Black Bear Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Start time for my wave was 8:10 am; they called us into the water around 8:05. I stayed where I could stand for the first 3 minutes, and then headed toward the front to wait for the horn and tread water.

A huge mistake that I made was that I lined up too far to the left. I was at the front of the line, which was good, but I started swimming too far away from the buoy. I started to work my way to the right, but there was no one around me, and I actually did start to get really nervous that I was really off course. It was a weird sensation to not really be around a big pack of swimmers. I usually line up as far right as I can, so I am within the main pack. I finally rounded the first buoy and got into more of a rhythm with my stroke. I still was not comfortable, though, because no one was around me. I was sighting a lot more frequently than usual to compensate for the lack of people around me.

Physically, I felt strong. Couldn't have asked for better water conditions: very visible and calm. I couldn't get a feeling for where I was in my wave, but I started catching some men from the wave before me (and a few from two waves before me), so I felt confident that I was doing okay. I hit the beach and immediately took a split. Did the swim in 30:28.

Immediately, I hear my family yelling for me (my mom, dad, brother, sister, brother-in-law, their kids, both sets of grandparents, and two friends were all there at this point). My father lets me know that I am in the "top of your wave," so I have a good gauge that I am among the top females out of the water. I ran to where the sand stopped and the grass started, sat down, and pulled off my wetsuit. A few people passed me while I was doing this, but my wetsuit slipped off so much easier than waiting to transition area. I was very happy with how fast it came off. I stood up, and started running to 300 or so yards to transition. All uphill, so HR was probably pretty high.

Start further to the right.

My transition time was smoking. 21st overall and first in my AG. I am proud of my fast transition. Threw down my wetsuit, put on glasses and helmet, stomped on my towel a few times to get them dry and sand off as I was getting stuff on my head. Socks and bike shoes on, grabbed my bike and I was off.

Nada.

This was by far the hardest bike course I have ever ridden. Lake Placid doesn't even compare to the hills on Black Bear (and I can say this pretty confidently because I just rode a century at LP the weekend before the race).

I get onto the bike, and my HR reads 176. I know I need to get settled in, but you are faced with a climb less than 1 full mile in. Around mile 8.5, my HR is right where I want it (~mid 150s). As the ride goes on, my HR actually drops and at some places fell into the 130s. That is very rare for me, but I'll take it. Granted, it was on some screaming downhills and my HR was still rising into the high 150s for big climbs.

Back to the race: I am very glad that Tim and I went to ride the course (once on bikes over Easter weekend and then in the car the day before). It was great knowing exactly where you needed to go, where there were hills, where there were rollers, turns, etc. I started the bike with two other women. The one was a great hill rider and spun up the first few hills with no problem. I stuck with her for a while, but then she pulled ahead (only to blow up later on the run). The second woman was strong at first, but then she fell behind around mile 8 and I didn't see too much of her again. My quads were feeling the burn already at mile 10. (Tim mentioned this to me that it was probably because there was no real time to warm up. As soon as you are on the bike, you are on hills. Regardless, my legs got quite a workout.) So here I am thinking, I have 46 miles left on the bike and a 13.1-mile run. You need to get it together. As I am thinking that, I come to Smith Road (after a long and steady hard climb on Sheller) and its cruising downhill. I settle in nicely here and start passing some people who were using the flat to recover from the previous hills. This is where I can get people. I can recover quickly (mostly because I am used to biking hills) and gain distance on those who aren't working as hard on the flats.

The great thing about this course was that there were two lolli-pop out-and-backs. This allowed me to watch my competitors on the back portion while I was on the out. It gave me the chance to (1) scope out my competition and (2) gauge how far behind I was from the female race leaders. I saw the first female and knew she was way too far ahead to catch, but the other females were more clumpy and I wasn't that far behind them at that point. Not too long after I made the turn onto Smith, I spotted Tim on his way back. He looked strong, and I kicked it up a notch in good spirits from seeing him.

After the first lolli-pop, I was feeling really great. I knew I was at the head of the females, and all I kept thinking was I needed to race my race and be smart. The first 25 miles flew by, and I gained some ground on a few of the women, and played leap frog with some of the others. I was extremely aggressive on every downhill. I pedaled in my biggest gear until it wasn't doing me any more good to pedal, and then I would tuck and let my momentum take me. I was very proud of myself for being so aggressive. I only used the brakes once or twice on some curvy technical parts.

On the second lolli-pop, I again was able to watch my competition in front of me, and I again saw Tim as he was flying down a hill. I really like the ability to see my competitors. At this point in my racing career, I know that I can be competitive. I'm not necessarily racing against the clock as much as I am racing against the other females. So, seeing where they are in reference to me is very helpful. The second lolli-pop was tough. A lot of steep climbs where I was mashing. Cadence did fall in the high 40s. This is where having extra gearing would help me. Despite not having enough gearing, I felt really good on all of the hills.

The rest of the course was much of the same. After the second lolli-pop, you did maybe 5 more miles of different roads, and then you came back to do the two lolli-pops again. The second time around was more difficult, and the hills felt more like mountains. But, I still felt like I looked relatively strong compared with the rest of the field. The last big hill was around mile 54, and then I knew it was flat from there on out. I hammered once I hit the top of the hill, and caught one last female with about 0.5 miles to go on the course.

Nutrition was on point. 1.5 bottles gu20, 1.5 bottles water, 0.5 bottle Gatorade, 7 gus. Although, I lost my sponge out of my aero bottle and I wore a lot of the Gu2o (along with my bike).

Get a bike with more gears.
Configure a new set-up for the aero bottle.

