Tobacco Road Half Marathon

I signed up for the 2016 Tobacco Road half, but a knee injury that kept me from running in January and February that year led to a deferral, so this race has been on the calendar for a long time.  Initially, as it has been for a few years, the stretch goal was to break 1:30.  That still seems a long way off, so the primarily goal was to run a new personal best (under the 1:31:25 I ran in Utah Valley), which meant a goal pace of about 6:58/mile.  I've run this race twice beore (2014 and 2012), so I knew that despite the description, the course isn't actually flat.  I have been training on the course for months, hoping that with greater familiarity the incline section from about mile 8 to mile 10 would be less miserable.  Unfortunately, though it's only a 1-2% grade, it still slowed me down significantly and it still sucked every single time.  I think that got in my head a bit, and I really started to wonder if I even had a shot at ringing the PR bell.

The race is about a mile from my house, so logistically this couldn't be easier.  Rather than having to be in the parking lot by 5:30 and sit around in the cold, I was able to roll out of the house a little after 6:30.  Margaret and Amanda parked at my house and joined me for the jog over, and it was all pretty relaxed and low key.  My brother had left the house a few minutes earlier and I'd hoped I would catch up to him, but unfortunately I didn't see him on the way and couldn't find him before the start. Everything else went smoothly though, and that was really the only glitch of the morning.

I made my way through the corral and said hello to a few people I know, and then realized I had more than enough time to throw in some strides.  I made my way back out, added a few more minutes to my warm up, and then headed back up toward the start line.  I found Allie and Meredith, who are both far faster but were just out for training runs, so once the gun sounded I was off on my own.

The race starts uphill and heads out on pavement for about two and a half miles before turning onto the packed dirt/gravel of the ATT, heading mostly down on the way out, then mostly up on the way back to Morrisville Parkway (the aforementioned dreaded slow miles), then back to Brooks Park for a downhill finish.  My plan was to start out a little below goal pace, speed up just a bit to bank a little time on the downhill section out the way out, try to hold onto low 7s on the way back up, and then push the pace after turning off the trail.  Everything went according to plan, and I hit the turnaround just past 45 minutes (6:53 average for the first half).  

Once I hit the turnaround, I was a little surprised to see Meredith and Allie right behind me, since the rumor at the start was that they'd be running 7:05 and 7:20 pace, respectively.  Emma was also right behind me, and she and Mere caught up with me shortly after making the turn.  I chatted with them briefly but as we hit the incline they seemed to pick it up and I was rapidly slowing down, so  that was the end of that nice distraction.  I could hear them chatting as they pulled away from me on the lamented uphill section from Wimberly back to Morrisville Parkway, and I would have been silently cursing them if they weren't such nice people ;)

I took a sip of Gatorade at one of the aid stations hoping it would magically give me energy to fly through that section without losing too much time, but as expected, my splits moved up into the 7s. I am usually good about cheering on friends and offering encouragement to anyone who looks like they need it in these out and back races, but I guess I was in the zone because I passed a ton of people I know and never even saw them.  I did have my eye out for my brother and gave him a cheer as he passed, and was able to glimpse a few familiar faces, but for the most part I would hear "Go Kara!" and have no idea who it had come from.  I was actually shocked by how many friends and folks I know were listed in the results - I never even saw most of them!  So if you were out there running or spectating: thank you for the support... the cheers and encouragement meant a lot and were very much appreciated, even though it probably did not seem that way at the time!

When I hit the 10 mile split under 70 minutes (69:57), I knew that I had not lost so much time coming back that a PR was off the table, so that was a nice boost as I got back out to the road.  I don't have much of a finishing kick, and a good race for me usually means holding pace rather than speeding up, but with the help of a nice little downhill stretch through Brooks Park I was able to click off a 6:36 final mile.  With the finish line in sight, a woman who I'd passed a little earlier came out of nowhere.  I gave what I could (6:22 pace for the last tenth) and just edged her out at the line. I had 1:31:15 on my garmin, and though it was only 10 seconds better than Utah, a PR is a PR, and I got to ring the bell on the way out of the finish shoot.  Mission accomplished.

I met up with Alan, cheered on some friends, and waited for my brother to finish (he also ran a PR, despite a recent injury, so that was awesome).  While we were waiting, I checked the results to find that the woman I'd edged at the line (by less than 100th of a second) had started a step behind me, so her chip time was about half a second faster and giving her 2nd place in our age group.  Gah!  Granted, finishing 19th vs 20th of women or 2nd vs 3rd in my age group doesn't really have any significance, but I know I could have found one second somewhere, so it really does irk me a little!

3rd/250 Female 35-39

Though I would've liked to stick around the post-race party, it was a little chilly for my liking, so we headed back home to stretch in the warmth, then celebrated our new personal bests with lunch and beers at the Pit before spending the rest of the day in basketball-watching recovery mode. 

All in all, I'm really pleased with the day.  That 1:29:59 is really far away, but I ran a solid race, confirmed that running a sub-7 half marathon in Utah was not a fluke, saw my brother and some other folks I know run PRs, and am excited to shift focus fully to triathlon training.  

