Wow. Where do I start with this one?
I went to nats with my team and it was a blast! I am really happy with how I did. Officially speaking my time was slightly slower than at my last Olympic distance race (Cyman) but given the fact that the transition area was larger/longer and the run wasn't really true to distance (it was a quarter to a half mile too long, kind of hard to tell specifically based on watch GPS data alone) and the fact that the course was tougher (trade wind on the bike at Cyman for hills here and add a bit of terrain on the run), I definitely see my performance as an improvement over the fall.
Pre-race happenings: Thursday was a rest and travel day. Travel went pretty smooth, we ate dinner at an Olive Garden where I had an absolutely atrocious amount of breadsticks and salad. We got to the hotel sort of late but I got a decent night's sleep on account of having nowhere to be in the morning. On Friday, the girls spent the morning getting breakfast, hunting down coffee, hitting up a Walmart for some race day essentials (breakfast foods, sunscreen, shampoo, etc.), and studying at our hotel because we're all still students with school to worry about. We hit the course in the afternoon for packet and bike pick up and did a short shake out run and a warm up swim. It was raining in the afternoon so our swim times got pushed to later in the afternoon and we got to watch the delayed start of the high school race, which was pretty cool. My swim felt particularly fantastic, it was a 750 m on the draft legal course and the temperature and my wetsuit both felt great which was a huge confidence booster. We opted out of the pasta dinner run by USAT and found a nice Thai place instead, where everyone loaded up on noodles and/or rice. Then it was home for some chilling before a nice early bedtime for a 5 am wake up on race morning.
Race morning: We got up at 5 am, ate, prepped, did fun things like put our race tattoos on (Juhi put one of hers on backwards, which was hilarious), and rolled out for the course around 6 am. I didn't get the best sleep overnight, but knowing that I had decent rest in the week leading up to the race meant I didn't worry too much about night before rest. Transition set up was pretty simple, my spot was in a row directly in front of the bike/swim entrances and towards the very back of the row near the bike/run exits so I was prepared to do a lot of running on the swim and bike in. I chose not to get in the water for the early swim warm up because I didn't want to get in and back out again. Breakfast was two whole wheat bagels with cream cheese and a banana. Pre-race nutrition involved a bottle of Nuun, mostly consumed in the car around 6 am with a little bit saved to take with the three Shot Bloks I had around 15 minutes prior to my wave start.
Swim: I was wave two and the girls were allowed in the water after wave one had gone off for an in water start, so I was able to try and get acclimated to the water temperature. I got a spot at the front of the pack and waited for the gun to go off. I was surprised by how many fast girls there were in my heat, I'm used to being in a pretty good place in the swim in most races and the number of girls ahead of me surprised me. Nonetheless, it didn't take very long to get into a good bit of open water and just do my swimming.
On the way out on the single lap loop, I thought I was straying a little too far in because the rest of the pack was a little further out, but my Garmin suggests that the course I took was fine and I believe it. I sort of struggled in the earlier two thirds of the swim. It was cold and I really felt like I couldn't catch my breath. I knew I was drawing in regular and big breaths though and to keep me from freaking out I was breathing 3-2-3-2 instead of every 3. I briefly entertained the notion of turning over onto my back and getting myself calmed down before I continued but I realized that I could deal with the discomfort of mild panic and just push through and finish. I couldn't guarantee how I was doing and how fast I was swimming, but I could focus on making the best of it, so I did. Eventually things settled down and I felt much better on the way back in.
I got out of the water in a decent time, 24:38 which was an improvement over Cyman, although I was in a wetsuit this race (sleeveless BlueSeventy Reaction) which I'm sure made a huge difference. I wasn't too happy with where I was mentally at during the swim, not because of the little bit of panic but more because of the negativity that it sort of led to. Once I calmed down a bit, I was really worried that the swim had gone really poorly and I was disappointed before I even really knew what was going on. I really want to try and curb negative thinking like that during races because it really doesn't help anyone. In any case, once I was through T1 and got a look at the time, I knew the swim hadn't gone as badly as I thought and I was able to redirect my focus and worry about putting in the best bike split I could. I turned it around, but in the future the less turning around I have to do the better.
T1: I'm always surprised by how breathless I am on the T1 run, but that's just something I mentally brace myself for and try to get through as calmly as possible. The run was a short uphill into the transition zone. I feel like I fumbled around a lot more than I typically do in T1, but it wasn't a slow transition compared to a lot of the field so I feel okay about it.
Bike: I got out on the bike course with the goal of hitting an 18-19 mph average. It started out fine but then I found that the rollers on this course were way more than what I was expecting to find. I decided that I wanted to do the best I could and hammered the course harder than I usually would have knowing that there could be consequences down the road on the run. I figured it was worth it to go for it. It was a two lap course that was very scenic through these forested roads with one climb that I had to use my small ring for and a second slightly smaller climb that I could have powered up in my big ring but opted to small ring anyways because I didn't want to blow my legs out. There were also some fun descents on this, I hit 35 mph at one point and it was glorious.
