Things Don't Always Go as Planned: Rev3 Williamsburg Race Report

Well, you win some you lose some – one of the beauties of life I suppose.  This past  weekend I participated in the half iron distance tri at Rev3 Williamsburg, this was a big race for me as the pro prize purse allowed it to be designated as an elite qualifying race.  Having had a month off since school ended and the past two weeks to just relax with Ian in Virginia Beach, I felt very strong going into the race; everything just felt like it was falling into place.  When race morning arrived, I felt very ready to go.  I had a new (to me) bike computer, my nutrition was well planned out, my bike was ready, and I had a plan for the entire race. 

Unfortunately things do not always go as planned.  Before I start, I need to state that I am not blaming my end result on anything I am about to state - I have never had a race go perfectly as planned so I cannot imagine anyone else's do either.  It all comes down to how we deal with the cards we are dealt on race day and I did not deal overly well.  

To begin, the swim was a bit rough to say the least.  The race began with a beach start in an area where the water did not reach knee depth for about 30-40 yards and was not waist deep (even on me) for at least 100.  This format resulted in many of the athletes opting to wade out into the water for several minutes before beginning to swim.  Further, there was a delayed start and consequently condensed sendoff times.  These two factors resulted in a perfect storm of four waves of athletes converging at once at the first turn buoy about 400 yards into the race; I had to all but crawl over a mess of at least 100 athletes converging within a 10 foot radius of the buoy before being able to swim again.  Once free, it was a fight against was and a cross-current forcing me to sight about every four strokes.  That said, I swam smart and gave it my all despite being broiled from inside my seal suit (the water was about 77.9 degrees – barely wetsuit legal) and was pleasantly surprised to be told I was in the lead position coming out of the water (despite a time nearly six minutes slower than I had expected).

Transition started well but I hadn't accounted for running my bike over some fairly bumpy grass and the banana pieces I had attached to my bike somehow flew off leaving me down two rounds of race nutrition.  On the bike, I quickly realized that my bike computer wasn’t working so I was without distance and speed data.  Fortunately, I was still on a high over being in the lead and was able to keep from panicking and recalibrate my nutrition plan.  Though the course was much more rolling and a bit more technical than the I expected, the ride was overall very lovely and fun to ride.  After passing a pro athlete about fifteen miles in, I started to get visions of myself not in third as I had hoped but instead on top of the podium – bad idea.  Not long after, I was passed for the first time.  I did my best to keep the gap at a minimum but eventually decided it was best to not ruin my run legs chasing after another cyclist. 

Around mile 25 I experienced my next nutritional difficulty.  I had split my Powerade between two bottles and watered it down meaning I was carrying two full bottles with the plan of picking one more up along the course.  However, when it came time to delve into my second bottle, I managed to break the nozzle and drop it.  Crap.  By the time I reached the aid station a bit past mile 35, I was parched and starting to feel light headed.  I had a perfect hand-up only to find the bottle I received was all but child locked and I spilt half of it in my attempt to open the bottle itself which meant I had a half bottle of water to get me through the next 20 miles.  Other than that, things were going fairly well until about mile 50 when I nearly hit a deer and was overtaken by another woman bringing me into third place.  Needless to say, I was beyond relieved when I finally saw transition approaching ahead of me. 

Out on the run, all started fairly well; I was maintaining my goal pace and gaining time on the women ahead of me.  While I was definitely hurting, there was still a smile on my face until right around mile 8 when it all fell apart.  Despite taking in a few gels and grabbing water at every aid station, I bonked pretty hard and my splits became dramatically slower.  While I was still gaining on the leaders, the amount of gain had become marginal and the woman behind me was coming up fast.  I held on as hard as I could, but with about .3 miles of the 70.3 mile race left to go, I was overtaken and slipped into fourth. 

Crossing the finish line, I was too delirious to be devastated.  A fancy wheelchair trip into the med tent uncovered that I was extremely dehydrated and had a body temperature of 103 degrees.  I was quickly put into an enormous ice bath and an IV was stuck into my arm.  Before long, I was physically feeling good enough for the tears to come.  More than anything I felt disbelief; in a race that neared five hours, I missed my dream by a mere 28 seconds. 

