Austin (the land of hills) 70.3

When I decided earlier this summer to do this race, I had a fair amount of anxiety.  I knew I could do the swim, bike, and run independently, but I had no way of knowing what my body would want to do when I lumped them all together.  So, for 16 weeks, I got on the training wagon and was pretty dang diligent about sticking to my workouts.  I worked on things like speed, endurance, and my hardest one - my mental game.  It was hard for me to really say and believe that I could do this (and not fall apart).  I worked on the removing the thoughts of self-doubt, but to be honest, they still lingered a bit.

So - about two weeks before the Austin I started looking at the weather and it was SO dang hot!  I was starting to panic (and pray - for real - for a cold front to move in.  About a week out, the weather forecase shifted (hallelujia!).  The forecast was for colder weather, which my body much prefers to race in.

On Thursday Amber and I flew down to Texas, and were amazed at how green and pretty it was!  Friday we registered and I was starting to get pumped!  Saturday at bike check in I was feeling the nerves - along with the periodic lingering pit in my stomach - to get out there and race.  After we got our bikes situated we drove the bike course.  And, the roads were pretty terrible.  I'd say that about 90% of the roads were cracked and filled, and tilting, and potholed, etc.  Oh, and the hills... well they're everywhere.  Granted, I ride hills out where I live, but I had no idea that the race was going to be SO hilly!  After getting a mental snapshot of the bike course, we headed to a local bike shop to get some cold weather gear (since it really was going to be in the low 40s the next morning).  I picked up arm warmers, gloves, and a vest, figuring that could help me not freeze on the bike.  We had a nice early dinner Saturday night, and got the rest of our bags ready and tried to get to sleep early.

Sunday morning when my alarm went off I was so excited and nervous to get racing!  We headed over to the arena where we'd get bused, but there were long lines.  We knew transition closing was getting close, but didn't realize how close until we finally got into transition and they announced it would close in less than 15 minutes.   Ack!  So, after making sure my transition bags had everything I needed, we headed out to watch the pros begin.  It was COLD!  Good thing we'd bundled up in our Bearpaw boots, Head hoodies, and the like!  We were the 12th wave to start, so we had a bunch of time to kill.... however, when we got our wetsuits on, and dropped off our morning bags we walked back down near the water and I realized I'd left my earplugs in my bag - crap!  So we ran back up, and fortunately my bag was still on the top of the pile - whew!

So, getting to the good stuff - our wave began!  Getting in the water felt SO good since it was so cold outside.  I couldn't wait to take off.  I found a nice place at the front of the pack off to the inside, and at the horn, I took off.  I love the swim, but hate swim starts, so I just wanted to get out ahead of as many people as possible and avoid the washing machine!  Pretty quickly I got into my rythym and was swimming right next to another purple cap.  We were keeping in exact stroke with one another, so I knew I wanted to stay by this girl.  After the first couple buoys, I ran into some white caps from the wave ahead of us and lost my site off this girl.  So, I peeked up, and saw her right ahead of me.  I caught up to her feet and drafted on her toes for about a 1000 or so.  It was sweet, she cut the movement of the water perfectly for me!  First time I have been able to get such a good draft off anyone, usually I just do my own thing.  Anyway, I ended up getting out of the water feeling great, and ran up to T1.

T1 was SO slow, dumping out my bag of stuff, and trying to get clothes on a wet body, ugh!   But I  picked up my bike and ran it out of the transition area (hoping to avoid any goat heads in my tires), and threw a bonk breaker in my mouth.  I hopped on the bike and was anxious to get going.  I knew there were a couple big hills in the first 10 miles, so I just wanted to knock those out of the way.  Amber passed me somewhere between mile 10 and 15, and within minutes she was out of site  - so fast!  I tried to keep a strong pace, but it was windy!  I ended up holding around 17.6 mph on the bike, which was slower than I hoped, but I was content knowing that I gave a good push.  My other goals on the bike were to hydrate well and get in my calories.  When I made it to T2, I was glad to be off the bike.  But when I stepped off to dismount, I lost my legs and almost fell over.  Thanks to the guy volunteering who caught my waist and gave me a little push upright :).  T2 was slow, I wanted to run through it, but ended up walking.... pretty slowly at that.  I threw on my shoes and visor and headed out. 

My legs felt pretty good by about a half mile in on the run, and then I got to the first big up hill, which sucked.  My muscles were feeling tight, but I kept forging on..   The 3 loops were interesting for me.  Loop one I tried not to even think about those miles - I had to stay out of my head, otherwise I would have visited things like "I'm only at mile 1, 2, 3, etc".  So instead I sang a line of a song over and over and over in my head.  When I began the second loop I was feeling just plain tired.  I wasn't cramping (thanks to my salt intake, and earlier hydration), but I just wanted to sit down.  I did my fair share of walking on this loop, but ran most of the 2 miles back.  When I set out on my third loop, I really let it hit me - I WAS GOING TO FINISH THIS RACE!  I honestly hadn't let myself really take hold onto that, because it scared me a little.  I typically in tris like to find a running buddy - it distracts me from my own thoughts, and from physical pain.  But, up to mile 9 I had run alone.  I found someone at about mile 11 who was holding my running cadence and was right behind me.  I turned around and chatted and ran with some guy from NY for about a mile and a half, at which point he bolted, and I kept on moving toward the finish.  In all honesty, I felt like the last quarter of a mile was taking FOREVER, but I gave my last big push into the finish line. 

I was so happy, and overwhelmed at the finish line.  4 months ago I set a goal, I had a plan, and I stuck with it to accomplish something I had never done, and wasn't quite sure I would be able to do.  I wanted to finish in under 6 hours, and came in at 5:54.  I will take it!  The next months I can pick apart my race to decide where I can drop time next year, but I am really happy most of all that I stuck with it and that I didn't fall apart mentally.  It was wonderful to race with Amber, who is so encouraging, and believed I could do it  all along.  I really felt like this race was a big milestone for me, the title of which is - I can do hard things :)

Thanks to my friends and family who beleived in me, watched kids so I could get training done, my husband who let me neglect things in order to stay with the program, to my teammates who are amazing, and inspire me all the time.  A big special thanks to my sponsors who never cease to dish out the love in big doses - BEARPAW (seriously, my toes would have fallen off prerace had I not been covered), HEAD for my goggles which continue to be my favorite ever, and for my cozy sweatshirt to stay warm, Kestrel for a killer fast bike that moves like the wind (despite the head wind), Flexr for keeping my hydration needs covered, Darn Tough - love those socks, they were perfect for keeping my toes from freezing on the bike course, Switch - wicked good sunglasses which were great out there on the run.  Additional love to Gu for having such a good variety of gels to keep me pumping in the calories, and to K-swiss for the awesome running shoes - I LOVE, LOVE them.