Thursday 10/18
- Left work at 1:00 and head to Charlotte, NC. We stayed with friends, Adam and Tiffany, who joined us in Wilmington on Saturday.
- 9:30 PM – arrived at Adam and Tiffany’s place. The layout of their house is so cool and their kitchen is filled with all these hidden compartments and gadgets that make me want to cook and bake. For people who don’t know, cooking and baking are not activities that I normally run to when I’m bored. I actually have to plan when I’m going to cook or bake. It’s never on a whim or because I have some extra time during the day.
- 10:00 PM – ate 2 enormous slices of pepperoni and mushroom pizza.
- 10:30 PM – took a shower and did pre-race shaving necessities. My skin gets way too irritated if I shave the night before. It needs that extra day to grow back a little.
- 11:15 PM – went to bed with no alarm set. The 48 hours before a race, so I’ve been told and I believe it’s true, is the most important night’s sleep for a race. That’s why I went to bed with no alarm set.
- 7:45 AM – woke up. Had no issues sleeping. I even fell asleep with all the lights on and didn’t wake up with all the bed and floor creaking when Daniel came to bed around 1 AM.
- 8:30 – had a cup of coffee and a slice of toast with crunchy peanut butter
- 9:30 – left for Wilmington. It is about 200 miles from Charlotte to Wilmington. It took us about 3.5 hours. There were so many stop lights in between, it was ridiculous.
- 2:00 – ATHLETE MEETING
- 3:00 – PACKET PICK-UP. This was relatively smooth. You started by handing someone your ID, USAT card, if you have one, and medical waiver form. They give you your packet with your shirt, a water bottle, and some flyers, an envelope with all the race stickers and your bib in it and your chip separately in a little envelope. You move down a little and someone else puts a wristband on you. Move down a little further and someone takes your chip, scans it to register it, and then sends you on your way. Right past the packet pick-up is an information booth.
- Thoughts on the expo – probably one of the smallest expos I’ve been to. They had some nice visors, shirts, sweaters, and jackets with B2B on it, but it was all being held behind the counter. So, you had to ask to see a size in order to get a closer look and feel and try it on if you wanted to. There were really only about 3 or 4 places and the biggest one that had just about everything that you needed had a huge line. I was going to get something, but didn’t feel like dealing with the line.
- 3:45 – made it back to the car to get my transition and special needs bags put together. The only bag that I HAD to drop off at the convention center right then was my T2 bag. But, I also had the option of dropping off everything else as well, i.e. T1, T2, and Bike Special Needs. I decided to drop of my Bike Special Needs bag which consisted of an extra bottle of water with MiO Energy just in case I lost a bottle on the bike course. I went sans Run Special Needs bag.
- In my bike-to-run bag (T2 bag) I had my K-Swiss Kwicky Blade Lights, my run belt with my bib attached and packed with 4 gels (2 Clif Espresso gels and 2 2nd Surge gels), 4 gels that I was going to stuff into the side pockets of my jersey, and my visor. For the next time, I think I’m going to wrap the loose gels together with a band. I wasted some time trying to pick them all out of the bag which I ended up just dumping on the floor anyway.
- 5:15 – at T1 for mandatory bike check-in. Nothing else was required. I could set up my bike and drop off my T1 bag in the morning. The only thing I did was pump up my tires so I didn’t have to bring my pump in the morning.
- Looking at the picture, to the left of the Bike Start is where you come in from the swim. You run up a little and grab your bag. As you make a U-turn the changing tents are on your right. For me, after grabbing my T1 bag and making at pit stop in the changing tent, all I needed to do was run towards the Bike Start to get my bike. I couldn’t have been any closer to the bike start!
- 6:30 – dinner time at Bento Box. Edamame and sushi. The sushi was awesome!
- 8:00 – 9:30 - made it back to the hotel, got my morning attire set out and my nutrition for the AM and bike together. It was still a little early so Daniel and I had some ‘boom-chicky-boom-boom’ time. Some people may not think that is such a great idea before a big race. But, so far, I’ve had a PR marathon time that still stands and I pulled off a pretty good time on B2B. I’ve had great races and set PRs without it, but I’ve never had a bad race with it. So, that’s my two cents worth on the topic of having sex the night before a race.
