70.3 Worlds Part 3: Highway to Hell

 First of all, congrats if you've made it this far!  Welcome to the conclusion of a long, drawn out race report on the adventures of World's 70.3 2021 - in case you missed it, here's my arm chairing on the swim and the bike.  TLDR - the swim was warm, wet, and the easy part (TWSS?).  The bike included every element known to man except calm and cloudy conditions.  We left part 2 in a massive downpour, where I created a giant mess in T2 with my crap, grabbed a quick potty break, and then headed off for the RUN!

A few notes about this run - in consistent St. George fashion, nothing about this course was flat.  It was divided into 2 6.6 mile loops of fun - the first three miles included 2 major climbs, the next 3 were rolling to downhill, and the last half mile was a screaming, quad busting downhill that was so steep it was deemed almost unrunnable. Total elevation gain in 13.1 miles - 1260.  Piece of cake, right?

This is worlds people, what did you expect?  Pancake flat and 60 degrees with cloud cover?

Well, yes, that would have been sweet, but we were playing a different game today!

As I took off on the run I multi tasked by throwing on my visor and race belt and securing my handheld.  My goal was to fill up with water at the first stop and hang on to the handheld - ya know, for the 100 degree sunshine we were supposed to have.  Oh, wait...

I cruised up the first few minutes of the first hill and saw a woman ahead of me that was struggling.  As I passed her, I joked "Did you remember your sunscreen re-application?" and she busted out laughing and thanked me for making her smile.  We chatted for a bit - this was her second ever 70.3 after she qualified in Florida - she confessed that she was not used to these hills!  I told her I was from NY but qualified at pancake flat Eagleman and we had a good laugh.  We slowed to a walk at the first aid station and I refilled and took back off after she encouraged me to go ahead.  

I actually felt pretty good - the roads were flooded and my shoes were already wet, but this was sort of pleasant on the run.  I had already decided to adapt my Cassadagaman strategy and walk the major hills - I developed a decent run walk back during my Ironman man days - I would count to 100 with my right foot strike, 100 with my left, then walk for 100 paces.  Don't knock it till you try it - it has always served me well!  This came into play about mile 2.5, when the major hill happened.  I had already thrown out my sub 6 about 3 hours ago, so I was solely looking for a strong half marathon, goal pace being 9:00/mile.  

The first two miles clocked respectably in at 8:23 and 8:50, and we started run/walk at mile 3, which, incidentally is when it stopped raining and the sun came out full force.  Blazing sun during the run?  WHY THE HELL NOT??  At this point in the course there were at least a couple of dudes dancing around rockin' skimpy speedos, so I sped up to um, get past them as quickly as possible (I didnt ogle.  I am a total liar professional.  C'mon).  Mile 3 - with elevation gain of 226 - netted a 9:53, then the fun began.  Mile 4 was slight uphill but not as bad - 8:46, then I began a cruise for the next 3 miles, hovering from a 7:46 mile to an 8:15.  The rollers weren't too bad, I got a high five from a hot dog and a frog prince (I cant make this up) and even made it through the downhill of death without killing my quads.  I finished the first loop in 57 minutes, which left me a nice padding for my sub 2 goal.  Except....did I want to rethink that? 

I looked at my watch and did some quick math - if I did the next loop in 53 minutes I could go under 6 - I could totally do 6 miles in 53 minutes, right?  Even though we were on the highway to hell via hills?  YES!

Oh wait - no.  It was 6.5 miles, not 6. So, I guess 8:00/mi wasn't reasonable with the hill of death ahead.  I reset my goal to a 6:05, and headed back up the first hill.  As I tried to keep a decent clip, I realized that final coup de grace of the course was that obviously they made the hills bigger on the second loop - WTF was this?  I slowed to a walk, took a gel, and speedo man ahead yelled out at the top of his lungs "GIRL GET YO BUTT IN GEAR! YOU DIDNT COME HERE TO WALK!"  Who me?  Oh yes, me lol.  I started running, high fived him, slapped off some vaguely flirty comment that made him laugh, and went after it. 

 The rest of loop two was about the same - walk/run at the major hills, then keep a decent clip otherwise.  I actually felt pretty good - a few twinges in my right knee that were probably from the bike, but the one bonus to biking conservatively was that my legs were good for the run (I passed SO. MANY. PEOPLE.  I suspect they blew it on the bike - which - while I felt my bike split could have been better, maybe it was  blessing I took it easier). 

When I hit mile 12, the tingles began to take over - I finally realized that after the last 6 hours - the last week - the last 3 months - the last 3 years - that OMG I was going to finish this thing....and I got super emotional.  This was the downhill clip from hell, but I didn't care.  I was flying.  I was smiling.  I could not believe I was AT. WORLDS.  OMG.

With half a mile to go, I heard someone yell out "Go Reaper!" (I got this quite a bit during the race, which is a reason I love my freaking team) and I looked over to see a petite woman on the sidelines cheering out.  OMFG It's HEATHER F'ING JACKSON.  SHE JUST YELLED TO ME.  I reached out for a high five and she gave me one, all grins.  And guys.  I FLEW after that.  (Full disclosure, I have a huge crush on Heather Jackson - she is my tri idol and I absolutely adore her.  I am never washing my high five hand.  Ever).

With that race ending high, I sprinted to the finish and threw my hands up, the biggest grin on my face, walking on air.  

Run time: 1:55:14 - 8:49/mi

Total Race Time: 6:05:27

Post race, I was sherpaed by the coolest kiddo ever who got me my medal, t shirt, towel and made sure I was okay (Thanks Cory!).  Got my pic snapped, handed out a few high fives, and caught up with Marcus and Ken - who had equally tough days but were so thrilled to finish!  We hung around waiting for Kim to finish (who pronounced the race the hardest thing she'd ever done and vowed that giving birth was easier - now if that's not an assessment of the day, I don't know what was!)

We called home, checked in for all those that saw the storm via live feed and assured them we were alive, there were no mechanicals, and that the day was just that fucking crazy.  Over cheeseburgers, salty fries, alcohol, and Penn Sate football we celebrated the day - the day that would live on infamy not only for the four of us, but 3,500 of our comrades in the battle of World's 70.3 2021.

