Two for the price of one!!

Yes I have two - count 'em - two recent races to report on. Of course, that's simply because I've been such an inconsistent blogger that I never got around to posting one from my race three weeks ago. Here goes...

Race #1: 2K swim, 55K bike, 15K run (Sunday, June 17, 2007)

We got to the race site nice and early (and scored a primo parking spot, too). I set up my transition area, then just stood around and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, we made our way down to the lake for the start. I saw BMan and Stella and wished them both well on their races. I was wearing my brand new sleeveless wetsuit. Technically, it wasn’t “brand new” since I had swam in it for about 10 minutes the day before. I LOVED the wetsuit. It was awesome. I was a bit nervous for my friend L who was doing his longest swim in a race ever. He had done 1000m at Bellwood last year, but this was double that distance and he was a little worried. He was in the wave after mine, so I knew I wouldn’t see him until somewhere on the bike.

I was in the fourth wave starting at 8:16AM. This wave consisted of women 30-44, all wearing bright pink caps. The gun went off and I started swimming. Within a minute, my goggles started to fog, so sighting became difficult, especially since we were swimming into the rising sun. I just followed the pack and hoped they were going in the right direction. Then my goggles started to leak. This wasn’t horrible because the small amount of water inside actually worked to clear the goggles. At the first turn, I had to stop for a few seconds to clear them, though. I think I stopped once or twice later in the race to clear them again. Swimming into the channel, I started to get passed from the faster swimmers from the wave behind (Men 40-44).

OK, here I have to go on a rant: I understand that if you place yourself at the front of your swim wave that there’s a certain amount of jostling for position that happens. That’s part of the sport. Generally speaking, you’re talking about people who are all strong swimmers. But if you are at the front of your pack coming up on the slower swimmers from the wave before yours, it’s totally rude and unsportsmanlike to get physical with those slower swimmers, just because they’re in your way. Go around them, not over or through them! Sheesh!

So, after getting jostled a few times by the silver capped guys, I tried to maintain my form and just get it done. I don’t think I took the straightest line at the end, but I still managed to get out of the water at 40:45, which was within my predicted goal time. There was a 250m run from the lake to the T-zone (and timing mat). I just took my time and only jogged lightly on this section. I took my time in T1. The official stats show it as 4-something because of where the timing mats were, but by my watch, it was 5:27 (including the jog up from the lake). I didn’t rush, put all my gear on, struggled with getting my odometer re-set (I should have done this before the race – duh!). Grabbed my bike and off I went. I honestly don’t know where all that time went! Most people’s transitions were around 3 minutes. I think I must have baked a batch of cookies while in transition. Ha ha.

Off on the bike… I got on my bike with no incident, but my first test of the day was about to happen. How was I going to feel sitting on that saddle after my accident earlier in the week? [Note: I had fallen off my commuter bike the Tuesday before the race and jammed the saddle up into my, um, girlie bits. They were still swollen on race day.] Well, it felt fine! It didn’t hurt any more than how it normally hurts to sit on a saddle. There’s a short out-and-back section (turnaround at 12.5K) where it’s kind of cool to see people you know. I got passed by Stella then by Bman. Just as I was exiting the O&B (17K mark), I saw L on his way in. I was sooooo relieved to see him on his bike and smiling, which meant that he had made it through the swim without incident. I kept a nice pace for the first 25K or so. There were a few climbs that required my granny gear and even getting out of the saddle (more to stretch my legs than because I had to). The bike course is very technical. And many of the turns happen either at the bottom of a big downhill (so you have to slow way down to make the tight corner), or have significant uphills right after, but you’ve lost your momentum in the turn. The section from 25-38K was beautiful, tree-lined and shady. The road here was in OK condition (not great) and the ups and downs were manageable (except for one short steep part that I struggled with, even out of the saddle). But once we made the turn onto Brittania Rd., it was a whole new race. There was a killer hill at the start of this section, followed by lots and lots more hills (up and down) and lots and lots of turns – think roller coaster ride! There were a few where (even standing) I was concerned that I would tip over from going too slowly. But I made it, though my legs were a little fried. Just after the 45K mark, we turned back onto Brunel and I new I could basically coast from there to transition. I didn’t want to hammer as I wanted to save my legs a bit.

I flew into T2, dismounted and checked my watch: 2:12:25. Cool! My original goal had been 2:10, but when I saw how hilly it was, I revised that to 2:15-2:20. So I came in close to my original goal and was happy. T2 went without a hitch. I was in and out in less than 2 minutes (even with walking from my bike to the run exit).

