Kinetic 1/2 IM Race Report

Just 2 weeks after the first tri of the season (Rumpus in Bumpass Sprint) I was headed back to Lake Anna for the Kinetic 1/2 (70.3 distance race).  I love this race and was happy to be back after missing it in 2015 due to IMTX.    We were once again grateful for the generosity of our friends to let us stay at there Lake House and make race weekend that much more comfortably.  When we headed down mid-day on Friday it was a torrential downpour.  Amazingly, as we rolled into Lake Anna State Park in the early afternoon the sun came out and the pavement started drying.  We jumped in the comfortably cool, wetsuit legal water for a short swim before heading out on the bike to freshen up the legs.

Who am I kidding, I'd head to Lake Anna every weekend if I could.  This was our 3rd weekend in a row down there.  The previous weekend we were there for a big training weekend, getting in 99.5 miles on the bike followed by a hard run and a long run the next morning on the Kinetic 1/2 course.  Seems every year I do Kinetic,  I am blessed with a huge weekend just before race day.  Kinetic has never been an A race for me so I like the big training leading up to race day.  Racing slightly tired and fatigued really helps you appreciate those races you get to taper for ;)

Friday evening was pretty low key, the way I like to keep the night before a race.  A simple dinner followed by all the fun pre-race stuff - stickers on helmet/bike, putting race wheels on, organizing nutrition, etc.  Just as I thought I was done and happy to have my race wheels on without much trouble (or brake rubbage) Scott decided to check my brakes.  Unfortunately, we discovered that my rear brake wasn't releasing all the way.  Since 3 people in our crew all work at bike shops we looked at it and decided the best course of action was to ride it as is and use the rear brake as minimally as possible along with the idea that the road vibration would help disengage the rear brake if I do use it.

Snapple Teammates at the Finish!

RACE DAY
Saturday morning was gorgeous, a little cool but the sun was rising as everyone set up transition and
prepared for what was likely their first long course race of 2016.

THE SWIM - 38:06 (4th AG)
This was an in-water start about chest deep.  At the sound of the horn I went hard but tried to get into my own rhythm as quickly as possible.  I could tell the lead group was pulling away within the first couple hundred meters.  I kept my head down and tried to keep working hard.  I was able to find feet and stay on them for a a few hundred meters before losing them and was on and off other sets of feet for the remainder of the swim.  The course this year was a basic rectangle as opposed to the trapezoidal shape of the past.  As we made the final turn for the long straight away back toward the beach teh sun was directly in our eyes.  It was almost impossible to see the beach, let alone any of the signting buoys.  This led to following other caps - not the best technique when trying to swim a straight line.  I felt strong during this swim, but know that I should have and am capable of swimming a couple of minutes faster.

T1 - 2:30
I ran into T1 almost positive my bike was in the row 2nd from Bike Out.  I ran to the 2nd row from the fence and stood there in disbelief!  No bike, did someone really take my bike.  It would have been super helpful to have the ends of the rows numbered or lettered.  I quickly realized that I had run rows past my bike got my wetsuit off, helmet and shoes on and I was off.  I almost had to push some slow men out of the way on my way to the dismount line.

THE BIKE 2:34:31(1st AG)
Oh boy, so eventful and uneventful all at the same time!  Shortly into the bike course while still in the state park I heard a bottle fly out and hit the ground.  I looked over my right shoulder and saw a yellow tinted deer park bottle hit the ground.  I couldn't believe it but I figured I had just launched a bottle of Osmo.  My rear cages have never launched a bottle, not even on super bumpy crap, let alone just riding relatively easily out of the park.  No worries as there were multiple aid stations along the course, I knew I could get the hydration I would need on course.  I was able to stick to my race plan and execute a pretty great ride.  The temps started out nice and cool but definitely started heating up towards the end of the 56 miles.  Around mile 45, as I am feeling a bit comfortable pushing just a touch harder and finishing this ride up, I was passing some dude (he likely started 8-12 minutes before me) and as I was passing him he sped up just enough to stay even with me, I push a touch more, he pushed more, I glared at him, he stayed there, I glared again and he finally says 'your front wheel is in front go ahead'.  Wow, thanks dude I'm only 8-12 minutes ahead of you now and have obviously been moving faster than you this entire race.  Note to guys - as a woman passes you encourage her and let her go, don't yo-yo with her, don't jump on her wheel and for goodness sake don't try to prevent the pass.  He never let me get too far away as we passed a couple of my Snapple teammates and headed back into the park toward T2.  First attempt at a flying dismount on Rinster...and I realized getting my leg over the top tube was a bit tricker than on MR and decided to just hop off the bike once slowing.  My feet were already out of the shoes, but I guess I need to practice the flying dismount on the new bike to quicken things up just a bit.