We all agreed that even though no one got close to their time goal, it was a race for the ages.  In the next few days, we shared videos, stories, and tried to explain what really happened out there.  But like most good adventures - what happens at St. George....stays in St. George.  I can't explain the day any better than that.  It was a race for the ages.  One I'll never forget. 

70.3 World's Part 2 - Rock You Like A Hurricane

Ready for Part 2?  Sure you are!  When we last left our hero (still me, guys), I was on my way out to the bike portion of World's after a decent wetsuit free swim and a little bit of a foreboding sky.  I rode with that black sky to my right for a bout a mile, then turned the heck away from that thing - with six miles to go in the opposite direction, it was totally going to go away, right?  RIGHT?  Well, either way, that wasn't mile 1 Rae's problem.  That was at least mile 10 Rae's problem, so we would address it then.

This bike course did one of two things - you were either climbing, or descending.  There might have been about 5 miles of flat road somewhere, but I doubt it.  The first half of the course offered three punchy climbs and one long one, with a few screaming descents.  The second half was rolling until mile 40, where there was a 7 mile climb up Snow Canyon, with over 1000 feet gain in 4 miles.  (Rumor had it some athletes walked this section.  We drove it Friday and were underwhelmed, but that was in a car).  Then the last 8 miles were another screaming descent that reminded me of Keene in Placid, just a little less windy.  I was hoping to redeem my crappy descending skills and not lose my shit like I did in 2018 at Placid.  But hey, I reasoned, we couldn't possibly have a day like that anyways - it doesn't hail in the desert!  (Rae, stop.  Foreshadowing is totally a thing).

Back to race day.  The first seven miles of the bike were pretty sweet - We had a few rollers, one decent climb I spun out, and a nice out section where I flew on the flats, going about 25.  Hell. Yeah.  I was smiling and totally enjoying myself, surprised to be rocking Aero with so many people around me (who's a badass? ME!).  The first turnaround was pretty tight, so I slowed down and took it conservatively, and started to head back toward the main highway.

Except OMFG what just happened.  As we turned, the wind slammed into us with a force I've never ridden in before.  I was on a flat, going 10, and feeling like I was going to be blown backwards.  The wind had turned on full force, and was whistling at us as those damned black clouds honed in.  Packs of women were struggling and going nowhere.  I tried valiantly to steer my bike without blowing over.  Tumbleweeds were whipping backwards and one got caught in my wheel, which I pulled over for and unstuck.  I checked to see if I had any brake rubbage but nope.  Nope.  The weather just sucked that much.  Then it started to rain  Not nice gentle, oh look, you're warm, let me cool you off rain either - crazy stupid cold rain.  As I headed up the ramp to veer right on the high way, I saw bunches of riders pulled over to the side of the road and thought....well, they are calling the race.  I was bitterly disappointed - but with the whipping rain, lightning in the distance, and insane wind, it was the right call.

But...no, they weren't.  People were just debating their life choices, which, I didn't blame them.  I looked down at my bike computer and had gone 3 miles in 15 minutes.  On. A. Flat. Section.  What the hell.  Then, two things happened - the headwind, now that we turned, was a cross wind (weather reports later stated 25-30 mph with up to 50mph gusts) which meant this little 125 pound rider was being blown all over the place.  And 2 - the rain - turned into hail.  Oh what in the mother ever loving hell was this!  

We were freezing.  The rain had nowhere to go in the desert, so it had collected on the road and we were now hydroplaning.  Decisions had to be made.  I was averaging about 12, hunkered over my bike, wondering if I could handle 42 more miles of this.  And then I said - NO.  RAE.  You are NOT going to have another Placid.  You can DO this.  DO IT.  And with that sort of bullshit out of the way, I then did the smartest thing I did all day - I released any expectation from the course and just was grateful to be doing it.  The race could be called any minute, lets just soldier through.  You ARE HERE FOR A REASON.

The next 10 miles or so was the same misery - hail, wind, rain (no earth or fire though) - thankfully weturned again after 5 miles and dealt with another headwind. The rain let up about mile 20, where we did another crazy climb, then finally a turn to calmer weather.  When you're dealing with wet and high winds, a less breezy 15mph cross wind seems...relaxed.  I hit the first screaming descent conservatively, but not scared.  And the next 20 miles of the ride followed suit - I hit aero where I could, took the climbs easy, and gave the descents all I felt comfortable giving with the wind and wet roads.

About mile 40, we got to Snow Canyon and the famed climb.  I was averaging about 17.5, which honestly, was my course goal, but who knew what the next 8 miles would bring.

As we turned into the canyon, I passed a woman and joked "Well, I didn't have hail on my bingo card, did you?" And she laughed, because, what else could we do?  I hit my little chain ring right off the bat - I knew I had burned a decent amount of mental matches early on, so honestly, I didnt give a crap about my speed at this point.  I hit a few nice rollers and stretched into aero (where apparently there was a race photographer timed perfectly, as I got one of the few aero pics in the canyon!  (I mean, uh, I was in aero the whole time.  duh)).  Then, without any warning, a woman about 6 feet in front of me, clearly not paying attention, plowed into the bike ahead of her and her disc wheel went flying in the air with her right after it.  OMG.  I managed to veer over in time and checked to see if she was okay, which, apparently her and the dude both were.  I hope they finished okay.

Snow Canyon was....definitely more intense outside the car.  I spun it out the whole time, but there were sections in the last 3 miles that saw us going about 5mph in the granny gear.  I was never at a place to walk it but I saw plenty of people doing so.  The worst part was the pack mentality - the course was really crowded (even with two hours of send off in the water, when you have 4,000 athletes, its a crowded course) and so when people got tired and started to weave, it was downright dangerous.  I tried to stay to the left and kept my line straight while riding defensively.  The last mile was brutal with 500 ft gain, but finally we turned right at mile 47, with only downhill left.  Huzzah!

