Lake Waconia Race Report aka remembering how to suffer!

My directions from Jen for this race were pretty funny. One said " turn yourself inside out" the other was " smile and enjoy yourself. " Hmm. Lets see how those two meet in the middle. I think that the later was had after the race was over, tho the picture here shows I wasnt going to be a focused cranky old lady the entire race: Yes we get to swim in nice lakes when we get outside the metro! I feel very lucky just sad when the season is SO. SHORT. #notfair

So, without further chit chat about the unfairness of now 2 months of summer...race report.

I had a bad week. I think i had food poisoning or a bad case of the nerves or i had the stress outs  ie LIFE stressouts. I didnt feel good and my diet was not sticking to my ribs as i hoped. Lets just say that i was debating how much immodium i may be taking race morning. I have cut out Dairy and Whey and it "seems" to be helping. This is a HUGE BUMMER in that i have been having Whey in the AM EVERY day now for over a year. hmm. Not totally convinced but lets just say I have been better without it. So that had a mind game going on me that week as i just felt FLAT all week. Sleeping alot more, bad GI, and so my real honest plan for this race was to give it what I had. And i did. 

Swim: Lined up with the elite men and women. I didnt get clocked like i usually do maybe bc i let David and Kevin and Steph go ahead. Steph comes back to haunt me about 5 seconds from the finish. Oh well. I Swam well, sighted well and came out with two women in my AG and decided i needed to ride like i stole it. So after i smiled for the camera i did just that. 

Bike: Rode hard, its a rolling course, we had SOME wind but not enough to really feel like i rocked me and usually with that deep a front wheel it will move me around over 12 mph so i guess it was less than 12. Not hot at all, actually i was shivering in the water before we started. Water temp was 75 and air was 60. Where was my humidity?! 

I got passed around mile 5 by a girl i had just met. I diecided this was good, and Sarah a girl who is in my AG and raeally strong was about 400 feet ahead i could see her the entire time. So as i played cat and mouse legally with this girl by mile 10 i was closing in on Sarah. Finally after i took my nice lovely Gel I had rocket fuel and i was off to catch Sarah. Around mile 15 i was sad the bike was ending. I guess this is good for my next race that is 26 miles, todays was 20+. But i did think "uh oh, hope i have legs bc the run is NOT FLAT!"

Run: Despite using my running shoes many times, of course the insoles bunch up race day, never in T practice. So running out with both liners bunched up proved to be a good exercise in "ignore it." I didnt feel too sharp going out. I really had no idea who was ahead of me, but i did know that Sarah had snuck back to me at the end of the ride. So i knew she was lurking behind me. 

I just ran and at the mile 1 water stop a top cemetary hill ( yes its a hill and its a cemetary, fitting for how you feel) I heard "2nd woman." I was like " oh crap!" And then i made that feeling go out of my head and thought " ok, now you have 4 miles to run and you have to make this count." I started the rollers into town and made sure to try to take another gel which was not welcome. Thank you for trying but no thanks. I had about 1/3 of it and grabbed water to get rid of the sticky mouth. As we turned at mile 2 ( out and back, darn!) i saw the train of women behind me. One was REALLY CLOSE. But the one i knew was the threat was Steph:) D 1 Swimmer and runner. Fast girl. Anyways I just ran i didnt look back bc i knew i couldnt go any faster than i was going. In the final stretch where you go DOWN cemetary hill ( yes thank you my quad is quite unhappy today with that muscle breakdown) you also get to rise up again before the finish and just before the chute two peeople said to me " GO. YOU HAVE TO GO NOW." well....when a leg with 23 F runs by you and you do the math you think to yourself " well played, good run!" and not much else. I had nothing to grab her and nothing to get another kick, just hoped nobody was with her. 

 

Photo thanks to Nick Morales ( tri juice) and Terrence Lee who was working so hard to sprint for me in this last one! Terry's wife Cathy is a super triathlete too and i had to wonder where she was, she flatted which is a bummer but then she ran her new baby up the hills with the jogger and finished with a good wkrout for sure. 

So. I was 3rd OA! Yay me! I was super pumped bc i was happy with how i executed the race, took chances and also turned myself inside out. And i did smile. So mission accomplished. 

Tom also raced and he did great, would have won his AG but he raced elite so i think he is bummed not to get a beer mug. I have three now so I sure cant drink 3 beers at once and happily offered him one of mine :) 

Here is the winner, Suzie, Me, and Steph cooling down. 

So, what is the take home? The take home is that some girl was in the AG and actually beat both me and Steph. Sorta stinks but i guess she is pretty new, she is a good athlete and we have talked about her entering Elite, and hopefully now she will. But that sorta was a bummer, for me, not for her! This was a BOUS race. And I was one off the podium for that but in all honesty? I had such a great time in CALIFORNIA in October 2010. I loved it. I would be honored to get a pass down but likely would let someone younger and new take it. I cant top Orange County in October with a trip to La Jolla after with Rich. ITs a good memory and i may leave it as that.

Rich did race with me. He comes with me in some form, often a prayer card, and in this case it was on my number:


Next up is the cabin, lake superior, family time, Dairy Queen ( haha, lets test that Lactose thing) and then a few more tune ups before Lifetime Fitness. I sorta feel like I need some more rest. I have loved the speed but i also feel like i am more beat up than IM even makes me, its a different beat up. Still feeling like I want more IM in 2014 just deciding which one ( yes i know you already heard that) but now i am narrowed to IM Canada ( Whistler) or IM MT or Wisconsin. I sorta feel there is unfinished business in Madison. But that is a blog in and of itself. But here is a teaser 2011 "newbie, no clue what i am doing and my nutrition was messed." 2012 "rich died about 2 weeks later,not my strongest 11+ hours" 2014 "Settle up."

Happy summer y'all.....