Kansas 70.3…non-stop rollers & wind, but hey, at least the heat held off!

First, I am just so thankful to be out racing triathlons again, as it has been a long year. My coach told me to go into the race with no time expectations. Just embrace the race. And, I did just that. I was anxious to get back out and race, even if I was a little rusty. I had the pre-race nerves and jitters I remember having a few years back, prior to settling into that over-trained mantra of “I really don’t want to be doing this anymore.” My goal for this race was to find out where my heart was with respect to racing and recapture the joy I once experienced when racing.

A quick recap of the race:

Swim-My first time swimming with my new Blue Seventy Helix and while I was initially concerned I was stretching out the T I M E X lettering a bit too much, it was an ideal fit. Not a single mark on my neck, I had freedom of movement in the shoulders, and an overall very comfortable fit. You cannot really look at the swim times at Kansas 70.3 to determine if it was a good swim or not, but I was pleased with where I came out of the water with respect to my division.

T1-Hello…I forgot that the clock kept running during the transitions. This is where my ‘out of practice’ really showed. My story is that I was being methodical. :)

Bike-Ok, here I was a bit unprepared. Finding these kinds of rollers week in and out when training in Houston is just impossible (and I do not have the time to drive to Austin or elsewhere for training trips). The day prior to the race somebody described the course as ‘you are either going up or coming down.’ But, since I cannot train in the rolling hills, I may as well race in them. I see enough of the boring flatlands, so the terrain was a nice change. My new Madone was comfortable but I think I probably road too ‘comfortable’ with respect to my effort. I was so afraid of blowing up, and while sometimes we need to push our limits to reach our potential, I really did not want a DNF in this race. For today, I was ok with finishing with something left in the tank.

T2-Yes, I know…a ‘needs improvement’ mark.

Run-What has usually been my strength ended up being my nemesis today. It was mentally and physically tough for me. My nutrition must have been off some because I basically felt like throwing up. I was disoriented for the first part of the course, but not sure if that had more to do with nutrition being off, or the course itself. I didn’t expect the rocky-gravel portion and I got hung up on that for a bit…until I convinced myself that whining is for losers. I pretty much had to go to that ’spot’ where I just put my head down and focus on the people ahead of me, trying to run them down, and taking things one mile at a time. I kept repeating “I CAN do this.”

Finish-When I knew I was in the clear and going to finish (about 200 meters from the finish) I began thinking to myself that I would get a finish and NOT have to visit the med tent. I doubt this is something anybody else thinks of while racing, but I think I have seen more med tents than finish lines in my triathlon career. Well, I started celebrating a bit too early because about 2 feet from the finish line I went face down. Yep, right as the announcer was mentioning my name I did a face-plant into the ground. And, this wasn’t something I could just roll out of and pretend to do the Blazeman roll…no, this was anything but graceful. Thankfully I got back up, crossed the line, and then headed to the tent for some ice. I was so obsessed about my bum knee (hoping that all that PT had not gone to waste) that it did not dawn on me that my wrist was quite sore. Everything turned out ok, and it did not take me too long before I was laughing at myself.

Good news: Nothing broken, made it to the finish line
Bad news: I am afraid what my finishers photos might look like, typing by hen-pecking is slow

Thanks to Timex, Trek, Bontrager, Profile Design, Blue Seventy, hubby, Team STRIVE, Coach Clint and Tektonics for getting me to the start and finish line this past Sunday.

Keep Striving!