Columbia Triathlon 2011- Race Report

This was my 4th year in a row racing the Columbia Triathlon, and first as a pro. It’s a local race about 30 minutes from home, and a frequent site of training rides. I really enjoy this race as there are always a lot of friends/training partners and familiar faces racing and the course is very challenging, but beautiful, and the race staff always have a way of making sure every participant has a great experience! The day before the race I did my pre-race workout then headed up to packet pickup with Esther and Chris. On the way we met up with friends Sean and Lindsey (fellow pro) for fajitas and made it to the pro meeting with 3 minutes to spare, followed by packet pickup. Then it was home to get all our gear ready for the race, have some dinner, and time for bed (why does the entire pre-race day always seem to become consumed by pre-race prep?)

More often than not, the week before a race I begin to have random aches, pains, and issues that would otherwise be alarming did this sort of thing not happen before almost every race and then end up being fine on race day. Before a couple races in the past, my back has seized up when I would move a certain way, or I would wake up with shin pain or plantar fascia pain (all of which are issues I’ve never dealt with in the past). Before this race, as usual I developed a lot of soreness in various parts of my right leg. I don’t fully understand why this happens but I’ve come to accept that this is a normal occurrence in my pre-race routine, take care of the affected areas as appropriate, pray for no issues on race day, and trust that I will feel OK for the race!

Race morning came pretty early at 4am. After hitting snooze once I got up, made a cappuccino and orange juice, and gathered my powerbar and Gatorade to eat in the car on the drive up. I’m still experimenting with pre-race nutrition but I think this combination did the trick- ended up having the best energy I’ve had during a race with no stomach issues! When we arrived at transition I set up all of my gear except my bike, said hi to my parents who had decided to come down for the race, then returned to the car to get out my trainer and warm up on the bike. I find that for Olympic distance races, getting in a good warmup on the bike is essential for me, otherwise my legs don’t feel warmed up until about halfway through the bike-- but this is logistically difficult on the roads with darkness and race traffic. So, for the first time I decided to try bringing my trainer to the race site. I got in a good 15 minute warmup before heading down to the swim start. This was a great decision, and my legs felt the best they’ve ever felt in an Olympic distance race and I felt ready to go from the start.

RACE

The water temp was a chilly (but non-wetsuit legal for pros) 71, and male and female pros were to start in the same wave 10 minutes ahead of the elite amateur wave. The swim start was pretty uneventful… I avoided getting kicked and was able to draft off some people for the first 200 meters or so before getting separated (still working on the drafting thing!) Overall this is a great swim—the lake is calm and the buoys are easy to see with only two turns on the whole course. I could see someone close ahead of me for about half the swim but then fell back a bit more. I tried to focus on swimming efficiently and applying the new techniques I had learned in the past few weeks before the race. Given that it was a non-wetsuit swim for pros, my swim time of 25:00 was about what I expected, and given that I’d been working mainly on swim technique with only one fast swim in the past month (and didn’t feel overly tired at the end of the swim) I feel like I have made a bit of progress there (though definitely want / need to make a lot more!)

Coming out of the swim, someone yelled at me that I was in 8th place. I grabbed my bike and ran up the hill out of transition. Immediately after exiting and preparing to mount my bike, I noticed that my chain had dropped during the run through transition…. I stopped to get it back on which cost me a bit of time but I hoped not much. My immediate goal was to start riding at a good pace and track down as many people as possible. I thought I was capable of finishing the bike in 1:06 or a bit less, and my strategy was to keep an appropriately hard effort from the start. About 8 miles in I passed one girl and toward the end of the bike passed one more, putting me in 6th, with a bike split of 1:06-- 2 minutes faster than my bike split on this course last year, and the fastest female bike split of the day.

