Boulder Long Course (70.3) Race Report

I wrote this to my coach, so it might sound like I am talking to him..I was.

Few days leading up to race: hydrated really well with plenty of electrolytes. Didn't work too much. Slept pretty well. Tried to stay calm as much as possible. Made lists of everything I needed. Finished packing with my lists the night before.

Night before: Slept pretty well, considering. Went to bed at 8:30pm and had taken a nap earlier in the day.

Day of: got up, ate some ground turkey, a banana, and hydrated. Took another banana and ate before the swim.

Warm up: fine.

Swim: wasn't prepared for the mass start. That was my first co-ed mass start. A little hectic. Need to be more aggressive. Had a hard time sighting due to the sun, but tried to follow the others while looking for the red bouys. Didn't take for granted that anyone else knew where the hell they were going. My googles didn't fog up, but they leaked. They didn't leak when I tried them in the pool. Had to stop a few times when they were too full (in the right eye). Kept bumping in to people. Had to stop and look for a path between people. Kicked someone in the stomach. Ouch. Didn't realize the last yellow bouy was a TURN bouy--thought it was the end. "Sprinted" to the yellow--then learned I still had a ways to go to the beach. Need to know the course better before starting. The swim itself was ok. I was a little choppy and wasn't quite sure what was going on a few times. Need to be more confident in the path. Also need to get stronger. Not sure I can hold that pace for 2.4 miles!

T1: uh.....slow as hell. Not sure why. I felt a little dazed and found myself kind of standing there trying to figure out what was going on. Never felt that way before. Also haven't raced that distance or that fast. Is it normal to be out of it? Before I left I did a little mental check--bike, helmet, glasses, watch, food.....took WAY too much time. Need to get a better routine. When I came out of T1--I was 1)turning my watch on to get the 15 minute interval beep to remember to eat (didn't think to do that before I got in the water), 2) was trying to get my Garmin to turn on (Julia told me today that I can turn it on BEFORE the swim and it will be ready when I get there)...I also got lost on one of the menus. It'll be fine once I get that sequence right. And 3) I was trying to get my bike computer turned on in case my garmin failed. Now that I trust the Garmin, won't need the bike computer. So yes, I screwed up using it this race and lost some time, but now I know--and no, you can't have it! :-p That's why I was fucking around with all the buttons. Unprepared. I just didn't know. :)

Bike troubles: When you saw me and helped me out of transition...My bike was FINE earlier in the morning...but I took it out and then put it back in the rack and it might have back pedaled and the chain fell off. I honestly don't know. It WAS fine when I put it in there. So I finally manage to get on the bike (which I have forever had a hell of a time doing when people are watching--must practice!! ) and started off. Still wasn't clipped in right. Tried to clip right foot in--and my foot got caught at a weird angle. Almost took myself and another biker out. FINALLY made it out of the res.....and was going UP a hiill. I shifted gears and the chain fell off again. Scrambled because I was in the wrong gear, clipped in to bike, falling over. Got unclipped, put bike on ground, fixed chain....stood up to get back on bike..couldn't get bike to go....too tough of a gear. Shit! Tried again, almost fell over. Tried again, did fall over. Tried again...still can't get in the pedals and up the hill. Said fuck it and ran my bike 100 ft to the top of the hill...and rode away. I believe my watch said 11:07. SHIT--I had lost so much time! Oh well....this is triathlon and I am challenged.

Bike ride was awesome. I felt great. Felt strong. Took the hills easier than ever. Pace was faster than normal and much easier. Felt good. Knew it was 12 miles to St. Vrain--then it was FLYING time. :) Heartrate was in the mid to high 170s up the hill. Not sure what it was going down--didn't look. Was hanging on for dear life. :) Stopped at two of the three water stations. YES--I said STOPPED. I don't know how to grab water from a volunterr and get it in my waterbottle holder. So I didn't attempt it--it would have been sudden death. At four of the six (total) water stations I stopped my bike, opened the water bottle, poured it in my aerobar holder, and then left the aid station.

For the ride I made a bottle with EIGHT scoopes of perpetuem and 8 endurolytes. I made enough nutrition for 4 hours--just in case. I finished almost the entire bottle by the time I had 30 minutes left (I read it is best to not eat for 30 minutes before running so it's not sloshing around.) I did drink, though. In total I'm pretty sure I had 24 oz of water and 8 oz of perpetuem each hour...which is 32 oz of water--well above what it recommended. On the first loop--a fucking bug flew around my glasses and into my eye. I almost fell off the bike again--because I couldnt see--it was burning like crazy and I had to stop on the side of 119. Luckily noone was behind me. I rode with a bug leg in my eye for a bit though. The last five miles I held back a bit. There was a girl in front of me...and I wanted to pass her...but I wasn't sure that was the best thing...she was going the pace I WANTED to go...and I didn't want to have to go faster to stay out of her way...so I stayed back. I knew I was already ahead of my "planned" time, so I didn't worry about it.

I thought I did a great job on nutrition, but the run said differently--and so did my doctor today. Also, I DID NOT have any gels, which was probably a mistake. I could have used some more calories probably. I took in 1040 calories and probably burned more than that. Oops. Probably need more calories, more endurloytes and more water. Did notice a little headache a few times on the bike, come to think of it....that should have been my first warning. Damn.

T2: Much faster...not dazed and confused. Didn't think as much.

