Note/Warning/Heads Up: Early on in my triathlon journey I started
writing up race reports after most races.
What time did I get up? When did
I have breakfast? Did I eat too early or
too late? How many calories did I put in
my water bottle? Was it enough? Did I take any calories in on the run? If not, should I have? There are so many details I forget over the
next 364 days. I frequently look back to
them when getting ready for the current season races. The below race report may seem a bit rambled,
but so are the ones I kept to myself in the past. The main difference between the blog post
race reports and then ones I used to create are the addition of pictures.
Friday
Not only was this the first race of the year, but also our first
camping trip! Last year we stayed at
Squaw Creek, but they don’t open until April 15th (the race was a
week later last year), but thankfully Palisades was open, which is only about
15min further from the race site. We
packed up the camper and were pulling out of the driveway in record time. As I register our campsite, Wes finds a water
pump to fill up the camper…and the water isn’t turned on yet. Crap!
I had called a few days earlier and they said it would be on. Quick call to coach Daniel who lives just a
few miles away, and we rolled over to his house. I had a few extra eggs from our girls, so
traded 2 eggs for 30 gallons of water.
It was almost 8 before we were setting up the camper, so I cooked up
some dinner (chicken brats for me, veggie burgers for Wes, and roasted carrots
with fresh sage as our side). Just a bit
of relaxing afterwards before heading to bed.
Not the best night’s sleep. Our
dog can be a bit annoying at times, and we were woken in the middle of the
night by another dog at a not-very-close camper. Damn yippee thing! Wes was up early to be at work by 7am at
ProFit. As the truck left, the dog was
woken again.
Saturday
With Wes gone and the pissant dog finally quiet, I fell back to sleep
until almost 8am. So nice!
My scheduled workout for the day was a 15 mile easy bike ride (~100
watts) followed by a 3 mile run at 8:30-9:00 pace. The weather was beautiful
out (70’s) and I hadn’t ridden outside yet, but the roads within the park are
not ideal and outside of the park is a busy highway. So, I set my bike on the trainer outside the
camper and watched the Auckland Women’s UTC race. Just a few odd stares by campers out for a
walk. Wes was back to the camper and
joined me for the run.
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| Enjoying the outdoors |
After lunch (bacon-wrapped turkey tenderloin for me, free-range chicken
breast for Wes, and grilled brussles sprouts for a side) we drove over to
packet pickup, then to the Dreaming Bear to visit with the awesome owner, and
finally a stop by a new brewery, Lion Bridge, in Cedar Rapids to continue the pre-race flight
tradition. The beer wasn’t anything
special, but we also tried their Ginger Hibiscus Soda which they also brew.
Good stuff! We’d go back for the soda,
but not the beer.
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| Continuing the pre-race flight tradition |
The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the campsite and watching a
movie before heading to bed early. And,
a lot of checking the forecast and hoping Mother Nature would cooperate for the
race.
Sunday (race day)
We were woken in the middle of the night again, but this time for heavy
rains and wind (and hail?). The 4:30am
alarm was not fun. So early to be up on
a weekend, but that comes with most races.
It was still raining, but looked like there was a chance of clearing up.
I made up our normal pre-race breakfast of coffee, egg/cheese/turkey
bacon muffin, and cantaloupe. I normally
try to eat 2.5 hour ahead of time, but hoped 2 hours would be enough and feared
the race might be delayed and didn’t want to have to get hungry.
The rain turned to drizzle as we drove to the race site. Our parking spot was near the finish area
which is about a half mile from the start line.
My warm-up was 10min descending from 8-7:30 pace. I wanted to wear different shoes for the warm
up, but it was so close to the race start time, and such a distance from the
truck to the start, that I just wore my race shoes, which meant starting the
race with wet shoes. I was very happy
for the drainage holes in the Kawia’s, so they didn’t stay water-logged.
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| Soggy race start. |
The race has a 3:05 pacer for the full marathon, and based on my
training I thought 1:32:30 was a good goal for the half. I was happy to see Ross from We Run holding
the pace sign. I can’t imagine someone
being fast enough to run a 3:05 let alone being a pacer holding a sign for 26.2
miles running a 3:05 marathon. Crazy!
