Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Lisa’s race report for the Patriots 1/2 Tri in Williamsburg (technically a 72.3 rather than regulation 70.3 race)…the weather and water could not be better compared to my experience doing/finishing 70.3 Rev3 Williamsburg – opps wasn’t supposd to confess that I did wind up doing that race. Truth be told because I did do Rev3 it almost caused me to bail on doing this planned race since the experience wasn’t “new and exciting” anymore.
Glad I went after all – even though – confession #2 – my training has been slacking since July since I already finished the Rev3 1/2 and fell in love with trail running – so I wasn’t actually being completely compliant with the training program for riding or swimming .
Swim: My heart rate readings (for what they are worth swimming) showed that i was in my target zone and my pace was ok – but given my prior swimming background i know i could have gone faster – although i did not even honestly “try” to swim with any effort (blaming it on stubborn flashbacks to my high school swim team days). I did get some interesting hickies from my wetsuit that i didn’t experience when wearing it previously in the pool. The marks have made for some interesting conversation at work today.
T1: Confession #3 – didn’t put much speed attention to my transition out of the wetsuit either -and i was ok with that since the cool weather kinda confused me – so i did take a tad longer to dry off/change tops.
Bike: The ride was beautiful (except for the last maybe 5 miles when more car traffic and some impatient drivers were on the road) – my pace was on point for HR and cadence for the bike, but did have to stop twice to hit the porta-potty (given that i stopped a 2nd time wondering if maybe I drank too much). And it was definitely hard to stop myself from not go faster when my body/brain wanted to – especially when so many of the international/relay/aqua-bike folk passed me…. but I was relieved looking at age #s on calfs of some of the folk passing me – i rationalized that the ladies 1/2 my age “should be” faster than me.
Run: Was distracted the first few miles because this was the first run race that i have done in a long time that I didn’t carry a hand-held water bottle (forgot it). So I had to keep reminding myself that all would be fine since there was an aid station ever mile even though I was no longer in control when I could drink . I was also distracted at the beginning because I had to pee – so stopped to do that and definitely could run faster after :). Was excited to get a towel at mile 4ish that i kept as my surrogate hand-held bottle until loop # 2 when i traded it for a cup of ice that i held/chewed/drank from until about mile 11 – clearly the liberating feeling of running hands free is not comforting to me. I was able to maintain running in my zone 3 and was very pleased with my improved Z3 pace (trail running definitely made my asphalt times faster than they were a few months ago). Worst part of the run were miles 10-12.5 when i came to the realization that maybe my feet grew – my road race shoes had my feet in a vice-grip and exerted a lot of brain power talking my toes out of cramping. Fortunatey I still was able to achieve negative splits/ but couldn’t to turn on my highest gear as early as I had planned – all systems were go except my unhappy feet refused to cooperate and were threatening mutiny if i tried. So i toed the line (sorry for the pun) and settled for a strong last 1/2 mile into the finishing shoot – and immediately took my shoes off after passing the timing mat.
I was totally amused by the announcer cheering my name/calling me tiny but mighty. Was about to leave without taking part in the BBQ and Beer – and glad i stayed – never knew how good a beer could taste post race (glad it was a Fat Tire). And the added bonus – which i almost didn’t bother checking – results showed I placed 3rd in my age group – so got to legitimately take a podium photo for mom with my medal and an extra little plaque.
This was definitely a great experience – training and racing was definitely fun- and I am looking forward to doing another 70.3 next summer- but not sure about going any longer any time soon – perhaps when I turn 50 in a few years. I think I’ll first turn my attentions to train for a 50K or 50 mile trail run – before venturing into the full 140 crazy training world.
Thanks so much for your training program and support – and my apologies for being somewhat non-compliant with the work-outs.
