Friday afternoon I arrived in Warrenton, VA where I stayed with Margie, Hank & family, who coincidentally were preparing to drive to Virginia Beach the next morning. Thanks guys for letting me crash. I then drove out to Luray to pick up my race packet. I headed over to the race site and did a 5K jog on the run coarse. I was the only one running the coarse that I saw. There were a few people swimming and biking the coarse.
That night I ate some spaghetti with broccoli and kale. Before that, during the day I had two big sweet potatoes with granola mixed in (my secrete weapon) and a protein shake or two.
Race morning I woke up at 5:30, got ready, ate some oatmeal, and took the hour long drive out to Luray. After setting up my transition area I had about 5 minutes to get in the water for a warm up swim. No wetsuits for this one as the water temp was well above 78 degrees.
Males ages 29 and under started the race first. I started to the far right of the group as I tend to drift to the left during the swim. About 600 meters in to the swim I was kicked in the face and lost my goggles. Fortunately, I was able to find them and get them back on, but I lost a good minute there. I saw the fast swimmers way ahead of me, but I tried not to panic and just stayed in a decent rhythm. I swam off coarse a couple times, but corrected and managed to swim a pretty straight line most of the time. I also took in a few gulps of tasty lake water. The swim seemed like it took forever. My watch read 26:30 when I got out of the water, the official time was 27:24. Maybe the timing mat was a minute down the transition run, I don't know. But if I hadn't of swam off coarse a little and didn't have to stop to put my goggles back on I would estimate a swim time of 24-25 minutes. My training times in the pool say I should be done with 1500 meters in 22-23 minutes.
Enough dwelling on my swim. I hit transition ready to tear up the bike coarse.. if only could get my helmet on. I wasted a good 15 seconds trying to get that thing on my head. The bike coarse was a 2 loop coarse. It was fairly hilly with some long gradual uphill grades and one last treacherous hill at the end. I made it through the first 12.5 miles in under 28 minutes. I managed to pass at least 15 people, who swam faster than me, during the first bike loop. During the second loop the other age groupers had just started the bike coarse now, so I was zooming past them. I swear I made it look as if they weren't even moving I was going so fast. I appreciated the cheers from some of them as I went by. The second half of the bike was tougher. I saw I was averaging about 24.5 mph to mile 24. The coarse was actually 26 miles by my calculation. The last mile or so was a killer uphill climb. My timing really took a hit on that hill. I was flying into the transition zone hoping to catch up to the leaders every second.
Unfortunately I crashed my bike just before the transition line. I was practically off my bike when my shoe gets caught on the ground and the bike stops going forward while I fly off. I landed pretty hard on my left side bruising my hip and tearing up my elbow and knee. I remember hearing the people go AHH. EWW. WOAH. There were so many thoughts going through my head at that point.. First Is my bike okay, How many seconds am I losing, Am I okay, Do I continue, How could this happen.
I pushed it all aside and continued into transition where I racked my poor bike and put on my hat, race belt, and running shoes. I know I lost at least 30 seconds dealing with the fall, which would have put me around the fastest bike split overall instead of 6th fastest. But even with the crash I felt good for the run portion. The cuts weren't too deep so it wasn't like I was bleeding everywhere. I was definitely in pain from the crash, but it actually helped my run. It took the pain away from my running legs.
The run coarse was a two loop coarse. I still had a few guys to pass. I pushed it as hard as I could. I really pushed it on the downhills where I was running at almost 5min/mile pace. I managed to stay around 6min/miles during the uphills. This was the first time during the run portion I was able to push past the pain and negative thoughts and just run as hard as I could. I had a 35:07 minute 10K.
I knew I was capable of running that time or faster. At Duathlon Nationals in extreme heat I ran a 36 minute 10K. I saw my mom, who drove up that morning, during my run. She gave me some ice on my second loop, which I put up under my hat to cool me down. Thanks mom! In the end I was super stoked with the race result.
I finished 4th overall and 1st in the age group awards. I don't think I could have biked or ran the coarse much faster than I did at this point... Even individually let alone back to back. My hill training a few weeks prior to this race really helped no doubt. Swimming, of coarse needs work. I would have been happy with 24 minute swim not 27.
My nutrition plan was pretty good for this Olympic distance race. Just before the swim I took in a gel, and maybe 8 oz of water. During the swim I took in a good 8 oz of water (not by plan). I took in 2 bottles of Accelerade w/ caffeine and 2 honey stinger gels during the bike. Next time I will not take in the 2 gels during the bike and save them for the run. I took a bottle of water with 3 Endurolytes and a Zym electrolyte tablet with me on the run. Only drank half the bottle though. The fear of legs cramping up during the race is major. I didn't have any problems during the run though. I did feel I drank too much however. As the temperature was in the mid 70s I probably didn't need the Endurolyte pills. Post race nutrition was not good... I didn't really eat anything until I got home 5 hours later.
I drove back to Virginia Beach right after the race. Cleaned up a bit and went to meet up with Jean and family, Margie and family, Eileen and family at the beach where they were celebrating Hank and Eileen's birthdays. It was fun times. Waiting for pictures...
Sunday I went on a 30 mile recovery bike ride and an 11 mile recovery beach run. Bad idea on the recovery run as my hamstring was still a little tweaked from the race. I really paid the price of pushing it on the run and bike. I have definitely pulled my left hamstring now. My quads are really really sore. My wounds from the crash are healing quickly though. I will be taking Monday off from training and catch up on everything else. Next race is in 3 weeks.