I got to enjoy this bit for about five minutes then....it started to rain again and the wind picked up.  Oh what in the actual fuck, people.  This is what we are doing??  Ugh.  With that being said, I'm proud I never lost my shit here - I might have been descending a section where you could easily hit 40 at a paltry 25, but I was keeping my cool doing so.  I kept repeating my new race mantra to myself - stay calm, stay fluid, stay strong - and the last 20 minutes were just a mental hurdle to get over.  I also spent some healthy time cursing Ken out - apparently every race he's done in the last 3 years its rained. (Ken, I'm not racing with you ever. again.).  

As I coasted into T2, the rain turned into a legit downpour and I happily dismounted my bike - not throwing it at a volunteer like I did three years ago, but saying a silent prayer of thanks that I made it off that ride okay!  

Bike Split: 3:20 - 16.7 mph

I was actually shocked I was only 5 minutes off my time, to be honest.  My power was only 140w, which tells me that I did nowhere near race effort, which wasn't a shocker.  It also tells me that on a halfway decent (or normally lousy) day I could have killed it.  The course was hilly, but aside from miles 45-47 was totally doable.  That's what they get for having the damned bike course in a town called Hurricane, Utah, though.  Seriously, people?

Post race analysis of the bike ride really came down to one question - where were you at 10am?  For those riding with the storm, the damage was less.  For those STILL IN THE WATER, 100 people were pulled out and not allowed to finish the swim.  The pros - got none of this - they were almost done with the run at this point.  The women caught the brunt of the storms on the bike for sure - but everyone's experience was different.  Either way, for those of us that were dumb lucky enough to race Placid 2018 - we agreed that there was no comparison- this race was way the hell worse.  It was dubbed as the World Championships everyone will be talking about for years to come.  Sodus 2005, Placid 2018, Worlds 70.3 2021....Lucky. Freaking. Me.  

And with that, I found my run back, grabbed a chair at T2, kicked my crap across the changing area (dammit!) and got my shoes on.  I had been trying to pee since mile 40 of the bike unsuccessfully, so I hit the porta potty super quick - transition time 3:23 - and was off for a nice run in the rain! (To be continued....)

70.3 World's Part 1: Get it Hot

 So, in the interest of what's hot right now, I'm introducing a flashforward to the ole bloggie.  We have a 70.3 that happened in Cassadaga, but that's not the hot news right now.  Right now, its all about the crazy ass day at World's 70.3 on September 18th.  So, strike while the irons hot or whatever.  Buckle up kids, this is a multi parter and so full of WTF it'll either make you realize how crazy I am or nod with the realization that....you knew that.

Either way, our story really begins back at Eagleman, where I shocked the hell out of no one but myself by securing a slot for worlds.  A month later, my buddies Ken, Marcus and I were full fledged planning an asinine trip across the country.  Our friend Kim opted for the more sane flight and three night stay, rounding out the crew.

The whole thing was....surreal to me, to say the least.  Three years ago I almost quit being a triathlete.  And here I am.  Off to a worlds stage.  So much has happened since 2019, and I sometimes shake my head at where I'm at.  But, like most things, the strange twist of fate stepped in.  I was off to worlds with....a guy I met back in 2005 when I first started running (Marcus). And with two other friends that....I met while training for my first Ironman in 2010.  Sometimes things happen for odd reasons, but for whatever it was, it seemed right.  We spent six weeks discussing the weather (HOT - forecasted 100 race day) - what to do in Omaha Nebraska (Nothing - but Marcus was obsessed with our halfway point) and did we need swimmers itch cream, cooling sleeves, and a swimskin.  (Ken said yes to the first two and we all brought our swim skins - or borrowed them from um, the outlaw, who hopefully injected it with super swim speed, as it seemed this would be my first ever non wetsuit legal swim.  

Woah.  At 3am Monday morning pre race, we packed three triathletes, three bikes, about 12 bags, 10 pounds of powdered nutrition (thank god there was never a random pull over by the law) and enough snacks to last for a week.  In a RAV 4.  Thank god Marcus is an engineer and my back seat standards aren't high.  We were off!  2200 miles and 36 hours ahead of us - we totally had this.

And we did. For 3 people that really didn't know each other amazingly well prior to this - we had a kick ass time.  We found the benefit of short friends - 3 small bikes and seats and mirrors that never needed to be moved.  Ever. We discovered that Ken and Marcus are twins, down to the same orders at restaurants with "hold the onions".  That Iowa has nothing but corn and windmills (which I was obsessed with until night when they flashed red and looked more like matrix pods).  That Colorado sucks.  It rains, the gas is expensive, and Denver on the weekend is just...no.  (I felt sort of bad because its supposed to be awesome but OMG we hit every bad thing known to man in that state.  We were waiting for locusts).  We also decided (ok, I did) that Iowa and Ohio were interchangeable and that Ohio is now Iowa 2.0.  That Nebraska is the best state in the union (I might move).  And that sketchy diners make good stories.  2200 miles and 35 hours later, he hit the land of Utah - where it was unbelievably gorgeous and HOT AS HELL.  We started looking at every grade of hill as rideable or not - and if that 16% grade on the course for the race was accurate (hello nerves!).

We checked into the GORGEOUS Air BnB Tuesday and immediately went on a 3 mile run in the 95 degree heat to acclimate.  Cause, ya know, four days pre race would do it.  There is no flat land in Utah and the first mile netted a 200ft plus gain.  Fantastic.  

And that  was our week pre race.  Train, check out the course (hilly AF).  Get excited at check in and collect our worlds qualifier coin (OMG so cool).  Kim got in Wednesday night and joined us for a ride and swim Thursday (temp - 78 degrees - would they dump ice in the lake?).  We played with the weather app every five minutes - Ken reading us from two different apps and Kim and I requesting our preferred weather (Kim and Rae's app).  There was alot of chatter about the race format - it was originally supposed to be a two day event and now collapsed into one day, which meant 4000 athletes on teh course and the men starting first.  This, of course, screwed over the women who weren't starting until 9am or later and would be baking in the sun.  Some people bitched about this and I accepted it for what it was - something I couldn't change and DID I MENTION I WAS AT FREAKING WORLDS??  I hoped the heat would hold off, and as of Friday, it looked like there might be rain around noon, which I secretly hoped would hold off until 130 to get me off the bike (the last 8 miles were a screaming downhill and did NOT look like fun in the rain).