I’ve gotten used to letting my body heal after a race but this past week I also had to allow space for my mind and my heart to heal.  The thing is, I have faced disappointment before.  While I never see it in the moment, every time I have faced failure or heartbreak it has lead me on a path of something so much better.  I am confident that what is meant to happen will happen when it is meant to happen.  There are many lessons to be learned through failure.  For example, I know there are small tweaks in my nutrition, sleep, training, and recovery that I have let slide in the past – there’s nothing like a 28 second margin to inspire you to address them.  Though my ego is still a bit bruised (hey, maybe my ego was the lesson), I am more determined than ever and I just keep pushing forward!

Fun little transition coincidence

Finish line - the face of misery

Accepting my 1st place age group award - not what I wanted but still got some pretty good swag

Ian as third place overall in the olympic distance!!!

*Side note: Congrats to teammate Chris Leiferman on his fourth place finish in his pro 70.3 debut!

First First

I’ve come in second, third, and (most painfully) fourth several times and I’ve racked up a few division wins.  However, for nearly three years, that pesky overall win has eluded me.  That finally changed at the Capitol View Tri in Madison Sunday morning when I finally crossed that finish line to the sweet sound of an announcer saying, “And here comes our first Olympic distance female.” 

This was a super fun race for me.  It was my first event in Wisconsin since my very first race and my parents were able to come to cheer/Sherpa for me.  Also, because I apparently can’t help myself but to become buddies with race directors, I volunteered at packet pickup the day before which allowed me to get to know some of the staff and to chat with fellow athletes which provided me with some much-needed tri-socializing time.  As an added bonus, I think I told so many people that the weather would be fine (despite a forecast of wind/rain/storms/cold) that the weather patterns themselves were convinced.  I had prepared myself to endure conditions on par with Summer Open 2012 and water temps around Havasu 2012 level.  Fortunately I was wrong (first time ever)!  Going into the race I had no idea what to expect.  I have not raced these people before and I’ve been training pretty hard the past few weeks. 

This past weekend was also my first time racing in the elite wave of an event so I was a bit anxious as our small wave of men and women lined up.  I assumed I would be dropped in a heartbeat.  While a few of the boys did just that, I managed to find my way onto the heels of man going just the right pace (though I still beat the poor guy out of the water because he had to get up and trudge through the mud when the water got shallow and my T-Rex arms just kept chugging along right up to the shore).  Out on the bike, things got a little lonely.  I believe I was fourth (male or female) out of the water with a pretty large gap so I didn’t have any targets ahead of me and there was no one coming up behind me either.  I had to constantly remind myself that I was racing and not just on a training ride with the tune of B-I-N-G-O running through my head on repeat.  The way back towards transition was much more fun as the course was by then filled with a steady stream of age groupers, many of whom were kind enough to cheer me on.  Suddenly, I could smell competition in the air and I rode off, unable to wipe the stupid grin off my face. 

My run, I must say, was far less pleasant.  Having stupidly told Coach Mace that the 10k was the goal area of this race and with the assumption that there was an unknown competitor in the age group division zipping through the course somewhere back there, I took off on the run.  Things went pretty well … for the first sixty seconds.  While the video of the bike course had prepared me for the rollers and somewhat rough road on the bike, the 2 dimensional run course map had not prepared me for the constant hills or the thick grass surface of the run course.  Finding myself once again alone for the first half of the run (until we met up with the sprinters) I had a serious battle against myself.  My legs were burning from climbing and my stomach was starting to cramp from the jarring of the downhills; there was no one ahead to chase and no one behind to push.  However, I reminded myself that thing everything will hurt just as bad in two weeks at my A race and there I will most certainly have some competition so I might as well get used to it. 

41 excruciatingly long minutes later, I crossed the finish line.  After chugging some water, hugging my parents, and getting myself on the massage list, I went out for a long cooldown run (since results wouldn’t be official for at least twenty minutes anyway).  Upon returning to the finish line, I found out that I had not only won the female division by a margin of seven minutes but had come in eighth overall regardless of gender.  Woohoo!  I think the only negative of the morning was that I have no picture to commemorate my moment of glory as the directors had decided to forego an awards ceremony this year in lieu of an admittedly much more convenient awards distribution tent (really, I’m not surprised though as my life of podium’s this year appears to be an Alanis Morisette song as evidenced by the lack of one for my cycling win and the removal of the graduate/undergraduate designation awards at Nationals). 