Run: First off--I ran out of perpetuem the night before when I was getting my stuff ready. I looked around at the stores around and noone carried it, that I could see from the internet. So..I made my water belt bottles with HEED. Not ideal--for me. I train with perpetuem on my long runs--not HEED. I was a tad bit concerned. I have never LIKED HEED. Now I know why! It doesn't work. :)

I also couldn't find my bottle of endurolytes the night before (the ones I had bought that day--what a fucking scatterbrain!)---so used all but three of the pills I had in a container to carry with me to put in the perpetuem and HEED bottles. Only had three pills on me. Thought I woulnd't need them. BIG F-ING MISTAKE!

So I start running--hear you tell me it's getting hot--put ice on my head. Running, running, running---look down at Garmin--9:30 miles--WTF? That's WAY TOO fast to start out with! That's faster than my average OLYMPIC time. Gotta slow down. Easier said than done. Body wants to go. Brain is screaming--WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY? SLOW DOWN! Then I remember your article. First three miles are the slowest, last three are the fastest. OK, SLOW THE FUCK DOWN, BRANDY. Heartrate---NOT in my magic number zone. Didn't EXPECT it to be, though. If I wanted it to come down, I was going to have to walk the 13 miles. So, I went off of my breathing. Tried to keep that under control. Worked off and on. The hills really got me--physically but mostly mentally. Hit mile 1--WHERE IS THE FUCKING AID STATION I say outloud. It's up over the hill and around the bend, on the way to grandmothers house. WTF? I thought they were EVERY mile??? They weren't on the same mile system that I was on. Frustrating!

Run a mile--walk a minute. Did this EVERY mile. Also ended up walking alot more than the plan. I just could not make myself WANT to go...especially up the hills. Walked a lot of the hills--espcially second loop. Heartrate never came down. When I walked for more than a minute one time, it got down to 163. The rest of the time, even though I was trying to run at a steady pace (9:50-11:30 pace), it was usually in the mid 170s. Too high, I know---but that's where it was...and it was not going to come down unless I stopped and stood still for a while, then crawled the half marathon. I was not going to do that. I don't know what the right thing to do was. So I kept going, took a lot of breaks, tried to relax......You were in my head the whole time. One time I looked down and someone had written "suck it up buttercup" with chalk in the middle of the road.....and I smiled---it was like you were there!

Mile 4-ish--was given a frozen sponge. Oh my god--the best thing in the world. I kept it. My favorite part of the race besides finishing. Second loop I got two. Couldn't get the ice to stay on my head--so put ICE WATER on my head. VERY refreshing! I lived for each aid station and every mile marker. The HEED made me feel too sugary, but I kept drinking becuase it had the endurlolytes. Oh---almost forgot to tell you--almost every single step on the half marathon was a half cramp--either in my quad or hammie or calf muscle. My leg would start to cramp, then stop. EVERY SINGLE FREAKING STEP!! I bent over a few times to stretch and my legs went to seize up--so I stopped that. I just hoped and hoped and hoped that I would not find myself on the ground. If lifting my leg made it worse...I didn't lift it very high. If anything made it worse, I stopped doing it.I was a slave to cramps. The doc today said it was because I was dehydrated. I don't know how---32 oz on the bike, water bottles galore on me..stopped at ALL of the aid stations and poured water on me and down my throat (except for a few--but I had my water bottles on the belt). Had one gel on the course. Should have skipped the HEED and had gels.

I don't believe that I hit the wall physically--although maybe--and I just didn't realize it--if I was truly dehydrated. But mentally--oh my goodness. There were times I didn't want to take another step on that run course. Three times I actually stopped in the middle of the road and just stood there for a minute. That felt good. Having the garmin helped--I could see when I only had .20 miles to make it to a mile marker--then I could run there. The last .6 miles of the race was the hardest. I was SOOO close...and I was soo close to finishing under 6:30! I told my legs to run, but they (or my brain) said nope--let's walk. We're tired. Part of me was like: "We're so fucking close and seriously--what is .60 miles after doing 70??? GO GO GO! Nope. So I ran a few steps, walked a few steps..on and on. Finally, got to the crowd and used them as a means of energy to run the last .2 miles...even though I truly didn't WANT to run it.

It was cool to hear my name over the loud speaker. Very cool to see so many of my friends and family. :) Eric told me right away that you and Julia were over at awards--and that she took second. I got over there as fast as I could. I was totally out of it....but Duane said I said (upon finishing) that I need a LOT more training. Yes, indeed. Bring the training. I will train, train, train.....whatever it takes to get across that finish line at 140.6. Because not training enough and training too much would be torture.

So that was my race.

I feel a bit different as a person today, but I can't explain it. I'm not jumping up and down, but for once I am really proud of myself, despite wanting to tear the race apart and find all the flaws. I guess it's still hard to believe I did it....

Looking back, the swim and the bike were FUN....like a nice long training day that was going really well. When the run came, that's when reality hit..hard. On a pain scale, I felt the same as I did at the olympic....it all turns to mental shit on the run at the res. I HATE that run course. Of course, I will do it again next year--but I'll probably still hate it.

Times:
Swim: time was ok--with a few fixes, I can get better.
Bike: being more prepared and better at riding will drastically improve my time. I also want to get a hellava lot faster. Cycling is way cool and I love it. I have improved leaps and bounds this season already! I can't wait to see what I can do in Arizona! My girl parts are STILL tingly..and not in a good way.
Run: story speaks for itself. It was absolutely my WORST half marathon time ever. I'd like to be able to hold 10 mins/mile. Maybe that will take a while.

Heartrate: Hmmmm..not sure what we are going to do about this. 153-158 is just not going to work for racing. Maybe on a flatter course. I don't know.