Post-Race Report, or "Trying not to burn up on re-entry"

It occurred to me today that tri-bloggers like me seem to share a lot about the lead-up to a race and the exciting crescendo of the race itself. But then we don't say a whole lot about what happens afterward. It feels like a rapid deceleration from all the excitement, a bit like a meteor coming through the earth's atmosphere. High speed, then flames, then breaking up and crashing!

I'm told I follow a bit of a predictable pattern after these bigger races. Do you?

Immediately upon returning home: Catch up with family. Then unpack completely, start laundry, sort mail, gawk at empty refrigerator, assess state of home and family. This part feels like a race - how fast can I get this *#$)% done? I pretty much can't go to bed without being unpacked. (OCD? Perhaps just a little)

Day 1: Coast on adrenalin. Catch up on work and family stuff, and do the post-race stuff like upload Garmin files, look at race stats, email Coach, gather and distribute photos, write a race report (which takes a while), etc. Think of 2014 already and how to raise my game!

Day 2: Exhaustion hits. Feel like overly tired child with underdeveloped coping mechanisms. Happy to sit in front of computer, work, and be reclusive. Fall into bed early and sleep like a log.

Day 3: Back to normal. After a good night's sleep I'm firing on all cylinders.

That was pretty much exactly how it went this week. BTW, I flew in late-day Monday into the same airport my husband had flown out of earlier in the day. We waved mid-air. Coincidence or wise planning on his part? Hmmm.

Training

I was kindly given two days off -- Monday AND Tuesday!!! I was very glad and I was unusually sore - inner quads, mainly. That was weird and comforting at the same time if it meant I worked hard.

Wednesday I had a short spin and "social" swim on the calendar. This meant I was forced to put my bike back together but you know, thanks to some patient coaching on that front, I think I finally have that down! I had some additional incentive to get out on the bike because I received a Champion System/Endurance Films Racing Team cycing kit and I was anxious to try it. It's ultra light and very VERY comfortable (photo above).

The swim...well....I pushed that off to Thursday. I was in no mood and it was not that warm out. Mainly I was exhausted. And in no mood. Did I mention I was in no mood?

Thursday was an easy run and the swim I had delayed. I hit the treadmill at the gym just to get out around people and I felt pretty good. I continued to procrastinate the swim since it was barely over 70 degrees out and I am a wimp, but our pool is heated and the water was 82!!! It felt amazing.

post-treadmill at the Weight Club

hard to have a "social swim" when no one else is in the pool.  

Friday (today) is a swim and a very easy upper-body gym session then a visit to ART practitioner Dr. Steve Dowell for some maintenance work on my legs.

The rest of the week is fairly low-key in terms of training intensity but it ramps up again come Monday. I will be ready and after the recent races, I am highly motivated.

Anyway, that's what the other side of a race looks like, at least for this mom triathlete. Thank you to my family and good friends who extinguish this meteor's flames and welcome my exploded pieces to earth!

Race Report: USA Triathlon Nationals - Olympic and Sprint

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Wow, where to start?! This was my third year at Nationals and it was no less exciting this year than the first. This event continues to grow in terms of competitiveness and field size with a record 2700 athletes completing the Olympic and 1100 the Sprint. I learned that just 100 of us did both races, and five of those were on our Endurance Films Racing Team.

I flew into Milwaukee mid-day Thursday and spent the afternoon putting the bike together, getting some groceries, picking up both race packets, and checking out the venue which was about seven blocks away from the hotel. I also met up with the fortyninegroup Chief Connector John Jones (who I am privileged to work for) who attended the event in his capacity as Chairman of the USA Triathlon Age Group Committee Multisport Awards Subcommittee to present the 2012 USAT Multisport Awards.

I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised by the gorgeous race site at Veterans Park and the clean and quiet city itself. Milwaukee is quite lovely! Things were all easy walking distance and we were fortunate to have moderate temps, clear skies, and low humidity.

 I felt very at home with three wind turbines and a solar array on a Wattsun tracker!