T2 - :52 (1st AG)
In and out as quickly as possible as I knew there was at least 1 female ahead of me and 2 not far behind me.

THE RUN - 1:46:07 - (1st AG)
I was looking forward to seeing what I could do on this run course.  I came out of transition just a

Loop #1, first time up the hill!

minute or so ahead of my teammate Heather and she was only a minute ahead of our teammate Paige (#snappledomination). My previous best on this hilly course was a 1:52 and my previous best in a 1/2 IM being a 1:42.  I was able to keep my cadence up and get my legs turning over pretty soon into the run.  I started the run with a throw-away bottle of Osmo to help top off hydration.  I was so thankful for this as the day started warming up!  I settled into a comfortable pace and ticking off the first few miles.  I only ever saw the first place female heading back toward me but I was told I was in 3rd.  Shortly after the 3 mile marker my Snapple teammate, Paige, caught up to me and after exchanging a few words she was off to try and track down #2.  Once I was about 6 miles in I tried to pick up the effort level just a bit, but I was sort of stuck in the moderately fast cruise pace.  I was trying to just bring the HR up one beat at a time but it seems like anytime I'd start to bring it up it would go right back to where we had been.  Was this an indication of slightly over biking or the fatigue of the previous week catching up with me.  I pushed the uphills and used the downhills, trashing my quads by the final few miles.  I put everything I had into the last couple miles and was happy to finish with a course PR and come in as the 4th OA female with some tough competition on the heels of a tough training week.

POST RACE
Overall this was a great early season test and let's me know where we are at on some things - like swim, bike, run but also other important things (nutrition, transition, etc).  It was a great day with so many friends and DC athletes racing, there was always somebody to cheer for on the run course.  Still plenty of room improvement in all areas, but good to see that I am headed in the right direction.

Snapple and DC Tri Crew with Hardware!

Thank you most of all goes out to Fuel Your Passion Coaching, The Wodiska's for hosting us, and Adam and my family.  Thank you to my sponsors DC Tri Club, Snapple Triathlon, Team, District Taco, Xterra Wetsuits, Rudy Project Helmets, Louis Garneau, Pierce Footwear by Seven Dynamics, and Rose Physical Therapy Group for helping this season get off to an awesome start.  Thank you to all the DC Tri and Snapple athletes racing and cheering at Kinetic, it was great to be pushed and challenged by my teammates and friends on the course!  Looking forward to a challenging and fun day in just 2 weeks at Syracuse 70.3 and a taper that comes with it!

Post Race treatment from Rose PT!

Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.

Rumpus in Bumpass 2016: Making it Hurt

When possible I like to start my season with a get the dust out and shake off the cobwebs sprint distance tri.  In 2015 my season started early with a 1/2 IM in April and IMTX in May - no time for a sprint with that schedule!  I knew 2016 was going to look different with a much longer lead up time to my goal race (IM MT) and wanted to get something short and fast on there to start the season with.  I originally thought I'd return to Around the Mount, which I had done in 2014, but when VTS announced the return of Rumpus in Bumpass I knew I wanted to do it.  Mostly the open water swim was calling me - I spent a lot of time at the pool this off season and was eager to get some open water race practice in before some of my bigger races this year.

This race was put on the schedule as a 'C' race - no tapering, heck no rest before.  Literally on the schedule for open water practice, transition practice and shaking off the cobwebs (and valid reason to use my new disc wheel).  Adam and I headed down to Lake Anna on Saturday morning and I was able to get in about 88 miles on the bike followed by a 35 minute transition run.  I felt great for Saturday's big workout and was fortunate to have a comfortable house to stay in at the lake to refuel and recover over night.  Saturday night was decently relaxing, except for attempting to put on my disc wheel and realizing it wasn't sitting correctly.  Adam tried a few things, but we didn't have the correct allen wrench, so eventually just decided to leave earlier in the AM and visit the mechanic.  If it didn't work out I'd just race on my training wheels.

Pre-Race:

Damn thats a hot bike!

We headed over to the race site plenty early and the rain actually seemed to let up as we pulled into the parking lot.  Once we were parked I immediately headed over to the mechanic.  He was quick to ask what was wrong and was confidently fixing the problem in no time.  Thankfully he was from a shop that is a Felt dealer and has experience working on the IA.  Once the wheel was spinning
smoothly I went ahead and racked the bike before heading back to the car.  No sense in carrying her over mud more times than necessary.  The short wait for the mechanic and the quick fix (off-set screws)  left Adam and I with more than enough time to set up transition and warm up.  The rain came and went multiple times pre-race which made me very thankful for the garbage bag that I used to cover my transition area.