Ironman 70.3 Augusta

Ironman 70.3 Augusta was my second half distance tri back in 2013 and I remember enjoying the current-assisted, wetsuit-legal swim, relatively flat bike course, and super flat run.  So I signed up for this last winter after what was (for me) a successful fall racing season with the goal of breaking 5 hours. Training has gone pretty well, and going into the week I thought this still seemed to be a realistic goal.  However race week brought some unexpected twists, including (1) learning of changes to the bike course that added a little distance along with 700+ feet of elevation gain over the old course and (2) seeing that the forecast was predicting high temperatures around 90.  After racing Raleigh in June and completely blowing up in the heat, I knew I needed to adjust my race plan given the conditions.  I decided on a slightly slower pace and decided ahead of time that I would walk through all of the aid stations to try to keep my core temperature under control and make sure that I was hydrating.  These changes to the plan made it pretty unlikely that I'd finish in under 5 hours, but when life gives you lemons you just try to cross the finish line and not end up in the medical tent. 

Made it to my hotel just in time to see the sunset on Friday night

After driving down to Augusta on Friday, Saturday was pretty low key.  I went for a quick spin to make sure all systems were go with the bike, met up with Tim for lunch and bike check-in, and then met some friends for dinner.  Other than that the day was just spent getting things together, hydrating, and lazing around watching football.

Race gear ready to go

Sunday morning I walked over to the Marriott to catch the bus to T1.  While I was walking I overhead several people saying that the swim wasn't wetsuit legal, but they'd announced the water temp to be 74 on Saturday - a full two degrees below the cutoff - so I thought they must be mistaken.  Unfortunately they were not.  The water temperature had somehow risen to 77 in one day.  Part of the reason I'd chosen this race was the wetsuit-legal swim with the current, so that was really disappointing (and the conversation I had with myself in my head may have contained an expletive or two).  I know that relying on the wetsuit is sort of a cop out, but because I'm not a strong swimmer, the extra buoyancy and improved body position really helps to cut the gap between me and the front of the field. At least we still had the current!

Looking over the swim course from the bridge nearest the start

It was 50 minutes between the pro start and my wave, so we watched the pros go out to try to see what the best line would be.  We were instructed to stay to the right of the buoys but the pros were using both sides, so I decided I'd stay as close to the sight buoys as possible. 

It's an in-water start, and we had to work at treading water and moving backward against the current, which I thought was a great sign.  Unlike my last two 70.3s, which were very choppy, difficult swims with portions against and across the current, the Savannah River was blissfully calm and the point to point swim is with the current the entire time, so I was actually feeling pretty comfortable when the horn sounded.  My comfort was pretty short-lived.  I guess I just need more practice in crowds, but I just can't find a rhythm with people bumping into me from every direction. One woman seemed to be trying to draft off of me and kept grabbing my feet, and it was frustrating me to no end.  Thankfully I was eventually able to find my own space, stayed on my line just right of the buoys, and the second third of the swim went by uneventfully, which for me is a victory.

When I did Augusta 3 years ago, I finished the swim in 30:35.  Originally I thought I'd be able to take a couple of minutes off of that time, but without the wetsuit I wasn't sure how it would go.  So I was content to see 31 minutes on my watch when I exited the water.  Though I had the current to thank for most of it, that is still BY FAR my fastest non-wetsuit open water swim.  

2013: 30:35, 104/159
2016: 31:28, 54/159

I made the run up to T1 and found there were still a lot of bikes on my rack, which made me smile given my questionable swimming ability and my struggles in the early portion of the swim.  I put on my helmet, bike shoes, and sunglasses and was out of T1 in under 4 minutes.

While I was not thrilled about the added elevation on the bike course (hills are not one of my strengths), I was excited to get on the bike.  I'd hit the 56 mile mark at Patriots in about 2:38, and though I was better suited to that course I thought something at least close to PR would be a possibility.  The first several miles were incredibly crowded.  People were riding three wide and it was very difficult to avoid drafting.  There were three women in my age group close by and we played a bit of leap frog for a while as we were weaving in and out of passing lanes, going around people, and avoiding some of the men from the wave behind us that were flying by at mach 7.  Once things started to spread out for a bit, I found that they were pulling away.  I thought about trying to stick with them, but knew it was going to be a long day, especially with the run in the heat, so I decided to stick with my plan to ride around 160-165W and just hope that they'd come back to me later in the race.  I took it easy up the hills, used the 5 mile split beep on my garmin as a reminder to eat a couple of chomps and drink some gatorade, and just tried to ride steady.  I ran out of fluids before both the first and second aid stations, and was disappointed to find that they were so far apart (#1 at almost 20M, #2 around 38M, and #3 at 46M or so... not the best spacing), especially given that temperatures were already in the 80s, but overall I felt ok.  Despite seeing some slow bike splits, I fought the urge to ride harder and actually dialed it back a little as the temperature rose, not wanting a repeat of the Raleigh run disaster.  The last 12 miles or so are mostly flat and downhill, so I was actually able to maintain a decent pace without blowing my legs out.  Overall I'd say it went pretty much to plan, with a final normalized power of 160.  That put it on the low end of my target range and I finished with a an average speed of 20.2 mph, but with the heat that was probably not a bad thing.  Though of course I wish it'd been faster ;)

2013: 2:56:00, 38/159
2016: 2:46:18, 8/159

According to my garmin data, it was 88 degrees and 49% humidity at the start of my run.  My legs felt good and even though my legs wanted to run in the 7:30s (my original target pace), I made a conscious effort to slow down.  I felt that if I could stay in the 7:40-7:50 range with short walks through the aid stations, that would be a solid run given the conditions.  Again, I thought about Raleigh, and though it was awful at the time, at least I learned from my mistake of going out too hard, too soon.  It also helped tremendously that I've been training in the heat for the last 4 months!

