Raleigh 70.3 Brinked Report
IMRaleigh 70.3 Race Report:
Total Time: 05:32:12
Lessons Learned:
- Always attend the Blue Ridge Cycling Camp! Although this is strictly cycling, it taught me to never look at hilly courses the same again. When you climb 30k feet in 4 days, 3k ain’t nothin’. The fitness gained on this weekend was worth its weight in gold for me.
- Learn how to get in/out of aid stations in the run faster.
- Practice running hills more. Figure out pacing/HR for hills.
Race Morning:
Woke up at 3:15am. I did not get much sleep the night before, as expected. My teammate (from local tri club) and I had packed everything the night before so we were both able to get dressed and out the door quickly. The Starbucks in the hotel opened at 4:00, and we found ourselves second in line for our morning cup of joe. Grabbed the coffee and started eating my bagel and applesauce. We both headed to T2 to leave our bike-run bags at our spot and jumped on one of the first buses to Jordan Lake. SO glad we did this because it was easy to get to our bikes, get tires pumped, nutrition packed, PM calibrated, and the porta jon lines weren’t crazy. Upon exiting the bus, we were told the water temp was 79 degrees, which meant no wet-suit… In the 3 years and 4 long distance races, this would be my very first non-wetsuit legal swim. I packed my morning bag, finished eating/drinking per plan, and scooted out for the team pictures. Mariah’s Dad was sweet enough to wake up early and took my pump and morning stuff back to Jay at T2.
Swim: Goal: 00:36 *wetsuit Actual: 00:41 *non-wetsuit
Pros went off at 7:00am – My wave didn’t go off until 8:08. I waited with teammate for a bit until finally heading over to see if my purple capped women were gathering yet. About 30 min before, I headed over to some grass and did a bit of warm up. 15 min before I ate a Gu, cap on, swim skin zipped. When we were up, I decided to take the inside line, knowing my continued challenge of swimming straight. Boom, we were off. I stayed to the inside, loosing my line once. I decided to sight every 10 strokes and keep the buoys so close I could smack them. This was great for my line, but I did not have anyone there to draft off of. Most of the other athletes were a good foot to the outside of the buoys leaving me to swim for myself. Seeing that I only had about SIX total swims before this race, I knew I wasn’t going to PR. The swim was the swim, and I knew I could get some work done on the bike.
T1: Goal: 00:03:30 Actual: 00:02:17
Clockwork. Nothing crazy. I decided since I had not practiced keeping my shoes clipped in, I would take the time to put them on. I put my arm coolers around my arm rests before race began so I could just work on putting them on while I was on my bike. Grabbed a volunteer to sunscreen my back, shoulders, neck, and took off.
Bike: Goal: 02:54:00 Actual: 02:49:05
Ohhhhh this was my favorite part of the day. Because of the camp, I knew I was ready for this bike. I had changed my FTP in the handy dandy power interval calculator after my final race rehearsal. The first 8 miles was total admin BS. We started climbing straight out of transition, and you would have thought it was the Champs-Élysées with the way some of the athletes were coming out of the gates. We had some crazy turn here, ride up this hill, 90 degree turn around, ride back down, gain 1 mile crap. I sat back, stayed put on watts, and focused on eating, drinking, and putting my arm coolers on. Once I got out on the HWY, I immediately noticed a headwind/crosswind. It pretty much felt like that until around mile 30, where it got pretty technical. I just followed my chart, sitting up on the steeper climbs, and pushing the pedals like hell on the descends. There were parts where I couldn’t get any more power on the downhills, which is why I think my file reads .75 IF instead of .78 I had planned. Just like we are taught here in the haus, I began seeing some old faces from T1 again as I pulled into T2. My biggest challenge with longer distance stuff is nutrition, so I was happy to finally NAIL it on the bike per race plan. Full garmin bike file here: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/791636742
T2: Goal: 00:01:30 Actual: 00:02:30
I peed in a porta john. My bike was sticky enough from Gatorade.
Run: Goal: 02:00:00 Actual: 01:57:20
I had one 25 mile week leading up to this race which only included ONE 10 mile run, a week and a half before race day. Needless to say, I did not know what to expect here. It took my legs about 3 miles before they were ready to run. I kept my GO bag for ice and it was the best thing ever (said in a valley girl accent!) However, I spent a very long time (too long) in most of the aid stations yelling for ice like an old lady in assisted living. It also didn’t help that the aid stations were at least .25 mile long… Lesson learned. Still, I walked the first 8 aid station stops, drank a gulp of Gatorade, squirt of the HOT gatorlyte mix in my fuel belt in either cold water or cold Gatorade, and kept going. I ate a Gatorade Carb Chew every 3 miles, until mile 9. Oh, mile 9. I’m not quite sure how I feel about mile 9? Trucking along, knowing I had the fun uphill to 10, I look down and my HR is in the 1teens. I pick it up, to the super long aid station yelling “ICE” like a crazy person who needed to bang their head in a corner, only to get to the end of what felt like .25 mile and find out they had run out. BLEEP: 9:46 split. Whoops. Ate another chew and started running. Turned around at the top and it was time to start racing which also meant start coke. Ran back by sans-ice aid station market and jumped in while running to grab a swig of coke and took off. Same thing at 11. Saw the Capital building, and brought it home. My knee was a bit sore, but nothing to write about. Legs were definitely fatigued which was to be expected. Was able to sprint down Fayetteville Street, which makes me think I ran a little too conservative, but I’m happy with result. Full run file here: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/791632077
Overall I am extremely happy with my results for this race. The lessons I’ve learned over the past 3 years with EN are paying off, and it is a great feeling. Having raced the race I did yesterday on only building for a month gives me so much confidence in my training. It is races like this that keep me on my toes, eager to learn more.
Comments
Way to go!!! What awesome execution. Congrats
HUGE momentum builder going into CHOO!
You're getting faster and smarter girl!
Way to represent and knock it down!
SS
Great report on a tremendous race. I know you had questions and doubts going in, so I'm psyched that you just put your head down, raced EN style (smartly) and nailed it. You only needed a few minutes to get in the top 10 and about 20 to stand on the podium. Having trained and raced with you, I easily see 20 minutes of opportunity there - 10 alone on the run. There truly is no limit to what you can do in this sport.
The keys for you for Choo are no more injuries, consistent, smart training and running some hills. Best of all, you'll get to do a lot of that training with me.
MR