One deliciously greasy brunch and a painfully good ice bath later and I was packing up Maureen in her traveling clothes (ie bike box) for Virginia.  Hoping to roll on the good vibes of this past weekend as I head into the summer season – less than two weeks until Rev3 Williamsburg!

Glasses Up

End of an Era

It seems like just yesterday I put Chicago in my rear-view mirror with tears in my eyes.  Now, three short years later, I once again loaded the U-Haul and left the place I learned to call home.  I grew more as a person and learned more, academically and otherwise, than I ever thought possible. 

Graduation - can't believe how fast it came!

In August of 2010, soon after my first triathlon, I did an internet search for a tri club at CSU with the goal of meeting people and making new friends.  Thinking myself inadequate, I was beyond terrified to email then president Danny Harper regarding information.  He was so welcoming that I decided to attend the team’s first meeting where I sat in the back and tried my best to go unnoticed.  Soon, I started attending group rides led by Ashley Nice and swims with Coach Wendy Mader where I was welcomed with open arms and quickly began to make friends.  Before long, I had been talked into a road trip to Las Vegas for a race where Sarah Lubin happened to mention the possibility of me making the nationals team.  I was flabbergasted.  Low and behold, six months later I was crossing that finish line in Tuscaloosa. 

First race with the team - Oktoberfest 2010

Post-Pumpkinman in Vegas 2010

Team at nats 2011

Slowly but surely, my training increased and my times got faster; but those were not the only changes that occurred.  Suddenly, I found myself wanting to go to bed a little earlier, go out a little less, study a little more, cook for myself a little more often, and keep the apartment a little cleaner.  Something was changing.  One day I realized that I was calmer and more content; life was (and remains) good.  I owe most of this growth to my amazing teammates and coaches.  There are far too many incredible people and experiences for me to list them all but I think of them frequently and they are often on the forefront of my mind.  I can’t get through a track workout without picturing “Coach Cody” giving me splits and encouragement or Steve’s simple but to the point, “Go hard don’t stop.”

Team fun, winter 2012

Nationals 2012

Havasu 2013

Over the past year things really took off for me.  I found myself a great boyfriend, continued to foster strong friendships, completed my thesis, found myself and internship, and my training continued to blossom (guided by Coach Mace, Coach Tess, and Coach Reu).  As my time in Colorado came to a close, it seemed as though life couldn’t possibly get any better.  But that’s the funny thing about life: it is always getting better as long as you allow it to.  While I’m still not exactly settled into my new life yet, I know that the future holds amazing possibilities for me.  I could have easily spent the last three years miserable because I missed the Midwest and I could spend the next three missing Colorado.  Instead, I’m choosing to embrace the life before me while I do my best to hold tight to my roots.  And Colorado, don’t worry I’ll visit soon; RAM IT!

Ladies' pushup 2011

2012

2013

In no particular order thank you to: Coach Mace, Coach Reu, Coach Tess, Coach Wendy, Coach Doug, Ian, Danny, Sarah, Rebecca, Whitney, Jesse, Ashley, Erick, Blake, Cliff, Teddy, Cody G., Cody S., Rob, Fiona, Chris, Eliza, JT, Steve, Bevers, Susan, David, Tom, Ethan, Anj, Steph, Evan, Mely, Sara, Neil, Geneva, Julia, Kelly, Angela, Becca, Megan, Dr. LaGasse, Lauren Sletta, Dr. D, Dr. Cordain, Addie, Jesse, Alex, Taylor, Amykins, Provelo, Discover Massage, Elan Yoga, PR Triworks, Andrew, Brian, Kate, Katie, Ryan, Lib, My parents, all of my classmates, and my CSU Rammies.  Sorry to anyone I may have forgotten it doesn’t mean I love you any less!

Going away party