This was my third year doing this race but this year, unlike others, I had a friend, Lindsey Jerdonek, to head up to the race site with me. So at 4:15 AM she and I left my place in Winter Park to head down to Disney for the 6:20 AM start time. Upon arrival we were herded into the parking lot and onto the shuttle bus and soon enough we were at the race site.

Because my bike was already there, preparations were minimal and I was nice and relaxed as I was getting ready for the race. Pretty soon I was standing on the beach in the dark with all the other male pros listening to race director and man of many talents Tom Ziebart sing the National Anthem. (BTW, I was much more happy to listen to the anthem standing on the edge of the lake as opposed to having to float in the 55 degree water like we had to do in California…)

The gun was off and we were sprinting into the water. The beach start was a bit of a shock to the system as it seems they are a rarity now. In fact the last time I did a beach start was this race a year ago. Anyway, because of that I felt a bit strange running into the water and it took me a while to remember what I needed to do which probably resulted in a pretty poor starting position. Once we started swimming though I was pretty confident I was in the front pack so that was good enough for me. Because we werent allowed to wear wetsuits, I was in the pointzero3 and it was feeling great. Once again I settled in on some feet and had a relatively uneventful swim. A few times I moved to the outside to make sure the group was staying together but for the most part I was content to stay in the pack as I knew I wouldnt have been able to swim away from anyone.

As we came out of the water I was around 12th and at the back of the first pack feeling good. A decent (but long) transition and I was out on the bike. Right away I had to watch a few guys slowly pull away from me as I knew I wouldnt be able to maintain the power necessary to stay with them for the whole race. So I just settled into my desired wattage and started cranking. A couple miles into the ride Courtney Ogden passed me and I was a bit worried that he would be the first in a line of many. (Surprisingly enough though he was the only guy to pass on the bike!)

Unfortunately about 3 or 4 miles into the ride my left piriformis started hurting and my whole left leg got really numb. It was really weird… anytime I slowed down or stood up my leg would get that feeling like it was “asleep”. This made for a painful ride but I just stared at my PT and was determined not to let BIGZACH catch me. I saw him at an out and back just before 25 miles and it gave me some motivation to really focus on the ride and block out the pain and try to hold him off.  It worked and as I mentioned before, I finished the ride in the same position that I had started as in addition to being passed by Courtney Ogden, I actually passed TJ Tollakson. (As an aside he mustve been feeling bad as he can certainly destroy me on a good day but he was clearly having some problems and had to withdraw.)

Finally the bike was over and it was time to run. Usually this is a good thing for me but today I was worried as my piriformis was really hurting. After throwing on my shoes, I started to run out of transition and I thought I was going to fall over. The only other time I had felt this bad off the bike was Hawaii… and that was 112 mile ride with my seat too high. Regardless of this as soon as I left transition I was totally focused on just running with good form and stride rate and I decided I would let the speed take care of itself. After a couple of the early out and backs, I realized that as long as I ran nice and easy I could get by with a good-but-not-great run and maintain my position. Additionally, the next guy was so far ahead that even if I did have a great run, it likely would not have helped any. Quite simply, 10-15 sec a mile just wasnt worth the risk of blowing up later in the race.

So after a mile and a half or so I started feeling semi-normal and got into a decent rhythm, running between 5:55 and 6:05 min miles depending on the terrain. While the uneven ground consisting of roots and sand was quite unfriendly in a few spots, the weather was the best we could have asked for as it was overcast and even sprinkling a few times. Back to the race and I just kept clicking off the miles and got a nice boost when I saw Craig Alexander in a golf being driven back to transition. His dropping out in addition to a pass of a walking Victor Z meant I was now in the 8th place… Thats right, in the money! Finally I was finishing up the longest last 0.1 miles ever and the announcer was proclaiming, “In eight place, Andrew Hodges from Huntsville, AL…” as I came across the line in 4:11. Not a great time, as it turns out the bike and run were both long so the time is a bit irrelevant.

Overall I was really pleased with the result. Mentally the race had been quite difficult as it was basically a time trial from the time I started the bike and my piriformis had been killing me so I was really happy to finish with a good placing.

