Racing Minus the Mojo

So the Bonelli Triathlon #2. Little did I know when I committed to this race that it'd fall at the end of yet another crazy week in which my training (including the rest/recovery aspect) would take a back seat to everything else.

In fact, it's time to be honest with you guys, I haven't been able to train as well as I'd like for several weeks now. I do what I can: I get in key workouts and enough volume/intensity to maintain fitness, but I have a growing number of commitments that often take priority over a workout, over rest or whatever. I don't want to give up any of my commitments, and I don't training to be a source of stress, so I'm ok with life as is.

Anyways, on Saturday, I noticed online that Bonelli #2 is pretty much an Olympic distance (1k/40k/8k), not another sprint. Oops. I just laughed. My body was not race ready and I knew it (I've made these mistakes before), but I decided to pretend it was... I refused to miss out on another scheduled triathlon, dang it! Stubborn. I know.

Overall, the race was fun and a decent attempt at s-b-r all things considered--AG podium and top 10 overall--but on the other hand it was a bit of a disappointment because I couldn't kick it into that next gear (a gear I know exists) and fell flat. Truth be told, I called my mom after and started whining, but then this guy, Will, came up and introduced himself and said he reads & likes my blog. That quickly changed my attitude. Thanks, Will.

Here's how it went down...

It started off on a good note: I didn't hit snooze on Sunday morning!

I headed to the race sans-sherpa, as all my sherpas (there are 3 in the mix these days) had prior obligations. No biggie, except that means no pictures, sorry. Ran into Molly from Zoot, which was awesome because it was her first tri and she was smiling from ear to ear. I hung out with her and a few other fast SD chicks who made the trek up before the race start.

Swim
Ok, anyone who knows me knows the circulation in my feet blows and my toes are always a lovely shade of "frost-bitten black/blue." This is always an issue with the swim because my calves and feet cramp up even in mild conditions, and I don't know what to do. If you have a suggestion, chances are I've tried it. I think the biggest problem is: I do a warm-up swim, but then I wait for my wave to go off and I cool down, toes turn blue, feet/legs tighten up--even if I jump/jog around. Is it even worth a warm-up swim? I don't know.

So, like clockwork, we started the swim and I felt a little sumthin sumthin in my calves and feet (particularly my L calf that's been giving me issues lately). About 2 min later everything below both knees seized up into cramp mode. Ugh! I spent the entire 1K swimming in that state; in other words, I had dorsiflexed anchors attached to my torso. Not good.

People were saying the swim course was long, and yea I cramped, but I still was PO'd seeing my time as I exited water. Typical. I had to brush it off.

Bike
I love this course and wanted to show it who's boss. (My usual post-swim anger!) There are lots of hills and it's not boring even though it's loop repeats. I was amped to get goin and play catchup, but wait...

...where were my legs? They definitely didn't show up to ride a bike! Several miles in, still. No legs. This was a big red flag that my body was in no state to be racing. Even on my worst days I still get by alright on the bike. I sucked it up, and just did what I could. (Sure enough, later on I checked iBike data from from this course and and my average mph per loop was significantly slower.)

Something else odd happened soon into the bike. My tummy kept grumbling as if I were starving. Um, no way. For a race that was to last 2-2.5 hrs, I went above and beyond to eat good meals starting Saturday (when I saw race distance), consuming enough as if I were doing a 70.3. How could I be hungry?! Long story short, during the race I consumed double the amount of GUs I'm used to for that time span and had no ill effects. Thankfully I always over-pack my nutrition.

Anyways, 40k flew by. I just enjoyed the ride, enjoyed the pain I was inflicting. I had no idea where I was in the rankings because I never rode with any girls. Literally. I laughed at my "loner-ness" because I thought of "The Hangover" and decided I was my own wolfpack. (Ya know... the crazy bro... "I consider myself a bit of a loner, a lone wolf with my own wolfpack."... I was the chick version of him.)