- I couldn’t decide if I wanted to wear my aero helmet or not because I didn’t train with it at all. I stopped using it because it made my neck hurt from the extra weight. So, I opened the question up to my Facebook pals and these are some of the responses I got:
- Russ – “Yes. Why would you not?” .. “ If you are going to have trouble keeping your head in aero then a regular helmet will work better. An aero helmet can be a disadvantage if you can’t hold it”
- JP – “Aero helmet… “
- Thelma – “If you can’t keep the aero position (or there’s a strong crosswind), then it’s not worth it”
- Wes – “Yes”
- Rose – “Aero”
- Paul – “Yes”
- Unfortunately, even after this I was still undecided. So, I googled my question “Should you wear an aero helmet if you haven’t trained with it?” The first thing that came up was ‘Triathlon Training: Comfort Begets Speed’ by Chris Camichael. Really the whole section of aero vs vented helmet sealed the deal. But, the last line was the deal breaker: “If temps are relatively moderate but it’s going to be windy, then the balance may tip more in favor of the aero helmet.” I did not plan on being on the bike for longer than 6 hours and I did expect it to be cooler temps with some wind. I went aero. Read on to find out how it went!
- 9:30 – lights out for 5:00 AM wake up.
Saturday 10/20 – RACE DAY!!!
- 5:00 AM – Woke up immediately. I was ready to go in less than 30 minutes. I grabbed my Bonk Breaker PB & J and started munching on that shortly after I brushed my teeth while I was getting dressed and getting my bottles set up for the bike. I put everything else that I needed in a bag and headed out the door. T1 was only a mile away so I decided to walk and let Daniel go back to sleep.
- 5:50 AM – made it to T1. Put my helmet, shoes and socks on the ground by my bike. Filled up my front water bottle with water and put my two other bottles with Infinit and MiO Energy in the back holders. Walked over to T1 changing area and bag drop to drop off my T1 bag and ran in to Pete and Rose. Finished up with the bikes, made a pit stop at the bathrooms, and then headed to the line for the shuttle to the Swim Start.
- 6:30 AM - On the shuttle Rose and I ended up all the way in the back but were able to sit. Standing in front of us were a couple, Allison and Kevin, that we started talking to. This was their first full distance triathlon as well. It just so happened that they were from Tampa as well. Kevin has a bike store in downtown Tampa, City Bikes. We chatted with them all the way to the Swim start and talked for a little while longer once we were off the shuttle. About 15 minutes before go-time, Rose and I made our way to the water. The sand was so cold my toes were turning blue. I ended up getting in the water to warm up! I didn’t get a chance to swim around, but the water felt warm so I wasn’t worried about needing time to catch my breath.
- 7:30 AM – At this race they play Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ just as you are about to start the swim after the National Anthem. The lyrics are pretty fitting for that moment. --- Beginning lyrics of 'Lose Yourself’ --- Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
Yo
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs,
But he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down,
The whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's choking how, everybody's joking now
The clock's run out, time's up over, bloah!
Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked
He's so mad, but he won't give up that
Easy, no
He won't have it , he knows his whole back's to these ropes
It don't matter, he's dope
He knows that, but he's broke
He's so stagnant, he knows
When he goes back to his mobile home, that's when it's
Back to the lab again, yo
This whole rhapsody
He better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him …
- About the swim:
- Temperature – outside air was about 60, but the water was 72. It felt great the entire swim.
- The swim is point to point and takes place in an intercoastal waterway. So, there is a current that pushes us in. The current wasn’t as strong as the race directors were making it out to be, but it was there and it was certainly appreciated.
- What I was wearing:
- CW-X Compression Tri-shorts, Nike Sports bra, and my Kona Multisport tri top. This was my main outfit and I did not change at all during the race.
- I used my sleeveless Xterra Vortex wetsuit and had on my funky, multi-colored goggles by TYR.