As with the bike course, I thought the aid stations were poorly spaced.  While I'm used to having one every mile, several of these were spaced one and a half miles apart or more.  That might not sound like a huge difference, but when it's 90 degrees and sunny, a half mile can feel very long!  I was also disappointed to find that the majority of aid stations were not stocked with ice, especially since they'd known for quite some time that it was going to be an extremely hot day.  Thankfully I still felt (relatively) ok, and though my pace slowed a bit and my walks through the aid stations got progressively longer, most of my splits stayed in (or at least near) my goal.  As I was walking through the second to last aid station, a woman in my age group ran by.  I thought of taking off immediately or speeding up to catch her, but stayed with the plan and it wasn't long until I ran by her and pretty quickly put some space between us.  The last miles were tough, as could be expected, but I managed to finish strong...  a far cry from my last 70.3.  Even with the walking I ended up with an average pace of 7:47 per mile.  Though it's not my fastest half run split, it's not far from my 70.3 PR of 1:40:37 last fall, which was run under more pleasant conditions.

2013: 1:46:09, 14/159
2016: 1:41:59, 3/159

5:06:07

6th Female 35-39

14th Amateur Female of 900+ finishers

Though I was fairly satisfied with my effort and execution, I knew it was unlikely that I'd placed high enough to have a shot at a World Championship spot, but I'd hoped to crack the top 5 and get onto my first Ironman podium.  After getting a massage in the finisher area, I anxiously retrieved my bag from gear check and looked up the results.  Sixth.  For the second straight Ironman 70.3.  Though it's not a terrible finish, I missed out on fourth by three and a half minutes and fifth by only 2 minutes.  So close but so far, and I'm definitely a little disappointed because I know I could have found a few minutes out there, be it not getting frazzled by the foot grabbing in the water, pushing just a little harder on the bike, or not walking through the final aid station on the run.  Thankfully the three Championship slots were accepted by the top three finishers, so I am not beating myself up over missing out on that as I would have if one had rolled down to fourth and been within only a few minutes of my reach.  

I am trying not to dwell on the disappointing parts and to look at the positives as well... Though it wasn't ideally suited to my strengths with the changes to the swim and bike course, I finished less than 9 minutes from a World Championship slot.  I'd started to question whether I'd been overambitious in setting that goal for myself, and though it's still a sizable gap, it is inside the realm of possibility and in that sense I am feeling more confident despite falling a little short this time around.

So now it's back to work and on to Ironman 70.3 North Carolina.  Hopefully I can finally find that fine line between going out too hard and blowing up (Raleigh) and leaving a little too much in the tank (Augusta).  Time will tell... 

Beach 2 Battleship

Wow... I am not even sure where to start with this race report.  The entire experience blew my expectations out of the water and I am almost in disbelief that everything worked out the way it did.  I am still on cloud 9, but here goes... 

Going into the race, I was quite nervous because on top of the anxiety over attempting a new race distance, my last two long rides were washed out by rain and I had been sick for the three weeks leading up to the race.  Thankfully I felt 98% better by the end of race week, but I was feeling far less confident than I had been in early/mid-September. 

My dad flew down to Raleigh on Wednesday night, so Thursday was a nice relaxing day including a very short run, a pool swim with friends, and a nice carb-filled pasta dinner with my dad.  On Friday morning we headed out to Wilmington, checked into the hotel and went to the race expo.  As I was standing in line for packet pickup, it really hit me that I was about to race an ironman, and the nerves and excitement both picked up yet another notch.  

After checking out the expo we headed over to the transition area in Wrightsville Beach.  I took the bike for a quick spin to be sure everything was working well and to loosen up the legs a bit before racking the bike in T1.  From there we went down to check out the swim exit and I did a walk through from swim out to my bike and then to bike out.  

Bike check-in at T1

I planned to check my transition bags in the morning rather than on Friday, so the only thing left to do was to eat and rest.  We stopped by the Fish House and had a lovely dinner outside (salad with chicken for me while everyone else enjoyed some nice coastal seafood) before heading back to the hotel and calling it an early night. 

I was awake well before my 4:00 alarm, but stayed in bed and tried to at least rest while visualizing the race and trying to bolster my confidence by thinking of all of the training I'd put in leading up to this day.  I got up at 4, took a quick shower, and had a Clif bar, a bottle of nuun, and some coffee.  I put on several layers of body glide and my trisuit, double checked my transition bags, mixed my UCan, and left for T1 around 5:15.  There wasn't much traffic at that time in the morning and I arrived without any issues. I set my helmet, shoes, and sunglasses up at my bike and then dropped my T1 bag with a towel and arm warmers at gear check.  I put on my wetsuit, took once last look over my T1 setup, and boarded the bus to the swim start.

After being dropped off near the marina, I made the short walk over to the start area, used the porta potty one last time, drank my UCan, and chatted with a few other athletes.  With the breeze from the water it was a little cold just standing around, but with my wetsuit and swim socks it wasn't all that bad.  Before I knew it, it was almost time to start, and we made our way down the beach.

