Jacklyn's Best ever "Best in the West" HIM
This years plan was to race IMSR. Ended up with GI issues and couldn't race. So on to plan B. Signed up for Best in the West HIM in Sweethome, OR. It's a beautiful venue with a great campground. Lots of friends race it. Fast forward to race week. Beginning of the week I am diagnosed with a bladder infection. So antibiotics and my race is in jeopardy. Symptoms got a little better but not really. Ran a low grade fever all week. Friday we packed up and went. Decided if nothing else we would volunteer and have fun camping.
Went and picked up my packet at the venue. This is so cool. My age is 44 and my #44. Is that cosmic or what! Kind of felt it was a sign to get ready to race. The venue was pretty smokey. Blair was talking about canceling if it didn't clear by morning. I had already decided that I couldn't "race" the event. I had to be smart and listen to my body. I still had a fever. Adjusted my hydration up an extra bottle on the bike to account for the fever. Turned out to be perfect.
RACE DAY:
Up at a reasonable 0600. Light breakfast and out the door. Felt pretty good. Walked out the camper and the air was crystal clear and brisk. No smoke! Time to go. Start time was 0800 for the HIM females. Water was perfect. Clarity was poor. Had an uneventful swim. Pr'd the swim by 13 minutes. Came out of the water laughing and smiling. Hubs was on the side line with our version of Mike Reilly. He announced my name as I came by. That's the way the whole day went. I had no pressure and had a blast.
BIKE:
The bike is a hilly out and back. Wasn't sure how things were going to go so I was very cautious heading out. Rode conservative watts and waited for my HR to drop. Was a little concerned because my HR wasn't dropping. It stayed pegged at 140 bpm for about 10 miles. Then it finally started to drop. On the way out I tried to hit z3 watts but I would develop a deep ache over my left kidney. So z2 it is. I felt great. No gi problems. No fatigue. Didn't have a lot of climbing oompa though. Climbs I would have normally billy goated up I had to granny gear to climb. Do I care. Not really. I was having a fantastic day. It was warm and beautiful. Great people volunteering. Had some very energetic flagers. Made one stop to use the porta potty. When I made the turn, after ridding through a covered bridge, I felt really good. So I picked it up a bit. Started passing people. I was never far from the main pack even though I was loly gagging. Got to T2 with a 04:00:03 bike. That's a 50 minute PR. Came in to T2 yelling at hubs, "THAT WAS AWESOME!"
T2 was a lazy affair. Visited with Hubs. Took my Tylenol. Ate half a sandwhich. Got changed and like a well trained Ninja I skipped out of T2. The lady at the timing mat was laughing watching me. She told me," Get moving your late." I replied "Nope. Right on time."
RUN:
So 13 hilly miles to go. Like a well trained EN ninja I had looked into my crystal ball and figured my fever would be most problematic on the run. So I had heat management in full swing. Arm coolers, trucker hat, ziplock with ice under my fantastic EN trucker. I was unwilling to kill myself. So i adopted a run/walk strategy until I was able to see how the running was going to feel. It felt pretty rough for the first hour until the tylenol kicked in. So I would run until it hurt then I would walk until it didn't. Was very mindful of HR. Tried to keep it under 140 bpm. Nutrition was spot on. Wore my camel bak and was well stocked. When I ran out of NBS I switched to on course HEED mixed 50/50 with water. Went great. Temp for the day 92 degrees. I was very comfortable. Watching the walking dead was very interesting. The Haus adage " No such thing as a great bike and a bad run" was playing out right in front of me.
There is something to be said for being in the BOP. That's were the party is happening. I had so much fun. High fiving, talking, telling stupid jokes. It was great. After making the final turn 3 miles out. I stopped looking at my watch and headed home. I just let it fly. I was able to drop 10:30 pace to go home. Came into the finishers shoot feeling fantastic! When I did this HIM two years ago I had pulled my left hami and had to DNF at mile 9. So when I passed mile 9 i was PR with every step.
What a great day. I have never had so much fun at an event and it was a HIM to boot. I never "suffered" the whole time. I was having too much fun.
My plan for the future is to bring this attitude with me to future events. I experienced this day to the max. I can even tell you how the blackberries smelled. I have simple goals. I have never been a podium chaser. It's not my bag of cookies. I just want to be fit enough to enjoy my day. This day had nothing to do with testing my fitness because it wasn't a test. I used it as an opportunity to apply, like a Ninja, all the lessons I have been taught by the team and let my Zen wisdom rule the day. I would like to thank my wonderful little family Mark and Myah. Thank you to my sweet father in-law who worries about me when I go LONG.Without them I wouldn't get to have so much fun. To my EN friends "Thank you". Today was the best!
Went and picked up my packet at the venue. This is so cool. My age is 44 and my #44. Is that cosmic or what! Kind of felt it was a sign to get ready to race. The venue was pretty smokey. Blair was talking about canceling if it didn't clear by morning. I had already decided that I couldn't "race" the event. I had to be smart and listen to my body. I still had a fever. Adjusted my hydration up an extra bottle on the bike to account for the fever. Turned out to be perfect.