- My experience during the swim:
- I wished Rose good luck and we’re off. We positioned ourselves in the middle behind about 6 or 7 rows back to try and stay behind the super competitive guys. I took it kind of easy getting into the water and took a moment to look around for where I wanted to swim at. The first 5 – 7 minutes were the craziest. I got a little kick in the left cheek but wasn’t a big deal. I was just thankful that my goggles didn’t get knocked off. The only other major incident was some guy kept pulling on my feet and legs trying to pull me down or back. I’m not sure what he was trying to do. But, I eventually stopped swimming and turned around and looked at him, giving him a look like “what the heck are you doing? There is plenty of room for you to go around and it’s not like you’re coming out of this water in first place anyway”. I’m sure he knew exactly what I was thinking! LOL. He did stop, though. So, off I went for a pretty uneventful swim. I started on the left and ended up on the right. I’m not sure how I managed that, but that’s what happened. My armpits were starting to chafe and I knew I was going to be feeling that the rest of the day.
- I really liked that there was a lot of room for everyone to spread out and just swim. I didn’t have to sight too often because I tried to stay in the middle as much as possible and I knew as long as I had swimmers on either side of me I was ok.
- I got a cramp in my right side about half way through. I had to start breathing every 2 strokes so that I was only breathing on the side with the cramp. This helped because my right side only hurt when I stretched my right arm out and breathed on the left. I eased back into breathing every 3 strokes by breathing on 2, then on 3, then on 2, and so on until it didn’t hurt anymore when I stretched my right arm out and breathed on the left side. It took a little over 1/4 mile to go away.
- Final time – 55:10, 25th overall female
- After coming out of the water there are strippers there to help you get out of your wetsuit. Once out of your suit, you run a little ways to some fresh water showers that really weren’t that helpful. They were appreciated, but the pressure was very low so were barely effective at getting all the salt water off. I put my head under and tried to rinse off my armpits a little to help the burning from the chafing. But, I gave up after about 30 seconds. It’s about a 1/10 mile run on gravel to the actual T1 area. This hurt my feet. I know, after all the running and beating on my feet that I do, running on some gravel shouldn’t be a problem. But, I definitely had to slow down because it hurt.
- Once I made it to my bag I ran to the changing tent, opened my bag and proceeded to put on my arm warmers, head band to cover my ears and my sunglasses. The arm warmers were a time waster for sure. I’m not really sure if I even needed them. I didn’t feel super cold, but I never got over heated on the bike either. Also, I was given a great idea by Miranda Lessie about putting a plastic bag in my jersey to cover my chest from the wind for the beginning part of the ride. And, when I got hot, I could just take it out and throw it at an aid station. So, this is what I did in place of changing my sports bra.
- All done with that, I ran to my bike, my on my socks and shoes, then my helmet. As I was putting on my helmet I was saying to myself “please don’t let this be a mistake. Keep your head up and stay aero”
- Final time – 5:07, 14th overall female
- About the bike course:
- Weather - the temp was around 65 to start and ended around low 70s. Sunny the whole way. Some wind but manageable.
- This is a one loop bike course that is very flat but with a few false flats. The main thing to worry about on this course is wind. Because I knew there was a good chance that there was going to be wind was one of the main reasons I decided to wear my aero helmet.
- What I was wearing:
- In addition to my main outfit, I was using my LG tri-lite bike shoes, Lazer Tardiz aero helmet, Boston Bill sunglasses, Road Runner Sports dri-fit socks, and arm-warmers.
- My experience on the bike:
- I took it easy for the first couple of miles to try and get out of the immediate area. Plus, there were a lot of turns trying to get out on the main road. I tried to keep a steady pace and kept telling myself to use the first 30 miles as a warm up and not to worry too much about speed. Also, every few miles I had Aaron’s words of wisdom running through my head “stay within your box”. At mile 20 there a girl was standing next to her bike and it looked like she had just fallen or had a flat. I later saw road rash on her shoulder so I’m assuming she fell. I passed her but she quickly got back on her bike and caught up to me. We played cat and mouse for about a mile and then I told myself that it was too early for trying to push it. So, I let her go and eased back in a steady pace.