When I got into T2 I discovered that my fellow rack-mates had completely taken over my space on the bike rack – nice! Instead, I threw my bike at the end of the rack and reached for my running gear which was now underneath one of the bikes. This made of a slower T2 than I would have liked, but I tried to quickly transition and get myself out on the run course. Early on in the run, I passed one female and then at about mile 2.5, passed another putting me in 4th where I remained for the rest of the race. The run course is brutally hilly but if mentally prepared for it, it can actually be pretty fun! I decided not to wear my garmin for this race as it’s pretty big and bulky especially in the water, but tracked my approximate mile splits on my watch and tried to give it a good effort and pace off of any males from the elite amateur wave that passed by. The temps were getting warm throughout the run and I kept pouring cold water on my head which helped a little. At the top of the last big hill, where the run is really starting to hurt a lot, you can hear the finish line (about 3/4 mile away) and hear the announcer, which is great motivation to push to the finish. I crossed the line in 4th, to see Lindsey doing her post-race interview- she had won the race! She put together a very inspiring performance in her very first race back since August 2009!


Overall I was happy with my race-- I finished with the 4th fastest pro run split and 4th place, and my time was about 1 minute faster than last year even with a non-wetsuit swim this time, which is encouraging given that my running (and biking, to some extent) has gotten a much slower start this year compared with last year due to a lingering hamstring injury. I also ended up in the money (top 6 receive cash) and the bike prime. As an added bonus, I had a lot of friends and family there at the race to share it with! After the race and awards, we all went to eat at one of my favorite organic restaurants which happens to be a couple miles from the race course- Great Sage- and had some great food there and a great time!






Up next: FFT Pro Development Team Camp (Memorial Day weekend) and Eagleman 70.3 on June 12th!

St. Croix 70.3- Race Report

There was nothing easy about this race. Ironman St. Croix 70.3 is said to be the most difficult 70.3, and also the most beautiful, and the race did not fail to disappoint in either respect. The challenges began when we booked our flights to the island. Just hours after booking through Expedia we learned that one of airlines we were booked on, Cape Air, does not accept bikes. Shipping rates for bikes through FedEx were rumored to be somewhere around $800, so that was also not an option. After scrambling around trying to come up with some creative ideas, we got ahold of a triall3sports double bike box (which also saved us $300 in airline bike fees- added bonus!) and sent our bikes to St. Croix with awesome friends, Maureen and Sarah, who were traveling on American Airlines. Maureen, Sarah, and Becky also then lugged the bike box from the airport and up the stairs to the 3rd floor condo we rented- not an easy feat!

Due to the terrible weather systems moving through the south, our flight out of DC on Thursday sat on the runway for about 2 hours before taking off, so we missed our connecting flight to St. Croix. We had to wait around the St. Thomas airport for about 4 hours standby for a spot to open up on a Cape Air flight. Food on the flight from DC and in the St. Thomas airport food was scarce, not great quality and EXPEN$$IVE ($12 for a turkey sandwich?) and all food vending shut down at 5pm. By 6, I was STARVING. Usually I am well prepared when it comes to bringing food on trips but that day had really dropped the ball. I found a small bag of Southwest airlines peanuts in my backpack leftover from my flight from NOLA 2 weeks back, and it was as if I’d discovered a gourmet dinner!

When we finally made it onto our flight, which turned out to be a 10-seater Cessna propeller plane that looked like it was built in the 80s, with no co-pilot. Hmm… thankfully we made it is all I can say.

When we finally got to St. Croix, the island was truly beautiful. Maureen kindly picked us up from the airport and had already ordered sushi for us, talk about awesome!! It was as if we’d never eaten before! After the sushi, making an omelet and a smoothie, and eating a bunch of White House m&ms from Maureen, it was time for bed.

View from the condo...

Friday AM we went to do the organized practice swim on the race course. It was the choppiest swim I’ve ever done, with large waves and swimming against the current on the way out. The course also seemed extremely long! I was probably out there for 45 minutes. We then found the most awesome organic food café right in Christiansted, that served a lot of great smoothies and raw/ vegan foods- a little on the pricy side but extremely good and the chef there was so kind and wonderful! Definitely one of the many highlights of the trip!

Organic Smoothies at Lalita's

Later we went on an adventure run through Christiansted and saw an abundance of chickens running around with baby chicks, a mongoose, and some other wildlife, including a bird that had been hit by a car but was still alive that we tried to help!