Run
Grabbed my Garmin in T2, run out, go to turn it on and it's frozen on a screen that says "battery charged 98%." My dumb arse actually wasted time to try and get it unfrozen--I spent close to 2 mins just jogging, not running, because I was messing with the Garmin. What was I thinking? Um, something like this: "well, if I have it with me and it's going to be with me for 5 miles, then I might as well try to make it work." Never happened... and that was just dumb logic on my part.

Although the run hurt, it ended up being super fun for two reasons:

1) The course was poorly marked in a lot of areas so I, nor anyone else around me, knew which way to go when the road branched of in 3-4 directions. At that point I knew my race wasn't a "top performance" so I found it comical that we were guessing the route. I laughed.

2) Roughly half of the run was on tree-encompassed trails surrounding the lake, and I imagined that I was racing an Xterra triathlon in Maui :) That fantasy helped give me some mojo.... until we'd get back on pavement in the park. Then it was just a matter of arguing with my legs and HR to pick it up. Wasn't happening. I never knew my true pace, but I felt like the run went on longer than 8k.

Turns out I had the 3rd fastest female run split of the day. But all of our paces seem a little slow, so I'm wondering if the course was mismarked. I think we ran 10k not 8k :)

The End
Crossed the finish line pleased that I didn't let all that extraneous BS get the best of me. Looking at the results and doing my anal analysis of times I conclude that had I been rested, tapered and A-gaming this race, I probably would have been at least 5 minutes faster. But being within 10 min of the top ladies, and finishing 10th overall was ok with me.

The final red flag came when I got home... after shower, food and an attempt at work/studying I crashed hard. I napped for nearly 3 hours! I don't even do that after a half-Ironman. But after that hibernation and more rejuvenation, I felt like a new woman. A new woman who was doomed to a Monday of work, school work and more studying :(

Bonelli Sprint Tri... SD.... Hectic & Fun!

Last Sunday I did the Bonelli Sprint Triathlon (500m/24k/5k). Talk about a cool race with a great laid-back vibe. The day before I was super busy and freaked out for a second - holy crap, was there a race packet pickup I was supposed to go to? I was going from a morning workout to SD to LA with no time to drive to the race site! Thankfully, the Bonelli race (part of the LA Tri Series) is way mellow, and all pre-race stuff is handled morning of. In fact, there wasn't even any body marking, no # stickers, no assigned racks.... Just show up and have fun!

Super casual...

I went into the race thoroughly thrashed. My training hours since Monday were in the double digits, including some key high-intensity sessions that tend to leave me more thrashed than a 4-hour weekend ride/run. My body was feelin it. I'd been bad in the rest department too (Galaxy Soccer game Sat night / up past midnight / so worth it). Come race day, I just figured, what's another hour+ of hurt?! I wanted to see what I am capable of when tired but still healthy.

Race day was gorgeous. I almost wish the race had been longer to enjoy the sunny, warm weather and beautiful course.... Bonelli Park is in San Dimas, and the course is very scenic and hidden from any main roads. It reminds me of a mini Vineman in terms of the rolling hills on the bike/run with green natural surroundings the whole time.

I didn't wear my HR monitor for the race (nor do I for most races) because frankly I don't want to know the bpms. I like to race by RPE and time. I like thinking about numbers while I race and doing math - weird, because I hate math normally. Meanwhile, I love training my HR but hate racing with it.

Feeling relaxed pre-race, the way it should always be...

The swim start was mellow; there was one wave with women 39 & under, so I'd have a good idea of my standings throughout the race. Steam was coming off the lake so I wasn't afraid of frigid temps. The 500 was heart-attack-inducing intense but went by in a flash, and as I stood up my watch read just over 8 min. Not bad for me. Stumbled a little up the long hill into T1 while catching my breath.

As always, after T1 I was ready to hammer on the bike. There were two loops, each just over 7 miles. I'd ridden the course so knew what to expect. Being in the right gear at the right time is crucial on this course, as there are a lot of ups & downs & sharp turns. I passed about 3-4 girls right away and traded spots with another lady for quite a while. I was averaging in the low 20s, and figured any other girl ahead of me was probably out of my reach. The two loops were a blast. All smiles except for an oddly strong headwind during one 2-mile straightaway. Ouch.

