Roc tri 2022: Moments We Live For

I suppose when you race on two consecutive weekends, you'd best get your blog shit together, right?  Post Peasantman win high, I got right back into training, as my buddy Ryan stayed the next day and we did perfect race recovery dumb shit things like a 60 mile ride to Sodus with Gary.  Hey, life's short and he isn't around much, so this is one of those "balance" things where you take the moment to spend time with friends at the behest of perfect training.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I will totally admit, I was sore post Peasantman, and knew that I raced it - rather than "funning it" - once I saw the woman behind me during the run, I dropped the hammer and had zero regrets, but was feeling the after effects.  The next week was supposed to be the kickoff of my final block for Barrelman, but life had other plans.  The lead up to the Roc tri was ridiculous - since I am on the board for the RAT's (Rochester Area Triathletes) and was on the race planning committee, Monday through Thursday was a combo of last minute meetings, packet stuffing, emails, and a zillion details to ensure race success.  When I signed up to race this one, I did it with the full knowledge that it would be a "fun race" and nowhere near anything to prep well to do zooms.  I think I got about 10 hours sleep the four days pre race, and Friday, the day before the actual event, was a 9 hour marathon of moving crap from our President's garage, lifting boxes, manning packet pickup, explaining race day logistics to a million (okay, a few hundred) nervous triathletes, lifeguarding the kids splash and dash event (which was awesome and hilarious) and in general, running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  I ate four fig bars, a donut, and two grilled cheeses for my pre race lunch/dinner - what could possibly go wrong?

Pre Race

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect at this race.  I signed up for the Sprint event, which was a .5 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 5k run - I got a lot of shit for not doing the Olympic, which I would always prefer, but with the amount of race prep I needed to do for this event because of my RAT's duties, I knew the shorter distance was wiser.  I was up by 3am race morning, and felt like absolute crap from the day before- I housed some ibuprofen, a bagel, and was out the door by 430 to get to transition, throw

my gear down and help with set up.  (It was incredibly odd to go to this one alone, as Greg was racing too, but it made sense to go separately, as I was helping with set up).  The cool thing about this race is, its whole 20 minute drive - score!  Once I parked, I grabbed my bike from the car, went to transition and - was the FIRST bike in!  Yeah baby!  (Its the little things, kids).  While it was still dark out, I could hear the lake and it sounded...angry.  It was decently windy and you could hear the waves and  I thought - shit.  This isn't good.  But maybe it'll calm down. 

The next hour was a total whirlwind of set up, timing mat planning, a zillion other small details and then the racers arrived!  I was extremely serious about my pre race prep did absolutely nothing to prepare for my own race and spent the time helping body mark, explain the layout/race details, rack bikes incorrectly place, and made a zillion new friends (I think people are seriously doubting my introvert status).  I caught up with old friends and in general, treated this race like the party it was.  Oh, we have to swim bike run?  Whoops, I forgot that part!  And, as fate would have it, the RD called the swim ( a wise choice, as the waves would have freaked out those not as comfortable with Open Water swim, and we had lots of newer triathletes) - we were headed for a run bike run format. (1.5 mile run, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run). This actually favors me, as I'm a much stronger runner, but I was a little bummed about no swim because I do enjoy the water even if I'm not fast!

The Olympic started a half hour before the sprint, and while a wise person would have taken in nutrition and spent some time getting ready to race, I was still running around like a dope, hanging with friends, cheering on the Olympic athletes, and paying zero attention to my own race (This is likely a "what not to do" post and I entirely own this!)  With five minutes to go, I downed a gel, grabbed my race belt, and got in line with Matt Kellman and Brian Emelson for the time trial start - Matt was eyeing an easy first leg of about 7:15-7:30 pace to me, which sounded perfect.  Let's do this!).

Run #1: 9:42 - 6:43 pace

Yeah, thanks Matt.  I took off and tucked behind Matt and Brian, per the plan. With my first step I hit a divot in the grass weirdly and felt a shooting pain up my left hip - this was not good, but with the adrenaline going, I quickly forgot about it. I stayed behind the boys - totally forgetting that  these rockstars are fast as shit and that I was probably being stupid (do we sense a theme here?)  

As we hit the turnaround, I saw no women behind me but since it was a time trial start, I knew I could potentially have a four minute head start on any potential competitors (160 racers, two at a time every 3 seconds).  Not that I had serious designs to do anything special, but I'll admit the last two wins at local triathlons had me gunning to go FAST!  Which....I was.  The first mile clocked in at 6:44 and I muttered under my breath, WTF Matt Kellman (Because clearly, this was all his fault).  ut I felt good - this felt like tempo pace!  I decided at that point to just listen to my body and go with it, and I zoomed into T! with a run time of 9:42, for a 6:43 pace, which is my 5k pace - way to take that run conservatively, Rae!