Saturday we got up, had a great breakfast and drove the course, which was absolutely gorgeous! Along our route, we saw a lookout point, Point Udol, which is the easternmost point in the US. We figured we might as well stop, since we’re here! There were about 5 other cars parked at the lookout point also appearing to be tourists. After parking the car and walking about 50 feet to take photos, one of the tourists came up to Maureen and told her that someone had just gone into our car and taken something, and then driven off in a blue Honda Accord. I saw her sprinting toward the car and knew something was wrong. They had stolen her backpack (with wallet/IDs/Cash and prescription swim goggles in it) but for whatever reason had NOT taken my bag with wallet/cash/ids, goggles, Chris’s running shoes and orthotics, or my phone which was sitting on the back seat. With Chris driving, we attempted to chase down the thieves and he did pretty well along the winding cliff roads, but at a fork in the road, weren’t sure which way to go so headed back toward Christiansted. We called 911 to report the theft and filed a police report once back in town, and it sounded like the police actually caught and stopped the guy who stole our backpack, but later we were told that he didn’t have any cash or anything else of value with him in the car. Whether true or not, Maureen never did get her stuff back.

RACE

Race day came with a 4am wakeup, as the female pro swim wave went off at 6:33am. Since this was such a small race, it was easy to park, set up transition and get ready- nice for a change!

The swim start was choppy as expected. I attempted to stay with the swimmers ahead of me but got separated from the pack. Toward the end of the swim I saw Chris pass by my (his swim wave started 5 mins after mine) and I was able to get on the feet of the guy drafting off him for the last 200m or so of the swim.

In T1, I was trying to move so quickly that I slapped my helmet on my head only to realize it was on backwards- quickly corrected it-- hope no one got photos of that! :-) The bike started off well but I immediately felt like my legs felt fatigued. I hadn't gotten in a bike warmup due to logistics, which would have probably helped. I ignored the feeling and expected them to get warmed up after 30 minutes or so per usual, but they never really felt good and felt like my effort level was high for the pace I was going. I drank all the water in my aero bottle and spent the first 20 miles of the ride just waiting in a state of thirst for the next aid station (which was at the top of the "beast"). The beast came up about 20 miles into the ride, and I was definitely wishing I had even easier gearing than my 11-26- it really felt like a very challenging climb, though probably in part due to my legs not feeling great to begin with. Throughout the ride I saw many packs of age group males pass by and it seemed as if the draft marshalls were constantly circling, but never doing anything. Overall, the course was filled with technical descents, many 10% grade or higher climbs, gusting winds, heat, and bad pavement. Overall, it’s the kind of course that makes you want to quit at times if you’re not prepared for it. I saw one pro female crash and another flatted, and apparently the swim waves behind mine got hit with rain on the bike and people were crashing left and right. The bad pavement took a dime-sized chunk out of Chris’s tubular tire, but thankfully the tire stayed intact otherwise. Especially since I am cautious on technical descents, my bike time showed it! However, I knew this would be a tough course for me and I wanted to be safe and finish the race rather than take risks, and was thankful to get through without anything happening to me on the bike.

After finnnally finishing the ride and starting to run, I could feel that this run would not be fast, but aimed to start out at a moderate pace and pick up the pace in loop 2. The run course was similarly hilly, hot, and humid with a few very steep hills that I could have probably walked faster than I was running (and on one particularly steep hill, reportedly most of the pros did walk up it). I took ice at every aid station and put some in my jersey and held ice cubes in each hand and even rubbed it on my face when I felt overheated, two things that really help keep my body temp down during hot races. I also took a salt tab every now and then as well as my cliff shot espresso gels, and cola. I managed a fairly consistent pace throughout the run, though not fast (although after reviewing the results, due to the conditions my run time was right in the middle of the women’s pro field even though I felt like I was going at a snails pace and my time was not fast at all!) I was happy to finally cross the finish line, finishing 9th female pro. Since the prize money went 10 deep at this race, I went home with cash despite not having the best day out there.

The St. Croix race staff also put on a cool awards dinner BBQ/ kona rolldown at a resort on the ocean the night of the race which was great- more races should do this! At the rolldown, Maureen just barely missed getting a Vegas spot by one place.

The day after the race we thoroughly enjoyed the island by going snorkeling a Cane Bay which was AWESOME, eating lunch outside overlooking the ocean, going hiking to see some tidal pools, and visiting a really interesting sustainable farm (Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute- I could write a whole blog post on the farm, it was really cool!)

