To explain the previous post:
"never do an 'inaugural' race:" I somehow missed the memo that this was the FIRST year of the NE Trifest. This is probably to be expected, but it wasn't very well organized. No one knew where we were supposed to park, where body marking would be, where we would pick up our timing chips on race day, where the swim out was (they changed it, but no one seemed to know HOW they changed it). There was only 1 water bottle station on the 28mi loop, but 6 aid stations on the run (about half unmanned, and most without electrolyte drink or coke bc it was 'stolen.') There was no lost and found, and no one checking bikes & numbers in transition at the end of the race. My rack-neighbor had her back wheel stolen! And finally, there were no timing mats on the out and back run. I saw a handfull of people doing the half who cut the run short by a few miles.
"never race on a broken toe:" this one is probably self explanatory, though somehow I missed this memo as well. Read on to see why.
Ok. Self-serving, detailed race report. Finally.
Swim was okay. 49:15 (by my watch-which we all know is the REAL swim time.) Did 4 minutes better than my last 70.3, though I felt I could have done much better. For some reason I felt like I couldn't get a deep breath in my wetsuit. Was it panic, or the wetsuit? Either way, it took a good 500m to get in a rhythm.
Took my time in both transitions to make sure the toe was properly taped.
Bike ended up taking longer than expected at 3:50, but I'm still proud of my effort. First half of the loop was rollers with a few climbs and one screaming downhill. I averaged 17-18mph there. There was 3mi of constant climbing (no joke, 3mi continuous up--many people walked their bikes up on the second loop) on the back half of the course. I also saw TONS of people drafting. Cheaters gon' cheat, I suppose. My speed was ~5-9mph on the steep sections, which dropped my total mph down to 14.5mph. I felt like I rode smart, my legs were tired but not trashed. My nutrition went perfectly--no nausea, no hunger, had to pee once during the loop. I did have a weird mechanical issue that I stopped once for ~5min. My rear derailleur sounded like it was going to fall off every time I hit a bump! Nothing happened, thankfully, but it sounded bad. I'm taking it in this week for a tune-up/check-up. And to buy a new saddle bag (mine fell off at some point due to rough road--thank Gawd I didn't flat!) The day was beautiful, though, and I was super thankful that it didn't rain. Some of those crazy downhills were on rough road and would have been disastrous in the rain.
Run started off really well. Toe felt fine. Held a 10:15 pace for the first 4mi. Took my nutrition as planned, no nausea or bonky feelings. At mile 4.5 began a constant, steep (>8% per road signage) climb until the turnaround at 6.5mi. My toe did NOT like the steep incline, so I had to walk. Pace dropped to around 16min/miles.
I would have stopped and taken a DNF, but there wasn't anywhere to do so! They only 2 aid stations in that 4mi section--one was unmanned, and at the other they didn't have a car or a walkie talkie, and there was zero cell reception.
With little other choice in the matter, I decided to walk to the turnaround, assuming there would be people there I could talk to. Nope! Not even a timing mat! (Side note: i saw people doing the 70.3 turn around well before the turnaround -- and place well because of it. Again, cheaters.) Once at the turnaround, there was only one thing to do--try running again! But alas, my toe hated the downhill even more than the uphill, so I limped down it slowly (18min/mi pace) until I found an aid station with medical supplies at the bottom of the hill. Taped the foot up almost completely (with electrical tape-ha!) By that time I was past the worst of the downhill, and tried running again. To my surprise, the toe was fine on the gentle rollers and flat. Only the steeper hills bothered me. So, after an eternity of walking and thinking I was going to DNF, I was moving again. I ended up running the rest of the way back (miles 8.5 to finish) at a 10:45 pace, non-stop. A sag wagon found me at mile 9 and asked it I wanted a ride in, but I told him he was too late--I'd decided I was going to finish this f*cker as long as my toe held up.
It was really frustrating to see my worst 70.3 finish time ever by almost 40min (7:48) and to have nearly the entire tri site shut down. It was even harder mentally to deal with the stupid toe. Though I may not be proud of the time, I finished, and I'm proud that I stuck with it.
And I feel incredibly lucky to have such an amazing support crew. Even if the kiddo only slept for 2 hrs the night before the race...tent camping with a toddler...don't do it! :P
To be honest, I had a little pity party for myself when the CTO loaded the car to come home. Some 'why me' and 'why did i break my stupid toe' tears might have happened. But after giving the CTO a run-through of my race, I realized it wasn't as terrible as I thought. The course was tough--so finish times were slower across the board. My time was going to be slower than I wanted anyways, even without toe issues. And to have the toe be my only real limiter showed to me that I have built up some sizable fitness and mental strength.
Louisville is hilly, but there aren't ridiculous 3mi long, >8% grade climbs. The run has rollers, but no massive 2mi climbs and descents. I'll know better next weekend how I fare on it--I'm headed down there for the iamtri training weekend--but I'm feeling more confident about my ability to handle it now.
Sometimes I feel like I have a dark cloud following me around as I train. And sometimes I feel like I spend as much time whining and making excuses for why I'm not 'fast' as I do actually training. This was all supposed to be for fun. The crazy thing is, I am having fun--I promise!! I guess I just post about the fun less than the other crap? I'm kind of a cynic and a sarcastic moFo, so maybe I don't know how to properly write about happy things?
Does everyone have this much trouble with training, and I need to just suck it up? Give it to me straight, internets.
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