A Fine Way To Cap A Season

USAT Age Group Nationals
Forest Grove, OR
1.2K Swim/40K Bike/10K Run

The Short Version

Overall Time: 2:55:17 (780/892 OA, 311/390 F, 48/53 AG) - A 46 second Distance PR!!!
Swim: 31:39 (1:56/100 yd)
T1: 2:42 (includes a 1/4 mile run up a steep boat ramp)
Bike: 1:22:35 (18.1 mph average, 38.2 mph max)
T2: 1:08
Run: 57:14 (9:13 m/m)

Fashion Report: Black Orca tri shorts, red Sugoi shimmel, sleeveless ProMotion wetsuit, LIT visor, & a temporary Red Lizard tat on my right shoulder
Breakfast Report: Oatmeal with dried cherries/cinnamon/brown sugar, coffee, Gatorade
Race Nutrition: 2 Vanilla Bean Gus (20 min before swim and midway through the bike), Gatorade Endurance outbound on the run, Water
Post Race Libation: Rogue 100 meter IPA

Goals
1. Have fun, soak it all in, and embrace the pain.
Actual: Met it. This sucker hurt bad but I was ecstatic to be in that field. I'm still on a high.
2. Sub-3 hour oly race in a non-current assisted swim
Actual: Met it and PR'd the distance on top of it despite my first ever mechanical on the bike
3. Do not come in DFL in my AG. As a typical MOPer, albeit usually a FOMOPer, I was a zebra in a field of cheetahs. I wanted to outrun the other zebras.
Actual: Met it and made top 50 in my AG

The Long Version

I think I need to make the pre-race dinner with friends a tradition. Good food, wine, and conversation have a way of scaring away the pre-race nerves. But since three of us were racing the next morning (two at Nationals, one at another local race), the evening ended early and I ended up tossing and turning all night. I finally gave up any pretense of sleep at 4 AM. Got up, got dressed, switched on the coffeemaker, set out breakfast, checked the weather, and woke the rest of the house up. Matt's mom had graciously agreed to watch the kids so this was also Nathan's first slumber party at a friend's house and an opportunity for Chad & Rachel to volunteer at a race.

We got to Hagg Lake just as my typical pre-race calm was setting in. I did the usual transition set-up, chip pick-up, bodymarking, and bag check activities. It was finally time to make our way down to the boat dock to start the race. As the first group in the second wave got ready to start, I wished Matt luck then got into my wetsuit and did a quick 200-300 m warmup before my wave went off.


The Swim: 31:39 (1:56/100 yd)
The pier was set up for the usual elite dive start but they had the AGers get in the water with one hand on the pier to make it fair for everybody. For some reason, they didn't trust us not to hurt ourselves on a dive start. The horn went off and it was time to buckle down and get to work. I started following the buoy line but lost it about 50 yards later in the murky water so it was back to good old-fashioned sighting. I got into a good breathing rhythm, even caught a draft for a while before I ultimately ended up passing that person. But all in all, my overall swim was meh. I kept feeling like I was swimming wide and had to constantly correct. The fishies in the M35-39 wave started catching up as I rounded the first buoy. I did get swum over by someone in that wave but it was a guy in a full suit so Matt's off the hook. Two more buoys to go and then it was finally time to turn for home. I wanted a sub-30 minute swim but since my sighting felt terrible, I'll take what I got.

T1: 2:42
Holy smokes! That time included a run up the boat ramp and wetsuit removal. Somehow, my wetsuit-challenged self forgot I was racing today. I have shifted to sockless biking so I definitely saved time there and I was racked in an awesome location - straight down the row from the swim entry and straight out ten feet to the bike mount.

The Bike: 1:22:35 (18.1 mph average, 38.2 mph max)
I love this course. It's one of my favorite training rides and it plays to my strengths on the rollers and it's all rollers. The only flat part is the 1/4 mile stretch over the dam.

I had ridden it a few times in the past month to get my gearing down and I knew that except for the long, gradual climb at the park entrance, I could capitalize on momentum and do the course entirely in my big ring. Time to get aero and hammer. I was riding strong but getting passed. Damn these people can ride. No matter. I'm there to race my own race. I get to the bike turnaround and see Chad directing traffic. He says he yelled encouragement but I was so focused that I barely heard it. Two hundred yards from the turnaround, at the start of that aforementioned climb back into the park, it happened. I downshifted and my chain fell off. Gah! Off the bike to fix it and it only took about 20 seconds. I must have used the correct combination of curse words. Back on the bike with my hands covered in bike grease and I got back to the task at hand. I patiently climbed back in and then got back into the big girl gear and started hammering again. I passed Sister Madonna Buder just as she finished her second loop and she looked so happy to be out there. I want to be her when I'm 78. But I still had my second lap and I rode it exactly as planned in training, this time with no mechanicals. I was teetering just on the hairy edge of redlining and I knew the run would send me over but I trusted I could hang on. Trusting my training hasn't failed me yet.

T2: 1:08
Another fast one. Especially since I still had to put socks on. They gave us run stickers so I decided to forgo my usual skirt and just stick them on a race belt.

The Run: 57:14 (9:13 m/m)
One word. OUCH! This run is a bear since it takes you back over some of the rollers on the bike course.
I honestly don't remember a whole lot from the run. I set the pace and focused inward constantly monitoring my breathing, my form, the amount of pain I was in. I remember seeing Rachel at the mile 2 aid station when she handed me some Gatorade but I don't remember her yelling encouragement. By the time I got to the run turnaround, I was in a world of hurt but still on pace. Form OK, breathing is what it was, and it still hurt. I turned inward more, sharpened my focus, and started digging deep. My tummy started rolling from the effort so I switched to water at the aid stations. There was one more hill after the last station and then I was home. I knew that hill was there but that didn't stop me from almost crying when I hit it. I was almost to the bottom of my well but I dug still deeper and managed to charge up it with my breathing really labored. The finish was at the bottom of the hill and that gave me an opportunity to regain some semblance of control. I hit the finish chute and had the entire red carpet to myself so I managed a small surge and sprinted past the line. I vaguely remember a volunteer catching me and leading me to get my chip taken off and the first person I saw was Matt who handed me a water and Gatorade though it took a good 30 minutes for that "I want to puke" feeling to pass so I could enjoy said Gatorade.

I raced Nationals and PR'd the distance. It was a good day.

Post-Season Navel Gazing
I've had one heck of a tri season. I remember saying back in January that my only A race this season was Alcatraz and everything else was just gravy. That's some gravy. As I managed to smash goals during the season, I set new ones and killed them too. I raced my dream race, went sub 1:25 on the sprint distance, sub 3:00 on the oly in both a current assisted and non-current assisted swim, won my AG to qualify for Nationals (this was supposed to happen next year), and put together a very strong race at Nationals, an unplanned second A race.

Looking forward to next year, I'm raising the bar again and shooting for a sub 1:20 sprint, sub 2:50 oly, and I think I'll finally try my hand at the HIM. In the meantime, I'm shutting down the heavy cycling and swimming and looking forward to the winter running season which will include another crack at the HM, shooting for a sub 25:00 5K, and my first marathon.

It's been a ride and I don't want to get off yet.