THE SWIM - 14:54 (17th/136)
I used some open water start skills that I had worked on and got out fast before calming down into a good rhythm.  About 250-300 meters in my goggle started to fill with water and was making sighting difficult, I had to roll on to my back and quickly dump the water as I continued on and around the first turn buoy.  As I rounded that buoy I began catching men from the wave in front of me and was feeling strong.  I came to the last turn buoy, made my turn a bit too sharply and started to swim back toward the start and not the finish.  Thankfully some dude was resting on the buoy and yelled at me that I was going the wrong way so I quickly corrected and probably didn't actually get too far off course.  I swam strong into the finish and continued catching and passing people on my way.  I came out of the water with a small group of pink caps and was quickly into transition.

T1- 2:16 (2nd/136)
I ran into transition as I was pulling off my wetsuit.  As I was stepping out of the legs once at my bike, I started slipping and just sat my butt on the ground to get the thing off.  Once back on my feet I stepped into my shoes as I heard the announcer say 1st female was headed onto the bike course!  Huge confidence booster there, usually I'm hunting on the bike, now I knew right where the lead female was and she was only about 30 seconds ahead of me.  Helmet and sunglasses on and I was on my way to the mount line.

THE BIKE - 33:31 (1st/136)
The race plan going in was to make it hurt.  Unlike the half and full distance races that I love so much, there was no time to get comfortable.  Just load it on, pump the legs and make it hurt.  First race on the new bike and she flew!  The roads were soaked and I really didn't want to kiss the pavement so I took the corners very easily.  Adam and I drove the course the evening before and I was thankful to know about the sharp turn with a quick uphill in the first few miles.  I had to keep reminding myself to make it hurt as I wanted to slip into a more comfortable effort a few times.  I knew that I came out of transition as 4th female, passed 2 ladies at the mount line and made the pass for first withing the first 5 or so minutes. Making it hurt paid off with fastest bike split on the women's side and 6th fastest bike split of the day.  I tried not to think about the effect this effort level would have on my 5k as continued to blow my legs out for 33 minutes.

T2 - 1:31 (2nd/136)
I rolled into T2, did a quasi-nervous flying dismount as the roads were super slick and headed in to rack my bike.  Re-racked, helmet and sunglasses off, run shoes on and race belt + visor in hand I headed out to tackle the run course.

THE RUN - 22:45 (4th/136)
The run course starts out with a gentle uphill on grass/road and the dumps you on a path through the woods.  The path was covered in mud and was not easy to get good footing in some places.  Thankfully this portion of the course is quite short.  As I was exiting the wooded area and had to jump over the drainage ditch the mud sucked my left shoe right off my foot.  I noticed before I pulled my foot completely out and was able to get the shoe back on without much difficulty.   Once onto the paved road I kept reminding myself to make it hurt.   The road was a nice rolling and windy road for the out and back run.  I saw Adam crossing mile 2 as I was crossing the mile 1 marker.  With his 8 minute head start on me I knew we were close time-wise and thought wow if I can really push it on this run I might beat him!  I made it to the turn around and didn't see any other women until I was probably about 1.75 miles in, putting the closest ladies within about a half mile.  The men and ladies cheering for me as I headed back on the run course as 1st female were awesome and so supportive.  One more dash through the muddy and now more crowded wooded trail and then it was a down hill into the finish line.  Arms overhead, I crossed the line with an overall win to start off the 2016 season.

POST RACE THOUGHTS
The biggest victory for me here was really the swim (yes, the OA win was nice too).  For me this race was all about getting comfortable in open water again and getting the confidence I've gained in the pool to carry over to the open water.  There is still plenty of work to be done on my swim, but it's nice to see gains.  At first thought I was a little disappointed with my bike and run splits - because I know I'm capable of faster...on rested and tapered legs.  This race served the exact purpose it was on the schedule for -- shaking out the cobwebs and riding the pain train.  The overall win was a good confidence booster as I enter some longer course racing and big goals for the season.  I'm looking forward to kicking off the long course season at Kinetic on May 14th among a group of strong women.

Thank you most of all goes out to Fuel Your Passion Coaching, best decision I ever made back in 2013! Also thank you to Beth of Sportfit Lab for consistent swim work and friend Shannon always willing to go to the pool and share tips and advice, and friend Erin for always willing to do my bike workout at HP. Thank you to my sponsors DC Tri Club, Snapple Triathlon, Team, District Taco, Xterra Wetsuits, Rudy Project Helmets, Louis Garneau, Pierce Footwear by Seven Dynamics, and Rose Physical Therapy Group for helping this season get off to an awesome start.  I can't wait to see how this season unfolds and I'm so thankful for all the love and support in my life.  I have some great people in my corner this year!

For those wondering Adam managed a fast enough 5k to get me by 23 seconds!  There may be a sprint distance rematch late season.