Pre race activities included carb loading.  A trip to Zion.  The totally overrated Athletes dinner.  And a fantastic brake failure Friday afternoon the sent me to the mechanics at 3pm the day before the race (Did I really need brakes?  I mean, those are optional, right??)  Freak outs (relatively) done, we got to bed by 9pm. 

Race morning dawned....not that early.  The boys were set to start at 8:22, me at 9:10 and Kim at 9:36.  We were up and out at 5:30am, which was basically 7:30 to us as we never time adjusted.  When I found out I qualified, I had the goal to break 6 hours.  My coach told me to have a blast and not worry about a goal - this was the Boston of marathoning.  The Kona of 70.3s.  AMAZING to be there.  I agreed.  But why not have some goals?  Since I had accounted for intense heat and a crazy hilly course (4000 ft on the bike and 1260 on the run) as well as a non wetsuit legal swim (called at 430am race day) - which is slower - I went for realism.

 I hoped for a 40 minute swim, 3:15 bike and 2:00 run, which, with transitions, might be just under 6.  Transitions seemed long, so we would see - there wasn't much difference to me from a 5:55 and a 6:10, I was more interested in where I shook out overall in the world.  There were 200 women in my age group and about 1300 overall - so - lets dance!

Pre race, we got into transition about 630.  Since I had two hours to kill and basically nothing to do (this was a two transition race so all gear had been dropped off the day before - I had to pump up tires, put my nutrition on my bike, and pee a zillion times). I took care of business, grabbed my bagels for breakfast, and set out to watch the pros start at 650.  I saw Sam Long careen into a porta potty.  LCB exit the water super fast and take off right in front of me!  And Daniella Ryf and Holly Lawrence follow suit in chase.  SO. FREAKING. COOL.  With that done, I prepped myself to race, taking in every second around me.  It was electric.  The mecca of racing.  And I was so darned incredibly grateful to be there.  Before I left NY, Biz had given me an envelope for every day with a drawing that I could pick at random.  The ones I had opened so far read - I love you mom! - this one was a heart that read - GO GO GO!  I tucked it into my pocket and promised to do just that!

Swim - 40:28 1:56/100

As I said earlier, this was my first ever non wetsuit swim. 

  All my practice swims had felt good, but slow.  Usually my Garmin shorts a swim, and this time was no different - but in a race, everyone (roughly) swims the same!  They sent us off in waves of 10 every 5 seconds in the reservoir.  The water was great - a little choppy but not too bad, nice temp, and even though there were a ton of people in the water, it wasn't a boxing match.  I stayed in the same group throughout and felt really comfortable - aside from the fact that my butt kept sinking whenever I sighted, it was perfect.  The chop got a little stronger on the way in, but for someone used to swimming in a lake, it was no big deal.  I exited the water pretty much exactly as I had predicted, and ran up the dock to transition.  Transition was about .3 miles long and you had to stop halfway and ditch your swim gear in a bag and change out for bike gear (just like a full ironman).  I made the decision to ditch my HRM in my bike bag as it had rubbed my arm really badly during the swim.  Also opted for a non aero helmet - with the forecast calling for 100 degrees last week I didn't think it would be wise.  Race morning was only about 70 so far, but with the possible rain and/or heat, who knew.  I was outta transition in just under 5 minutes and cruising down the parkway to turn left on the highway when I looked up...and saw the black sky right in front of me.  With lightening.  

Well, this will be interesting, I thought...and I turned directly into the path of destruction....

(to be continued)

Biz's Sweet 6 - Six going on Sixteen!

Alright folks.  It's time to pause the whole race obsession and incorporate this whole "balance" portion of the blog.  It's been a big few weeks.  And the biggest thing is - my sweet girl turned six!  Guys, I know.  Ever since this little munchkin arrived in the world big fish style, she has barreled through life full speed ahead with her own bizzy ideas and charm.  Watch out world!

And here she is, the big six.  Every single year, having a front row to watching this kid experience the world is....unparalleled.  Parenting isn't easy by definition, but I wouldn't trade this kid for the whole world, and every single day I feel so incredibly lucky to be her mom!  So, what's our little bixa b up to this year?

Size: 46 pounds.  Right where you should be, and I'm not surprised!  You have a super healthy appetite and eat all the things!  You are 47 inches high - which is almost enough to be tall enough for the big rides - maybe next year!

Likes:  You adore dancing - you love to twirl, tumble, do anything active!  You also love coloring, chalking, creating - anything to make the world more beautiful, whether its a craft or, um, Mommy's walls.  We are working on this....  You adore singing (fave song is currently "Fight Song", you still love your girlfriends (we have to discuss those LOL dolls though...).  You are a little gamer - you love Minecraft, Roblox, and every game Rob plays.  You LOVE to swim  - the pool, the beach, anywhere! You have so many friends and make new ones wherever you go (including creating neighborhood parties without your parents LOL). You still have about four boyfriends at any time and Dad is

concerned about the next ten years.  Hell, I'm concerned about the next seventy LOL.

Dislikes:  Cooked carrots.  Salad.  Tomatoes. Most cookies (seriously, child?).  You tend to be pretty faithful to your favorite foods, but a random new dislike crops up very now and again reminding me that you have very definite opinions about things but that you change your ways based on the world around you and stay true to exactly what you are feeling at the moment.  And that's pretty cool, Biz!  (I'll just watch those veggies.  Oddly enough, you love broccoli, which is weird for a kid, but hey, you're a Biz!

Sleep:  You are pretty rockin with this!  You still come into our room when you have a bad dream, but you tend to sleep like a rock and are definitely not the early bird unless its a special day (like getting up at 4am on Mother's Day to wish me a happy day - awww).  The good news is, whenever you cant sleep you snuggle right up to me and never, ever move.  You are such an awesome little snuggle buddy and I absolutely adore our snugs time (please don't ever change, sweets). 