The entire time, I had my eyes peeled for Juhi (in my heat) and Connie (in the heat ahead of me). I never saw Connie but I did catch a glimpse of Juhi on my second lap and knew that she was probably closing on my lead from the swim but couldn't get a great sense of how much ahead I was keeping. I realized though that I might have a chance to finish ahead of her and that gave me a bit of a new push. Also near the turn around and transition area, the boys had set themselves up on course and cheered for me every time I passed, which was really sweet and fun and helped put a little bit of kick into my speed on that particular flat.
I felt like the mental bits of the bike were a little strange. Sometimes people would pass me and it would get me fired up and I would chase them down and sometimes I just settled back behind another girl and decided that whatever pace that was happened to be okay for me. It was strange. I think I had a good sense for how hard was too hard and was willing to ride my own race, which is why I had sort of weird non-uniform reactions to the things going on around me with regards to the other girls, but it was interesting for me to see that in action because usually the races I'm in aren't that dense with other people in my age group. In any case, I came out of the bike a tad slower than I had hoped, but given that the ride was definitely hillier than what I was used to, I'm really happy with that pace for that course.
T2: Was so long. That's all I have to say. I'm not great at running with my bike in tow and the sheer distance I had to run with my bike made me not a happy camper.
Run: I'm not a fan of two lap runs. I like being able to just zone out on the run until I get to the finish, turning around for multiple laps always makes me feel like a small part of my soul is dying. The course was strange because they laid it out in such a way that we had a bunch of 180 turns to make, which was odd. It could have been flatter but what terrain there was wasn't that bad and I won't complain about that. I will, however, complain about the fact that the course was definitely set too long, even taking into account the general mistakes that GPS watches make...I definitely played pace by my watch even though I knew that wasn't going to end up being accurate given the course and just set myself the goal of staying under 9:00 mile pace by my watch. (Which I did manage to do! My watch gave me a final average run pace of 8:43.)
The first lap felt really good. The course opens onto a flat followed by a downhill and I didn't have any issues with jelly legs or anything weird like that (I like running off the bike). I felt pretty good most of that lap but when we got around to lap two, I was really feeling myself slow down and I had to really proactively think about keeping my cadence high and keeping that pace going. I took the first lap pretty conservatively and upped the effort on the second lap, although it really did feel more like I was just hanging on rather than pushing in any meaningful way on that second lap. I took a bit of water at every aid station (hit four in total) and although I was starting to feel the heat towards the end of the race, the weather conditions really were pretty perfect and I didn't have any core temp issues at all.
The run was fun because I got to see the other girls on it. We made a point of high fiving when we passed each other and it was good to have a sense of how I was doing in relation to Connie and Juhi. Again, knowing where I was and that I was in a position to possibly be the fastest female finisher on the team really kept me going. All the other competitors were really nice too. It was great to hear words of encouragement from the faster girls passing me on the course and to be able to pass that forward when I passed other girls on the course as well. (Speaking of which, this is the first race at which I've passed a significant number of people on the bike and/or run. Usually races are one of attrition for me: Get out quick on the swim, try and finish before literally everyone else passes me. But I held my own alright on the bike and run and I'm proud of that.) There were also lots of random teammates lining the road cheering, not just for their own team but also everyone else. It was always nice to hear things like "Looking good WashU! Keep it up WashU!". I should just change my name lol. The boys were still on course during my first run lap and I really enjoyed getting yelled at by them too.
Biggest cheering shout out of the day though definitely goes to Molly. The way the course was set up, we had to run up a low grade but somewhat prolonged hill into a straightaway into a turn into the finish. I had just come out of that hill and was struggling because it was the end of the run and it was one of those points where I'm sure my face made it really obvious that I was hurting. Molly saw me while she was starting her second lap of the course on the other side of the road and yelled a bunch of things I don't think I really processed, but I knew she was cheering me on and it gave me the kick I needed to get myself down that final stretch.
As I made the turn into the finish chute, there was a girl probably just a few meters behind me whose mom was yelling at her to pass me. I wouldn't have even known she was there had her mom not tipped me off, so as soon as I heard that, I picked it up and sprinted into the finish. I did manage to stay ahead of her, which made me really proud. I was also surprised at my finish time. I thought with the longer swim and the non-spectacular bike due to the hills and the sheer length of transitions that for sure I would've been a 1:55 or slower so it was a really pleasant surprise to have done better than that.
