Season Finale

First, I never wrote about my race in LA on September 30 so I will give a short run down.  The swim was wavy.  I practiced in the days before on getting out through the waves effectively and then trying to ride waves back into the beach.  To be honest, the first day I was there the water was extremely choppy and I stood on the beach after getting slammed a few times wondering if I was in over my head!  I kept going in and out and finally felt better about the waves and it actually became fun. The day of the race there were waves but once you got out beyond the breakers it was not choppy like the day I practiced so that was nice. I swam okay in the race, biked pretty well and ran solidly.  I did make a mistake out of T2 by letting the woman in front of me go instead of trying to stick with her.  Why? Because she ran 1:15 faster than me in Pacific Grove 3 weeks earlier so I just thought she was faster than me. That is NOT how you race. She got a gap on me the first loop but I ended up eating into that gap the second loop. The race time of 2:07 was my fastest Olympic distance race ever so that is a positive.

This past weekend I raced Rev3 Florida.  This was my 10th triathlon of the season.  Instead of the usual run down of the race I am going to make a list of 10 things about the race.  I think I need an off season from the race reports! That is probably the reason I did not write one after LA. Usually when something is not written about a race you can probably assume that the author is not happy about the result but honestly, I just did not get the motivation to write a report after LA.

10. I was not really nervous for the race. Excited to give a hard effort, but not nervous. Maybe it is because it is the end of the season? It is like packing for the last race of the year...super easy, you know exactly what you need and can take care of business in 30 minutes. Packing for the first race of the season usually takes me days.

9. Hurricane Sandy whipped up some crazy winds and riptides. This caused the swim to be cancelled and replaced with a 1.5 mile run. A bit of a bummer because I had done a big swim focus in the month of October and while I did not get to "use" it this past weekend it is still in the bank and I can draw from it next season.

The Start. Someone needs to have her toe on the line...

8. Since it was Halloween I wore a tiger swimsuit. I looked a little weird running around in a swimsuit when we did not swim but whatever...at least I was festive. Andy wanted me to draw on whiskers and while I seriously considered it my worry was that I would not be able to get it off post race and would be going to dinner with whiskers still drawn on my face.

7. The pace on the first part of the bike was fast and furious. We had a tailwind so I hung back and trusted that I would be strong going into the headwind and would make up ground. I kept everyone in sight but saved some energy.

6. I began to pass people around mile 25-30. This was fun. I felt strong going into the headwind. Instead of hills the course had wind. I buried my head as much as I could and envisioned myself punching a hole in the wind. Dorky? Yes. Effective? Yes.

5. I surprised Andy by arriving into T2 sooner than expected. I have been trying to do that all year. Also, I had not shown up in any of the race day tweets so he thought I was blowing it on the bike.

4. I started running and it felt really hot and humid. I focused on nutrition and hydration.

3. I got passed at the end of the first loop, made a few passes myself on the second loop and then the wheels started to come off...

2. I was in 5th with less than a mile to go and was caught and had no response.  Another girl that I had passed before was coming back on me too! I actually said "crap" and "no" out loud. When Andy told me I had 800 meters to go I about cried. My legs were so done.

1. I held on for 6th. Happy but a little disappointed to run out of gas before the finish line. My plan was AT the finish line NOT before the finish line.

Awards.

The plan for now is rest. This is probably one of the most challenging parts of the year for me but I will tough it out. It will make me better.