Eating:  You have such a healthy appetite.  You LOVE Ramen noodles (mmm noodles) and would eat them for every meal if I let you (a dollar a day? hmmm.)  You also adore chocolate cake, tacos (on Tuesdays) and soup!  New favorites happen regularly - sometimes it takes you quite a bit of time to warm up to a new food but we pivot as needed.  

Milestones/Firsts:  This year was such a fun year!  You learned how to do a cartwheel.  How to cannonball in the pool and jump in. You played in a soccer league for the first time.  You are learning right now how to ride a bike without training wheels and how to tie your shoes.  You have so many words, and are learning how to write beautifully (the spelling is fun, but we do what we can).  You have, dear god help me, learned how to do a tik tok video (no, you cant have an account) and how to do videos on lie hacks.  Oiy.  Every day, its a new adventure and how to do something new, and its always a blast!

Best Moment: I just cant pick.  I never can.  I loved watching you chase a soccer ball.  Do a little
dance.  Make a beautiful picture for me to hang.  Have a girls SPAAAWWW night with makeup and nails.  You are so infectious and bring joy to every place in your life, little love.  People are happier for being around you, and I still cannot believe how freaking lucky I am to be your mommy.  

Looking Forward to:  You just started gymnastics, and I can't wait to see you take that one by storm.  Watching you zoom around on your bike, and starting all the new fun school activities that come with being a big first grader.  We plan to go to Disney this year and that will be off the hook.  With you....the big things are always so amazing to watch, but its the little things that are the most special...watching you chalk a brand new drawing.  Seeing your artwork.  A new dance.  Or the beautiful breakfast you made mommy (I just wont ask whats in those waffles...)

         I LOVE YOU!                            

Cassadagaman: The Final Countdown

 Did you think I forgot this little gem?  No way!  For posterity's sake, this race report is way out of order, but I'm saving it to align with the race because - well, its my blog  - and the story is best told in some sort of order, as Cassadaga was intended as World's prep.  We already know how that story shook out (next time I should just insert myself in the middle of a tropical storm and call it a day, right?) but hey, this is a fun story to tell, so grab yourself some coffee and lets rock!

Backing up to five weeks ago....

Last year, in the year of no races, I did Cassadagaman as a "what the hell" race.  I signed up 5 days before, had done one long ride, no expectations, and in the midst of trying to out-bad decision one another, the Outlaw and I did the race "for fun".  Cause who doesn't like Placid like elevation gain for the sheer heck of a training day?  Sign me up!  The race was awesome - I certainly didn't have the fitness to race it, but I finished respectably and had a great time.

Fast forward to this year - the year for Ironman Mont Tremblant and Barrelman!  Oh wait- nope- that didn't happen.  With Canada still inaccessible, I signed up for C man again because I wanted to race, dammit.  Then, in June, by the force of who knows the hell what (lower standards, shhh) Ironman decided I was quick enough to represent at World's 70.3, which just happened to be a mere 13 days after the hilly ass half Ironman I had just signed up for. I debated not doing Worlds but as my super intelligent and awesome husband put it "You don't just turn down a World's slot.  You're going". (Damn I knew I married that guy for a reason). 

Smart decisions for Cassadagaman included:  deferral to 2022 (yep, this was totally an option) or Aquabike (again, a totally on the table option).

Since when am I smart?  Not only did I stay registered, I also decided to race a formula 1 du and an Olympic triathlon two weeks beforehand, so Cassadagaman would be the third race in so many weeks with a World 70.3 race less than two weeks later.  Perfect.

Um, so with that in mind (no, my coach wasn't a fan, in case you're still debating his wisdom - keep in mind, he's much smarter than me) I promised to just train the day and NOT race it (unless, of course, I was in a position to podium.  Which, since there was a podium, I was rightfully dubious of).  The day before the race, I headed down to Cassadaga to pick up my packet, drive the bike course (I was a little fuzzy about the hills and looking for some World's assurance, as the Cassadaga bike course was 3700 ft and Worlds was rumored to be 3900 (foreshadow - it was)).  The hills didn't look horrible, but as always, they look much more doable from a car!  Post packet pick up, I headed down to PA, where the Outlaw lives, for a little hang out time - since I barely get to see him, it was a double win to be able to hang out pre race (of course he was racing, too!) and also have lodging closer so I didn't have to get up and drive 2.5 hours in the am!

We played around at open water swim (I got some super, um, helpful tips at getting faster, which is always helpful the day before a race), did a little race stalking, carbed our faces off, and in general, had a great time catching up.  I'd love to say we crashed early, but in a fit of nerves, I think we were still awake at midnight chatting about the race (he had designs to do well - like - really well - whereas I just wanted to finish under 6 hours and possibly beat my old time of 5:55). 

Either way, race morning dawned at o dark thirty, and we were off!  It was actually COLD out, and I was legit worried about the beginning of the bike - with temps in the low fifties, it was ideal running weather but the first ten miles of the bike would be iffy, especially with my sleeveless tri kit.  Welp, I suppose...roll with it!  We got to the race, took care of transition-y stuff, and I got to catch up with some of my local C man faves - Chris, Mindy, Blair, and of course, the whole Ohio tri team!  I was definitely pre race nervous, but my plan was pretty simple - swim easy, bike easy, and run/walk the run - running the flats and walking the hills.  My soft goal was a 5:45 - 37 minute swim, 3:10 bike, and 1:55 run - which would give me a pretty good idea as to what to expect for worlds (spoiler alert - no it wouldn't).

Swim - 35:02/1:50/100yd

Pre swim, I got in the briefest of warm ups then climbed ashore to hang with Joe, a new tri buddy I met at the ROC tri.  I was a frozen mess and despite my best efforts (I really didn't make any) he didn't share his coffee or hoodie with me, so I despondently headed back in the water a few minutes prior to my wave send off.  I was in the water with about 60 other women, mugging for the drone the RD sent off, when the gun sounded - well, lets race!  The swim for this race is held in a wonderful little lake with almost no chop, the only drawback was the last 700yds were in direct sunlight.  I kept the swim super smooth and easy and debated lots of little life topics while enjoying myself immensely.  I made contact a few times but found no feet to draft off, though one gentleman tried to take me down a few times, I'm not easily flappable in the water and swam wide to get around him.  After what seemed like no time at all, I saw the shore and exited the swim in just over 35 minutes, which was not too darn bad for me!