The full distance is a single start with nearly 700 athletes, so it was by far the largest swim start I've ever been in (previously my wave at Augusta was something like 150 women).  I know I'm not going to set any speed records in the water, so despite the lack of a start timing mat, I went out near the back of the crowd, content to trade losing a few minutes for a less frantic start.  Despite that, it was crowded for quite a while.  At times there were so many other people around me that I really had nowhere to go, so I just breast stroked and tried to scope out some space.  Though I did feel like there were a lot of swimmers around me the entire time, I eventually found a little room and settled into a comfortable pace.  I was barely kicking at all (boy I sure do love a wetsuit legal swim!) and tried to minimize my energy expenditure since I knew I had a long day ahead of me.  I actually felt so relaxed that I thought there was a good chance I was almost last, so after the last turn I picked it up a little and put a little more effort into the final yards to the dock.  

I climbed up the ladder and jogged over to the wetsuit strippers.  There was a bench, so it was easy to sit down and they just pulled it right off.  My watch got caught up in the wetsuit but the volunteers were helpful and soon enough it was off and I was up and jogging to T1.  Because my watch had been under my wetsuit, I had no idea how long I'd been in the water, and was very pleasantly surprised to look down and see 55 minutes!  Officially, my swim time was 57:36, which includes wetsuit stripping and about 200 yards of the run to transition.  With the current, the time itself doesn't mean a whole lot, but I was really pleased to later learn that my swim was 46th out of 150 women.  Given my (lack of) swimming ability, I will take finishing in the top third of the swim any day.

I had planned to at least rinse my face off in the warm showers, but as I ran through the shower tent, all of them were taken.  I decided that I'd just quickly towel off rather than waiting, so I continued on into T1.  I grabbed my bag and went into the women's tent, where I intended to just put on my arm warmers and then roll out.  Even though temps were in the 50s, the sun was out and I didn't feel particularly cold, so I decided that the arm warmers weren't really necessary, quickly wiped off, threw my wetsuit, goggles and cap into gear bag, gave it to a volunteer and headed out to my bike.  

It was congested at the mount line and I was cautious exiting the transition area.  Once I got going, I heard a very annoying rubbing/squeaking noise coming from my front wheel.  I'd ridden it right before bike check in the night before and everything seemed perfect, so I had no idea what it could be.  I pulled over to the side of the road and checked the wheel, hoping it was simply something stuck in the spokes, but couldn't see anything unusual.  My biggest concern was that there was something wrong with the wheel that would lead to a flat tire or serious mechanical problems, but thankfully it never got worse.  Unfortunately it meant over 5 and a half hours of listening to squeaks, but by the third hour I really barely noticed it anymore.  I saw my family around mile 5 and that was a nice boost and good distraction.  Shortly after that, I rode by a guy pulling back onto the course from the side of the road and he asked if it was my bike making that noise.  When I confirmed that it was, he said he was glad because he'd just crashed and thought it might be his.  Apparently he'd run into a cone and hit the pavement pretty hard.  I noticed his road rash and asked if he was ok and he said "well, not really, but pain is temporary."  That kind of set the tone for the day and I tucked that mantra away, knowing that in all likelihood I would need to remind myself of that later.

Heading out on the bike. Only 5 hours in the saddle to go!

My goal for the bike was to keep my power in the upper 130s and hopefully finish under 6 hours.  I don't have speed showing on my watch, so I didn't know how fast I was going, but with the headwind I just felt very slow.  A few times I clicked my watch over to speed and saw numbers like 16.8 or 18.3.  I knew I needed to average over 18 to get in under 6, so I was tempted to push a little harder, but my coach had said that if I felt like going harder than my planned power I should remember that it was going to be a long day, and with that in mind I just stuck to the plan.  About an hour into the ride I realized that I'd done a great job of hydrating, and despite my desire to not make any stops on the ride I opted to pull off at the second aid station around mile 40 to use the porta john.  I also took that opportunity to reapply some anti-chafing cream and despite losing a few minutes I think that stop was definitely the right decision.  

After that it was mostly smooth sailing.  I was passed by a few guys and one woman, but for the most part I was just sticking to my plan and picking people off.  The course was mostly flat, and with the exception of a section around mile 80-90 that was rough and full of seams, the pavement was pretty decent.   I was pleasantly surprised to see my family again shortly after I hit 100, and yelled to them that I felt great so far and all I have left is a marathon.  Even I had to laugh at the fact that I could say that and really mean it.  

Passing guys around mile 105

I guess that headwind finally turned into a tailwind at the end, as I was still riding on target but averaged over 23 mph for the split from mile 105 to 110.  I spun it out for the last couple of miles, which had a bunch of turns anyway, and though I was not sad to see the dismount line, I actually felt really good.  In the end, I averaged 138 watts on the bike - exactly on target - and a speed of 19.9 miles per hour.  I kind of wish I hadn't stopped because then I would have been at 20 mph, but I guess that will give me a nice even number goal for the next one :)

I gave my bike to a volunteer and ran into the convention center.  It was definitely the nicest transition area I've ever been in, largely because it was inside and there was a real restroom available.  I grabbed my T2 bag off the rack, went into the changing tent, laced up my running shoes, used the restroom (apparently I did a fantastic job of hydrating on the bike), threw my helmet and shoes in the bag, gave it to a volunteer, and took off on the run.  As I started the run, I flipped my watch over to the total race time display and was really surprised to see that I had made it through the swim, bike, and both transitions in under 6:45.  My stretch goal was about an hour on the swim and under 6 on the bike so I could give myself 4 hours to break 11.  My goal pace for the run was high 8s/low 9s, so I realized that I had a chance to finish in the 10:40s if I could just put in a solid run.  I think I did that math over and over about a dozen times because I really couldn't even believe it!  