That night I ate some spaghetti with broccoli and kale. Before that, during the day I had two big sweet potatoes with granola mixed in (my secrete weapon) and a protein shake or two.
Race morning I woke up at 5:30, got ready, ate some oatmeal, and took the hour long drive out to Luray. After setting up my transition area I had about 5 minutes to get in the water for a warm up swim. No wetsuits for this one as the water temp was well above 78 degrees.
Males ages 29 and under started the race first. I started to the far right of the group as I tend to drift to the left during the swim. About 600 meters in to the swim I was kicked in the face and lost my goggles. Fortunately, I was able to find them and get them back on, but I lost a good minute there. I saw the fast swimmers way ahead of me, but I tried not to panic and just stayed in a decent rhythm. I swam off coarse a couple times, but corrected and managed to swim a pretty straight line most of the time. I also took in a few gulps of tasty lake water. The swim seemed like it took forever. My watch read 26:30 when I got out of the water, the official time was 27:24. Maybe the timing mat was a minute down the transition run, I don't know. But if I hadn't of swam off coarse a little and didn't have to stop to put my goggles back on I would estimate a swim time of 24-25 minutes. My training times in the pool say I should be done with 1500 meters in 22-23 minutes.
Enough dwelling on my swim. I hit transition ready to tear up the bike coarse.. if only could get my helmet on. I wasted a good 15 seconds trying to get that thing on my head. The bike coarse was a 2 loop coarse. It was fairly hilly with some long gradual uphill grades and one last treacherous hill at the end. I made it through the first 12.5 miles in under 28 minutes. I managed to pass at least 15 people, who swam faster than me, during the first bike loop. During the second loop the other age groupers had just started the bike coarse now, so I was zooming past them. I swear I made it look as if they weren't even moving I was going so fast. I appreciated the cheers from some of them as I went by. The second half of the bike was tougher. I saw I was averaging about 24.5 mph to mile 24. The coarse was actually 26 miles by my calculation. The last mile or so was a killer uphill climb. My timing really took a hit on that hill. I was flying into the transition zone hoping to catch up to the leaders every second.
Unfortunately I crashed my bike just before the transition line. I was practically off my bike when my shoe gets caught on the ground and the bike stops going forward while I fly off. I landed pretty hard on my left side bruising my hip and tearing up my elbow and knee. I remember hearing the people go AHH. EWW. WOAH. There were so many thoughts going through my head at that point.. First Is my bike okay, How many seconds am I losing, Am I okay, Do I continue, How could this happen.
I pushed it all aside and continued into transition where I racked my poor bike and put on my hat, race belt, and running shoes. I know I lost at least 30 seconds dealing with the fall, which would have put me around the fastest bike split overall instead of 6th fastest. But even with the crash I felt good for the run portion. The cuts weren't too deep so it wasn't like I was bleeding everywhere. I was definitely in pain from the crash, but it actually helped my run. It took the pain away from my running legs.
The run coarse was a two loop coarse. I still had a few guys to pass. I pushed it as hard as I could. I really pushed it on the downhills where I was running at almost 5min/mile pace. I managed to stay around 6min/miles during the uphills. This was the first time during the run portion I was able to push past the pain and negative thoughts and just run as hard as I could. I had a 35:07 minute 10K.
I knew I was capable of running that time or faster. At Duathlon Nationals in extreme heat I ran a 36 minute 10K. I saw my mom, who drove up that morning, during my run. She gave me some ice on my second loop, which I put up under my hat to cool me down. Thanks mom! In the end I was super stoked with the race result.
I finished 4th overall and 1st in the age group awards. I don't think I could have biked or ran the coarse much faster than I did at this point... Even individually let alone back to back. My hill training a few weeks prior to this race really helped no doubt. Swimming, of coarse needs work. I would have been happy with 24 minute swim not 27.
My nutrition plan was pretty good for this Olympic distance race. Just before the swim I took in a gel, and maybe 8 oz of water. During the swim I took in a good 8 oz of water (not by plan). I took in 2 bottles of Accelerade w/ caffeine and 2 honey stinger gels during the bike. Next time I will not take in the 2 gels during the bike and save them for the run. I took a bottle of water with 3 Endurolytes and a Zym electrolyte tablet with me on the run. Only drank half the bottle though. The fear of legs cramping up during the race is major. I didn't have any problems during the run though. I did feel I drank too much however. As the temperature was in the mid 70s I probably didn't need the Endurolyte pills. Post race nutrition was not good... I didn't really eat anything until I got home 5 hours later.
I drove back to Virginia Beach right after the race. Cleaned up a bit and went to meet up with Jean and family, Margie and family, Eileen and family at the beach where they were celebrating Hank and Eileen's birthdays. It was fun times. Waiting for pictures...
Sunday I went on a 30 mile recovery bike ride and an 11 mile recovery beach run. Bad idea on the recovery run as my hamstring was still a little tweaked from the race. I really paid the price of pushing it on the run and bike. I have definitely pulled my left hamstring now. My quads are really really sore. My wounds from the crash are healing quickly though. I will be taking Monday off from training and catch up on everything else. Next race is in 3 weeks.
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