i know that baldwin had told ryan to start center about 5m back in the group and then push it to the first buoy and then settle in and try to find some feet. i have never gone into a swim with any plan other than to just swim.
horn went off, i really did try to kind of push it to the buoy. this start was much smoother than last year. i thought the initial contact was a lot lighter. no real bumping at first. i felt fine with no suit on felt like i was swimming pretty well. i had no problems at all with my goggles. after the columbia debacle i have tried them under my cap and haven't had a single issue since. that is definitely the way to go.
while the start of this swim wasn't difficult, i also felt like the water never opened up. there were a TON of people the whole time. i felt like i was constantly either swimming over people or being swam over. i was still feeling okay when i made the first right. I started getting a little tired on the next section and i wasn't feeling like i was getting any closer to the buoys. i also found myself straying right. i realized that i hadn't made a point to find out what the rules were for this swim about the yellow buoys and wasn't sure if i needed to keep them to my right. as a result, i had to play it safe and get myself back over more than a few times. this definitely cost me some time. i need to be better prepared with knowing the races rules on this. about 3/4 of the way through, i found myself getting a little fatigued. volume will help with this.
my goal for this was 36 minutes. this was based off a time of 38-39 min last year in what i would consider a terrible swim. by most accounts this swim was significantly longer than it should have been and had an unfriendly current. i am very fortunate that baldwin was at the end of the swim and yelled out to me that all the swim times were long. THEN, i looked at my watch and saw 48 minutes! holy eff! i had practiced telling myself that regardless of what my swim time was to maintain my race plan and aggressiveness with the rest of the course, so i think i would have been okay with pushing through even if baldwin hadn't been there to assure me, but it definitely helped a lot to hear it from him. if i hadn'd completely learned from columbia that i can come back from a crappy swim, i definitely learned it at this race.

the swim volume HAS to improve. looking at my race results from everything this year it is clear that my swim is what is holding me back now. i essentially give the rest of the top 20% of my age group a 6-10 min head start depending on the race difference. in the past this wasn't so evident because i was average across all three. now that my bike and run have improved, it's time to get the swim up.
also, in retrospect, having this swim be 1.) long and 2.) no wetsuits could not have been a more perfect dress rehearsal for imloo. i am very happy i had that opportunity. i know i will feel a ton better off in august for having had this experience.

i am really happy with my transitions this year. i didn't have the greatest spot. i was smack in the middle of a long rack, but still had a good time. my t-spot also must have been right on top of an ant hill because there were ants EVERYWHERE. they were in my shoes, on my gel flask, everywhere. i just put everything on and hoped they weren't fire ants. thankfully, i had no issues.

i need to practice the shoes on the bike thing. i want to do this before imloo.

i was really happy with this. i had done a hardish training ride a month prior and finished in 2:50. that by itself was a 15 min PR from my race last year. I thought maybe i could get it down to 2:45 in the race. that was my happy goal. to come in under 2:40 really thrills me. I also didn't have to work that hard for it. i definitely rode conservatively with my head on the run.
there was little to no wind at all on the way out. i was flying past people and really enjoying the course. i did, however, have some warning signs that my hips/legs were not going to cooperate. i was getting muscle pain in my quads/hammies/hips. as a result, i dialed it back a little. for the most part my HR was in the mid zone 3 range, at times it even dropped to high zone 2. i was leap frogging (in a non-drafting way) 2-3 other women in my age group for the ride out. i eventually lost them (behind me) at the water station just before smithville road. once i made the turn onto smithville, my legs suddenly felt great and i was really having fun. i even started singing to myself out loud (i need a hero from footloose). this is great. i was loving life. passing guys with nice bikes down in aero like they were standing still. woo hoo! as i got to egypt rd, my average was 21.8. i was SHOCKED that the wind on egypt wasn't bad at all. it was the best i have ever seen in all the times i have ridden the course. i did, however, start to have major issues with my hips cramping. i started to get a lot of pain and twinges of worry about how i'd feel on the run started creeping in. by the time i made it to town point rd, it was pretty uncomfortable and i realized i would be smart to take a few motrin so they would have a chance to kick in before the run. adjusting myself around on the bike helped alleviate the pain. in retrospect, i really think it is muscular in nature. i think this because post race, i had no issues. my hip joints were not achy at all in the days after the race, and because i had no problems at all on the run. i need to be smarter about foam rolling. i think the hip/itb area could become a problem zone for me in a hurry if i don't address it.

