Normally I have very little to no anxiety about the swim portion of a race. Having been a competitive swimmer for twelve years preceding my triathlon career, the swim has never gotten me too shaken up. However, in all of my years swimming I was sheltered in my local, chlorinated, crystal clear pool! I've definitely race in lakes many times, but I had never once done an ocean swim before this weekend. In fact, this weekend was the third time I'd ever been in the ocean in my entire LIFE! I am a pretty big fan of shark week and I always manage to watch it right around a time where I'm going to be in the ocean...needless to say I was terrified for the swim. The day before the race Lucas and I started the day out at Venice beach so I could play in the waves and hopefully get at least somewhat comfortable before the race start tomorrow. The beach was packed with surfers and everyday beach-goers so you would think it'd be a relatively comfortable situation to get acquainted with the water. The first wall of surf that I tried to swim through was so much stronger than I could have anticipated and threw me around a bit. Within five minutes and three waves I was back on the shore completely out of breath telling Lucas this was going to be a long swim in the morning! He said to relax and told me to dive down below the waves when they came instead of trying to fight them. I went back out and gave it a shot and came back out with a better feeling about the next day's race.
Race morning had arrived I was waiting up in the holding pen watching the pros start. The men had some pretty rough surf on their start and this made me incredibly nervous to watch! The women were next for the start and the waves died a little for them. My wave was set to leave five minutes after the start of the pro women's so I was hoping the waves would stay calm. I don't think I took my eyes off the ocean from the time the women started until it was my turn. It seemed like the waves got bigger with every crash. The announcer gave a ten second warning and it felt like it was ten minutes! When we finally got the signal to start I let all my fears go and ran down to the water. The first wave was coming and I was so afraid I was going to hit it wrong and get thrown towards the shore. I dove underneath and barely felt the power of the wave at all, it was a good start! As the swim went on I felt like I got more in sync with the flow of the waves and could swim just as in any other open water swim. Although most of the swim was smooth sailing, fear returned when I was swimming back in towards shore. It didn't occur to me that the waves might be too high to sight anything over them. I was picking times to sight when I could actually see anything but waves. This happened three sightings in a row and I was starting to get scared that I was completely off course because I didn't see anyone else or any sign of buoys. --> So I swam a few strokes with my head out of the water to figure out when a good time to sight would be. I finally saw the shore and was relieved that I had not gone much out of the way and I was actually very close to the swim exit. I did a few dolphin dives before I got up to run out of the water and was on my way to T1...safe, no sharks this time!
^Beautiful Venice Beach...about 20 hours before race start!
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The bike was a deceiving course.
Most everything appeared flat, but there was actual a very gradual grade going
up on the way out and on the second loop into T2. At my last race I went
much harder on the bike than I am used to. This strategy turned out to be
tough on my run and I wanted to fix that this time around. I established
a comfortable pace for the first loop on the course, checking to see that I
wasn't slowing down too much about every five miles. When it came time
for the second loop I rode a little harder on the way out (it helped that it
was a slight downward grade at this point!) and then started setting my mind up
to run.
Coming up on T2 I had to be prepared
for anything. Since this was a point-to-point race there was no entry
into T2 the morning of the race; instead you had to drop a bag off the day
before and they would set it up for you. I was expecting to have to go on
a mini hunt for my running shoes but was presently surprised at the dismount
line. There were volunteers directing us to where we were to rack our
bikes and pick up our T2 bag; very quick and painless!
I was off on the last leg of the last
race this season. I felt like I nailed my bike pace, instead of feeling
totally toasted the first mile of the run I felt like I was revving up to have
a great run. One of my major goals for this race was to break the elusive 40 minute barrier that I've been hovering towards this summer.
With my split in Chicago being so far off I was very nervous I couldn't make it
happen coming into this weekend. The run course was set up perfectly for
me to have a good time. There was a pretty steep hill right after mile
one that you found yourself running for a second time near mile four. What goes
up must come down so the course also took us down this cruel hill. The
first lap went by so fast; I think the main reason was that I was a little
starstruck! The pros were finishing their final lap and I got to see them
fly past me; total eye-opener on exactly how much work I need to do on my run!!
When I turned around the cones for the second lap I glanced down to see if I
was on pace to break 40, and I was! It was time to really get my head in
the game and gut out the final three miles to achieve my goal! I felt
smooth and strong even in the last mile, and I managed to squeeze in at 39:50!!
It was a big breakthrough for me to not only go under the 40-minute mark, but
to also feel that fluid on a run course.
^Lucas and I have never been so happy to get back to the bay...Carmageddon 2 was enough traffic to last us a lifetime!
The take away:
This season I've learned SO many
things. It was the first of many to come and the most important thing I've
realized is that I'm only at the tip of the iceberg; there is so much to learn
and so much space for growth in this sport. Heading into the off-season
(pre-season ;) ) I have my head high in the clouds, the earth at my feet and my
heart beating roughly 164 bpm (or somewhere most likely in low Zone 3).
Music, as always, enjoy :)
My favorite long run "groove"
song...there is just no way to be sad when you're enjoying a long (preferably
trail) run and jamming out to this song:
I love this music video and Childish Gambino!