Side note #1: No joke - my rear brake pad was rubbing on my wheel the entire ride. It was audibly noticeable, but there was no way I was going to stop. Must have been from throwing my bike in the back of my car that morning because it wasn't rubbing when we put the Zipps on, we checked!

Side note #2: I had my aerodrink for the bike but forgot the straw. I remembered Ian telling me a similar story of doing this, and how he hit up a 7-eleven or something in the wee hours pre-race. I followed suit, and taped 2 slurpee straws together. Perfect!

One thing I noticed during the bike was the good manners of racers, even if some were lacking in their bike-handling skills. Whenever I yelled "on your left" everyone--even "macho" men--always replied with "you got it;" "sorry, don't mean to be in your way;" "looking good;" etc, etc. Wow.

Smiling coming up one of the climbs...

Pretty sure I got off the bike in 4th place. Averaged just about 21 mph. Looking at others' results, that was good. And considering the leg burn I was trying to ignore the whole time, I was happy with that effort.

I started the run with a goal of holding a sub-7 pace for the 5k. That is something I've never done in an open 5k or in a sprint tri, so who knew! And silly me, I had never tested out the run course so didn't know if it was going to be flat, hilly or what. Turns out it was 75% hilly but still short enough for me to get my goal and hold a 6:50 pace (according to the garmin; it was 6:59 on results... but also about 3.4 miles long). I felt decent on the run and think I could have held onto a 7-min pace had it been a 10k. Progress!

Only one girl passed me on the run, Christine Gould from SD. I tried to hang on to her, but she had about a minute on me. I finished in 1:16... later found out that was about 4 min slower than first. Nice. It always makes me wonder how much better I would have done had I tapered (not that I would have changed anything), and if the other ladies were tapered and fresh.

Turns out I was 1st AG. Whaaat?! In 25-59?! Totally unexpected!! Not to mention, I was 5th female overall, and all the women who beat me were those crazy 30-somethings... I thought 25-29 was going to be tough (and I still do!) but entering that 30s decade is going to be insanely hard! Hopefully I can hang by then.

With one of the athletes I coach, Marta, she rocked with a 2nd place AG!...With another athlete I coach, Benoit, who got his first taste of watching a triathlon at this race....

We waited around for awards, which dragged on way too long. Can't stand drawn-out award ceremonies. Bleh! Maybe I need to learn more patience because it was nice just chillin on the grassy field with nothing to do. But then there's me - itching to get onto to the next activity of the day! Still, overall, I love how this race is run and the vibe it gives off! Way mellow. Very grassroots, back-to-the-basics sort of triathlon. I'll be back for #2 in the series, but will miss #3 for Boise 70.3.

Check out my straw....

After awards we cooked up a big lunch (salad and steak tacos) with anticipation of an afternoon workout on the sched. Ummm... after eating, we fell into a food coma, took a nap and laziness ruled the rest of the day. Oh well, it was still a solid training week with more intensity than I usually have with the sort of volume I put in, and I was spent. Yes, a 1:16 sprint can leave you tired, especially going off 4 hours of sleep!

Sunday night I headed to San Diego because bright and early Monday morning I was scheduled to be in North Park for a photo shoot with Zoot and John Segesta for Zoot's spring '11 catalog. That basically ruled my monday/tuesday, and it will rule my friday/next monday. It's been quite an experience, and truthfully, modeling is hard! It's not "me" and it takes getting used to... i.e. I felt super awkward at first. But the story deserves its own blog, so more to come next week. Here are a couple inside pics in the meantime.

The room with all the 2011 Zoot goodies...

John Segesta behind the camera doing what he does best....Model Carly on the set. We've spent who knows how many hours there in the past two days...

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Last but not least, I'm signed up to do the Xterra Crystal Cover 17k on Sunday as long as the weather holds. If that race gets canceled for a 4th time due to rain, I swear, I think it isn't meant to be.