Nationals Recap and Overall Musings (LONG)

[emilyj]

I've been pretty quiet so far this year with respect to racing and race recaps, for a lot of different reasons, but after this past weekend I wanted to do a half race recap/half past year recap. 

I finished out last season and decided to keep working with my coach.  Everything was fine through November, ok in December, and then things started going downhill in January.  February was just a mess.  He put up my workout schedule in Training Peaks and I had not one single off day.  I was basically like "Dude!" and his comment was I should just take them when I needed them, like a get out of jail free card.  I said - but which ones are OK to skip? Come on!!! And he grudgingly wrote in a rest day every week for me.  Noted as "Day off - athlete's request."  That pissed me off.  Then, the whole month of February, radio silence. I was struggling (again) with running, I was asking him questions, asking for help, outright telling him I was really struggling mentally with everything.  At the end of February, I said "Fuck his request for a 30 day notice, I'm done." And I was. 

I had asked my LBS after IM about local coaches, because I figured I'd make the switch to someone local at some point.  I had a few names, and after doing a whole bunch of research, met my new coach, had a long talk, and decided to go with him.

I was really in a pretty pissed off place mentally back then.  I felt like I had basically wasted my entire offseason, made none of the gains or progress I wanted to, and was starting back from square one.  My first Oly in May was ok - good swim, good bike, but I just completely fell apart on the run.  Like I normally do.  That's been my tri story from day one.  Good swim, usually good bike, come apart on the run.  Sprint, Oly, Half, IM.  Never ever a strong run.  

I was also really frustrated because I felt like I have been running with zero progress since I started triathlon.  So overall...I wasn't really pleased.
My new coach had me doing a lot of strength and base building work through March, April, May.  I still wasn't really seeing any progress.  I went away in June, and when I came back, I suddenly started noticing little things.  A bike that felt good.  An average bike pace that was suddenly faster.  Suddenly understanding run pacing a little bit better.

I did a sprint tri at the beginning of July, and the swim was good, the bike was good...but I ran the the whole run.  And I threw down negative splits for it.  I was shocked.  I felt good!  Then I did the Annapolis tri with @vtcupcake.  Longer distance, but better swim, better bike...and I ran almost the whole run.  I was cautiously optimistic, but I still had no idea how that was going to translate to a 10k. 

Last year, at Nationals, I had an ok swim (I really wasn't happy with it), a great bike, and the run was just an utter disaster.  I went 3:23:xx.  This year, I went in with a few different goals: Do better than last year.  I was pretty sure that would happen, so I didn't give it a letter.  My C goal was to PR, my B goal was to go sub-3:10, and my A-goal was sub-3 (which was ambitious, but I really wanted it). 

I told my coach I was nervous about the run.  He put my race plan in, and I told him "I don't know how to hold this tempo for 10k."  He said "Well, you aren't, you're going to build to it."  Ok.  I was still doubtful.  A whole 10k without coming apart or walking half the time? That's never been in my wheelhouse.

There had been some questions the week leading into the race as to if we would even swim.  Seems that part of Lake Erie has a small issue with raw sewage flowing in to the lake.  The measurements were not good.  Thursday the measurement was 900 parts/ml of gross stuff (I don't even want to know).  Normal, I believe, was 90-100 parts/ml?  Suddenly, Friday, it was 93 parts/ml.  Bulllllllllshit.  (and a lot of other shit). We were swimming.  In what? I don't want to know.  Friday, the lake was also roaring.  It looked like the ocean with all the waves, white caps...people were really nervous.

Saturday, the lake temp measured in at 75, it looked almost glass-like - we were good to go. I was in wave 2 (of 19 waves).  They delayed us 5 minutes (because apparently telling people it was a long walk from transition to the beach was too hard, and people couldn't manage to get themselves down on time).  The first wave went off, and my wave was there, gathered in chest high water.  I wasn't nervous (ok. I was nervous about how much shit was really in the water).  Then the announcer said "Ladies...you are now in the hands of the starter."  The music thrummed, then horn blew...and we were off.  

