Sooo.... yeah... it's been awhile... but whatever, I've been busy with finishing a dissertation and road tripping to Montana and back, so, whatever... To be honest, I've taken great comfort in not updating this blog, since to me, the last two races I've done haven't been that worthy of report...
Anyway...
With Collegiate Nationals having been a month ago, I'll try to recount as much as I can without stumbling or lying... mostly lying...
Here goes...
As I've stated in the last few posts, I'm trying to focus on racing sprints this year, because I don't fare well in the heat... I knew going into CNC that an Olympic distance race, in Tuscaloosa, in April, was going to be tough... but, as always, I got suckered into racing by all my friends... Plus, I kinda felt like it was a "farewell" race, so that I could start the closure process and be able to move on after I'm done with my dissertation (which happens tomorrow by the way)...
So, here's what I can recount from the weekend...
The usual suspects show up Friday... Hallie, Rumble, Jessie Burton, Kendrick, Sara, Nate, and Chad (Nate and Chad weren't racing)... We grabbed a quick swim in the Black Warrior and to me, I felt GREAT in the water... leading up to the race, my swimming had been ON POINT, and I knew that with the help of a wetsuit, I'd easily post up a 23-25 minute swim time...
Not much to report that afternoon... Quick lunch at Taziki's, dinner at AM's with the crew, then off to bed for an early morning wake up call...
Race Morning: I still don't know why USAT does this, but there is no bike check in the night before... Imagine having 1500 kids show up for a race, then put them all in a fucking line waiting to be checked in one by one... total chaos...
So, transition opened at like, 5 or something... and my race didn't start until 10:20... so I kinda hung around for a bit, then walked back to AM's to get off my feet... Not exactly supportive of me to not be out on the course to cheer on my friends and teammates, but I was looking out for me: I knew the heat was going to kill me, so I wanted to stay out of it as long as I could...
Head back to the swim start in enough time to catch Sara and Kendrick... we (wet)suit up and all fall into our respective waves... I got no swim warmup, and really didn't care... This was just a "finish" race for me, so I had no delusions of grandeur... Plus, I was racing against aggressive college kids, who race with reckless abandon... No sense in me getting beat up for a non-focus race...
Gun goes off...
The swim started off, for me, like it always does... I hung back and let everyone else go ahead of me, knowing that half of these kids would poop out from sprinting the first 200 of the race... So I hang back, and start my swim as Kendrick and I had planned: a little bit below 1000 tt pace... Hit all turn buoys, then open it up when I'm swimming downstream...
It didn't exactly go as planned...
I felt fairly strong in the water, but seemed to be swimming towards the fucking shore instead of the buoys... I easily lost minutes by doing this, and it really started to fuck with my head... I kept swimming strong, or what I thought was strong, all while leaving enough to sprint as soon as I hit the last turn buoy... I managed to get out of the water in a very disappointing 27:08.... A very very disappointing 27:08... Mind you, I really don't have a clue where they started the swim to bike transition, but nonetheless, I was a bit rattled coming out of the water with such a slow time...
The trek to transition is like, a fucking half mile run (ok, not really, but it's a long way) and given Kendrick's suggestion to take it easy in T1 to bring my HR down, I kinda did a run/walk type thing, not really caring what my time was... In retrospect, walking in T1 did nothing for me, and will probably continue to do nothing for me... I've just got to train myself to exit the water with a high HR, get through T1 with a high HR, then hopefully use some of the bike to recover... Probably not the best option... but whatever...
So I make it out of T1 and am feeling pretty good... with all of the collegiate waves nearly done at this point, it was cool to see the Alabama team lining the course and cheering for me (and other open wave racers)... Nate had let me use his Zipp 808's, so I felt like I at least looked fast...
Kendrick had suggested riding in Z3 during the first lap, then pushing to z4 on the second lap.... I started out in like, upper z4... Fuck me... and on a course of looooong hills, I knew it wasn't going to get any better... I tried to do what I could to control my HR: laying back on the hills, getting out of my aerobars, not killing myself, etc.... but really, nothing worked... I had ridden the course the weekend before and wasn't overly impressed with my time (I think it was a 1:11 or something) so I was just shooting for par...
During the second lap, my HR starts doing all sorts of weird things, mainly, registering as "1.5" for most of the second lap.... "Great", I thought... "My Garmin is once again shitting the bed and I'm gonna pay the price for it"... I resolved to switch screens and just focus on speed for the remainder of the bike... I had only about 4 or so miles to go, so I figured I had nothing to lose by gunning it...
Hit T2 and I'm feeling sluggish... I hop off the bike and am run/walking my bike into T2... a kid passes me and says, "You sir, are a beast!"... I kind of chuckled, then said, "I'll pay for it on the run".... I was right.... I did pay for it on the run...
My run plan was to hit 9:30 for the first mile, get the hills out of the way, then steadily decrease pace until I was running lights out... I sorta made it happen... Hit 9:27, 9:18, and 8:59 for the first 3 miles of the 10k... Then, it happened... my quads started hinting like they would cramp at any minute... I tried to fight through it and keep running hard, but it just made it worse... I didn't want to walk any of the run, in an attempt to "right all the wrongs" from last season, so I just dropped my pace (not willingly of course)...
Hit the last 3 miles in 9:50, 9:43, 9:16, and 7:42 (.2 sprint)... I was hurting pretty bad by the finish, and knew that I had overused my muscles... I do not believe that dehydration was an issue... it was fairly cool/overcast during my race and I took in ample fluids the week of, and during, the race... Managed to hit my run goal of under an hour with a time of 58:13...
So, I cross the finish line in 2:44:09, which beat my MiM time of 2:55:11 pretty soundly... (that was the last true Olympic race I did, with HoD and Heatwave being modified distances)... so taking off 11+ was great, but obviously, not good enough... I want to go, in the future, sub 2:40, maybe even in the 2:30's, but I know my run is what's holding me back...
I am convinced now more than ever that my bike is causing my cramping issues, because it is too small and I am working too hard to generate effort on the bike... I keep telling myself to just hold on, that this bike will get me through this season, but deep down, I've got bike fever... can't wait to have a job again so i can start saving for a new whip...
We finished up the night at Bo's again, with an absolutely outstanding cast of characters... I haven't had that much fun in Tuscaloosa, like, ever... It was a very fitting end to a wonderful day of racing and being with my friends, and really served as the capper for my time here in Tuscaloosa...
CNC was a big step for me, because it was a race in which I knew I had no shot at performing well, so I just went out and raced to the best of my abilities... Of course, like with any triathlete, the "best" is never good enough... I have come SO far since January with my efforts... Losing 15+ lbs has certainly helped as well... I know that in better conditions (and probably a flatter course), my time would have been much better... But that's half the fun of triathlon: never knowing what you'll do until you cross the finish line...
This will hopefully be my longest (competitive) race of the season, unless I elect to do a late season 70.3 or Olympic in a milder climate... I plan to focus on sprints this season and attempt to have fun doing so! It's already getting hot out there, so I am paying close attention to my nutrition/hydration while training/racing...
I feel like I'm leaving Tuscaloosa on a good note... My first race in Tuscaloosa (or Alabama for that matter) was Age Group Nationals in 2010, where I posted up a time of 3:05:23 on what is essentially the same course (well, swim and bike anyway)... My bike hasn't improved any, on this course, since that race, but overall, dropping 21 minutes from my time is much welcomed and appreciated...
I'm excited to see what this season holds...
Thanks for reading...
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