In addition to the money, I also found out at the awards that I got a Clearwater spot as none of the guys ahead of me claimed theirs. Additionally I may also be on the team for ITU LD worlds in Holland at the end of August as the top 2 Americans at this race were supposed to have qualified.  I’d be really excited to go as it is 4k-120k-30k which is great because it favors swimmers and runners a bit more.

Official results can be found here.

BTW… Lindsey in her first half IM had a totally kick ass race, finishing 8th overall… including pros! In fact the next amateur was over 8 minutes behind her!! Great job, Lindsey!

 For more musings from a rocket scientist/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

       “The Becker Buzz”
California 70.3 Race Report
March 29, 2008
 

This last weekend I raced the first important race of the 2008 season at the California 70.3 Half Ironman.  I came into the race with 5 days rest as I started my taper for Ironman Arizona on April 13^th.
Training has been going well and I hadn’t been below 20hrs of training per week since the middle of December.  Needless to say I was anxious to see what I could do.
Race morning brought cool temperatures in the low 50’s, but not as cold as they could have been.   The water was also a chilly 60*, which hurt the face a little bit upon getting in.  I had my new Blue Seventy TST Wetsuit which is much improved over last year and I felt ready to go. 
We only had about 5-8min of warm-up before the gun went off, which I don’t think was enough for me.  I moved to the second row of athletes and keyed off of a few others who I thought were slightly faster swimmers.  Today, they were more than that.  The horn sounded and the effort was not hard, but I couldn’t get the arms to turn over like I needed.  Within 300 meters I was off the back and I thought I was in “no-man’s land”……until the turn buoy when I flipped on my back to check out the situation and saw I was pulling a group of over 20 athletes.  As I rounded the second turn buoy, I had NO idea where I was going and proceeded to turn 90* the wrong direction (sorry guys).  This actually ended up benefiting me.  Lewis Elliot took the lead and proceeded to sit in on his feet, as I had no idea where we were going.  We exited in a little bit over 27 minutes.  But about 2:30 back from the first pack.
Out of the water and onto the bike.  My Trek TTX 9.9 SSL and  Wireless Powertap SL was showing me the wattage that I was hoping for.  I rode steady out to hills, passing 10-15 athletes on the way.  Once through the tough climbs, I was greeted with a stiff headwind back to transition.  Normal Power for the ride was 308 watts.  This is 28 watts higher than I have seen in the past and a huge jump for me.
I took off onto the run with a few other athletes and found the first few miles a bit tough, but at mile 3 things got better.  I was still off of my goal pace, but not by much.  I ran the next 5 miles at about 5:55 per mile, but soon I had a few twinges and had to back off a bit.  I managed to pass a few more athletes to finish with a run of 1:20 and a finish time of 4:15.  It was good enough for 17^th place overall.
This was not a bad way to start the season at all and I have been able to gather a lot of confidence from this race in knowing that I can compete with almost any athlete on that start line. 
After the race I attended my Timex Team Camp is Carlsbad, CA and had a great time catching up with old teammates and meeting a few new ones.  We have a great support team this year which includes great managers and new sponsors including Trek, Powerbar, Bontrager, Powertap(Saris), Rudy Project, Timex and TP Massage Rollers.
I also want to thank my homestay in Cali, Sergio Gurrieri.  Your hospitality was much appreciated.  Now I had about 10 days to Ironman Arizona.  Be sure to check out live coverage at www.ironman.com on April 13^th, starting at 6:45am Pacific.

Well, I’ve become a whimp.  When the temp falls below 40 and I put on my amphibs (only Tim, Alex, and the Canadians probably know what these are), double-layer Craft shirt and lobster gloves… friends say, “Didn’t you grow up in Chicago?” 

I’ve tried to acclimate by trying ‘cold water’ swims, racing in the cold… and I just get hypothermia.

Why then on Sunday was I out racing a duathlon in 26-degree weather? 