Usually I start out to the side to minimize contact. My coach told me to go to the middle.  He said I was too strong of a swimmer to be on the outside - in my wave, the really good swimmers would take off, the field would "V" and I would be positioned in the draft of the good swimmers.  Ok.  This also meant a lot more body contact that normal.  I took one elbow to the back of the head, and one to the back of the neck.  After that, it was mostly just people coming too close and brushing up against me, which is NBD.  I settled in to my groove, and cleared my own space pretty well.

The bouys were a mess.  There were 2 going out, then the first turn bouy.  I thought it was really hard to sight, until I made the turn.  Then it was just the turn bouy, but we were swimming in to the sun, which was behind the city skyline. I couldn't see that turn bouy for shit.  I finally made it out, and picked out a building to sight instead.  Made that turn, and same thing on the way back in.  Sun, one bouy, and who knows where the hell the swim exit was? When I finally found it, I picked something else to sight.

My watch goes off every 5 minutes when I swim distance.  For an Oly, I figured I should have come in around 26, 27 minutes.  My watch went off at 25 minutes, I looked to shore, and thought "There is no fucking way I'm getting out of here in less than 30 minutes." I was trying to figure out what the hell happened.  My swim felt good, I felt like I was moving??  Made it out, and saw my time: 34:26.  WUT???  I just shrugged, and figured I would figure it out later.  Ran through the insanely long run to transition, grabbed my bike, fuel, and was out.

The bike course was one that absolutely played to my strength.  Long climbs, versus short steep ones, and a lot of flats/false flats.  I made it up the first hill, and then just settled into such an easy groove.  My HR was way low, and I was just cranking along.  I was out early enough that it wasn't crowded. I leapfrogged the same guy the whole course - he'd pass me on the hills, then I'd pass him on the flats.  At mile 7, I was suddenly STARVING.  Crap.  Thankfully, I threw in a bag of gummy bears at the last minute.  I ate probably about 5 servings of gummy bears, drank water, and was fine. I made the turn, went up the last of the big hills, and then just put my head down and flew back.  The nice part of this was that I was cranking along at 22, 23mph and feeling like I wasn't pushing as hard as I could.  I decided to hold where I was and not burn my legs out.  Made it back to transition: 1:15, averaging 19.3mph.  My fastest ever bike in a tri.

The run. Ran out of transition, and on to a nice flat section.  I felt really good.  Took it easy, and got to the first hill. It was loooong.  I did what my coach told me - quick cadence, and it wasn't quick, but I ran up the whole thing.  Then walked through the water stop, dumping water over me.  The next little bit was flat, so I got myself back down to my happy groove in the zone I was supposed to be in (he has me run by HR Zones).  Made the first turn around, ran back, got to what I thought was the only other hill.  Short and steep, but ran up that.  Made a turn, and then ran down a fairly long and steep hill.  Shit.  I didn't know about that, and running down meant running back up.  Or walking up it, as my case was.  After that, I picked up running again. I wasn't going as fast as I wanted to, but I was also still running, so that was good.  I saw my coach a couple of times on that back half, and it was SO nice to have him there to give me reminders and say encouraging stuff.  Ran down the big hill at the end, and looped back for the second half.  The first long hill I made it halfway up before I started walking.  Started running as soon as I got to the top. I was struggling with being disappointed with my pace, and being happy that I was still running.  I ran all the way through back to that second stupid hill, walked that, and then ran again.  I saw my coach at the top, and he said "Time to pick it up." And I just couldn't.  I was holding steady at the pace I was at, but I couldn't get my legs to turn over faster.  I looked out over the water, and saw there were still swim waves going off - and at that point, the water was churning.  I saw my coach once more before the final downhill, and he said "Come on. Give it more. Pick it up and finish strong," and I just thought "I have NOTHING left to give."  Ran down the downhill...and then suddenly I did have more to give.  Picked it up for the last half mile, and finished strong with a smile.  1:12 for the run.  Not as good as I wanted, but also the fastest 10k I've ever run in a race - standalone 10k or in a tri. Plus, I only walked 3 times...and only on hills. Which means I ran the significant majority of that run. In a tri.  After smoking the bike course. 