Bike: 3:10/17.5 mph

As I exited T1, I somehow got caught in a little group at the bike mount - I moved over to the side and coolly mounted my bike with the skill set of a highly advanced triathlete got my wet tri shorts caught in the seat of my bike and almost fell over.  Oh WTF.  I unclipped, hiked up my shorts, and was off. The course is a two looper, so I wanted to put out an even effort, and was aiming for 1:35 per loop.  The first five miles of the course were  rollers, then a decent climb, screaming descent, and nice fast riding until mile 10.  I managed part one rather well - oh, it was so nice spinning in aero - and flipped it into the small ring early for the first climb.  I was only paying attention to effort, and the first hill was smooth and manageable.  I again forgot the importance of the descent, but managed it decently, with minimal brake feathering (yep, this is on the list of things to work on for 2022!) and really enjoyed the next 8 miles of flat and downhill, until the next ascent smacked me in the face.  OMG.  I think the combo of the steep climb and the lack of using my legs really was a double whammy and I started to doubt my ability a little bit here - I was in my granny gear and wanted an even easier gear, which I searched for in vain....no dice.  Thankfully, I'm stubborn as hell, so we settled for going about 10 until I crested the hill and resumed actually going somewhere.  This continued basically for the next 7-8 miles, and as I hit the last major hill, I saw some girl bite it on a ridiculously steep section.  

Oh hell.  About a half a mile up, two guys were cheering everyone on and I yelled out (gasping, going 5mph in my granny gear) that there was someone that need help.  They laughed at me and I yelled louder "I'M NOT KIDDING" - they probably thought I was psycho- hope she was ok.  After all that drama, I also finally hit sweet, sweet downhill, and took full advantage.  About mile 20 I saw an Ide jersey zoom by me and yelled out "Go Jeff!" (note - Jeff is my buddy Joe's friend, and has absolutely no idea who I am.  This would change over the next few hours, as it usually does during a race).  I enjoyed the hell out of the next few zoomy miles, with the caveat of one intersection that was actually busy as hell where we had to cross that was unmanned, and I had to stop for (note, this was not normal and post race I cleared it up with the RD, it was a miscommunication, which can happen).  With that bit of fun over, we swung out to the main road where the last 5 miles of the loop were uphill (of course).  At this point, I passed Jeff and yelled out something resembling encouragement, and then we leap frogged for a bit.  I found out this was his first ever tri (he's a badass) and relayed that if he beat me, I would never hear the end of it.  Apparently he was having some equipment issues with his bike, and ended up having to spend some time at special needs to fix it (bummer).  With that little bit of banter done, I finished up loop one in 1:34, right on schedule.  

Loop two was pretty uneventful - same lather, rinse, repeat of loop one, though I swear the hills were bigger (I don't know how the RD does it, but he does!).  At mile 40, I went to power into my big ring and somehow cross chained like a dumbass and locked my chain up.  Spent a few minutes fixing it and cursing, and of course, this was when Jeff zoomed by me again (mission- catch this random person I literally just met an hour ago - and I did on the last uphill, lol).  With that in mind, I hopped back on my bike, hit the gas, and was off! I wrapped up the ride in 3:10, for a pretty perfect even split if you count the time I spent on the side of the road.  Sweet.  While this broke no speed records, I was perfectly happy with it - my average power was 130 watts, which is an easy spin for me, and with 3700 feet elevation gain, this was a total win.

Run: 1:54 (8:40/mile)

Here was the deal with the run.  I promised on everything sacred to me that I WOULD NOT race the run unless I was in a place to podium.  Which, of course, I had no idea if I was or not - I passed a few women on the bike but mostly rode with men (typical).  Either way, my goal was to run comfortably, not race, and walk all the hills.  The first four miles of the course are pretty fast, and I was averaging about an 8:00-8:15 mile.  At the first aid station I was asked if I was a relay, which I found odd, and I replied I was doing the whole thing.  About mile 2, I connected with a dude named Mike, who I ran the next 3 miles with.  I saw my friend Blair, who was in the lead at that point (and like, 4 miles ahead of me) and cheered her on.  At the first turnaround, I lost Mike, who was a bit fast for me, and had counted the women ahead of me - there were 4.  Oh cool!

I thought one of them might be catchable, but I was in a good spot, and had no designs to race for fourth.  I kept up my run/walk for the first major uphill, and joked with every person I possibly could (yes, we all know I throw a party on the course.  No, I'm not changing) The course was super chat friendly, with three out and backs, perfect for me!  At mile 6, a woman flew by me, going super fast uphill, and biffed her water hand off, snapping at the volunteer.  Woah, what the hell.  Bless the volunteer, who chased after her to give her water.  I contemplated trying to catch her for a minute, but hell, no thank you.  I resumed my happy race, seeing both Mike and Jeff at all the turnarounds and cheering them on, yelling (what tired me perceived to be encouragement, anyways) throwing witty remarks out.  Halfway through, I was averaging 8:40s, right on my time goal for 5:45.  I took in nutrition at miles 5 and 10 and with 5k to go, I passed one woman, back in 5th place.  Mile 10 was the last big uphill and I saw another guy and woman killing themselves to get up it.  I implemented my run/walk, and as I crested the hill, I passed the dude, and on the other side, the woman.  

I yelled out encouragement and she yelled back "I'm dying, you look great!".  So...4th place?  Well now.  That's pretty cool.  At this point I knew the first two women were way ahead of me, and I had no idea where the grumpy woman from mile 6 was, but hey, with less than 2 miles to go, I would be darned if the woman I just passed was gonna catch me.  

