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| Emma-Kate Lidbury @ the Oread meet and greet Friday night...ignore my squinty face. |
Camping
The race is located at Clinton State Park. The run is 2 loops throughout the campgrounds. I've debated the past several years on camping. Even though it's only a 15' drive from my house, it's one way only into the park so the traffic gets backed up pretty quick. That with the 1/2 mile walk to T1, it makes for an early morning. So, this year I decided to have fun with this race and camp. Although my sleep pattern was a bit messed up, it was the best idea! Being at the race venue early enough to rack my bike (they allowed race day bike check-in due to some storms that rolled in Sat. night) and set up T1 & T2, hang out at the campsite, bathroom, etc. was so much nicer not having to rush around and it's quite convenient having everything I needed basically @ T2.
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| What a view...Can you see my house in the background? Yeah, that's the view I'm referring to...;) |
Swim
With no rush getting to the swim start, I was pretty calm. Weird for me for pre-race as this is usually my panic mode. I got in the water with the plan to bust ass. Of course I lined up behind my so freaking fast BSC training partner Lynsey. A couple of 'good lucks' and we were off. It was pretty choppy heading out the first leg and I was either running into folks or they were running into me. Nasty...but for some reason I wasn't ready to raise the white flag like I usually do at the swim start. Yay! That's progress right there! All I could think of was 'get your ass moving..you just swam a 10k in worse conditions...keep going!' I took a second to check my watch at ~ the halfway mark and saw I was capable to pull of my goal swim time of 35'. Seriously folks, this is the infamous 35' mark I've been shooting for, for like ever. My swim times here have been pretty slow (think 40' and 40'+). With nothing to lose, I just SWAM! Unfortunately we had to swim around the previous waves and the younger guys were swimming over me, but I knew I was still in the game if I kept moving. And before I knew it, I was done!
I was stoked when I saw my garmin with the time of 35:11 (19th AG) my day was made. Finally!!!
Bike
I love this bike course, I'm on it every weekend. Lot's of hills, wind, heat...perfect!! I really surprised myself on this bike. My watts (power on the bike) stayed well above where I thought I'd race, but I felt good, so I kept it up. I stayed on top of my nutrition. It proved me well @ IMAZ so I took in 1.5 scoops of infinite/3 bottles, 2 powerbar gel packs, ~2/hour e21. There were a lot of guys around me...of course several who couldn't get chicked, but there were others who hollered out encouragement (which is awesome btw, guys take note). There were several stud women who I attempted to keep in my sight, but man there were some fast girls out there!!!
Kept my head held high and worked hard the whole time...only felt a twinge of a cramp at the dam(n) hill coming back into the park. I was a bit worried if I had blown out my legs, but I popped another e21 and kept on.
2:43:39 (10th AG) Almost 2 minutes faster than my goal time and 7' fast than LY. I was convinced I was going to have a good day. Now would my run legs show up after that bike...
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| See that smile? That's cause I eat that hill for hill repeats regularly. |
Run
Oh the run. This has been my nemesis for years now. It can really eat you up and spit you out if you aren't prepared. This year was GOING to be different. I planned for the heat and the hurt. I made sure I was out on the race course regularly prepping for this one. I knew every turn, hill, shade spot on that course...mentally I had hurt here many times before. I had this one.
My run had been pretty strong leading up to the race. I had some confidence. And I had a plan. Since the heat has gotten to me in the past, I decided to be proactive and start cooling off at mile 1. Ice down the top/shorts/hat (hat vs. visor so I could do this...see? planned). This run course is so rad cause of the spectators. Every turn there are folks lined up cheering for you. And since I had planned this one out, I knew where my family and friends would be...AT OUR CAMPSITE! yeah!!! They were the best, really. Diana had my favorite songs on the ipod to pump me up! My friend Kelly was at the top of the nasty hill. Being a local, I knew the folks at the aid stations. It was sooo cool! A huge thanks to everyone for being out there! The spectator and volunteers really make this such an awesome race. I digress. Nutrition, I took water/ice/coke @almost every aid station. Gu @ mile 3 and 9ish (I actually almost forgot to take the 2nd one, I was feeling that good, or the heat was starting to get to me ;)) e 21 ~ 4 throughout the run.
I was hurting, but for some reason I was able to keep pushing. It was going to be over soon. It was supposed to hurt, it's a race and I had trained for this. I could stop when it was done, NOT before. Plus, I'm super motivated by the numbers and I was on track to hit my fastest 13.1 in a 70.3. I was about to have a major break through race! Nothing moves me more than that.
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| I don't know who took this photo, but I love it!! |
5:13:38 (compared to 5:36 LY) Woah. This turned out to be a PR in this distance by ~3', course PR by ~23'.
Still on cloud nine thinking about race day. Super motivated now to hit another milestone (hopefully later this summer). I have some serious competition out there in my AG. These women are just STUDS. Super proud to be among them. Top 6 in my AG this year were <5 hours...holy smokes that A LOT of fast women. I was 12th AG last year with 5:36 and I was 11th this year with 5:13...we are ALL getting faster and that's pretty cool.
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| Super stud and teammate Lynsey...Vegas baby! She rocked it out there! |
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| Could leave without saying hello to Hines! |
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| Smashfest Queens representing |
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| For this moment, right here, be grateful. #always |
This made me smile!! Well earned and way to execute! :)
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