Iguana

Cane Bay where we went snorkeling

Tidal pool we hiked to

Sustainable farm

Sustainable farm's community center, with solar panels on top (all the energy used by the farm is renewable)

Despite the challenges, it was a fun trip, great time with friends, and great experience!

New Orleans 70.3- Race Report

New Orleans was my first 70.3 as a pro and was excited to race! I got down to New Orleans on Wednesday the week before the race and it was definitely nice to have some time to find my way around and do some workouts on the course. Since I had brought work with me, I didn’t get to explore New Orleans too much but a friend/ training partner, Sam, showed me (and several other pros who were racing) great places to swim, run, eat, and took us on rides. He even set me up to stay with his Mom which was one of the highlights of my trip! She made an awesome dinner for us all on Friday night before the race and was an incredible hostess! She even prayed with me before the race and during the event, and had a lot of wisdom to share.

The rides we did on the course in the days leading up to the race were a bit scary—between trying to keep my bike upright, in the strong winds, avoid potholes, and cars, the rides were a little stressful. The swim course looked pretty challenging as well with waves at least 3-4 feet high the day before the race. At the pro meeting the day before the race it was suggested that if the water conditions didn’t improve, there was a chance the swim could be cancelled and the race changed to a bike – run. Sure enough, on race morning they announced that there would be no swim, and for pros this meant a time-trial start sending athletes out on the bike 30 seconds apart, in order of bib number. Since I had the second-to-last bib, I knew I’d be starting almost last and therefore have to work at the beginning of the bike to catch up to others to feel like I was really in the race.

In the first mile it became evident that this would be a WINDY ride! The winds were not gusty though, so I was glad I was racing with a disc wheel. In the first few miles of the ride I passed one woman and in the next 10 miles passed several more. I kept focusing on trying to maintain a hard tempo effort. I had decided to try racing with heartrate for the first time but for some reason my new Garmin decided not to record my heartrate today so I couldn’t use that as a guide. Since I’d raced many times without HR or any bike computer for that matter, I didn’t worry too much and decided to to err on the side of going a little too hard vs. not going hard enough, a mistake I’d made in my last race.

The winds made it challenging to hydrate and drink my nutrition, and I discovered later that I probably had about 300 calories left in my bottle that I should have consumed on the bike. My inner thigh muscle started to cramp and tighten from pedaling into a headwind for so long, so I tried to stretch it out and change positions, and after about 20 minutes it felt a bit better. The out and back nature of the course made it easy to gauge where I was relative to others, but the time-trial start made it hard to figure out how close I really was to the other pros in terms of race time. Overall the ride went by relatively quickly and I came into transition in 2:22:59.

The run started out pretty uneventfully- one other female pro started the run right ahead of me so that made it more motivating and made me feel more like I was in the race. Around mile 7 my legs were feeling a lot heavier and though I was sticking to my nutrition for the run, the 300 calories I left in my bike bottle probably cost me a bit. I tried to stay focused on keeping a good cadence and good form, rather than how many miles were left or how I was feeling, and keep racing to the next mile. It took a lot of mental focus to keep from slowing down too much, as my legs felt entirely different at mile 2 compared with mile 7- having not done many runs over 10 miles at this point in the season, this is probably to be expected. The last 3 miles seemed to take forever, but finally I saw the turn to the finish and crossed the line in 1:28 for the run. I knew I would probably be close to top 10, but there was no way of knowing until the results came out. As it turns out, I was about 30 seconds away from 10^th, finishing 11^th out of 21 pros. Even though the second half of the run felt tough, it was actually my fastest-ever run in an accurately-measured 70.3, so that was encouraging. I finished feeling pretty exhausted, as if all I could do was lay down, so thankfully the massage/ART tent was right by the finish and they took me in right away, so I got to relax on the massage table for a bit!

Overall a pretty good race, a fun time with friends and meeting new ones! Being able to race always reminds me what a gift it is to be healthy and injury free, and to enjoy the experience each and every time. Looking forward to the rest of my races this season!

First Pro Race- Miami 5150- Race Report

Miami was my first official race as a pro. While I didn’t necessarily feel ready to race an Olympic distance race at this point in the season, and Olympic distance racing is not my primary distance, I wanted to do this race as an early-season training race to get back into the feel of racing, and also to get used to racing in the pro field, which I expected would have a much different feel and require some different strategies compared with racing as an amateur.