Cherry Blossom 2016 Race Report

I didn't go into the 2016 season with Cherry Blossom 10 Miler on my race schedule.  When the opportunity arose to receive a bib transfer from a patient of mine, I sent coach a quick email, and in no time it was added to the calendar.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to add this race and enjoy may favorite course in DC.  Not only is a great course no matter the time of year, but during Cherry Blossom season it is (usually) arguably one of the most beautiful running races you'll ever participate in.

After a rough start to the 2016 season and a bit of a rough go at my early season 1/2 marathon I was excited to get out there and check in on my fitness.  The weather reports started coming in about a week out from race day - winter like temperatures and high winds.  It didn't change much in the days before the race, the predicted winds may have gotten stronger but wind is wind and there is nothing I, or anyone, can do about it.  Race day aligned perfectly with the end of a recovery week for me so my legs were feeling fresh and quite energetic.  Going into this race I hadn't run a 10 miler since Fall 2014 and my PR was 2.5 years behind me...fall of 2013 I ran a 1:15:26.  I had told myself I'd be happy to just break 1:15 but I didn't want to set myself up for failure not knowing how bad this weather situation and course crowding might be.

One of the highlights of this years race was having Meb Keflezighi in town to participate.  I happened to be roaming the expo while Adam was working when Meb had just stepped up to the podium to speak.  There was some empty chairs front and center and I was happy to take a seat.  He was a great speaker and has a great story.  I've told everyone I know about his first mile, his first marathon, his cross training methods, etc, etc...it's all very interesting.  Oh, and his pre-race meal - Spaghetti and meatballs, pre-race dinner since high school.  Naturally, when we went out with friends, I figured if it's good enough for Meb than it's good enough for me, and promptly ordered spaghettis and meatballs.

Race morning came quickly as the 40-50 mph wind gusts throughout the night kept waking me.  I went with my (new) normal pre-race breakfast and down a bottle of Osmo before layering up and heading out to the nearest bikeshare station.  I leisurely rode from Courthouse over to the mall and had no trouble docking my Cabi Bike.  I was surprised to be able to basically walk right into a port a potty before heading to bag check.  I slowly unlayered and bagged the warm clothes knowing I'd want them post race.  I was tempted to hit the bathroom again but when I looked over the lines for the porta a potty's were outrageous.

I was able to get in a nice 15 minute warm up, take a couple pictures with my RosePT co-workers and then make my way to the starting corral.  I was able to get reasonably close to the front of my corral, but really, in retrospect, I should have gotten myself to the front.  We were packed to close together and the sun was shining down on us that I was nice and cozy.  Once the first corral took off our group spread out and the cold started to seep in.  I had a race plan for the day but new that I was racing mostly by feel with the general goal of ascending the heart rate throughout.

Perfect flags on a crisp Cherry Blossom morning!

I was able to do a pretty good job of holding back on the first mile (I think the crowd helped) and was happy to see my heart rate was in check and I was more than happy with my split.  Mile 2 was tough with cross winds the whole way out and back on memorial bridge.  Once down onto Rock Creek Parkway I had fallen into a rhythm and was feeling great.  The sun was shining and we didn't have too much time spent running directly into the headwind.

Once we made the U-turn under the Kennedy Center it was tailwind-apalooza.  There were times I felt like the wind was lifting me up and pushing me along.   I kept an eye on my HR and was happy to see that it was staying steady.  I more or less held steady and hung around the same group of runners to the classic beer and Oreo station at the tip of Hains Point.  I've never actually stopped, but it's almost a guarantee that beer and Oreo's will be available at the tip of HP during any half-marathon, marathon or 10 miler course that uses the peninsula.

Once we came around the point it was straight into the headwind for a solid 2 miles.  I tried to tuck in behind people but that didn't seem to make a difference.  I continued to drive my heart rate up and focus on cadence - just controlling the things I can control.   The headwind slowed my pace a touch but as we came up Raul Wallenberg and in sight of the finish line and older man ran up beside me and said I'd paced him the entire way and we had to push it to the finish.  Ha, so sprint finish it was!  I was happy to see that I had come in at 1:13:12 and hit a 3+ minute PR at the 10 mile distance (and a 4 minute PR on the Cherry Blossom course).

Given the ups and downs I've experienced in training throughout the year and the inconsistency I've seen in my running,  I was thrilled with this performance.  We're sans speed work and pretty much strictly base building in zone 1 at this point in the game so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what I can do at my A races this year!

"May the road rise up to meet you.  May the wind be always at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face..." - an old Irish Blessing

Thank you to DC Tri Club, Snapple Tri Team, Sweatvac Performance Wear, Rose Physical Therapy Group, Pierce Footwear and Fuel Your Passion Coaching for helping set me up for success!