Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Lake Stevens 70.3 Race Report



Lake Stevens 70.3  - 5:05.08

8/64 AG
36/421 Female
205/1222 Overall





Lake Stevens 70.3 was my first half distance Tri last year finishing in 5:35.  I am in love with Washington, Coach T is from there, and this course has been my favorite so far so I had to do it again. 
Leading up to the race, I felt the most calm I have ever before.We got into Washington Friday night and then spent Saturday doing all the usual pre-race stuff… driving the course, short shakeout run/ride/swim, and ended the day with dinner with Teresa and Mark - perfect! 

Going into this race, I wanted to have a good run.  T and I decided to take the bike course more conservative in hopes of accomplishing that goal. 










Swim


I was in wave 9 which took off about 30min. after the pro's.  
This was my best swim to date.  I really felt great in the water.  I think what made the difference in this swim was making sure my mind was continuously focused.  

It is very easy to let my mind drift, especially when swimming, and especially when I have the bike and run to think about.  Instead, this race I stayed in the moment. When the finish line was in site, I went over what I was going to do in T1 and before I knew it... it was ROCKY time.















Bike


Absolutely gorgeous course... you are basically riding through a canopy of greenery the entire time. I found the ride more challenging than St George.  I honestly do not know how I did this course last year on a flat pedal bike! 



The plan was to not be in attack mode the entire ride which was my prior race approach.  I made sure to keep my cadence up, spin up the climbs, and try to keep my heart rate more even throughout.   

Finding what balance I need to take to have a good run is going to take time… maybe I held back a little too much on the bike, maybe not… either way, I came off the bike feeling fresh and ready to run.   




Run  



Right out of transition I saw my dad which gave me tons of energy… always does.   

This is a 2 loop course which means a lot of crowd support.  Since we were racing where TNMultisports is based, there were many TN athletes out on the course for encouragement.  









This is not necessarily a flat course, so my paces were not even/consistence; but I feel like my effort was.  

I never looked at pace the entire run, only HR. This was the first run off the bike that my HR was not through the roof coming out of transition.  

I was feeling awesome until about mile 10. When I high fived T and Mark before the second loop I should have took another gel.  I think that would have prevented the energy loss. Going back up the hill at mile12 hurt but crossing the finish line is always worth it.  Especially with the 70.3 distance. I am addicted to the feeling of finishing on completely empty. Seeing my dad and Teresa's faces there at the finish was awesome!  













It is hard not to get frustrated with yourself when you pour your whole heart and are putting in the time and  not necessarily seeing the results. You cant help but question, 'oh I didn’t train long enough, go hard enough, give enough.'  My head and heart want to be racing with those top girls but my body just isn’t there yet...   

YET!
Big goals take time...
Patients. Consistency. And listening to coach T.  

 







6 comments:

  1. You forgot to mention your run time was your fastest ever by over 5 minutes!!!! That is huge progress.

    I think you are seeing great results, every course is different, every race is different and you never know who will show up...this just happened to be some of the fastest girls in your division in the country!

    You achieved a big goal with your run on race day!

    Keep it up!

    tn

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  2. Awesome race! Love the second run pic, you look fast and strong (just like you are). You had a bunch of fast people show up if you ended up 8th with a 5:05. Ummmm, a 30 minute improvement on an already fast time is HUGE! Many of us will never reach 5:35 let alone 5:05. 5:05 is rock star status in my book.

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  3. Btw, what exactly are you trying to "accomplish". Too bad you didn't read "The Happy Hooker" a bunch of times in high school, you would have more truth about life.

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  4. I'm going to go ahead and sate the obvious: holy crap your back is ripped!

    Next, regardless of how you felt, keep in mind that good things take time. You still had a fast, great race. Take pride in that and keep working hard.

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  5. State*...wow I can't spell. Congrats on your race!

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  6. what the whaaaaat?
    im speechless!
    your blog hasn't been popping up in my blog list,so I decidedto stalk....er come over here and see what you've been up too!!!!

    amazing amazing amazing!
    love the recaps!
    and look at your back muscles!!!
    :)
    your awesome!
    I strive to be able to be a triathlete like you one day!!
    keep up your awesome work!!!!

    ReplyDelete