I started running and thankfully the first part was slightly downhill. There was a short uphill section about 500m into the run, but there were so many spectators I didn’t want to walk. At this point I ran into my friend, D. We ran/walked together for a bit, but I know that he’s a much faster runner than I am, so when I needed to take a walk break, I told him to go on. The run wasn’t too hilly, just a few gently rolling ups and down (that might as well have been mountains since my legs were so dead after the bike ride). I hit the 2K marker at 12:45, so right on my 6:30 goal pace. I ran when I could and walked (with aggression) when I couldn’t. For every cup of water I drank, I put two over my head. It was sooooo hot and there wasn’t much (if any) shade on the way out. At about the 4K mark I heard a voice call my name from behind: it was L! He had made it safely off the bike, so now I had nothing more to worry about. After a hug, we ran together for a bit, but I sent him on his way as he is a much speedier runner than I am. 5K split was 32 minutes, which was just fine with me. After the turnaround, things got a bit better as we had a bit of a headwind and there was a touch of shade on that side of the road. Again, I ran when I could and walked when I couldn’t run. My 10K split was 1:06, so I had definitely slowed down. My hamstrings and glutes were screaming at me in the last 4K or so. I walked a lot here. When I hit the 13K mark I really tried to run as much as possible since there were only two kilometers to go.

As I was getting ready to take a walk break on a slight incline at 13.5K, I could see a woman from my club in the distance. We are in the same age category and I hadn’t seen her since T1, so I didn’t know that she was ahead of me. I used that as motivation to keep running and see if I could catch her. I caught her just after the 14K mark. I also took advantage of the final 750m downhill to the finish to turn on the jets and ensure that I finished strong, leaving everything on the course. By my watch, I did the final kilometer in a little over five minutes! I crossed the line in 4:38:53, good enough for 3rd place in the W-Clyde 40+ division (though I didn’t find that out until later when I checked the results on-line).

Overall, I’m happy with my race. I think I did the best I could on the day, on that course. The only thing I would change is not wasting so much time in transition.

Report #2: 10K Road Race (Sunday, July 1, 2007)

The weather: PERFECT! About 15C with a light breeze off the lake. The sun was in and out, which was also perfect.

The race: Last week I told my friend (& hostess for the weekend) Jo-Jo that I wasn't planning on "racing". I was looking at this as a social weekend "with a pesky little 10K in the middle." This morning, I told her that I wasn't going to make a decision about whether to "race" it until about 4K in. I told another friend, Jane, at the start of the race that I was just hoping to come in under an hour. Well, after the first kilometer, I knew I was feeling good and should go for it. My legs were feeling "light", which is not something I've felt on a run in quite a while.

After my first kilometer I looked down at my watch and it said 5:50. Wow! That's a good pace for me and I was feeling like I wasn't really working very hard, so I picked up the pace a bit to see how I felt. This next section was pretty flat and when I hit the split on my watch at the 2K marker it read 5:22 - wow, that's my fast tempo pace! I was feeling good, so I just went with it. I guess I AM racing today, afterall. I was running well in the third kilometer, but then there was a hill just before the 3K mark. Surprisingly, my legs felt light and I felt strong going up the hill (not normal for me as I usually struggle on hills). Everything was going well until I hit the 5K marker when I looked at my watch and it said 5:11. Wow! That's the pace I do my speed work at!! Little did I know, there had been a very slight downhill grade (and that I'd notice it on the return lap between the 6th and 7th kilometers.

After the final water station (around 8K) I was tracking this woman in front of me. Every time I gained on her, she'd pull away again. But I didn't let that bungee cord go and just hung on to the back of her for the rest of the race. Little did I know, she was in my age category and took 5th place (and I came 6th) of 13 women.

Here's how the race went by the numbers. My splits are as suprising to me as anyone:
1K - 5:50 (just starting out easy)
2K - 5:22 (flat)
3K - 5:27 (there was an uphill)
4K - 5:21 (another uphill)
5K - 5:11 (slight downhill grade)
[turnaround at 5.5K]
6K - 5:13 (still feeling strong)
7K - 5:24 (I'm going for it )
8K - 5:21 9K - 5:16 (it's hammer time)
10K - 5:11
Finish: 53:42 (by my watch, 53:44 chip time)

That's a new PB by 1:16 (and my previous PB was set on what I think might have been a short course). Last year, I ran this race in 59:10 on a brutally hot day (and I wasn't really "racing" last
year, either), so I took more than five minutes off last year's time!

I'm getting more pumped going into my next race this coming Sunday. It's a Sprint Tri (750m/20K/5K) and I hope to finish under 1:30, with my goal time being 1:26. I did this race five years ago in 1:29, so I'd really like to beat that time.