I passed mile 11 in 1:38, and picked it up for the next mile to hit an 8:00 pace for the mile.  The same volunteer that saw me on the way out yelled out "You go girl, you look better at mile 12 than 1!" and I grinned and tossed back a joke.  I felt amazing.  I kept it up, and about mile 12.5 I saw the same dude I had been running with, Mike, and passed him easily, yelling out encouragement, and he laughed and replied something about wisely saving my energy, as I grinned and pushed the pace down to 7:30s.  And OMG, I saw her.  Mile 6 lady.  Could I?  I stepped up the gas a bit more and with a quarter mile to go, zoomed past her as she yelled out "Oh FUCK!" (I kept my game face on, guys, but I probably smiled a little bit).  With that done, I zoomed into the finishers chute for a time of 5:44, a sub 7:00 final .2 mile segment, and a grin all over my face.

Post Race

So - I *thought* I came in 3rd female, which blew my little mind, with the concept of the podium AND awards ceremony.  I was wrong.  I came in SECOND WOMAN!  The other woman I saw was part of a relay, and the only female that beat me was Blair, by 28 minutes, and lets be real, she's practically a pro, so I was pretty tickled pink.  Post race I hung out with Joe, who put up with my smelly butt and made decent amounts of fun at me (he fits right in) and we waited for Jeff to finish, which he did in stellar fashion!  We then connected with the Outlaw, WHO WON THE RACE (go Ryan!) and got food and....well...ya know.

We did the thing.

                             Check out that gorgeous podium, folks.  Holy cats. It freaking happened.

What a race.  As always, it brought a great time, plenty of smiles, laughter, and a real home town small race awesome personal touch.  And with that, I was off and back to the mart tapering for 70.3....worlds!  

Just kidding.  I totally did a bandit Sprint tri the next day.

When I will I ever learn (never). 

Rochester Triathlon 2021: Party in the USA

 Another day, another race report, right?  I suppose that's what happens when I decide four races in five weeks is smart...well, maybe four (stay tuned, kids!).  Ahem, sorry.  At last count we were at race #2 of 4 - the Rochester triathlon!  This is, without a doubt, the hometown race these days.  I was SUPPOSED to be living it up in Mt Tremblant doin the 140.6 thing, but since Canada is still no Bueno, the race was cancelled AGAIN and I found myself nicely free to support the Rochester Area Triathletes (RATs if you will) in their home race!

Years ago (actually, over a decade ago) Greg and I joined the RATs and partook in their shenanigans (Greg even designed the kit!) but for a few reasons, we stepped back from the team.  Enter the new prez, Mike Smith, who is full of ideas, enthusiasm and general shenanigans.  Take my money.  He's grown the club exponentially, has a welcome, fun, atmosphere, so we said - why not - lets support local.  While we haven't had the opportunity to do a lot of team stuff, its always nice to be part of thr tri community and support the team!

Going into the tri, I was amped to see what I could do with  his course - I raced the inaugural Roc tri back in 2012, so this was its tenth year - and the bike course is quite a bit different.  Its four loops (sprint does 2) so definitely some of the "same time next year" feel, but closed to traffic with half the course on new, fast roads.  Huzzah!  The swim is about standard - Lake Ontario, two loops, nothing crazy.  I hate two loops but it makes sense when you're putting on two races.  And the run was a nice out and back with one monster hill and two kick your butt hills I forgot about until mid race (spoiler alert).  All in all, a good race.  My Olympic PR was 2:38 and I was dying to get that number closer to 2:29 - lets do the thing!

Race week I felt pretty good, considering I had just raced the weekend before.  My coach had me on the no mercy plan (mutually agreed upon, since Worlds 70.3 on September 18th is my goal race) so I had a normal volume week leading up to the race.  Greg was racing the sprint and had designs to PR (totally doable) and I talked the Outlaw into the race (it wasn't tough).  We all hung out the night before and got ready to rumble the next day!

Race morning dawned not so early for us at 5am (what is this sleeping in!) and we were ready to go.  Oddly enough, I never felt nervous, which has some of my friends rolling their eyes, but I always have some pre race butterflies.  We headed out and were in transition 20 minutes later (yess for the local race!).  For lack of a better word, transition was a party.  I think I've finally aspired to my inner Matt Kellman, who I idolized years ago - he is an icon in the Roc, and everyone knows him. (Greg and I even got a signature selfie with him #starstruck.

 Somehow, through joking on Facebook, random workout meet ups, or general notorious behavior, it seemed everyone knew me at this race - including people I had no idea who they were (insert inner ego - though I'm pretty sure its not for amazing reasons!!)  I met Laura, a fellow racer who is my Facebook bestie (she is, she freaking rocks and I love her more now that I know her), Joe, the dude that body marked me that I have chatted with on Strava (apparently I was nervous because I had no idea who he was until post race when he busted me - fair, Joe, fair) Blair, the girl who routinely smokes me and I can't even be mad because she's talented AND nice as hell, New triathletes mother and daughter Cheryl and Joanna (15!) who were super nervous and next to me in transition - I helped them out with things they needed and a ton of things I'm sure they didn't need) and my favorites - Marcus and Ken, my Worlds buddies, Joe Tally (a super bike and runner who wishes he could beat me), and so many others.  I'll admit I played social butterfly pre race and paid little attention to - ya know - the business of racing.  With a few minutes left, we headed down to the beach and got ready to rock - when Greg informed me my Uncle was there!  I ran up the hill to give him a squeeze and barely made it back before my wave went off (I'm so hard core).

swim: 31:54 (1:51/100)

This must be the year when I can't pull a fast swim out to save my soul.  The two loop course was a little bit annoying - there was a ton of shallow unswimmable water, so we ran through the water for a good minute before you could dolphin dive (and again for the second loop).  Not much to say about any of it - it was comfortable, which is probably the problem - I need to learn to race the swim!  In the second loop, my HRM, which is an armband, fell off, and I had to dive a bit to grab it - Eff.  That's never happened before.  I stuffed it in my trikit and ditched it in T1 - sorry coach! There were 3 buoys, which made sighting a little difficult (I'm so spoiled with Ironman's buoy every 100m), but aside from that, nothing to report.  I exited the water just under 32 minutes, probably the crappiest swim time wise I've had in an Oly since 2018, but it is what it is.  (I later found out I was 3rd woman out of the water - so - apparently not that crappy!) And - new off season goals!