- Miles 51 to 62 were not very pleasant. The road was very bumpy and it was so hard to stay in a groove.
- Starting around mile 60, I took a moment every 15 to 20 miles to sit up and stretch out my back. I was doing a good job staying aero the whole time except for when I needed to reach back to grab my bottle. Again, I remembered Aaron's words of advise to remember to stretch out my back every so often.
- Special needs bag was at mile 56 but I didn’t need my extra bottle.
- The wind wasn’t bad. It felt like a light cross-wind pretty much the whole time. There was a short period between miles 60 and 65 that it felt like the wind was dead on head wind. I just reminded myself to keep my head up and stay aero.
- At mile 70 I passed a girl who turned and sounded caught off guard that I was next to her. This is the conversation:
- Girl: “Oh, hey!”.
- Me: “hi”
- Girl: “They are handing out a lot of penalties today”.
- Me: “ok. Am I doing something wrong now?”
- Girl: ‘no’.
- I was so confused by why she would say that. I just kept on pedaling. As I looked up, I saw a bright pink aero helmet. This is the same aero helmet of the girl that fell at mile 20 that I let go after a couple of back and forth trading of lead. A small smile crept across my face. I didn’t rush to pass her, though. I just stayed at my steady speed and figured if I was going to pass her, I would do it eventually. I didn’t need to waste energy to make it happen 30 seconds faster. I did eventually pass her and I stayed ahead of her all the way through T2.
- As for the decision on going with the aero helmet. It was a good one. I only noticed my neck was stiff when I rolled my head around to stretch my neck around my 85. I think it was more from overall fatigue and would have happened with the vented helmet too. So, thanks to everyone for the peer pressue in wearing the aero helmet. It worked out.
- Nutrition:
- I kept all of my nutrition in my bento box on my bike. I made sure to open all the packages and break everything in half that morning. I ate a half of a Strawberry Honey Stinger almost immediately when I got on the bike, which was almost exactly 1 hour from the swim start time. I had planned out to eat a half of a Clif Bar every 50 minutes and take a sip of the Infinit and MiO Energy mix every 10 minutes, but waiting 20 minutes after I ate the Clif bar. Each bottle consisted of 2 scoops of Infinit and 3 squirts of MiO Energy. This is the same strategy that I used for Augusta and it worked out perfectly. I took a water bottle at every aid station, about every 15 – 20 miles, and filled up my front bottle. I ended up eating 3 full Clif bars and the half of the Strawberry Honey Stinger. Total calories including the drink mix was 1230 calories.
- Final time – 5:27:58, 2nd overall female
- Bike Splits from Garmin
- I undid the velcro on my shoes and were ready to pull my feet out when I got to the dismount line. I ran to the entrance of the convention center, handed my bike to a volunteer, and continued running along the wall to where I put my T2 bag. I dumped everything out and put my helmet, sunglasses and head band in the bag. I put my shoes and visor on with no problems. I picked up my belt and was kind of regretting putting all the gels in the pack. I tried to grab all the loose gels to put them in my jersey but my fingers were shaking from all the adrenaline. I finally got the gels and the belt in place and put my bag back on the rack and started running to the Run Start. One of the volunteers by the changing tent was trying to direct me into the changing tent, but then she realized I didn’t have my bag. So, she asked me if I was part of a relay which confused me and I said no. Then she asked where my bag was and I said it was still on the rack. I guess I was supposed to bring it up to them. I’m still not sure about that. She asked me my number and then sent me on my way.
- Final time – 2:44, 2nd overall female
- About the run course:
- Weather - In the sun it felt around 75 degrees. In the shade it felt just a few degrees cooler. I didn't feel much wind. It was sunny the entire time.
- It did get cold as the sun was going down and really cold after it went down. So, if you decide to do this race and you know you'll be out on the course for a while, pack extra clothes in your run bag to stay warm.
- The run is 2 loops and mostly flat. There is one steep incline that had to be climbed twice for the full, once at mile 4 and again at mile 13.5. There was a small incline that had to be tackled 4 times, once at mile 8, 11, 18, and 22.