Miami turned out to be as great of a racing venue as I’d imagined it would be- perfect weather (high of 80 and sunny every day), scenic, etc. As an added bonus, Chris was also racing and my friend and former college XC/Track teammate at Dartmouth, Nicole Kelleher, was also racing (and finished 4th pro!) While I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and the race, the race itself mostly served the purpose of a valuable learning experience!

Heading down to the race we made the mistake of booking a 6am flight. With work and workouts the prior day, this meant staying up late to pack gear and bike, and left about 2 hours for sleep, something I would NOT want to do again! Friday we found an awesome outdoor pool to swim in, surrounded by palm trees!

Race morning prep went pretty smoothly, and I got in somewhat of a warm-up on the bike, but since it was still dark out and I was warming up on the roads, it was difficult to make it as quality as it should have been for an Olympic distance race. I’m still tweaking my Olympic distance warmup as in my last two oly races, it’s taken me halfway through the bike to feel like my legs are awake. The swim start was fast as expected, and I pretty soon found myself swimming alone! This made it necessary that I sight on my own as I didn’t have feet to follow, and this was CHALLENGING since it was just barely getting light out and the buoys were not very visible. I had to stop several times just to be able to see the turn buoys, which definitely slowed me down.




Out onto the bike course, within the first mile I hit a pothole and my handlebars slipped downward. As a result, I was more cautious on the bike than I would have liked, as I was nervous about the potential of losing balance and crashing if the bars slipped again. I tried to stay aero I could hold the bars in place, which worked for the most part, but this coupled with the spread-out nature of the women’s pro field and few competitors within sight made it challenging to race at an appropriately fast pace. The run felt pretty hard- I’d not done any real speedwork at this point in the season so it was definitely a wakeup call for my body.

Even though it was not my best race ever, I did learn some important lessons on racing in the pro field and racing in general!

1) The importance of having a fast swim start, even if it feels VERY hard- not only will this help by allowing you to draft but it will take the work out of sighting.

2) Staying focused on the bike and maintaining an appropriate effort even when there aren’t any other competitors within sight- this is something that is difficult for me- I love competing!

3) Double-checking equipment prior to race day, even if someone else has supposedly taken care of fixing something, and

4) Warming up thoroughly (especially on bike and swim), especially important for Olympic distance races.

In all, I crossed the line in 12^th for female pros in 2:09 which is actually a PR at the Olympic distance for me (which more indicates my lack of racing experience at the Olympic distance than a stellar performance!) Overall, it felt GREAT to be racing, to be injury-free, and to have the opportunity to test myself!

While in Miami, we stayed in South Beach for the 2 nights after the race which was an awesome location!!

Beach was 1 block from our hotel!

We also found a ton of organic/raw/vegan restaurants and cafes, and even though I myself am not vegan I just love these types of restaurants and meals. We even found an all-raw cafe that we ate at the night before the race (OK, maybe not the BEST timing, but it was good!!) I think I took more pictures of our meals on the trip than the scenery or race!!

Saturday lunch at Juice and Java

Friday Lunch at Green Wave Cafe

USA Triathlon Announces 2010 Age Group Athletes of the Year, Presented by Garmin

Congrats to all the Athletes of the Year! You can check out the article here.

Kona Race Report- Ford Ironman World Championships- October 9, 2010

Race Goal: To finish uninjured (and without walking), to encourage others along the way, and to enjoy the race!

Race Result: Finished uninjured (and without walking), tried to focus on encouraging others along the way, and definitely enjoyed the entire race experience. Finish: 10:21, 3rd Place Female 25-29 Age Group.

I went into Kona not knowing what to expect from my body. In Mid-August, a couple weeks after IM Lake Placid, I developed a hamstring strain that hung around until race week in Kona, despite trying everything to help it heal- PT/ dry needling, hot yoga, icing, massage, heat, anti-inflammatories, etc. I cut out almost all fast running and just did shorter, easy runs as my body would allow. Since Ironman Lake Placid, my longest run prior to Kona was 11 miles. Three weeks before Kona, I stopped running altogether until the race to let things heal as much as possible. My hope was that I could finish the race without injuring myself, without walking and still have a relatively good race! A lot of prayer went into this race from friends and family- thank you all!