My overall time was 3:11:xx.  So I did PR (by 8 minutes), but I didn't hit my other two.  I rationed out the long ass T1 time as being a bummer (seriously, running about 1200 feet on sand, then another .25 of a mile before we even got to transition?). Then, when I looked at my Garmin, I saw the swim distance.  The 1500m swim they advertised?  My Garmin read 2100.  After talking to my teammate, coach and hearing from other people, most people clocked between 1900 and 2100 for the swim.  So...yeah.  Then I got mad.  That's basically 100m short of a half iron distance.  So my time for that ended up being really great.  Fastest pace I've ever held in a tri.  But that, and that T1?  I really think I could have come super close to 3:00.

I learned after the fact that after 8am, the water apparently went to crap - huge waves, terrible current, and was a mess.  Lots of DNF's in the swim, and one man died in the water.  They cancelled the swim for the sprint distance on Sunday because it was so bad. So I'm thankful I had an early swim wave.  I won't come back to Nationals next year (there's a race I can run to qualify, and I'd get that qual) but I think Nationals has let itself get too big, and there are too many issues that they need to fix. Like not being able to measure a swim course accurately (last year was long too). 

So what I've taken from this past year, and the past few months especially, is that there is a lot of potential in me waiting to be unleashed.  I already told my coach my ambitious goal for the Atlantic City 70.3, and all he said was "Let's get it."  

I'm hungry. And I'm super excited at the gains I've suddenly made, and super excited to see how far I can push myself. 

[sadlebred]

Congratulations on the PR!!!

[mrsukyankee]

Fabulous!

So glad you found a better coach who understands you and your needs and wants the best for you. And I'm glad you had such a success that it'll drive you forward even more. Well done!

[jade]

Congrats on your PR! It sounds like you are really going to rock your next one!

[labbie]

Congrats on the PR! Love this recap, and your coach sounds like a great fit. So happy you're seeing gains where you want to, and that he is local and can be there to push you when you need it. Keep crushing it!!

[cinco]

You are amazing! That swim sounds horrible (and as a non swimmer I'd be very upset with a course that long!) You really rocked every single portion of this race. No doubt you will crush your goal 70.3.

[moreace01]

Congrats on the PR! The swim sounds...horrifying in many aspects.

Congrats also on finding a coach who is listening to you. That's huge. No doubt they will get you to achieving your goal. Good luck!

[bostonmichelle]

Congratulations!! You did amazing! Good luck with your 70.3! I bet you’re going to crush it!

[Wines Not Whines]

Congratulations on an amazing race!

[mrs.jacinthe]

Congrats, you beast!! I can't wait to see you kicking butt on that 70.3!

[hannahb]

Congrats!

[clseale]

So inspiring to watch you crush it. I love seeing hardwork pay off. Congrats!

[wawa]

This makes me so happy for you. I love hearing you sound like a bad ass who is happy to be out there kicking ass. Congratulations on the super PR and holy shit to that swim distance and bike speed.

[shauni27]

You are freaking AMAZING. My god, woman. I am SO proud of you!

Heartbreaking to read about the athlete who died in the water, I did not expect you to say that.

[mrshandy]

Yay!!!! This is an awesome recap!! I'm so happy that you've found a coach that works for you.

Congrats! All your hard work has paid off.

[gt7301b]

CONGRATS!!!!!

Your bike was amazing and I'm so glad you are seeing progress with your new coach.

[hurricanedrunk]

Awesome job on the PR! Sounds like an awful swim, that is a LOT extra. So glad to hear that your coach is working out! Cheers to untapped potential

[andreay82]

Badass! Great work on the PR, time to get to work on your 70.3!

[jene]

Great job! Your progress has been so fun to watch, can’t wait to see what happens after your 70.3!

[sassystace]

Wow, awesome job! Congratulations! I'm in the Cle area, so cool to 'know' someone who was competing!

[skwcm80]

Congrats!

[ktzmoh]

I love this recap!

I'm so happy you finally have a coach that is a good fit for you and is invested in your progress. That makes all the difference.

And CONGRATULATIONS on a huge PR and huge gains this summer. That's really awesome and I can't wait to see what you do in AC!

xoxoxoxo

PS: All the other recaps of the swim I saw said it was just beastly, so I'm glad you got in the water before the wind picked up!

[mysticmuffin]

Congratulations on your PR and those big gains! I'm dying at the thought of the swim being that much too long.