Here are my finish details:
Garmin Numbers:
- Swim: 1860 yards, 26:51, 1:27 average pace, definitely totally not accurate because I started the watch about 20 seconds before the actual start (in water) and didn't remember to hit it again until I had run up halfway through transition
- T1: 1:26.6, again, inaccurate because I hit it halfway through the run in and didn't make the bike transition until I was already out and moving steadily on the bike course
- Bike: 24.82 mi, 1:25:42, 17.4 mph average, 1,437 elevation gain
- Bike speed splits by 5 mi: 18.8, 17.1, 17.3, 16.3, 17.6 (fell off as time went on, have to work on maintaining that bike speed consistency - I struggle with climbs in particular later on in the biking portion)
- Run: 6.61 mi, 57:33, 8:43 average pace, 180 spm average cadence (yaaaaaas this number is soooo good)
- Run pace splits by mile: 8:17, 8:34, 8:55, 8:45, 8:50, 8:53, 8:46
- Total time: 2:53:31
Concluding thoughts about the race: I'm glad to see the training has paid off. Even though it wasn't really reflected in that finish time, I think it's reflected in my standing overall (I was definitely expecting a finish somewhere in the 250-300 range so to have come in at 211 is really amazing) and in how well I managed to ride on a course that was tougher than what I was used to and how solid I felt on the run given a much quicker pace than what I did in Cyman (by my Garmin numbers of course). Something that I loved was how the entire lead up to this race Henry kept reminding me over and over again that I had done enough and that I was in a good place to put together a race that I was proud of, and I wasn't sure I believed him. Now that it's over, it's good to see that he was right. I did do enough, I did put together a race I'm really proud of, that is super super cool.
It's really cool to see myself improving but I also recognize that there's a lot for me to improve on still. I feel like I can be better across all the disciplines, swimming included. I'd like to be a better climber on the bike, I'd like to be a faster runner in general, I'd like to continue improving on my swim endurance. Racing is great because it brings everything I want to improve on into focus. There's a lot there that I think I can work on (leg strength/power, swim technique, core strength/stability, sustaining higher aerobic loads, base because you can never have too much base, etc. etc.) and what it'll come down to is whether or not I have the time and want to commit myself to a whole new slew of goals. I'm going to race Wildflower and finish off my semester and give myself some time to figure out where I'm going and what it is what I want out of this sport moving forward.
All in all, I'm really glad I did that. It was a huge honour to race with some of the best in the country and I felt like I held my own on that course amongst a lot of phenomenally talented athletes. I'm really proud of how my race went and the entire weekend did what racing always does for me: it makes me want to get after it more. I always have a hard time with training because I spend so much time feeling so much pressure to improve but once I'm on the race course I always feel so free just doing what I've prepared myself to do. That's amazing. That's my favourite part of racing. It's this great opportunity to show off what's gone into your preparation and that's a pretty special occasion. I am simultaneously terrified and super excited to get to do this again this upcoming weekend at Wildflower.
Post-race: After getting a super cold wet towel thrown over me to cool me down (fun finish line fact: I definitely remember looking up as I was coming down the chute and seeing the medical personnel lined up at the finish and thinking, yes if I collapse at the end there'll be people to take care of me xD), I hung out with the girls and cheered the rest of the women's team in while drinking huge amounts of Gatorade and eating free food (they had Southern fare, baked beans and pulled pork and corn muffins). Then we went back to the hotel, showered and changed, and came back out to cheer on the boys. We hit up Cook Out on the way and I got myself chicken strips which were exactly what I needed at that moment. Once we were back at the venue, I went out onto the run course to bring them in while everyone else went to the finish line. It was great to see the boys out there doing their thing but it was also a little bit soul-crushing to watch. The day had heated up significantly because of their later start time and the struggles were very very visible. I texted Henry and told him that watching these guys compete made me feel like throwing up because it honestly just looked so tough.
After the boys finished, a small group of us took off a little bit earlier because one of my teammates was catching an earlier flight out than the rest of the group, so our car headed to the airport early. I spent a couple hours at the airport, chugging iced coffee and getting some work done. I had a super greasy burger and sweet potato fries for dinner which was every brand of glorious. Two flights and a very kind car ride home from one of my teammates later, I was finally back in my own bed. (One of the boys brought up how we had probably used more modes of transportation that day than we ever had in the past: walking/running, swimming, biking, car, MetroLink, and airplane.)
Yesterday was Sunday and I just slept and did work and ate plenty of food all day (which involved making two pasta bake casserole things and a tray of blueberry muffins which will be my only sustenance for this week). Today I'll take an easy run (goal is about 4 miles at 9-10 min mile pace, nothing specific really, just shake things out and see how it feels) in the afternoon after a pretty long school day that will hopefully involve getting some productive work done. Neuro midterm on Thursday as well as a lot of life responsibilities and other things going on this week. Will have to bust my ass to clear up everything related to school this week so I can go to Wildflower and have some more fun tri-ing in California! Happy Monday everyone!
Much love,
Jess
