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 Run
Comments: I'm not sure I've ever experienced a run this hideous in a race before. It was two miles of pure awful. After walking the several blocks over to the start, I knew I was going to be too warm. It was after 9 a.m. by then, and the sun was a tiny bit warmer, just enough to let me know that I had way too many layers on for running. But I couldn't take them off at that point, because we weren't at the T area anymore, and I was going to need them for the bike. So, I was just going to deal with it. So, then we were off and running... I ran with Pattie for a bit, but she was too speedy for me. ;) So I was trudging along, and before very long at all, I was totally dying because I was too hot. Unzipped the jacket, unzipped the bike shirt, took off the gloves. Still dying. And that's how it went for the whole run. This was the longest, most unpleasant two miles I think I've ever run. What would you do differently?: Can I just have a do-over? Seriously. It's more like "what *wouldn't* I do differently... First, I'd warm up waaaaay longer than I did. I know that it takes my legs at least a good mile or two to warm up, so why didn't I run more to warm up? Because I always think that won't leave me enough energy to race, that's why. Second, I'd wear way fewer clothes and just take the time to put more on in T1. It was awful. I was so hot, I thought I was going to pass out. I know that I tend to overheat when running, yet still made the poor decision to wear all my bike clothes on the run. Stupid.  Transition 1
Comments: Nothing particularly noteworthy here. Took off running shoes, put on biking shoes, took off running at, put on helmet, and took off. I had planned to wear a hat under my helmet to cover my ears, but there was no way that was happening with my body temp already at about a million degrees. I did stuff the hat in my pocket though, just in case I needed it later. What would you do differently?: Take the time to dress for the bike here, rather than before the race.  Bike
Comments: I think most people would classify this as "rolling hills," for me it was "lots of fairly big hills." For legs that train on flat farm land or the trainer, this was hard. It was also quite windy, and while I'm somewhat used to the wind, the combination of wind plus hills made for a tough course for me. That said, I passed about 15 people, which is very good for me. I'm usually doing well if I pass 5. I was still roasting hot from the run for about the first third of the bike. I was so worried about my fingers freezing off, but I didn't even have my gloves on for the first four miles or so. And I left my jacket partially unzipped as well, even though I know it as acting as a parachute. I needed to get some air moving around me to cool off, speed be damned. By the time I got to the turn around, though, I had zipped up the jacket and put the gloves back on. During the parts of the ride that were directly into the wind, I was glad for all those damn layers. What would you do differently?: Nothing much to do differently, really. This was just a hard course for me. Train more on hills, as usual. I'm really disappointed at the average pace, though. My bike computer had me at 15.1, but the official results say 14.3, so that's what I'll go with. Not really sure how they got so far off, except if possibly the official results are using a 12 mile course (which is what the web site orginally listed up until the day before the race) rather than the 13 miles it actually was. Whatever. Transition 2
Comments: It was a no brainer here--no matter how long it took, I was taking the time to peel off the bike layers. No way was I making that mistake twice just to save 30 seconds in T2. Various layers off, run shoes on, run hat and glasses on, and off I went. What would you do differently?: Nothing Run
Comments: It's odd in that although my pace was slower this time, I felt about a zillion times better than on the first run. I was 6/9 for this run rather than 8/9 for the first one, despite running slower. I guess a couple others in my age group dropped off even more than I did after the bike. Same thing overall rank--run 1 I was 82/92, but in run 2 I was 69/92. Anyway, this run was better than the first in general, but still super crappy from a pace standpoint. I know I was not pushing myself very much at this point, and it showed. I kept trying to catch Pattie when she would take a walk break (due to her knee injury), but she always started running again so I never could. ;) What would you do differently?: Push a lot harder. I was way too lazy on this part, but at that point I didn't really care anymore. Kind of pathetic. Post race
Warm down: Walked around, sucked down some water and a banana, chatted with Pattie, Jeremy, and Brian quickly, then had to go. I had an appointment to donate platelets at 1:45 in St. Paul, so I had to hightail it out of there. What limited your ability to perform faster: Where to begin? Lot of things. Early season condition (or lack thereof), lack of hill training, all this extra weight. Event comments: This was a very dissapointing race for me. I know it's very early in the season, but I think these are the slowest average paces ever in a race for me. :( The whole point of me registering for a this race was to force myself outside on the bike earlier and more frequently in the spring that I usually do, so in that regard I guess it was successful, but in all other aspects it was quite discouraging. From an organization standpoint, this went fairly well for a first year race. I'd suggest having someone sweep the bike course the morning of the race since there was a place where clearly an accident had recently happened and the remnants of the car's blinker/taillight were all over the shoulder. Also, that stretch where the runners and bikers shared the same shoulder was a bit challenging. It wasn't very long, but it was very congested. Last updated: 2008-01-07 12:00 AM
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United States
WIN Multisport
35F / 2C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 61/92
Age Group = F 35-39
Age Group Rank = 6/9
Drove the 50 minutes to Oronoco and was way earlier than I needed to be, as usual. But at least I got a good T spot on the end of a rack. Picked up race packet, then walked around a bit and tried to stay warm.
Most of my pre-race routine involved trying to figure out what to wear. I went to three bike shops the day before looking for toe warmers, but of course this is not the time of year they have them in stock, so no luck. But, at the last shop, the guy told me to go to Fleet Farm and get some of those foot warmer things that hunters use. So I did. And they worked like a charm! Peeled off the paper backing, stuck them to my socks, and viola! Toasty feet.
So, obviously, it was pretty chilly--according to weather.com, the "feels like" temp at 8 a.m. was 25 degrees. I knew I was going to need some layers on the bike, but I also know I tend to overheat quickly when running. I didn't want to have to spend a ton of time in T1 struggling to put on more layers, so I decided just to wear my bike layers for the first run. After all, it's only two miles...
I took my bike out on a short spin. At this point I still had on my big Columbia jacket and wasn't anywhere near too hot. My fingers were very cold after just a half mile, so I took out a couple more handy foot warmers and stuck them on the palms of my bike gloves. Wasn't going to do a lot to keep my finger tips warm, but better than nothing.
After the spin on the bike, I did a very short run to try to warm up a bit. I should have run longer, much longer, to warm up my legs. But I didn't. Because I'm dumb. Then it was time for the pre-race meeting. I met up with Brian and Pattie and Jeremy (Pattie's husband), so that as nice.