Friday morning I met up with teammate Bill Van Cise and Scott Endsley and his wife Wendy. We biked the north part of the bike course and also biked the run course. Aside from some pothole-y manhole covers things looked pretty good. Bill and I laughed a bit as we easily passed a group heading up a gradual hill and we commented they must be "flat-landers!"

Thanks to race sponsor Solar Connexion, Virginia's Premier Solar Contractor!

Later that morning I headed to the organized practice swim to get my bearings, feel the water (nice - around 70 degrees), and to check out the narrow pedestrian bridge we had to swim through on the out and back. It was also good we could test out the swim exit as it was a steep ramp lined with a series of volunteers. They would grab our arm and pass us up to the next volunteer in line in order to get us up safely (photo further down below).

Friday afternoon we had our Endurance Films Racing Team meeting (and got new team apparel from Champion System!) and then racked our bikes in transition. At big events like this they have a mandatory night-before bike check-in to avoid morning bike congestion. Once they are checked in, they don't leave again till we bike out in the race. We spent some time ogling the the beautiful bikes and wheels as they paraded by (but I still love the Roo.)

 Endurance Films Racing Team - Eric, Scott, Nicole, Andy, Nick, me, Laura, Danny, and Megan.
Not there/not racing this race: Liz, Sip, Tom, Diane, Lora, Corey

Olympic Race Day

Saturday morning I got into transition at 7 am for the ten minutes it would take to set up my area before it closed at 7:30 am. (A new "security measure" this year is that you had to take stuff into transition in a provided clear plastic bag. I can understand it, but it still seems kind of futile.) My swim wave wasn't scheduled to head out till 8:21 am so I didn't want to arrive too early. As I got organized I heard them announce that Sister Madonna Buder had forgotten her goggles and they asked if anyone had a spare pair. How cool! I've read her autobiography The Grace to Race - she's an 80+ year old nun and multi-time Ironman. I was excited to get a picture of her later that day at the awards.

Sister Madonna Buder - very nice posture, she's so cute!

Anyway, at some point during my setup, I ran my hand over my wheels and noticed my rear tire was completely flat!! FLAT!!!! ACK!!!!!

Without hesitation, I hauled it off to the Wheel and Sprocket bike support area in the corner of transition where the kind and calm Amelia proceeded to investigate, switch out the tube, and make some adjustments to my shifting. I tried to stay calm but I kept thinking WHAT if I had not checked my tire?? Lesson learned: always do the ABC Quick Check of the bike - tires, brakes, shifting, tight bolts, etc - when the bike has been unattended for a period of time.

As I was returning my bike back to the rack, I heard over the loudspeaker, "Transition closes in 40 seconds. Any athletes found in transition will receive a time penalty." YIKES!! I racked the bike, quickly clipped in my shoes, and sprinted out of transition just in time. I'd had no time to double-check my setup and hoped all was well. I had to just let it go and focus on preparing to swim.

Ah, the pre-swim wait. We all struggle with that aspect of racing. The agony, ugh! I explained to "equipment coach" and sponsor Bryan that my "race self" comes out just as the air horn sounds. It's like I instantly become a different person as the world falls away and I have a single purpose - to race clean and fast. My fear on race day is that my "race self" will not be there, but will have been replaced by some lazy version of me who will backstroke the swim. But it never happens.

 Looking out toward the swim start.

Swim

As each swim wave waited to head off, they announced some of the top ranked triathletes in the age group. With our wave, I heard my name and hometown called and I felt a rush of nerves. I took a deep breath and rehearsed my focus points for the swim.

The swim was pretty crazy from the start. Despite starting far left to give myself the straightest shot and hopefully some clearance to the first turn buoy, it turned chaotic very quickly. It was congested, with the typical flying fists and feet, and people swimming over one another. I was stuck in the middle of a pack that was too slow and I wasted some time and energy trying to get to the outside and free. The second half of the swim went much better and I noticed I was actually racing it - reeling in a swimmer, drafting a bit, then reeling in the next.

 Photo from Sue James and Dustin Yonke - it shows the bridge we had to swim under to the right. Past the bridge, the  Olympic course went left for a while,
the sprint only maybe 100 meters past the bridge.