The hardest part of my transition runs in practice was slowing down to my goal pace (8:40s-8:50s).  Though it wasn't a huge deal in training when the brick entailed a 4 mile run, I knew that going out too fast could really cost me later, so I did my very best to slow it down.  Despite my best efforts, and despite the fact that I felt like I was barely moving, my watch kept showing low 8s.  I took my coach's advice to walk through the aid stations, even though I didn't feel that it was necessary.  I started out drinking Heed and would just walk briefly enough to take a few sips, throw away the cup, and then start to run again. Even with the walk breaks at every mile, my splits were consistently in the 8:20s and I still felt fantastic.  It was a double out an back run, so I cheered and encouraged all of the half IM runners that I passed as well as the IM leaders as they started to come back.  I tried to count how many women were ahead of me, but it was difficult to tell because of the relay teams, who also had purple bracelets.  

Around mile 10 my feet and legs started to get a bit tired and I didn't want more Heed or anything other than water, but I was pretty excited to have made it through over 8 hours of the race before those feelings even hit me at all.  Mentally I just told myself I had another 2 miles before seeing my family again, then 1 more to finish lap 1, then 10k out, 10k back, and I would be an Ironman.  I finished my first lap in 1:50, and knew if I could just hold onto 9 minute pace and run the last half marathon in under 1:55 I would finish my first 140.6 a full half hour faster than my best case scenario goal of 10:59.  As I headed out on the second lap, it felt a little harder, but my pace remained in the low 8s and even with the walk breaks, my splits were under 8:30 until mile 18.  That's when it really started to get tough, and though I largely kept my moving pace in the mid-8s, my walk breaks were getting longer each mile.  I started taking ice and drinking coke, and would then tell myself I just had to run one more mile and I could walk again. My splits edged up into the 9s, and it was discouraging to feel like I was working harder and harder yet going slower and slower.  I pulled out all of the motivational mantras and thoughts that I'd tucked away for such an occasion, and was determined to not let 9 hours of hard work and a shot at 10:30 go out the window.  Just. Keep. Moving.  

Once I got back to downtown, there were tons of spectators and I knew all I had left was a nice little downhill, a run on the boardwalk, and then I would see the finish line.  With the rush of adrenaline from knowing I was about to finish and my pace back in the low 8s, I actually felt strong again through the last mile.  Making the last turn and seeing my family and the finish line was such a great feeling.  It was such an emotional last 0.1 mile run... I was overwhelmed by how well the day had gone, by the fact that I was actually finishing an ironman, and by the realization that I had absolutely crushed even my stretch time goals.  

Down the homestretch with the finish line in sight

A second lap split of 1:53 gave me a marathon time of 3:43:53 and an overall race time of 10:27:42.  I kept looking at my watch and at the clock, but still couldn't believe that could be right, and even as I write this I am not sure how that happened! 

I made my way through the finisher chute and was greeted with congratulatory hugs from my family, walked back to the hotel, and took the longest shower ever.  I followed that up with a nice little session in my new Normatec recovery boots and then we went out for dinner around 8:30.  I was shocked to find that I felt ok and was pretty much walking normally, so even a mile+ walk to/from dinner didn't seem that bad.  As usual, I wanted a burger, so we found a place where I could get that and a post-race beer.  We sat outside and watched as runners were both coming in and going out on the run course, and as I sat there wearing my finisher pants and drinking a beer I realized what an epic event it really is.  

I did in fact wear this out to dinner at a restaurant

After dinner we walked back to the finish line to return my chip and check to see if I'd placed in my age group.  Based on the results from the last few years, I knew that I had a good shot at an age group award if I finished under 11 hours and getting on the AG podium was one of my goals at the beginning of the year, so I was pretty excited to see how I'd placed.  The overall results were scrolling on a TV, so we had to wait a bit and then I would just have to count how many women 35-39 were ahead of me.  The top three were pretty close together (9:25-9:33-9:40) and then there were a bunch of male results before I saw the next F come up.  To my surprise, that next female was me! I thought I must've missed some or counted incorrectly, so we stood around and waited for the results to go all the way through again, and sure enough... 1, 2, 3, me!  I was soooo happy.  As an added bonus, there is a cash prize purse for the top 5, which meant I ended up with $250 and a really cool award.  The other 4 women in the top 5 are all professional triathletes, and to be the only amateur on the podium in my first full distance race was definitely beyond anything I'd ever even imagined.  The race was also the USAT mid-Atlantic ultra distance regional championship, so now I can add age group regional champion to my (very short) resume as well.  

Official splits:

Swim: 57:36 (46th)

T1: 4:44 (8th)

Bike: 5:37:22 (19.9 mph; 9th)

T2: 4:10 (8th)

Run: 3:43:53 (8:32/mile; 6th)

Total: 10:27:42 (4th)

I thought after the very long training cycle and finishing my first 140.6 I would want to take a break from triathlon for a bit, but now I am more excited than ever for next season!  I am recovering surprisingly well and actually felt a lot better than I did after Boston.  After this week off I will resume light training, and I can't wait to see what my coach has in store for this next training cycle :)

Thank you all for your support throughout this journey, for the many good wishes before the race, and for all the sweet congratulatory messages - I am lucky to have such great friends and to be a part of such a phenomenal racing community! 