RACE WEEK

I had a lot of fun during race week in Kona! I arrived Tues night and on Wednesday morning, had a GREAT swim from the pier with friends. I had heard how beautiful the ocean swims are in Kona, but it was truly a unique experience to see it for myself- like swimming in an aquarium with all the fish right below you and the clear water- most enjoyable swim I’ve ever had! Then we went to Lava Java for a great breakfast, rebuilt my bike and went out for a nice 70 minute out on the Queen K. Got to enjoy the scenery, have fun meeting other athletes, catch up with friends, enjoy some great food and coffee, and just take in all that goes on during race week in Kona.

Thursday night went to the the Iron Prayer service- so good! And inspiring! Great way to get in the right mindset prior to raceday.

Friday AM, my friend Kirsten from Team World Vision was nice enough to take me to a Bikram Yoga (hot yoga) class- she had happened upon a studio nearby—felt so great to stretch out and loosen up before the race! I normally go to Bikram Yoga 2-3 times per week at home, and always try to go to a class the day before a race to loosen up and stretch out, and have had some of my best races when I’ve done this (Longhorn 70.3 last year, Eagleman 70.3 this year). Kirsten got through her first ever class and actually liked it a little bit! ;-)

The rest of Friday was mostly spent getting ready for the race. It always amazes me how much time is needed to pack/get needed items/ prepare items for an ironman, and I am always nervous that I will forget something crucial that will make or break my race. Although I have not yet accomplished this, I have come to know the importance of making sure I have almost everything prepared 2 days before the race, so that the day before the race can be stress-free. Instead, Friday was mostly spent thinking over wheel choice, obtaining needed items for race day, etc. I learned that my wheel choice of 808 front/ rear was not the best idea due to the crosswinds out and back toward Hawi, and that tomorrow was going to be really windy. Thanks to Sam my training buddy from DC who hooked me up with a 303 front wheel, very helpful! I finally got my bike down to the pier for bike-check and was amazed at how helpful the volunteers were- one volunteer per athlete to escort you around and show you where to put everything, and to explain the flow of transition on race day (several times, in my case!) Spotted Chrissie Wellington coming out of transition after racking her bike as I was coming out. Then off to dinner - pizza - Then, to sleep at about 8pm!


PRE-RACE

On race morning I woke up and planned to eat a quick breakfast then roll down to the pier to get bodymarked and transition set up… and then roll back up to the hotel to get ready and relax for a bit before going down to the swim start. This didn’t go as planned… got down to transition to find that I needed to have my chip with me to be allowed in. Went quickly back to the hotel, at which point I realized… I forgot to charge my garmin! Since I don’t use a bike computer, I always rely on my garmin only during racing. I pulled it out and it was at 0% battery, and since it takes about 2+ hrs to fully charge I knew my only hope was to get it about halfway full, which would not last me the entire race. Gahh.... I did plug it in for as long as I could, about an hour, in hopes I would at least have enough charge in it to be able to use it for the marathon.

Got in line to get into the water about 15 mins before the start…. it took a good 10 mins to actually get into the water as the line was so long and slow-moving. Bobbed around treading water for about 5 mins trying to inch forward toward the front but not too far so I wouldn’t get crushed. Then the cannon sounded and we were off!

SWIM- Goal: 1:05- Actual- 1:12

The swim start was chaotic as expected, but after awhile things spaced out and I was able to have some room to swim without too much contact. Then I realized I forgot to start my watch! Guess I would be going by time of day to gauge my time. I was surprised at how fast we reached the turnaround! The way back in was slower, and took a bit longer- total swim time 1:12. Felt like I didn’t expend too much energy on the swim, so that was good, though time was slower than I had hoped.