nutrion for the bike was spot on:
i had a shot of eft gel immediately after getting on. i finished one efs bottle (2 scoops) by the turn onto smithville. finished another one by the turn onto egypt, and had another gel shot at the turn back onto hudson rd. i also had a bottle of water that i sipped a little on here and there. i didn't need to get anything at any of the exchanges. this is EXACTLY as i had described in my race plan and i implemented it flawlessly. writing down on the course maps where and what my nutrition goals were really helped solidify them in my mind. i never got behind on my nutrition and felt great the whole time.

i need to practice fueling on the go while training. i almost wiped out while i was trying to refill my aero bottle with my spare efs bottle. i almost wiped out again trying to get motrin out of my pill case. i am not good taking my right hand off the bars at all. otherwise, i need to just continue developing cycling strength.

still felt good about transition. still battled ants.

learn to take feet out of shoes on bike.

this run for me was a giant success. i am really really proud at how perfectly executed it was. there were a number of mistakes i could have made and i didn't make a single one.
my original goal had been 1:39. this was my perfect goal.
my first mile was 7:20. i was pretty sure this wasn't going to be sustainable, but i knew that i could get some money in the bank with some earlier miles, yet still keeping my body in control enough to not bonk. i realized early on this was going to be a long, hot, uncomfortable run, so i made the decision from the first aid station to use them to their fullest. i efficiently walked almost all of them and treated them like a convenience store. ice down the sports bra, water over the head, water to drink, pepsi to drink. i did a stellar job of keeping cool and moving swiftly through the stops. you could literally feel the heat radiating off of the asphalt, but i was able to keep my temp down pretty well with icing and hydration. i took a shot of efs gel early in this run, then another at 4, another at 8 and another at 11.5. i never cramped. not even a little. even though i had issues on the bike with my hips, i had none on this run.
there had been 3-4 women in my swim wave who i had been passed by late in the bike. i reeled every single one of them in in the first 1.5 miles of this run. i just kept reeling people in. i only got passed by a small handful of guys. i honestly felt like walking, but every mile i assessed how i was and realized i could continue to push.
i also did a good job of keeping my speed and effort in check and not blowing up. i got a scouting report at mile 2.5 from my coach giving me an idea of where others in my age group were. instead of pushing it to pass as many as possible, i did some quick math, had confidence in myself that i could keep up the pace i was going and kept my efforts "within myself". i was so so happy even during the run with how things were going. i think a lot of my confidence came from the fact that i knew i had hydrated and fueled well. i knew that i was running within myself. i knew i had the hot weather running training in the bank. i just believed in myself. it really was just an awesome end. i was also really excited that my paces were pretty consistent: 7:20, 7;31, 7:34, 7:55, 7:54, 7:58, 8:08, 7:55, 7:59, 8:08, 7:58, 8:07, 7:20 and the last .1 was 5:52;)
in total, my first half was 51:01 and my second half was 51:24. no dying on the back end. this is GREAT news for imloo.

there is nothing i would have done here. i was disciplined and executed well the whole time.

i immediately saw ryan at the finish. it was great to see him. he had done really well and i was super proud of him. we got a massage and changed. i struggled for the next 4-6 hours with stomach cramps. i didn't have issues during the race, but something didn't agree with me afterward. maybe it was all the mayo based post race food that had been sitting out in 100 degree heat? who knows.

i also finished top ten in AG and got a slot to Clearwater!!!! i couldn't believe it!!! i have worked so hard over the last 6 months. it is unbelievably rewarding to see it all paying off!!!


THE SWIM. PERIOD.


this race could not have been better prep for imloo. it was hot as hades. the swim was long, and non wetsuit legal. i need to get all my volume up, but otherwise i am feeling ready to take on imloo!!!! great experience and a 26 min PR over last year even with the heat and the swim.