Patriot's Triathlon

Saturday I raced the Patriot's Half Ironman in Williamsburg.  Though it was primarily a tune-up/fitness check in my training for B2B, I did want to put in a strong effort and hopefully come out of it with a new PR.  My previous PR (5:20:45) was in Augusta in 2013, and that race had a current assisted swim and a standard distance bike (the Patriots bike course is 58 miles rather than the usual 56), so even though my goal of a sub-5:20 finish wasn't that big of a difference time-wise, it would actually reflect a pretty significant improvement.

The swim is in the brackish James River, with part against the current, then cross-current, then with the current.  Or so they say.  As anyone who knows me knows, swimming is BY FAR my weakest of the three disciplines.  Really, my swim goals are typically (1) do not die, (2) do not use up too much energy, and (3) try to minimize the amount of time you lose on everyone else.  This is usually assisted by my wetsuit, but unfortunately the very hot summer yielded a water temp of 81, which meant no wetsuit for me.  I knew that also meant adding another 5-8 minutes to my goal swim time, and most likely ended my shot at a PR.  

When I started the swim there was absolutely zero visibility and my heart rate skyrocketed. I am glad to have had the experience prior to my A race, but it just wasn't super fun. So I slowed down (even more, as my best pace is already slow to begin with) and tried to calm down and get myself together.  Maybe 5-10 minutes in, I felt more comfortable and settled into a slow but tolerable pace.  Unfortunately I realized I was the last swimmer in my wave, and that was demoralizing.  On the plus side, I wasn't being kicked in the face and had plenty of space to do my own thing.  After making the turn to head out toward the middle of the river, the chop really picked up and it was probably the roughest open water I've had to swim in throughout my incredibly limited open water swimming experience.  At least I was heading back in the right direction.  I hit the lap button on my watch as I exited the water and though I was disappointed to see 47+ minutes, I was also a little surprised because it seriously felt like I'd been swimming for at least an hour. 

Swim start the day before the race.
On race day, it was actually overcast and much choppier

The run to T1 was actually fairly long (.34 miles according to my garmin) so I had a little time to get my bearings.  As expected, my bike was all alone on the rack, and the majority of bikes in all of transition were already gone.  I actually try to look at this as the bright side of being a very slow swimmer - my bike is easy to find, I have plenty of room to get my shoes on etc, and the whole field is already in front of me, so I just need to get out there and chase them down.

I got on my bike about 51:30 into the race, which put me over 12 minutes behind my PR race.  Between that and the 2 extra bike miles, I decided a PR was off the table and just focused on staying in my target power zone (upper 150s/low 160s).  The course is not pancake flat, but there are no real hills either, and the skies were still overcast but it hadn't started to rain, so both course conditions and the weather were pretty favorable.  I stuck right to my plan and kept my power in the 150s and found that I was catching and passing people very quickly.  I don't have speed on my garmin display because I ride by power, so I had no idea how fast I was going, but I didn't feel like I was working that hard and couldn't believe the way I was flying by people.  The first 5 mile split popped up at 14:16, and I was very surprised to see that I was riding over 20 (which I know to be a 15:00 5 mile split) while feeling so comfortable.  This continued throughout the entire race - keep the power around 160, fly by people like they're standing still, get a boost when the 5 mile splits pop up in the 14s (or 13s!), repeat.  And all the while I really felt great.  I initially thought that a sub-3 hour bike split would be pretty solid (I rode 2:56 in Augusta and this was 2 miles longer) but around mile 50 I realized that I could come in well under that.  I didn't think it would hurt my legs to push just a little harder so I decided to pick it up through the 55 mile mark and then ease up/spin it out for a few minutes before the run (50-55 split averaged 168 watts and over 22 miles per hour).  I hit the 56 mile mark in 2:39 and started doing all kinds of fun math, including figuring out that I'd made up enough time to still have a shot at a PR.  The last bit was on a narrow gravelly trail, which made it necessary to slow down a bit, and I took that as an opportunity to briefly spin out the legs before getting to T2.  After 2:45 on the bike, part of me was happy to get off my bicycle (you can probably guess which parts) but at the same time I was a little sad that it was over because it was such a great ride. 

Holy crap, did that really happen?

I quickly changed my shoes, racked the bike and helmet, and headed off on the run.  My coach told me to come out of T2 relaxed and then settle in to something around 7:40 pace, so I worked hard to slow down my legs and not do anything I'd pay for later.  This was going to plan through the first mile (7:34) and a into the second mile (7:40-something), but then we turned off onto a trail through the woods and my GPS decided it didn't care to cooperate.  Without confirmation of my pace, I think I may have been running a little too fast, but my watch and the mile markers were way off so I really wasn't sure.  I tried to just run easy and I think for the most part I was close to the prescribed pace.   It was getting warmer and I started throwing some ice in my trisuit at the aid stations, which ultimately melted, ran down my leg and into my shoes, which made squish-squish noises for the last half of the run.  By mile 10 I was feeling fatigued and was definitely ready to be done.  My pace slowed for the last couple on the trail, but once I got back to the road I did all I could to pick it back up.  I knew that if I could run a 1:40 half marathon I would get my coveted sub-5:20 despite the horrendous swim, long run to T1, and extra 2 miles on the bike. With a final mile in the 7:30s, I very happily crossed the finish line with 5:18:55 on my watch. 

