Rest & Test Week #2: Rev3 Williamsburg Olympic

This Block

Triathlon is a big part of who I am and historically the sport which I do carries a lot of value in my life. I'm dedicated, I'm determined and I'm driven. I compete and train hard because I love it, but also because it fuelsmy life outside of that, as well. It's a stress relief, its a time management placer and it's a way for me to stay motivated in my academic life, as well. It's statistically proven that in season athletes perform better in season than athletes out of season. This remains to be true about my life even after college. This block was a big struggle for me. I chose to do things for me and not triathlon. I chose to work on relationships over doing PPTs on Sundays and even my long rides. I chose to sleep the week after Eagleman, which my body clearly needed, instead of doing recovery workouts. I chose to travel and do things that made me happy but it ultimately made me unhappy. Because I was slacking in workouts, my grades dropped a little, and because I wasn't working out too much, I wasn't sleeping great, which obviously you can see made a viscous cycle. I love the relationships, and want to continue to build them, but I need to do better this block in finding that balance of relationships and fun to training and fun to homework and good scores. (If anyone wants to learn about time management and how a full time student has time to work full time with two part time jobs and train for triathlons, while still having a social life, let me know! I'm free to teach you all about my color coding schedule ways!)

Rest & Test Week
Once again, the week leading up to my race was both rest and test week. Although this is great for the academic tests, I had so much stress surrounding the week. I was off work on Monday, July 4, which left me 3 days to work 30 hours. So, I worked 10 hour shifts everyday with an exam after work. My body and my mind were exhausted and then there was the thought of my boyfriend meeting my parents that weekend, as well. No pressure, right? With all of that being said, I finished my exams on Friday before my race and had a great ten hour sleep. Having my parents in town was so great-we stayed a condo type resort where my best friend, Rachel, and I got out own bedroom and bathroom then had a large living room and kitchen...20 minutes from race site.

Saturday
Julie and I got the the race site at 10:30a.m. to get our swim and bike rides in before checking in at the expo. In waiting for her to be done with pro things, I hopped in a pair of Normatec boots and recovered the right way. It was a HOT day, so I tried my best to stay out of the sun and in the shade. When completed at the expo, we headed back to our condo and slept, played games and had all gluten free chicken parmesan for dinner.

Race Morning
I strayed from my usual banana bites and banana for breakfast just because I didn't have any. Instead had three scrambled eggs and one piece  of cinnamon raisin bread. Got to transition to pump air into my tires, went for a quick ride and run and a long swim in the overly warm, fast current water.

Swim:16:37
The water was hot but the current was crazy fast, allowing me to have the 6th overall woman swim time, and got to be the second woman out of the water in my division. Despite the hot water, the swim went pretty well for me. I found some feet (!!!) to hang on to for the first five minutes, then fell off (she beat me out of the water by 1:04). Due to the current, the buoys were moving all over the place, so when I came to one of the turn buoys, I was very confused to why all the volunteers were telling me to go around them and not the turn buoy. I then spent the rest of the swim thinking I was going to get DQed for not going around the bouy...in the end it all worked out.

T1: 1:18
Dan's mantra about transitions "Think slow, act fast" worked very well in this transition. I got out of the water, heard my friends cheering for me and put my head down and kept going to transition. I realized that one thing I forgot to do in transition before the race was un-velcro my bike shoes. Forgetting this meant I had to spend that time to do it in transition before putting them on my feet. Other than that, it was a good, quick transition.

Bike: 1:19:32

Look at those leg muscles! 

The first several miles of the bike were me weaving in and out of people in front of me, which I have grown accustomed to over the past few months. After the large amounts of people came the one middle aged man who hated me passing him. I think a lot of women have had this problem in races. You start approaching a slower cyclist in front of you, so you go around them and settle in after passing. He then, immediately goes around you and slams on his brakes, so you go around him again, faster this time trying to shed him off of your trail, but he immediately goes around you again and slams on the brakes. Dude, I'm clearly faster than you, please just let me ride in peace...and after two miles of this nonsense, he finally lets me. Just as Dan promised, I was alone after that. I didn't see people at all, I was just in my tucked aero position going at it. I felt good, my legs felt fresh and like they could go on for another 40K.

T2: 0:43
Quick transition! I attempted and successfully completed a flying dismount for the first time ever. I don't think I thought about it, but as that line approached closer and closer to dismount, I just went for it. Glad I did, because it sped things up for me! Shoes were off, shoes were on and I put my visor and number belt on while running out of transition.

Run: 1:01:02

Hauling out of transition

I flew out of transition and up that hill get go, which may have contributed to my fail at the end of the run. It was hot but not as hot as Eagleman so I knew I could do better. Having this be my first ever 10k outside of training, I was a little nervous for it, but I knew I wanted that podium spot. I know where I am during race, I was second out of the water, second back from bike, so all I had to do was hang on enough to get that spot. In the past, my races have always been swim and bike and lose it on the run. That's what happened a bit at this race, unfortunately. After mile 3, I got a cramp in my left side, so I held on to that while still running. At mile 4.5, I had double cramps in both of my sides and I was hurting. I knew my pace had slowed down a lot and around then, another girl passed me in my age group. It was great having all the Endorphin people around, as it was a team race, so I got good lucks and keep moving, words of encouragement. I could hear my friends when I came around the corner after the hill (I think), but at that point I was trying not to cry because everything inside of me hurt. 500meters left until the finish and one more girl passed me, but I had nothing left. My heart rate was through the roof and I couldn't get my body to move any quicker.

Overall: 2:39:12 (4th/5th?? in AG)
I crossed the finish line emotionless but welcomed the hug from Ashley once I made it! It wasn't the pain of Eagleman but it was the pain o of disappointment. Despite the disappointment, I was surrounded by my friends and family who had come and cheered for me, which always makes the day better. Looking forward, I know that I have more work to do and I get another shot at it next month at Rev3 Poconos.

Next Block:
The next block after this is going to be me recommitting myself to the equal balance of all the things I love in my life, even if that means pulling off the freeway on a roadtrip and doing a trainer workout because you need to get one in, or waking up form a night out and going for a 7 mile training run where you PR your 10k. Life and training is all about balance, passion and time management. Once you figure out those three, you're looking pretty good. Oh! And I'm in the home stretch of school! Of course my final exams are the week of Rev3 Poconos, but then I get a 3 week break!

I also get the chance to cheer on Meghan at Ironman Lake Placid, which will be an amazing experience! I am so proud of all of her hard work over the past several months and can't wait to see her put it all together for an Ironman!