Bike: 1:14:46 (19.95 mph)

And onto the bike!  It still makes me smile that I can now say this with a big smile on my face!  I was ready to rock this - until I realized I never turned ANY electronics on at all - no bike computer, no varia.  Whoops.  I booted them up super quick in T1 and was off.  It was pouring at that point (where did this come from??) so I took off with a little caution then settled in.  The course was sort of a lollipop- 1 mile out, tight turnaround, then 3 miles back, a loop through some shitty hilly road, a fun downhill, then do it 3 more times.  The first loop was pretty uneventful and I got the lay of the land - the turnaround sucked in the rain, but other than that, not too bad.  During loop two I got passed by the Outlaw (that didn't take long) who yelled out "Hold Your Line"  (dick - I was) and I replied with something smart ass (turns out later he was yelling out something totally different and highly inappropriate regarding my race goals, which, pity, that would have made me laugh).  Coming into the hilly portion, I was rounding a curve and heading for the descent when I saw a rider on the side of the road who crashed - I always hate this and yell out to see if they are okay.  Getting closer - I recognized the kit - it was Greg.  SHIT.  I asked him if he was okay and slowed - he yelled to keep going - gah - so I did.  (Turns out he hit a big pothole going 24 when he dodged to avoid a bike that swerved in front of him - he was okay except for some road rash and finished the race with a near AG placement - he is such a badass!).  

Loops 3 and 4 were pretty uneventful except for the fact that with so many people on the course, passing was tough - and in some cases, impossible.  My speed took a hit as I slowed to wait for people to make the turn arounds or find clear road.  I called out on your left a zillion times (which many people thanked me for) and almost got plowed over by a dude that passed me unannounced with about an inch to spare.  He yelled out something unpleasant and I yelled back "Call your pass, dude!".  Idiot.  I wouldn't have minded but riding far to the right - no reason for that kind of pass.  I later passed him on the hills and bit back a snarky response - not worth it.  I saw my coach on loop 3 and in general felt pretty legit riding in aero in the rain (I later found out he was more impressed with my shifting - hey, Ill take what I can get!).  Of course, without reason my bike computer died at mile 9, so clearly the shifting was going to be the thing - data wasn't.  Whoops.  (I have no idea what happened, it booted up later just fine.  Technology was not my friend today).

Off the bike with little drama (thank goodness - and now it was time to run!)

Run: 48:14 (7:45 mi)

After FINALLY remembering how to run at mini mussel, I was excited for this 10k.  I realized that I wouldn't PR - which was fine - but if I could pull out a sub 50 minute 10k, I would shake out around 2:45 (clearly I have no math skills).  I also had absolutely no idea where I was in the race, but with my shitty swim and so so bike, I knew I wasn't in placement overall, so I decided to just have fun.  My instructions were to run mile 1 by feel, miles 2-3 and controlled in the hills, then zoom home.  Okey doke.  I hit mile 1 in 7:45 and knew it was not going to be a fast day.  Alright - they aren't all fast!  I saw my coach and gave him a big grin, then immediately put on serious face (he hates it when I smile during a run in a race - clearly I should be working harder (I don't listen to that, mostly)).  I couldn't keep the face and started laughing, and  a dude across the way yelled out - keep that smile on, you look great!  And I heard my coach mutter something I won't repeat.  I flipped him the bird (truly, I do love that man) and was on my way.  The hill at mile 2 wasn't bad - 8:12 and heading into the neighborhood stretch I saw Blair heading it in for the win - that girl is smokin!  Through the neighborhood, I got thoroughly twisted with the out and backs.  I saw another woman ahead of me that I knew and cheered her on to not let me catch her (I wasn't gonna - she runs six minute miles) and then a few other women.  I roughly guessed I was in 5th or 6th place (which was oddly disappointing - who am I???) then realized you can't win em all - so I focused on just smiling away!  with a mile to go, I saw my coach again - who yelled out some shirtless dude is trying to pass you - you might like that!  and I cracked up.  Turns out it was Ben who I leapfrogged with at Summer Sizzler - I'm a better biker and he also runs six minute miles and had been trying to catch me since I passed him on the bike.  We laughed and I chased him to the finish for a 48:14 - not my best, but certainly not bad for the humid day and course!

Post Race

Apparently my shitty math was - shitty - and I finished with a time of 2:37, good for a whopping 12 second PR.  For the course layout and conditions, I was super happy with that.  I immediately connected with Greg, who was alive and well, and the Outlaw, who finished second overall despite feeling like garbage, and commenced the post race hangout!  Somehow, all oblivenessness aside, I managed to place third overall for the ladies, which blew my mind because I honestly had no idea I was even in the race.  The two women that beat me are both SMOKIN' fast so I was really pleased with the effort - and we acted out our silly shenanigans with the fun race belt Mike got for the winners! (Lest anyone get concerned - there was NO podium, but an awards ceremony, so the streak is NOT broken (Mike I love you - please don't get a podium next year, it'll kill my chances)

The coolest part about all of this is that I finally have some awesome overall Female awardage - for every race I've placed in there was an engraving error or nothing on the award indicating placement - but now I have legit swag! (This found a spot on my wall immediately)

All is all, it was a great race.  Did I go my fastes?  Nope, probably not.  That bugged me for about five minutes before I realized I had a fanastic time at the "party" - with all my old friends and new friends - at the party in the Roc!  So, guys, this is for you - thank you for making the tri community so much darn fun and I'm so grateful to be able to get out and play with all of you for 3 hours on a weekend!

Ok, I lied. While the race was fun, I can only dedicate it to one person.  And that is.....

Joe Tally.  After years of trying, he finally beat me in a race.  Congrats Joe, you're the GOAT.  And next time, it's on 😂😂

Next up - Cassadagaman Half Ironman September 4th!  Where the hills are alive (and I hear there's music)