RACE DAY:
Up at a reasonable 0600. Light breakfast and out the door. Felt pretty good. Walked out the camper and the air was crystal clear and brisk. No smoke! Time to go. Start time was 0800 for the HIM females. Water was perfect. Clarity was poor. Had an uneventful swim. Pr'd the swim by 13 minutes. Came out of the water laughing and smiling. Hubs was on the side line with our version of Mike Reilly. He announced my name as I came by. That's the way the whole day went. I had no pressure and had a blast.
BIKE:
The bike is a hilly out and back. Wasn't sure how things were going to go so I was very cautious heading out. Rode conservative watts and waited for my HR to drop. Was a little concerned because my HR wasn't dropping. It stayed pegged at 140 bpm for about 10 miles. Then it finally started to drop. On the way out I tried to hit z3 watts but I would develop a deep ache over my left kidney. So z2 it is. I felt great. No gi problems. No fatigue. Didn't have a lot of climbing oompa though. Climbs I would have normally billy goated up I had to granny gear to climb. Do I care. Not really. I was having a fantastic day. It was warm and beautiful. Great people volunteering. Had some very energetic flagers. Made one stop to use the porta potty. When I made the turn, after ridding through a covered bridge, I felt really good. So I picked it up a bit. Started passing people. I was never far from the main pack even though I was loly gagging. Got to T2 with a 04:00:03 bike. That's a 50 minute PR. Came in to T2 yelling at hubs, "THAT WAS AWESOME!"
T2 was a lazy affair. Visited with Hubs. Took my Tylenol. Ate half a sandwhich. Got changed and like a well trained Ninja I skipped out of T2. The lady at the timing mat was laughing watching me. She told me," Get moving your late." I replied "Nope. Right on time."
RUN:
So 13 hilly miles to go. Like a well trained EN ninja I had looked into my crystal ball and figured my fever would be most problematic on the run. So I had heat management in full swing. Arm coolers, trucker hat, ziplock with ice under my fantastic EN trucker. I was unwilling to kill myself. So i adopted a run/walk strategy until I was able to see how the running was going to feel. It felt pretty rough for the first hour until the tylenol kicked in. So I would run until it hurt then I would walk until it didn't. Was very mindful of HR. Tried to keep it under 140 bpm. Nutrition was spot on. Wore my camel bak and was well stocked. When I ran out of NBS I switched to on course HEED mixed 50/50 with water. Went great. Temp for the day 92 degrees. I was very comfortable. Watching the walking dead was very interesting. The Haus adage " No such thing as a great bike and a bad run" was playing out right in front of me.
There is something to be said for being in the BOP. That's were the party is happening. I had so much fun. High fiving, talking, telling stupid jokes. It was great. After making the final turn 3 miles out. I stopped looking at my watch and headed home. I just let it fly. I was able to drop 10:30 pace to go home. Came into the finishers shoot feeling fantastic! When I did this HIM two years ago I had pulled my left hami and had to DNF at mile 9. So when I passed mile 9 i was PR with every step.
What a great day. I have never had so much fun at an event and it was a HIM to boot. I never "suffered" the whole time. I was having too much fun.
My plan for the future is to bring this attitude with me to future events. I experienced this day to the max. I can even tell you how the blackberries smelled. I have simple goals. I have never been a podium chaser. It's not my bag of cookies. I just want to be fit enough to enjoy my day. This day had nothing to do with testing my fitness because it wasn't a test. I used it as an opportunity to apply, like a Ninja, all the lessons I have been taught by the team and let my Zen wisdom rule the day. I would like to thank my wonderful little family Mark and Myah. Thank you to my sweet father in-law who worries about me when I go LONG.Without them I wouldn't get to have so much fun. To my EN friends "Thank you". Today was the best!
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Comments
BTW, I'm glad that UTI didn't do you dirt.
A scientific study was done recently that showed the number one common trait among the most successful individuals today to be:
.......it was not IQ, education, who you know or some of the other things you might guess.....
The number one trait common across all successful individuals was found to be Perseverance! In other words, the ability to always find a way to Keep Moving Forward during failures, setbacks, good times, bad times, times of stress, times of pain, just keep at it!
I bring this up because you and your year reminds me of this and I very much admire the way you keep moving forward!
Congratulations on winning this year! Damn well done!
SS
@Al Truscott - Having fun and not feeling miserable is a new experience for me. It makes all the hard miles worth it.
@Shaughn Simmons - You use KMF. I use CPR ( Consistency, Persistence, Resilient).
@Robert Sabo - Thank you. I am so used to having the carper rolled up under my feet. Not sure how it would feel to finish without it. I know there is a body. comp change as an event goes along. But dang the BOPers are just so cool! My suffer buddy had finished the HIM, last year, dead last. What a neat man. He finished 8th from the last. He was thrilled.
#CPR#KMFman.
I think you are finding an emotional space from which you can race strong…
And that might be the most important thing you've done in the last few years.
There's nothing wrong with working hard in training but having fun on race day!
With everything you were juggling with your infection in your body's response, obviously keeping you healthy is a top priority before your next event.
For now our goal is to get you back on a consistent track, even the run durability will do. We want to keep up the consistency so we maintain many of the games you made this year.