I can’t say no.  I like a challenge.  I told my friend Michelle that I’d be there.  The prize was a cute mug.  The TREK hadn’t had a ride since Kona.  It was a TRAIL run.  I’ve never raced in a duathlon.  It’s sunny!  Blah Blah Blah

My plan was to change my shirt, gloves, and hat in every transition so I’d be dry and warm.  That went to h$%^ in a handbasket, as the saying goes.  My hands were just too frozen.  I put on an extra vest to get on the bike, and I managed to get my cycling shoes on.  I laughed at myself, which keeps it light and fun.  Thank goodness the bike was only 21 miles, because the cold started getting to me in a ‘delirious’ way around mile 15.  Then again, the TREK section is my favorite– my bike split looked pretty good for the conditions (fastest woman).  

It was a fun day, and I took home a mug!  Wow!  My mom, who was visiting from Chicago, snagged the race sweatshirt.  I was 2nd female overall behind speedy short-distance pro Amy Marsh.

Happy Winter.

November 10^th, 2007
4:48.15– 32:47 Swim, 2:33 Bike, 1:37 Run
4^th 20-24 Age Group

WARNING…All components of this race including the final weeks of preparation leading into it fall under the ‘Big Learning Experience’ category! And boy what a learning experience it was…

As a very new athlete in the sport with only 3 years under my belt, I had not actually completed an uninterrupted season of hard training and consistent racing until this year. My first year was pretty much a joke. I had never swam, bike or ran EVER in my life and pretty much just went with the flow and eventually found my true passion in life. My second year I went out a little too hard without much base and developed a giant stress fracture in my hip forcing me spend almost the entire race season aqua jogging in the pool! This year I had 2 main goals – the most important was to complete a full schedule and have an injury-free season and the second to finish top 3 in my age group at the 70.3 World Champs. Although goal one was a success, placing 4^th at Worlds was where the learning came into play.

What happened on race day? Unfortunately it was a combination of mental and physical burn out a few weeks prior to the big day. I began training quite hard in December and January and raced/trained straight through until October when I began feeling incredibly unmotivated, fatigued and uninterested in going hard. Since I had never gone that long before with consistent training, I hadn’t found my body’s limits and sadly hit the wall about 3 weeks before I was due to depart to Clearwater. Bummer. I knew the instant I was more excited to go skiing then go out for my favorite workouts in beautiful fall weather that something was up. I tried to push through the mental toughness but I kept finding myself breaking down and getting really upset for not knowing why I was feeling this way a few weeks before my biggest race of the season. I had a good chat with the coach and we agreed that beginning my taper a few weeks early would be a good idea and hopefully I would be really rested and pumped up to race. Although it sounded like a great idea, I still had a hard time getting those workouts in too and flew into Worlds very flat and highly unprepared. Lesson learned: NEED MID-SEASON BREAK!!!

When I toed the line the morning of the race, I was more relaxed than I had ever been before which is never a good sign for my super-agro-type A personality. It was a crappy feeling, but I knew right away that my heart just wasn’t into the race and that I was going to be out there just to enjoy the day. As the gun went off, I was so relaxed that I immediately fell into a great rhythm and joined the first swim pack. As we made the turn straight into the sun, I sighted the buoys on the opposite side and ended up swimming into the middle of the ‘rectangle’ and into a kayak who redirected me back on course. Oops. Coming out of the water I was a little irritated that I hadn’t put together one solid swim the entire year but knew I had improved greatly on the bike so it was time to go out and fly. Well, that’s what I thought at first until I realized my legs weren’t quite functioning the way they normally do. I just couldn’t turn over the pedal and was getting passed left and right. It was definitely tough to take, but instead of getting upset, I just kept chugging away knowing that it wasn’t my day. Getting off the bike was a great delight and I was very excited to head out for the run which is always my favorite event. Since I knew there wasn’t much hope to catch that place I was after, I just decided to cruise the half marathon and enjoy every minute of it. I crossed the finish line with emotions of frustration, irritation, disappointment, and joy. The race was finally over and it was the end of the year and I accomplished the number one goal of staying healthy without any injuries. Although I didn’t really ‘race’ what I had picked to be my ‘A’ race at the beginning of the year, it was okay. Nothing disastrous happened and I was able to spend some quality time with the Timex family and enjoy the rest of my trip with my mom who has been a huge supporter throughout my entire triathlon journey.

Thank you to everyone for all the encouragement and support during the 2007 season, I couldn’t have done it without you!