rhythm and got a little Foreigner stuck in my head..."You're as cold as ice...You're willing to sacrifice...." Ok, Rae. Fifteen or less minutes till the end. You got this. My legs started to thaw and I'm not sure that was a good thing - I had honestly lost count of where I was in the race but saw a woman ahead of me I decided to reel in. Saw the outlaw chasing down some young dude for second place and yelled out something resembling encouragement. Mile 1- 7:24. Ooof. As we hit the turnaround, I hit the gas and passed the woman I'd been dogging. I had counted one more woman in front of me so I suspected I was in 2nd place - and I had no idea how much juice I had left, so I kept hammering the pace, willing the woman I had just passed to stay behind me!! With a half mile to go, I blocked out the pain, reminded myself that I could rest in 4 minutes, and sprinted as well as my little leggoes would allow (which was a 7:00 pace for mile 2!). Sprinted in the final minute to the shouts of Sally, Lauren, and some bullshit about going faster from the Outlaw, and finished the race strong!
My overall time for the course was 1:02:01, with transitions (OMG I need to work on these). I dry heaved into a trash can, got an earful about the Outlaw's stats caught up with my friends, and relaxed for a few minutes before a cool down run.
Our race signs - we have some awesome sherpas!!
Turns out, there was some sort of Flash among the women that evaded me - I never saw her on run 2 (I must have been out of it), so my time was good for 3rd overall woman, which I'll definitely take! The outlaw snagged 2nd overall, so we hung out for the awards, had some breakfast, and then headed out.
Overall, I was really pleased with the race. I accomplished both my time goals, and can honestly say I left nothing on th bike or run course. I suspect I could have gone faster had my pre race prep been better or if the bike wasn't so chilly, but that's about standard for us crazy athletes. Once the gun went off at the start, I gave it everything I had and left no time on the table. I was especially pleased with my last run mile - since I had it in my head I was in second place, I would have been so annoyed to slow down and lose the podium, as I was actually in 3rd!
What's next? Lilac 10k on May 23rd for a little run speed test, and Silver Serpent on June 6th, an Olympic triathlon! Looks like YES, there will be a 2021 season, and I can't wait for it!
Run 1: 13:58 (6:59 mile)