Official splits:

Swim: 47:46 

T1: 3:29

Bike: 2:45:33

T2: 1:36

Run: 1:40:37

2nd Female 35-39
6th Female Overall

Despite the terrible swim, I am really pleased with my race effort and am even more excited for Beach 2 Battleship.   T minus 33 days!!!

Utah Valley Half Marathon

I decided to run the Utah Valley half marathon for a few reasons.  The course profile appeared to be a solid net downhill, but not so much elevation change that it would shred your quads (*spoiler alert: that assumption was incorrect); I had nothing major on my calendar until fall; and visiting Utah's National Parks has been high on my bucket list.  The race also offers Clydesdale/Athena divisions (males over 200 lbs and females over  150 lbs), making it an even more attractive option for me. 

We flew out to Salt Lake City after work on Tuesday, picked up our rental car, and checked into a hotel by the airport.  Wednesday morning I went for a little 5 mile run with some 200m pickups to feel out how the altitude might affect my running.  It went pretty well and it was actually lovely to run without 90% humidity.  After a shower and breakfast, we made the 4 hour drive to Moab and visited Arches National Park.  What an amazing place!

Turret Arch - Arches National Park

Thursday was a rest day on my schedule (a what?!?), so we took the opportunity to head back to Arches for a sunrise hike to Delicate Arch.  We beat the crowds and made it back to the car just as it started to rain, so the early morning adventure was definitely a success.

Delicate Arch - Arches National Park

On Friday I did a quick little shake out run and then we ventured over to Canyonlands and drove through the entire park.  With the exception of one small hike, we mostly just stopped at overlooks to take photos and didn't do anything overly taxing.

View from Mesa Arch - Canyonlands National Park

From there we headed up to Provo for packet pickup.  I stopped by the information desk to find out if they were doing weigh-ins for the Clydesdale/Athena divisions (Hartford had a mandatory weigh-in prior to the race) and just happened to end up talking with the race organizer, who kindly invited us to the VIP dinner.  Dinner was great, we met some other runners, and I got a picture with Ryan Hall, so that all worked out splendidly.  Plus I figured eating the same pre-race meal as the American half marathon record-holder couldn't hurt!  After dinner we drove the course.  I'm glad we did - there were significantly more uphill sections than I'd envisioned, so I was happy to know that ahead of time rather than finding out mid-race.  It also helped to know that after each hill was a nice downhill, so I felt much more prepared mentally after the course preview.

Unfortunately I could not sleep on Friday night thanks to some serious sinus congestion.  I couldn't breathe through my nose at all and was hoping that the cold appearing out of nowhere wouldn't impact my race.  Not really ideal, but I was awake before my 3:15 alarm and went through my usual morning ritual without feeling rushed.  At 4:00 I left the hotel, and found the temperature outside to be quite pleasant.  I'd worn a light jacket that I planned to leave at the start but decided I didn't need it and might as well save it for my next cold weather race, so I ran back to the room and left it.  Now in just my singlet and shorts, I made the 10 minute walk to the buses at Towne Centre Mall and was on board and heading out around 4:15. We took a very round about way to the start, so though it was only 13.1 miles away, it took about 30 minutes to drive there. I was actually happy for the longer ride, since we had to be on the bus so early, and had a nice chat with the BYU student sitting next to me (side note: everyone in Utah was extremely nice!).  We got off the bus at 4:45 and it was FREEZING at the start. I figured it would be a little cooler at than it was when I left our hotel given the 700 foot elevation difference (starting at 5,269 and ending at 4,564), but it was very cold and I was wishing I'd kept that jacket.  Live and learn.

Around 5:30 I made one last porta-potty stop, did a short 15 minute warm up with some strides, and made my way into the corral.  There weren't any pace signs or assigned corrals, so I found the 1:35 pacer and figured that was as good a spot as any.  Before I knew it, we were off.

My primary goals coming into the trip were to run a new PR (my previous best was 1:33:01 in Hartford back in 2012 during my NYC marathon training cycle) and win the Athena division.  After looking at the race guide on Friday night, I learned that the course record for Athenas was 1:33:14, so that was an extra incentive to run under 1:33.  My stretch goal was 1:31:32, which is an average pace of 6:59.  I don't know why 6:59 sounds so much better to me than 7:00, but I really wanted a half marathon pace starting with a 6!

The 1st 3 miles were mostly flat/very slight downhill with a couple of little hills just after the first mile. I had to do a little dodging around other runners at the outset, but I found myself running along with only a few people in no time.  Much of the first half of the race is on curvy roads, but with only one or two runners near me at a time I was able to stay very close to the measured distance and my Garmin splits were almost right on the mile markers.  Concentrating on the tangents and looking ahead through each curve also made the initial miles go by very quickly.

I didn't know how the altitude would affect me, and my coach had warned against going out too fast, as it would be hard to recover from oxygen debt at altitude, so I was cautious to keep things in check, especially up the hill in mile 3.  Overall I felt great, and the only issue was my sinus congestion.  Though I don't necessarily need to breathe through my nose when I'm running, I realized that it is very helpful to be able to do so when trying to drink gatorade while running through the aid stations.  But things were going well and I wasn't going to let a little thing like lack of air slow me down. 

Miles 1-3: 6:51-6:52-7:07

Miles 4 and 5 each had moderate hills with gains of about 100 feet over a quarter mile, but the rest was downhill, with some relatively fast descents and a net loss of almost 300 feet over these 3 miles.  I tried to increase my cadence up the hills and lighten my footfalls on the way down, while also being cautious to avoid red-line territory.  To my surprise, even with the hills, mile splits well below goal pace continued to pop up on my Garmin.