Again, I am really stoked about my transition time. I had the fastest T2 time for females, and 6th fastest T2 time OVERALL. It went so smoothly! I ran in, racked my bike on the brakes with no problem at all, threw off my helmet, and put on my shoes. I grabbed my water bottle and race belt at the same time, and shoved the bottle under my armpit and clipped my belt as I was running out. I felt great, and the entire cheering crew for me, plus my two best friends from high school who arrived were screaming for me. It was great. I also heard the emcee announce my race number and that I was currently in 7th place.

Zip.

I am most proud of this leg of the race. My overall time is not necessarily the best, but I raced really smart on this leg of the race. Coming out of the transition chute, I felt great. My family and friends screaming for me really boosted me up, and I know I went out a little fast because of it. But, I settled in nicely and found my stride right away. Around mile 0.75, there is a grassy steep uphill and so many people were walking up it already. I really wanted to, because honestly it was steeper than I am used to, but I did the best I could and made it to the top. I could see the number 6 female in front of me. At mile two, there was the first port-o-potty (and for the record, I did not pee on my bike this time. In fact, I hadn't peed at all during the race yet), and I see the number 6 female give a glance over her shoulder to see how far back I was. I know she wanted to stop and use the bathroom, but she kept going. So, I kept on going to. There was no way I was losing ground on her. Plus, I didn't feel like I had to go. So, I kept on running and plugging away at the distance in between her and I. My rationale was that if I could just pass ONE female, even if they were all in my AG (nearly impossible, I thought) I would at least secure my spot as an AG finisher. But, around mile 3, the 8th place female managed to pass me. She was the woman who I had passed at the last 0.5 miles on the bike course, and she was looking pretty strong. I told myself not to worry, because there were still 10 miles to go and I had plenty of time. Really, though, I was very aware that I should at least pass two women.

I saw Tim for the first time as he was around mile 5. He looked good and we exchanged waves. I do remember him telling me that I looked strong. We continued on in opposite directions, I down the hill and he up. On my way back, I kept telling myself that same thing over and over to keep myself going up that wicked 1-mile climb. I pretty much hated the entire run course, but that hill was the worst. You hit it at mile 4-5, and then again at mile 9-10.

I did not stop to take anything at the first two aid stations. After doing a little circle loop, I passed the second aid station for the second time and grabbed water to dump on my head. Then came the mile-long climb. After the hill, I knew I was closing in on the number 7 female. With every step I took, I inched closer to overtaking her. Then, we get to an aid station. She stops, I again take water and dump it over my head, without stopping, and pass her.

Another mile passes, and we are at a turn-around where there is an aid station and a timing mat. Now the 6th place female completely stops to take water and drink it stopped, so I decide to NOT slow down to grab anything and blow by her. This strategy worked wonders. As she's stopped, I pick up the pace so that now she has a lot of ground to make up. I look back and am happy with the gap in between us. Now, I am concentrating on the number 5 girl. She's still got a good distance on me. I take my split at mile 6 and keep on plugging. I still feel relatively good (which all changes when I hit that dumb hill at mile 10).

But for now, I am working on taking off time on number 5. I'm closing the gap, and around mile 8 I notice one of the females (she had to be number 3 or 4) stopped on the side of the course. Looked as if she blew up. So, I pass her and realize that I am now number 5. I start to relax a bit and know that I just have to be defensive, not let anyone pass me, and keep on plugging away at the other women ahead of me.

As I am nearing mile 10, I know I am getting close to passing the number 4 woman. She really doesn't look good. We are coming up on the last aid station, and I am praying that she stops. PRAYING. And, lo and behold, SHE STOPS. I cross that timing mat feeling so good, because I passed her and keep on going. Now I'm 4!!! I hit mile 11 and am thinking that now I just have to be defensive and maintain my position. I'm feeling pretty poor at this point. I just wanted to hit that finish line. Mile 12 comes, and I look behind me. I can see both the number 5 and 6 women not too far behind. I just need to keep on moving. Mile 12.5 hits and number 5 is right there. With about 0.35 miles left, she passes me and there isn't much I can do. I say to her, "Nice job, great kick." and let her pass me. She says, "Thanks, you look good, too." I just don't have it.

I pass a photographer who says there is one-third of a mile to go. I feel like that one-third of a mile is forever away, until I hit the chute and hear Tim, my family, and friends yelling for me. They are saying, "CATCH HER!!!" I pick it up and give it all I have. Ends up I crossed the finish line 5 seconds after her. If I would have started picking it up a little earlier, I could have had her. But, its okay. I still was really happy with how I raced the run.

Nutrition: 2 bottles H20, few cups of Heed, 4 Gus.

Tape my two smallest toes (I had the most disgusting blood blisters), and kick harder at the end.

Slammed a whole bottle of water and then hung out with family and friends.


Not being used to the humidity; not ever doing trail running


The atmosphere was so awesome because of the big crowd who came to see me. In total, I had: mom, dad, brother, sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, 4 grandparents, aunt, cousin, 2 friends from high school, a coworker, someone from the local paper who my mom contacted, and of course Tim's parents (who were there for him but cheered for me, too). Having them there was such a highlight.

The course was the most difficult course I have ever done. The guy who came in first place (my nana saw him on the local news) said it was the hardest course he's ever done and that his hat went off to anyone who even finished the half.

I'm ready to rock CDA, baby! Although that strategy will be completely different from this race. I need to go out slow and steady and not race the event. I'm already preparing for that change of pace. But first, I feel the need for speed again at Eagleman!