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| Awesome picture of Ross towards the end of the marathon |
The half stays on the same route for about the first 7.5 miles. The first mile is mostly uphill. It already felt like a little struggle, but I
chalked it up to going uphill. The next
few miles were gently rolling. We kept a
nice, steady pace, and some runners who had gone out a bit fast were already
starting to fall back to us then behind us.
There was one other woman with our pace group. Another woman, Julie, fell back to our group.
She asked which race the two of us were doing, which we responded the
half. Julie told us there were two really speedy women up ahead, but
didn’t know if they were doing the half, full, or team.
So, up until a week ago I was just hoping to win by age group
again. I was surprised to win it last
year, but figured most of the faster women were running the full marathon,
which made it easier to win my age group.
But, then I learned there was prize money for the top 3 finishers. I couldn’t find the results for the 2013
race, but heard it wasn’t all that fast.
I’ve never won money in a running race.
Hmmm…maybe it’s possible.
Knowing there were only two women ahead of me gave me a little
motivation to keep with the pace. The
other woman that was running with the 3:05 pace group fell off after the first
few miles, but I didn’t know if anyone was sneaking up behind, or if I’d be
able to hold onto the pace for the rest of the race.
I just hung with Ross, dropping back a little on the uphills and
catching up on the downhills. When the
race split, there were three of us together doing the half. The guy ahead of me was doing well at keeping
the same pace, so I just followed him.
After another mile or so I felt I could go a little faster pace, so
slowly went around him. Miles 10-11 were
not fun at all. I just kept thinking it
was less than a 5k left. That’s nothing!
I was slowly catching the next guy ahead of me, so tried to use him as a
rabbit to keep pushing forward. The mile
marker for mile 12 was way past where my watch beeped for mile splits. WTF?
The last mile has a chunk of uphill to it to get back to the high school
parking lot, then downhill to the stadium and part-way around the track. My rabbit was picking up his pace, and I was
losing ground. I didn’t have the energy
to stay with him, let alone try to catch him.
I let him go.
As I was rounding the track towards the finish line, the announcer was
stating the finish number of the athletes.
I was #21. I gave all I could at
the finish, which wasn’t much, but I wasn’t about to let up after going so hard
for over 13 miles.
The mileage on my Garmin said 13.34 miles, which was fairly consistent
with what other people had. It may not seem
like much, but it’s almost a quarter of a mile long. At 13.09 miles I had a
time of 1:32:06, and over a 3-minute PR.
My finish time this year compared to last year was 10 minutes
faster. I’m happy with where I am in my
running, but know it can be better.
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| Done! |
The race conditions were just a little wind when we were out in the
country for a few miles, temps in the mid 50’s, and no rain (for us, the marathon was not so lucky). I felt hydrated enough that I didn’t take in
any water or nutrition on the course, which is typical for my training at that
distance as well. I did wish I had a bit
more time between breakfast and the race, as I could feel it still sitting in
my stomach for most of the race. I did
have a slight fear of it coming back up.
I wore shorts, a t-shirt, and a hat.
At the start of the race I had knee-high men’s socks (grey and purple
argyle…I picked out pretty ones) that I had cut off the toe to use as arm
warmers. I ditched them at the second
water stop. I did get pretty warm during
the race and considered ditching my hat.
I think a visor and tank top would have been better options.
During the race I never looked at my watch. I was happy to have a pacer push me for the
first few miles. If he wasn’t there, I’m
not sure I would have kept up the pace as long as I did. My heart rate data in my Garmin file confirms
my thoughts that I was running on the edge most of the race. Not sure if I’ve ever kept my HR above 170
that long. My pace was pretty
consistent, with a slight push at the end.
The results originally showed me as 2nd place for the women,
and then later in the afternoon had me dropped to 3rd with a new
chick showing up in first with a time of 1:22.
That night I was back to 2nd.
Not sure what was going on, and it shouldn’t
matter to me, but of course it did. I
still randomly check to see if I’m still sitting in second. I’ll believe it for sure when I get the check
in the mail. It’s nice to get a little
kickback from a race to help with all the costs associated with training and
racing. It’s definitely not enough to cover the expenses of a year in the
sport, but any little bit helps. And,
now I can say I won money at a running race!
Never thought that would happen. And,
yes, I do know this is a small-town race.
I’m sure if it was a Rock ‘n Roll half, I’d just be happy placing in my
age group. I still have work to do.