A view from spectator area. The building is the "Discovery Center"
(Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto)

photo from USAT - shows the swim exit ramp to the left and the two rows of awesome volunteers!!

I got to transition and unlike last year, I found my bike pretty quickly thanks to a new bright yellow towel. I lost a few seconds struggling to get the wetsuit off over the timing chip and needing to unbuckle my buckled helmet. Sloppy!

Giddyup, Roo!

Bike

The bike went well. I knew I had to pass as many people as I could to make up for my swim and because I'd be working with a sub-optimal run. The course was and out-and-back north along the lake, and an out-and-back south over a bridge and on a highway. The race folks did a nice job of covering expansion joints on the bridge with mats to give us a safer surface. I don't get passed often on the bike, but I did have one girl pass me and as I hung behind her for a moment, a bit dumbfounded, a race official pulled up on a motorcycle. Oops! I was a little worried they thought I was drafting so I backed off quickly. The course was heavily patrolled which is good for everyone.

heading to the bike dismount

Before I knew it, the bike leg was over and into T2 I went. Then the moment of truth - the run.

Run

We recently discovered that the quad issue that has been plaguing me for months seems to be almost a non-issue on treadmills, tracks, or flat courses so I was cautiously optimistic. But it's still like running with a ticking time bomb so I started off pretty conservatively.

The aid stations offered ice so I dumped some down my one-piece suit for a distraction and got more than I bargained for as it all managed to accumulate....well you can imagine where....leaving me pretty much numb "there". That was certainly distracting. A few aid stations later, having learned my lesson, I thought I'd try ice down the back. That was not much smarter!!

I ticked off the miles and felt my confidence grow with each. I passed a number of folks but also got passed by one woman in my age group but couldn't match her.  I ignored my watch and gave what I had - a 7:20 pace, which is about 29 seconds per mile off my 10k pace last year. However, I didn't have to stop or walk or rest my quad and I didn't go negative in my head. It was good enough for 12th place out of 137 and probably about the best I could have hoped for on the day. By the time age-ups were factored in, I had qualified 15th out of 18 for the 2014 Team USA, headed to Edmonton, Canada. I did not think I had much hope for qualifying this year given my current run so it was a great reward for doing my best with what I had and not giving up. Thank you Coach Jim and Equipment Coach Bryan for not letting me bail on this race!!

It's always such a sweet feeling to run up the red carpet finish line of a national championship!  As I stopped, I saw Danny Kolker of Endurance Films and he steered me over to undefeated iron legend Chrissie Wellington as she handed out finisher's medals. I gave her a sweaty hug of thanks!!

 Danny and I; Chrisse Wellington over my shoulder!

Post-Race

The race continued on for quite a while with swim waves that didn't even start until I was out on the run. I waited back at the Endurance Films tent where I got to meet Facebook friend Lana and her husband Chris!

 Lana and I met up in person!

When transition opened, we got my bike out (via the usual transition-out traffic jam..beep beep!), hauled it back to the hotel, and swapped the bike number for its return to bike-check a few hours later, and just before the awards ceremony and video highlights from Endurance Films. I scrubbed off my old race numbers, along with five layers of skin, and prepped the areas for the new tattoos that I hoped would double as skin grafts.

Tri-tats....ouch.

Sprint Race Day

I was not quite as nervous this day. The field was smaller, I had the experience of the day before, my confidence in my leg was higher, and I had only half the course length to do! I set up transition again, this time without the flat tire, and passed the 90 minutes waiting to start. We camped out at the remains of our tent!

Nick, Erica, and Laura

Swim

Lining up for the swim, I met Facebook/blog friend, Patti. We had corresponded and hoped to meet up so that was fortuitous! Despite this swim wave being less than half the size of the previous day, it was still more congested than I would have liked. I could tell I was fatigued, but pushed those thoughts out of my mind quickly and told myself to Suck it up Buttercup. I felt like I swam well for me, much more strategically than I used to.