BIKE- Goal 5:15- Actual 5:27

The Hawaii bike course was not what I had originally imagined. Prior to getting to Kona, I had envisioned a long flat hot ride with scary crosswinds the whole way. Instead, there was more climbing than I expected, I actually felt a little cold at the turnaround at Hawi, and the crosswinds and strong gusts only were an issue for about 30 miles on the turnoff out and back to Hawi (but were definitely a bit scary). I decided to start out a bit more conservatively on the bike than I had originally planned, and compared with my last Ironman, since I didn’t know how my body (hamstring) was going to hold up and I wanted to feel good on the run. I saw a LOT of people take it out really hard at the start of the bike and reminded myself not to get sucked into that. I definitely saw some of those people again later in the ride. Tried to eat/drink as much as I could early in the ride, since I knew once the crosswinds picked up it would be harder or impossible to let go of the handlebars to eat. The first 40 miles were uneventful, but great views riding along the Queen K looking out at the ocean. Due to no Garmin I had no idea what my pace was, but tried to keep a steady effort and keep drinking (and eating). I have found that at least with IM racing, I can take in a good bit more calories than recommended- around 350 per hour on both the bike and run, and I think this helps me out a lot at the IM distance. Got in about 2000 calories total during the bike. Around mile 45 after making the turn off to Hawi, the crosswinds/gusts definitely kicked in at random times and it took constant focus to look ahead and see when the gusts were blowing and which way people were leaning, and to focus on leaning just enough but not too much, and keeping my front wheel straight. At the turnaround, it started to rain a little bit… grabbed my chocolate muscle milk at special needs and drank that on the bike. The descent back to the queen K was equally scary with strong gusts knocking you sideways at random times. The last 30 miles were pretty much a tailwind- tried to put forth a good effort there, and was glad my legs were starting to feel good! Was very happy I wasn’t feeling my hamstring anymore. 6.5 hours into the race, and I think it finally warmed up! Time to run...

RUN- Goal- to finish in one piece- Actual 3:33



The run ended up being my favorite part of the race. I took my time in transition, apparently, and then headed out on the run course. The first 10 miles out & back along Alii drive, next to the ocean, was a nice temperature with ocean breezes, and lots of crowds lining the streets- this part of the run was pretty fun. My hamstring was feeling good, I was passing people, I didn’t feel too hot-- felt pretty encouraged overall!! Then my hamstring started to tighten up around mile 7 and got a little tighter each mile. I had been praying the whole race for it to hold up, and I KNEW it would be OK. I just had a sense of peace, even as it was starting to tighten/hurt a little that everything would be OK and I would run this entire marathon. Around mile 10 up the hill on Palani, I stopped to stretch it out. I found that going uphill was making it tighter, but downhill felt good. Out on the Queen K around mile 12, I started to feel better and my hamstring started to loosen up again- praise God! I knew I would finish this run without walking, and my body was feeling pretty good. I was so ecstatic to be out there and not in pain (well… not in injury pain). At each aid station I alternated taking a gel/water, perform drink, or cola, and a salt pill every 40 mins. It was slightly overcast at this point, so the sun wasn’t beating down as much as I expected and I did not feel hot. Around mile 19, making the turn into the energy lab, I expected the heat to pick up but it didn’t – very happy about that. Drank a little bit of my muscle milk at special needs near the turnaround in the energy lab and this made my legs feel stronger. Up the hill out of the energy lab and back onto the Queen K- I knew I would finish this race!! The last 10k my legs started to feel fatigued but I knew I would finish without walking. Just kept trying to push forward, take in nutrition and count down the miles—at Mile 25 I saw my parents (who thought they were being encouraging (though slightly misinformed) by telling me “only two more miles left!”), and then down to the turn on Alii drive. As I was running, my body was in such physical fatigue, but to not have injury pain and to be able to run free, to feel like I was sprinting toward the finish was such a tremendous feeling (though I was actually only going about 8 min pace, it felt like sprinting).

Crossing the finish line was incredible, something I have always imagined. Although I originally had higher goals for this race including to PR, I had the best race I could have on this day and to finish relatively well despite lack of much run training is more than I could have asked for!

FINISH: 10:21, 3rd place AG 25-29



Thanks to all who supported, encouraged, and prayed for me me leading up to and during this race. I could not have done it without you!

Eagleman Ironman 70.3-- Race Report

Race Goal: 1st amateur and qualify for Kona; 4:20 finish time

Race Result: 1st amateur/ 5th female overall & qualified for Kona-- 4:35 finish time

On Sunday I competed in the Eagleman 70.3, which was one of my A races for this season, mostly because it is a Kona qualifier (and thus always draws a very competetive amateur field). I love this course because it really plays to my strengths- it is flat, windy and many years extremely HOT and completely unshaded. This year did not dissappoint!