- What I was wearing:
- In addition to my main tri outfit, I was using my Nike lite visor, Fitness fuel belt, and yellow K-Swiss Kwicky Blade Lights
- My experience on the run:
- I felt good coming off of the bike and had to remind myself to scale it back and take it easy. The sun was out so it was a little warm. Not as warm as in Florida. I was about .25 miles into the run when I realized I still had my arm warmers on. I was frustrated by that because I didn’t feel like fidgeting with them to get them off and then trying them in a knot and finding somewhere on me to hold them. I could have just thrown them away, but I hate throwing good clothes away on a course. I just pulled them down to my forearms and tried to roll them up a bit off my wrists. My main goal was to not walk if at all possible.
- I didn’t have any issues until after climbing that first big hill right around mile 3. After climbing the hill, my calves tightened up and were screaming at me, threatening to cramp up at any second. I was pleading with them the rest of the run to please, not cramp up. I’ve never had anything cramp up during a race. I’ve had a side stitch a couple of times, but that’s it. I slowed my pace down and just tried to stay around 9 min/mi. I was able to do stick with this almost the whole run. After each gu, which I took about every 3 miles, I sped up for a little bit but that would only last about a mile.
- Unfortunately, around mile 5 or 6 the girl I passed on the bike passed me on the run and I was not even attempting to stay with her. Kudos to her though. So, I just tried to stay positive and kept running. There was an aid station about every mile and for the first half of the race I was able to lightly jog through the aid stations. On the second loop I walked through all the aid stations.
- Every mile I was just thinking about getting to the next mile and trying not to think about how many miles I had left. Until I reached mile 17. After Sarah's first marathon, she said she was so happy when she finally within single digit miles to the finish. That's what I was thinking at this point and started counting the miles down.
- I became best friends with mile 18 and 19. Mile 18 is where I had to hit the port-o-let FAST! I was thinking to myself “Mile 18, where are you? I need to use the bathroom! You’ll be my best friend”. I made it and felt sooo much better. Even my legs felt better for a short period of time. Yes, this was my first bathroom break the entire race. I was just ready to get the rest of the run over with at this point and that’s when I started begging mile 19 to hurry up.
- I made it to mile 22 and had to stop at the bathroom again. At mile 24.5 my calves had finally had enough and my right calf went into full cramp mode. I stopped, bent over, cursed “F*&^!”, stood back up and walked a minute until the cramp subsided enough to start running again. With a little over a mile left, 2 girls with grey wristbands (signaling they were doing the full) passed me. My heart sank just a little. Really? With less than a mile left I’m getting dropped two places?
. I picked my head back up and told myself “you’ll still get 5th overall. That’s pretty darn good and you’re going to beat your ‘I can only do this time with perfect conditions’ time even if you walk the last mile”. I just kept running and prayed that no one else passed me. I made it down the steep hill and rounded the corner and headed down the chute. I made it! I was done! And, surprisingly, my marathon time for this race is not my worst marathon time, which currently stands at 4:06.
- Waiting for me at the finish line were Pete, Daniel, Tiffany, and Adam. They were all standing there with huge smiles and I was so excited to see them. I grabbed a slice of cheese pizza and a oatmeal cream pie and gobbled them down along with a bottle of water. Oatmeal cream pies are so good! The next hour was spent sitting down and every so often lying down on the ground with my feet up in the air for a minute or so to let the blood run back down from my feet. During this hour, Daniel and Adam picked up all my gear for me. Afterward we left for the hotel and dropped Pete off at his car.
- What’s really impressive is that my heart rate never went above 176 bpm. This is a comfortable pace for me, between 165 and 180. When I get above 180 that’s when I’m really working hard and won’t be able to sustain that level for too much longer.