 Yep, that's me up top. One advantage to the bridge was the good photo-ops!

Bike

Per equipment coach instructions I tried to push it a few times on this shorter bike, getting out of the saddle to try to accelerate and bump up my speed as compared to the day before. Somehow I managed a slower bike ride on a shorter course. Oops.

Run

I was determined to push this run and burn up whatever was left in the tank. I felt good, pushed away fears of a leg blow-up, focused on keeping my cadence up, and dug in. Again, I got passed by one woman in my age group and could not stay with her. I found that very disconcerting. When I heard another runner approaching from behind who looked to be in my age group, I faced that pivotal decision....crumple and fold, or find another gear and stay ahead of her at any cost? I chose the latter and felt amazing in my suffering as I crossed the finish line, to a second hug and medal from Chrissie Wellington :-)

 I've started going hatless, not sure why.

 Thanks Arbouws for the picture! I was not letting up on the gas.

 Come on yellow shoes!! Pursuer in the background - thank you for pushing me!

I was about 18 seconds per mile off last year's pace but that's OK. That at least feels like it is within striking distance of "normal". I finished in 7th place out of 53, presumably good enough for a Team USA Sprint slot.

Dave Robinette, me, James Dalton, and Stephanie Pratola were in New Zealand together and 

all made Team USA for Edmonton too!

Friend Kimberly relied on guts and determination to pull off a
solid race in spite of a significant side-lining injury.

Wrap-Up

Lordy, this was a long blog post and I am exhausted just writing it. I'll wrap by saying I LOVE this race because it's like planning a vacation in the same city as 4000 friends! The importance of it amplifies every fear - but also every strength - as it asks you to decide just how tough you are and how bad you want it. Next year is going to be even tougher as we will be vying for spots for Worlds 2015 in Chicago. If you haven’t already, check out the Endurance Films highlight reels for the Olympic and Sprint. They really capture the vibe of these races!

Lots of thank-yous to say: Robert, Spencer, Grant, Oma, Coach Jim, Equipment Coach Bryan, Krista, mom and dad, FNG John, friends near and far! Thank you to race sponsor Solar Connexion (for your solar energy needs in Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region.)

Next up: London!!!!
(and some work to do on that run....)

How to pack a bike in 16 hours

I'm flying to Milwaukee and my bike is too. That means I had to partially disassemble the bike and pack it in its box then fork over an extra $100 for it to fly each way (that's cheap compared to some airlines).

I had the folks at Just the Right Gear pack it last year for Worlds and then my roommate Donna helped me pack it up to return home. So this was my first time packing solo and thank goodness I was told not to wait until the last minute. (As I write this I am wondering why did I not reference my own instructions in my own blog post from how the professionals did this??) This was my process:

1. Wash, wax, and admire bike.
2. Remove rear wheel, remembering to shift into small cog to make it easier to take off.
3. Remove front wheel, remembering I forgot to open the brake on the back one. Whatever. It still came off.
4. Remove the rear derailleur and cable-tie it to the frame. Tie up the chain too and realize there is no tidy way to do it as it falls off the front chain ring. Whatever. Put bubble wrap around it and tape it up. Feeling fairly confident so far.
5. Remove basebar/handlebars so they can tuck behind the frame. Remove two front clamps to do so, then realize they each have a dot on one end probably to indicate top or bottom. Realize I have no idea which "end is up" and hope upon reassembly it becomes obvious.
6. Put stays in the forks - they add extra bracing between the dropouts. Lose a washer. Go to the basement and find another. 
7. Remove seat. Think, "I've got this."
8. Realize bike does not fit in box because pedals are still attached. ARGHHH. Find Allen wrench. Wonder if it needs crescent wrench. Look for crescent wrench with hubby. We seem to have every size BUT the one that is needed. Settle on Allen wrench. Find article online about which way to turn wrench. Make first attempt to remove pedals which do not budge. Remember now that pedals should have come off first when one could stand on a pedal and have leverage. ARGHH! Whatever. Try, try again. Try other direction. Post lament on Facebook. Have friends try valiantly to help. Use rubber mallet on wrench per Mike Morris of "a triathlon in every state" fame. Begin to fume. I HATE TO LOSE to a pedal!!! It's 9 pm, I'm tired, this is a recipe for disaster. Throw in the towel and seek professional help in the morning.
9. Next morning, load bike for shameful drive to bike shop. Meet friend Bryan at shop as he is intrigued why this is so hard for me. Mistakenly arrive half-hour before bike shop opens. Oops. Friend gets Allen wrench and proceeds to remove pedals in ten seconds. What the?!?!
10. Return home to complete packing. Skewers, pedals, Allen wrenches, extra cable ties, extra derailleur hanger, all go in a bag. Pipe insulation goes on forks and tubes. Add in the tire pump. Lay down the first foam layer, put in the wheels (slightly deflated....as am I in my defeat), add the next foam layer, assemble the box.