Eagleman is also a favorite because it is only a two-hour drive from DC. I drove down to the race Saturday with Maureen (a super supporter- still on crutches from achilles surgery!) and Doria who was also competing. All day Saturday was noticeably HOT and sunny... I drank a ton of electrolyte beverages all day (G2) and took some salt pills as well, and had my usual pre-race sushi for both lunch and dinner :-) We picked up our packets, went for a short 30 min ride, racked our bikes, and met up with mom and dad for dinner for said sushi dinner :-)

Maureen, me, and Doria at our hotel

My faithful support crew- Dad and Mom!

PRE-RACE

I was pretty nervous before the race, as I really wanted to get my Kona slot here so that IM Lake Placid could be as stress-free as possible. Race morning was hot and humid. As we arrived at the race people were saying the swim was now non-wetsuit... kind of a relief since I was not looking forward to putting on my long sleve wetsuit in the heat, but also would mean slower swim times and I particularly do not swim very fast without a wetsuit. Thankfully, I had remembered to bring my speedsuit, even though we had been told the day before that the swim would be wetsuit legal. On my warmup run, I remember thinking about how thankful I was to be here, competing healthy and injury free, after a major setback less than two months prior!

Swim Start

SWIM

Goal: 31:00

Actual: 40:xx

As expected, the swim was long, but was actually shockingly long. Although I think some currents came into play, I later learned that the guide buoys had shifted overnight, though the turn buoys remained intact. Those who followed the guide buoys like I did, rather than swiming straight from turn buoy to turn buoy, ended up swimming about 1/3 mile extra. However, I was in a good state of mind following the swim as I knew the course was going to be long, I just didn't know at the time that it was longer for me than for many of my competitors!



BIKE

Goal: 2:20
Actual: 2:22

Prior to the race, my friend Brian had told me that his goal was to beat me off the bike, and predicted that my bike time would be 2:25. Given that my goal time was 2:20, this gave me some motivation to prove him wrong (and not let him beat me off the bike!) Unfortunately for him, he flatted on a tubular andwas unable to finish the race, so our competition was fairly one-sided. However this was all unknown to me while racing so I gave it all I had on the bike! It did surprise me how long it took to catch the leader in my AG... till the end of the bike portion, in fact. Due to my comparatively looong swim, though I didn't know this at the time. This was a little unsettling given that the run was going to be a wild card- who would best be able to survive the heat? But I had faith that God had a plan for me in this race and that all I could do was hold on, keep as hydrated and cool (via ice and water) as possible, and pray for strength and a good outcome!!

RUN

Goal: 1:25
Actual: 1:30

I later learned that the heat index (heat/humidity "feel" combined) was 104 on the unshaded run course. The heat certainly felt extreme from the start, but I was encouraged by the fact that with each mile I was gaining ground on my competitors, and keeping a somewhat decent pace given the conditions. I only went above 7:00 pace for a few miles, and generally kept it around 6:45, which felt sustainable. I felt hot but not sick or dizzy, which is better than many, many of my competitors experienced. I was praying continually throughout the run, as I knew that sickness/lightheadedness/ heat fatigue could hit at any moment. At halfway, I saw that I was about 4 mins up on the second place girl in my age group. I knew if I held on, I could get my Kona slot. As I neared the finish, I saw my parents cheering for me, as well as my former college teammate and pro triathlete Nicole Kelleher, who was supporting her husband Wes in the race. Was so great to see them both! Then I saw Maureen on her crutches with Brian cheering away toward the finish stretch! What a blessing to have so many friends and family out there. I later learned that in addition to winning my age group/ Kona slot, I had also won the amateur competition and placed 5th female time-wise, which was exciting! Since the first 5 pros were either world champions or runner-up world champions, I was very happy with this result.

POST-RACE

The awards and Kona rolldown were a joyful experience, one that I had hoped for last year but, knowing that God works all things out for our good and His glory, knew that it was better for me to qualify for Kona this year than last year, in many ways.

After the race we enjoyed Sushi and other great foods with my parents back at their hotel room, I took an Icebath, and then we were off in the car back to DC! What an unforgettable weekend, and how great to be able to share it with some of those who are most special to me. Maureen, I hope I can be as good a support crew for you one day!

Post-Race- Maureen, me, and Doria headed home!