- Nutrition:
- As I said before, I had a gu gel about every 3 miles. Starting at about mile 13 I started taking an orange every other stop. I had three cups of cola. The first one was on accident because I just grabbed whatever was in the volunteers hand thinking it was water. But, it was a pleasant surprise. This is something new for me. I never tried it but I like the cold carbonation. I think it was supposed to be flat, but I liked that it was carbonated. I took one cup of chicken broth around mile 20. At this aid station I finally took note of the volunteers handing out salt tablets. I contemplated taking one and said ‘no, you’ve never tried it before, don’t do it now’. I think that was a mistake. I think I could have prevented the cramp at mile 24.5 if I would have taken it. But, oh well. I’ll try it next time. I ended up taking 7 gels for a total of 700 calories.
- Final time – 4:02:50, 9th overall female
- Run splits from Garmin
What Would I Do Differently
One thing that I would do differently is drink a half bottle of Gatorade the night before and about a half a bottle the morning of the race. This is one thing that I normally do and for whatever reason I didn’t this time. I even bought a bottle on the way and never opened it. I think this is part of the reason I cramped up on the run.
For the last few weeks of my training I changed it up a bit and did long runs on Saturday and a long bike on Sunday with a short 2 or 3 mile brick run afterward. I think this was a mistake. For me, I like going into a long run on tired legs for training. It’s better training for me mentally and I think it works better physically. So, in future training, I’m going to stick with a long ride on Saturday and gradually build on the brick run, and do a long run on Sunday. I think maybe once a month switching the order is ok to shock my body to the different training.
Overall Assessment of the Race
The race was well organized and fairly easy with a few challenges along the way. I’m definitely glad that I chose this to be my first. Not everyone was a fan of the Heed that they were passing out, but I didn’t train with Heed so I didn’t take any of it. The weather was great.
The swim went by fast and gave me a chance to experience a mass wave start but with a smaller group so it was a lot less intimidating.
The bike was uneventful. Which is a good thing. There was a little bit of head wind to fight and the bumpy road was annoying. But, it’s hard to get perfect wind direction and pavement for 112 miles.
I would have enjoyed some overcast or a little cooler weather on the run, but it could have been worse. It was still cool, it was just that the sun was out. A lot of the run was shaded, though. So, there really isn’t much to complain about.
Final Rankings
It turns out that I placed 3rd overall for females with a final time of 10:32:40. I guess one of the girls that passed me was on her first lap and was just having a good run. The other girl received a 6:00 penalty on the bike for overtaking which put her final time 5 minutes behind me.
Awards and Goodies
Celebratory Meals
Dinner: Ham and Turkey club sandwich with goat cheese, french fries, and a Blue Agave beer by Blue Moon (not pictured)
Breakfast: French toast made with cinnamon vanilla egg batter, topped with caramelized walnuts, bananas, and rum syrup, with a side of cheese grits that weren’t very cheesy.
Don’t even get me started on what I’ve had since then. I haven’t told myself no to anything since Saturday. Yeah, I gotta nip that in the butt pretty quickly before it gets out of hand.
THANK YOU’s
There are a lot of people that helped me achieve this goal. I first have to thank Daniel for being such an awesome and supportive boyfriend. Without him I never would have had the time to make all the training I did and I wouldn’t have been as motivated during training and happy to be racing if he wasn’t supportive of it.
Thank you friends and family for all your support and encouragement.
For helping me improve so much on the bike, I have to give a huge thank you to Aaron and Tamara. I also have to thank Dave Homan for introducing me to Aaron and asking him to add me to his weekly email distribution. Thank you Allen for welcoming to the group and helping me fix my bike.
Fred, you helped me improve greatly on my transition from bike to run. All those Wednesday morning brick runs paid off!
Sarah, you know you are the backbone to keeping me on track with my running. You did all the crazy ‘sandwich’ training sessions when you could have just been like “nah, I think I’m going to go home and wait for you to get done”. You came out with me in the middle of the summer, before the sun came up, and with 100% humidity to do long runs. So, thank you very much!
I’d also like to mention the New Tampa Tri Club and Tampa TRI. Thanks for setting up all the open water swim sessions and runs out at Clearwater. I’ve met a lot of new people and everyone seems great. I’m looking forward to future training sessions for marathon season and for next year’s tri season and getting to know and hang out with everyone.
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