Elapsed time: 16 hours.
I'm feeling confident that I can set a new bike-packing PR for the trip home. (I kept thinking about pro Lauren Goss who did a double last month - raced Lifetime Fitness Minneapolis on a Saturday, packed her bike and flew to Colorado, put it back together, then raced Boulder Peak the next day!)

I should have known better than to take on a job of this magnitude given my toast-making skills (and fire-extinguishing) earlier in the week:

Yes, I do have three degrees in engineering. Put me in front of a computer and I'll figure out anything. Give me a project and I'll manage the heck out of it. Just please don't ask me to adjust my derailleur, or limit stops, or barrel adjusters. I am happy to leave such things to the experts.

Pack a bike? I think I've got that now.

T-minus three hours till I'm on a plane!! Looking forward to seeing many friends in Milwaukee including Patti and Lana, Endurance Films Racing Team-mates, Speedy Edie, and lots more.

Race Week! USA Triathlon Nationals

 
Is it really race week already?? WOW!

I'm really looking forward to the whole experience, especially now that my Endurance Films teammate Nick Logan sent me a link to race venue pics posted by Super Squid on Slowtwitch. It really looks nice!! I've put a few pics below or you can check the original post here. I've also been perusing the course maps for the Saturday's Olympic and Sunday's Sprint at the USA Triathlon site and they look pretty good - particularly the run courses that are described as flat, flat, and flat.

I am glad for the flat, flat, flat because my run problem continues and we made an interesting discovery. When I run on the roads, I consistently have that thigh congestion/pain problem just a few miles in. I've really not made it through a road run without stopping (which stops the pain) for months now. If I run on the treadmill without an incline, even doing some pretty tough hard/fast interval work, I don't have that problem. We haven't fully "tested" this with an inclined treadmill run to see if it's climbing that is the trigger, but that's for later. My hope is that the flat course will keep my run/quad problem at bay, but who knows. It's hard not to be nervous for the run but there is not much I can do. For now, my final runs are on the treadmill.

I spent the weekend relaxing some at our local street fair, Steppin' Out, and floating down the river with Grant.

Now it's time to kick things into high gear-- time to pack, get work done ahead so I can focus on the race, and get the family situated for while I am gone.

Here we go....race week!!

When the Pool is not an Option - thoughts on the Vasa Swim Ergometer

Vasa recently published the first of a series of blog posts I put together about the unique benefits of their Swim Ergometer. If you are not familiar with this piece of equipment, it can be described as a swim version of a rowing machine. It's built around a smooth, quiet flywheel and uses paddles and a padded platform on a monorail to provide a swim simulator that is, for many purposes, better than a pool.

Just as a bike trainer is a valuable complement to cycling, so is the Ergometer to swimming. One day I just started thinking about all the unique things about it, all the times it's really come in handy (especially as a busy working parent), and I sat down and cranked out a long list that I sent to Vasa. They liked it, but it was so long, that they suggested splitting it into three posts. So rather than rehash it all here, and go on and on...here's a link to the first.

And YES I am still using the Ergometer faithfully, with twice-a-week workouts from Coach Eric Neilsen who has worked with the Vasa Trainer and Ergometer for many years.

Happy swimming!