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Carrie Chavez Vineman 70.3 recap- achieved all my goals!!

Carrie ChavezCarrie Chavez
in Races & Places 🏁⛺
Vineman 70.3 recap, sorry no pics yet.

 

Had a great training cycle leading to the race. Followed the EN plan loosely meaning not exact intervals etc. But WORKED HARD on the bike on hilly courses and ran my long runs as 10 mile super hily trail runs on local mountain here inNo Cal - Mt Diablo. My swim feels weak lately but not for lack of trying. There was a threat for no wetsuits the week before and I was panicked. WEAK swimmers need wetsuits. In the end water temps dropped to 71 and we could wear wetsuits. Praise the LORD!!!



Prerace nerves hit all at once at 6pm the night before. Worried about all the details. Main one was hoping the folks who had offered to watch Madison for the race would show up in time. You see, both my husband Steve and I were racing. My BFF who I trained with got injured and she pulled out of the race. Her husband had been scheduled to watch my daughter. So I was a bit anxious. Logistically a crazy race with two Transitions over 17 miles apart. Leaving cars, who will have keys, we all start 30-90 min apart. Nuts. Just nuts. My daughter Madison of all people gave me a pep talk at 8 pm- " Mommy- why are you nervous? Have you done this race before? Did you finish? Well then if you finished before, you will finish again, no problem. And remember this is all for fun." Then she says : " remember you are never alone, God is always with you". Oh my heart!!! My sweet 7 year old is the greatest coach. I love her so much.



Race day, it all works out. Car parked, bikes racked, friends family arrives and gets Madison. Phew!!



Swim- beautiful temps 60's air, low 70's water. In a narrow river. I started far right and swam near shore. Stayed relaxed and swam easy. No effort at all as getting out of breath in the swim makes me panic. Best swim time in a while 38:4x



T1- got confused as they had taken down the racks of previous waves. Was dissoriented finding my rack. Panic and yelling can't find my bike. Eventually found it. Freaky. The rest was smooth. 3:51- about 2 min slower than other girls. need to work on this.



Bike-  FT 200W. Goal is 160-170W. High of 190-200 on hills.( My RR ended at around 85%- was shooting for that). Immediately legs felt wonky at start of bike. Like I needed to just spin them and warm them up. So I did. After 10 min I felt better and tried to hold the watts. Hilly and technical, lots of shifting and admin with bikers all over and trying to pass them safely. So many near collisions as the weaker riders swerve across the road on the hills. Lots of praying and asking God to keep me safe and attentive.



1:15 into the bike my back and right hip feel achey. I swear I need to do more open water swimming f/b strong aero bikes. Plus need to do more core work and improve my swim so I keep my back in alignment.



From 1:15 on I have to drown out messages of ache from my back and settle in. I decide to let off the watts a bit, stay slippery in the aero position and spin. I was flying.



The big hill at mile 45, I just put it in granny gear, sat up and spun up under FT and it was a piece of cake. I was not tired at all.



So I pushed the last 30 minutes of the ride. That was a blast flying by droves of cyclists. They would yell out: YOU are FLYING, GO GIRL!!! Very cool.



Had best EVER bike split in a half and here by 5 minutes in time of  2:40.




My Power Tap details- 2:39:45, 56 miles, 21 mph, Watts NP- 161W, 80.6 IF, VI 1.05, cadence 86, TSS-172

My RR was 169W and 84.7 %. I knew I was holding back on the race as my back felt better with lower watts. Still I felt strong and felt it set me up for a great run.



Drank and ate haphazardly on ride. Cytomax and gels and gu chomps.Not sure why but it all worked out. I consumed way less than planned. It was only high of low 70's. Perfect temps. Never felt hot or cold or anything. Just right.



T2 easy and smooth. 2:51. Slower than most. Oh well.



Had garmin, so glad I did. Satellites set quickly and I was off and running. Saw Madison 50 yards into the run and gave her a smooch!!
 
Vdot last tested 52.7. I truly believe I am more of a 51-52 right now. Goal paces in an ideal situation would be 7:10-7:30's based on charts. My gut feeling based on training was 7:30's would be a huge effort and 7:10's would kill me.



Right away I was running 7:10's. Wow!! My plan was whatever for first mile and then get to 7:30's. So I held back a bit and ran 7:20 for first 2. Then the hills start, I ran next 3 around 7:30. Had to work the hills and bomb the downhills. So glad I had held back in the beginning. This course is tough. Dug deep 5-7 with high 7:30's through the Vineyard. Miles 8, 9, 10 were bonking management, getting gels, lots of fluid and pushing to keep the pace. Slowest mile was 10 in 7:42. Not too bad. Hilly course is tough for pacing. By mile 11 I feel so good and I see a girl ahead with 41 on her calf. I am catching her quickly and feel bad as she looks strong. I have no idea where I am in the AG and as I pass I tell her she looks great and then she sees my age on my calf and says - but you look better. Wow you are doing great. she was very nice but I could tell disappointed too.



I gutted out last 1.5 miles. Last mile 7:14!!!



1:37:52 run!!! Negative split run: 7:30 pace out, 7:26 pace BACK!!!! GET out!! 7:28 pace avg. I did it!!!



5:03:54



Ended up 5th and podium due to passing that last woman. I saw her at the finish near results and she and I chatted. She was so bummed to miss podium but so happy for me as well. I told her how I have never made podium at an Mdot race ( 13 IM's and over 10 HIM's) and we compared splits and she was like- you totally outraced me- good for you!



Went to awards and got a nice bottle of wine and our AG( W 40-44) has 3 spots to Worlds and I got a rolldown!! So excited to have achieved my goals for the race.



I hoped for a 5:0x. My PR was 5:12.

I hoped to go to Vegas for the 70.3 World Championships



Got them both!!!



Then  my husband Steve had a great race, his calf held up( injured at BOSTON in April- he ran 1:28 with only 4 weeks of baby runs, 7 being his longest at 8 min pace- freaking stud) and he went 4:41 and got a 4th AG( M 50-54) , a bottle of wine and a World Championships slot.



When we decided no IM in 2011, Vegas and Vineman were our big goals. Yeah!!



Thank you all for your support and guidance.



Happy IMLP week!!



 

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