Miles 4-6: 6:50-6:36-6:40

Other than a short and relatively steep hill leading up to the 7th mile marker and a matching descent, miles 7-10 were all a very slight decline and a pretty straight shot out of the canyon.  Somewhere in these miles my legs got heavier, and I had a feeling I might have to pay for the too-fast miles I'd run so far.  But PRs don't come without taking risks, and my mental math told me I could run 7:10s and still hit my goal time, so I stayed pretty positive despite the slower mile splits.  I got an added boost when I hit mile 10 in 68:??, which would have been a significant 10 mile PR and was my first time getting running that distance in under 70 minutes. 

Miles 7-10: 6:48-7:02-7:01-7:08

Mile 11 was mostly on a slight incline/false flat, similar to the section of the ATT leading to Scott King Rd. When we drove the course, I had mentally prepared myself for this to be my most challenging mile.  Though the earlier hills were much steeper, I knew that at this point in the race even the slight incline was going to feel pretty tough, as Scott King usually does at the end of my training runs.  

Mile 11: 7:19

From mile 12 to the finish is a straight shot on a modest decline (loss of 50 feet over 2 miles) but I was really starting to feel fatigue in my legs and struggled to get the pace back.  Thankfully I could see some of the larger buildings in town, and having the finish line in sight was really helpful.  I really felt like I was pushing myself to my limit, but I just could not get those 6s back.  More mental math, and I knew I had a PR and the Athena course record in the bag, but that I had to keep my pace right around 7 if I was going to get in under 1:31:32.

Miles 12-13: 7:06-7:03

As I approached the finish line I heard Monte cheering for me but was completely focused on the clock and the finish line.  I gave it everything I had left, and crossed the line with 1:31:31 on the clock.  By my watch I ran 13.17 at an average pace of 6:57, and my chip time was 1:31:25 for an official race pace of 6:59.  Not exactly crushing the stretch goal of 1:31:32, but I did it!  

1st Place Athena and a new Athena Course Record
Just missed top 10 females, finishing 11th out of 1,005

After the race we spent the day in Park City and then caught the red-eye back to NC.  My quads are killing me, and I'm still sick and exhausted, but it was worth it.  

16 states down, 34 to go!

Raleigh Downhill Mile

I signed up for this race primarily because I had some festive red, white, and blue arm warmers that I picked up on sale at the end of the winter season and needed a 4th of July race to put them to use.  I was planning on running the Four on the Fourth again, but when I saw the announcement for this new race, I thought one mile downhill sounded far more funny than four with some hills, so the decision was made.

The women's race started at 8:30, so we left the house just after 7 and got there with almost an hour to spare.  It was a relatively small race, so packet pickup only took a minute, and then Monte and I just hung out while I waited for Kim to arrive to warm up.  After about 15 minutes of jogging, we a harder effort of about 200m and a few strides.  It was the first time I've really done anything beyond a 10-15 minute jog as a warm up, and I found it really helpful to have someone with experience to tag along with (thanks, Kim!).

I wasn't entirely sure what my goal should be.  On one hand, it was mostly downhill, so I thought I should at least try to beat my PR of 5:48.  On the other hand, I've been training for endurance events and have done very little speed work.  So I decided to not worry about pace too much and just run hard. 

The first quarter mile is a slight incline to flat, and I just focused on trying to run hard to the crest of the hill, knowing that once I got there I would have gravity on my side. My Garmin beeped at the quarter split and flashed 1:19.  I'm not even sure when I last ran a 79 in a workout on the track, yet I was feeling pretty good and was running in 6th place.

Once we hit the downhill section (loss of 114 feet over the last 3/4 mile), I tried to run strong and keep my effort steady.  I tucked in behind a couple of women who I recognized from other races.  I always see their names above mine in local race results, so I was happy to pace off of them and was a bit surprised that that I'd managed to keep up with them.  The second split popped up at 1:22 and I decided to make a move on the ladies ahead of me, knowing that I have no kick and a sprint to the finish was probably not going to work out in my favor. Just after I moved up to third, the watch beeped (1:20), the finish line was in sight, and I knew I had a new PR in the bag.

As we approached the finish line I saw Monte, but in contrast to my normal smile and wave, I was actually focused on racing.  I heard him cheering and knew that the 3 ladies I'd just passed were hot on my heels, and I was no longer concerned about pace or being comfortable... I just really wanted to keep them from passing me.  Thankfully I was able to hold my position, and after seeing Kim beat out the other woman in front of me to take the win, my Garmin flashed another 1:19 and I crossed the line in 3rd place for the second race in a row. 

Even though I'd seen each quarter mile split pop up on my watch, I was shocked to see a final time of 5:21!  Apparently I am not very good at in-race math, but I was smiling like a kid in a candy store, having thoroughly surprised myself!  Officially my time was 5:19, and I probably wouldn't believe it, thinking either the timing was off or the course was short, if not for both my watch and the results showing the same thing.

After the race I joined Kim for part of her cool down (better than nothing, which is a bad habit of mine), cheered on Robert and the other guys in the men's race, and waited around for awards.  It took a while to get the results printed, so we had plenty of time for photos...

I am still a bit shocked by my time, even with the nice loss of elevation, and will either have to retire from the mile or work really hard before the next one!