Bike: 35:02 - 20.5 mph

The bike course for the ROC is a two looper for the sprint, and a four looper for the Olympic - for 2022, we changed up the course to make a lollipop rather than the old u turn, which got rave reviews for (yass!)  It's not a flat course, but most of the rollers you can carry speed for - the course gets a little congested with 350 racers on it once the sprinters join the fun, but thankfully the road is closed to traffic, so aside from the whole stay on the right and pass with room, its a pretty fast course.  I hopped on my bike with little fanfare and was off!  The bike course was well manned with RATs volunteers and I felt the love from the cheer squad as I settled into a decent pace - I had to leap frog a few Olympic racers but the first loop wasn't too bad - I got to see Greg at the runaround as he was heading out, as well as Ryan, who started way back - and Scott, who was totally dominating the Olympic Course.  Even thouh I'm not a fan of looped courses in general, it was a lot of fun to see some of my favorites out there racing.  About 3 miles in, some idiot dude close passed me without calling it out, and I looked up and it was my buddy Sean, who was doing the Oly.  I caught up to him and gave him shit in a good natured way, and we spent the next ten miles playing leap frog.  The first loop was pretty uneventful and I hit it at 17:00 on the nose, for 20.6 mph - the second loop was a little bit slower due to the amount of racers, but nothing major - I had to slow at one turn for a cyclist towing an athlete, which I would happily do all day- that's badass- and on the last climb to zoo rd, had to do a little maneuvering while shit talking to Matt about his climbing (why do these guys keep me around, I'm a total bitch - and he ribbed me for it post race, as he should have!)  Ryan passed me about halfway through loop #2 and yelled out "ARROW", which is totally an ongoing joke, and I yelled back "PINEAPPLE!" and started laughing.

I headed into the final descent and dismounted with finesse without making a total ass of myself , heading into T2 with my  buddy Joel, who was heckling spectating, yelling out something either resembling encouragement or disparagement - I'll never know, but either way, it lit a fire under me to get my butt out on the final run!

Run #2: 22:07 - 7:10 pace

As far as I knew, no woman passed me on the bike or run #1, which didn't mean much, as I was toward the front of the TT start - but as I headed out to run #2 I knew I was flat out racing and wanted to give it everything I had!  I heard someone yell out "GO GLASER!" and "You're in 3rd!" which confused the hell out of me - were there women in front of me?  Was I in third overall?  That couldn't be, as I knew Brian, Matt and Ryan were all ahead.  Oh I was confused.  But it was time to run!!  I hit mile 1 in 7:17, and then started to climb to the turnaround.  I saw Scott coming back in from his Oly run, fast as hell, yet somehow making it look easy (this guy is not human, but he's fun to watch and try to pretend I can do half the shit he does), and then started to count sprinters - I saw seven men before I hit the turnaround, no ladies.  Hit the turnaround in 11:44, and clocked mile 2 in 7:44, which was slower, but a decent amount of climbing.  I saw the first woman two minutes back, and did the math in the least beneficial way possible - I had to put two minutes on her if she started last - could I do it??  The final mile was honestly a blur - I have never felt like such a damned Rockstar, with everyone cheering me on.  I looked over at the lake - hurt on my face, but also smiling in the inside, remembering that THIS is why I do this shit.  A few weeks back, Greg sent me a song for my run playlist called "Moments we Live for" and I felt it playing in my head- 

These are the moments, the moments we live for
Once in a lifetime, Everything we wanted more
This is the start of a new day, a good life
These are the moments we live for

I felt some tingles.  Whether it was the 7:00/mile I was holding on tired legs, the cheering, or the sheer happiness of doing what I loved with 300 of my best friends, I didn't know - and I didn't care.  I hit the finish line, the biggest smile on my face - for a total time of 1:09 and change.  

Post Race

Turns out, the second week of me hitting the gas for the latter half of the run didn't matter much - I won the race by four minutes, which is absolutely bananas to me.  I cheered in all of my favorite sprinters and Olympic racers, and we all plopped down on the grass to hang out and wait for the awards ceremony.  The overall winners awards were sweet - the women got a plaque, flowers, and a free race entry to next year - score! 

Overall, it was a giant success of a race - and even though I am ridiculously exhausted with all the work that went into its execution, cannot believe I pulled a win out of my butt - the third Tri win of the season ....in which I had my first overall tri win, ever.  What the heck can I do to top this??I'm not sure - Barrelman 70.3 is up next, and while I really have shifted my focus to fall running and am doing Barrelman - uh - for fun - I don't think anyone believes me anymore when I say that.

Either way, it's time to take this show to Canada and see what we can do with another 70.3 - stay tuned!!