When I first heard about this new race in CO, I was super excited. Ever since I did my first half in the fall of 2012, I had been marinating on the idea of doing another race. Grand Junction was perfect, it's not too far to drive, and I have family there, which is great for lodging. :)
The day before the race, as usual, I went with Amber's family and my littles over to Highline Lake to hop in for a swim. The water was a little chilly, but not too bad. The lake is long, with higher protected sides, and pretty (though the water itself was pretty dirty). We got a good feel for the transition area, and sat through the pre-race meeting. Both of us were having some technical issues - my cateye battery was dead on my bike, and Amber's garmin was acting up. So instead of our planned leisurely drive of the bike course, we ran into Fruita (town nearby), and got our stuff situated. Once bikes were ready, we brought them back and checked them in. A couple of things that were different for me on this race were that the transition area was a good little job up from the water... up a grass hill, through the park, and over the parking lot. I figured I'd have plenty of time to get out of my wetsuit and gear on my run over. The other thing that I didn't necessarily love is that the bike out was on the side away from the road, so you had to run your bike over the grass and around transition to get to the parking lot of the park.
SO - race day.
Got up at 4am to have a nice big breakfast. Had all my things loaded and ready to roll, was feeling really good. After a last minute inventory to make sure I hadn't over looked anything, Amber and I hopped in the car and headed toward the lake. It was SO calm and quiet at the race start. There was a bit of buzz, but there weren't a ton of racers. There were roughly 250 doing the half, and 50 doing the full. I really liked the set up for the HITS transition. The bike setup was nice, and the big containers for your other "stuff" is great to have it handy, but not right in the way. I also didn't know at the start how much I would like the little stool they had at each station. I'll touch on that later :)
Race start: After a brief rundown from Mark Wilson (race director), and a lovely little prayer, we got in the water about waist deep and waited for the mass start. I picked my usual spot - up front but off to the side. About a minute into the swim, two guys (one on either side) both elbowed me simultaneously in the head. :( It caught me so off guard that I popped up out of the water, and not-so-gently shoved them both away from me with my hands. Then, I got back to my joyful swim. The water was nice and calm once about 10 minutes in, and the people started to spread out. I was feeling so good that when I hit the last buoy I was going all out and feeling great. When I hit the shore and got up, Mark (race d) was there and told me I was the 2nd woman out - WOOHOO! Then I looked at my watch and saw my time! YES. Final swim time 30:55!
There were no wetsuit strippers at this event, but beforehand, Amber and I designated James Lawrence as our helper. I saw him as I started running up the hill, and got the suit yanked off and ran toward transition. My feet were COLD. The lake was chilly, and my feet felt like stumps. I hate that sensation. Once in transition, I threw on my helmet, socks, shoes, glasses and ran! T1 time: 2:56. Not too bad considering that counted the run up from the lake.
I was really excited for the bike on this race. I had been feeling the itch, big time to be out on my bike. Within the first mile, I was all adrenaline, and almost had a euphoric feeling. I was flying! The course itself was filled with lots of rolling country roads (my favorite!). The course had two out and back sections. It was beautiful scenery, had some little and a couple big climbs on the first big. The first out and back included a steep hill climb and lots of little rolling sections. The second out and back was a little more difficult. It included an eleven mile climb. Yes, I said 11. I was feeling pretty good overall on this, but it was slow going, and there was a headwind. When I hit the turnaround, I FLEW down the hill. I tried to remember not to kill myself going all out on the last 5 or so miles, so I wouldn't have dead legs on the run. My nutrition on the bike was so dialed in; I've never felt so good on the bike before. I was really conscientious about how I was feeling, so I was taking more/less salt/water during the whole bike ride. I averaged 19.5mph on the bike - and I was happy with that! One little down note is that the bike course was long. It was 57.22 miles :( Bike time: 2:56:11.
T2 - oh, this is where I was happy for my little stool. After running my bike over the grass into transition, I set it up, and then sat to change my shoes. I didn't realize that the quick sit motion would make my head woosey! I almost fell of my stool - was sure glad it was there though! I threw on my running belt, grabbed my water bottle, switched shoes, and ran out. T2 time: 1:50
Coach told me to not kill myself out the gate on the run, no matter how good I was feeling. right off the bat, the run was pretty much downhill, you went over the dam and then down on a trail that linked to a road. My legs were a little jelly, but I just kept going. I felt okay and then I hit the hill. I ran through that, and then the wind came. I don't mean a breeze, or light wind... I run in that all the time at home. This was real serious wind, with big gusts! Miles 2-6.5 (turnaround) sucked! It was so windy, and my usual tactic of finding a running buddy didn't work. I found one gal, but she was doing a run 2/walk1, then I found another guy, but he stopped for the port-o. It was kind of lonely. Though I was kind of spent, and going slower than I would have liked, I wasn't mentally falling apart. I just kept telling myself that I could still hit my own goal overall. When I hit the "halfway" point, I sadly realized that the run was going to be long too :( The run course ended up being 13.4 miles. The bonus of the turnaround was that I had a nice brief tailwind that was STRONG! But all good things must come to an end... like when I had to make a right turn down the road, and my friend the tailwind, had become a new nemesis - crosswind. I stopped at every aid station, and got water/coke. I should have forced myself to do better on my salts and gu on the run. That is where I need to nail it down next time. Running in was great! I came around the bend toward the finish and saw my sister with my little kids, and Amber's little kids. They were screaming and cheering like crazy! Derek even gave me a nice back handspring, and then they ran it in with me. My final time on the run was 2:09:09.
My overall time was 5:41:03. I wanted to finish in 5:45 or less, and so I was tickled pink about this. I was especially happy with my swim and bike. And I learned that sometimes, even when you feel amazing in one event, you may need to reign it in a bit so you have some left to give on the others. The best bonus of the day was to find out that I actually placed!!! I took 2nd in my agegroup, and was stoked!
From Austin 70.3 until this race was just over 6 months. I cut 15 minutes off my time, and got a PR on my swim and bike.
As usual, I had a terrific time racing with Amber. She is so great to race with, and I'm always blown away by how much inner drive she has. I hope it will rub off on me :) It is wonderful to have a friend out there on the course - even if it is just to see that you're not the only one dying a little :)
Special thanks to my great teammates who cheer for and support me! Thank you so much to my coaches, Mahogani and Heath with HT Training. I learn SO much from you both, and am grateful that you see the potential in me to do hard things, and that you believe in me. I couldn't train a day without the support of my husband and kids - I'm so blessed that they support me in my craziness to do this awesome sport.
Thank you to our wonderful sponsors HEAD Swimming - I am so in love with my goggles I can't even express it - -and thank you so much for your constant attention and support of me and our entire team - BEARPAW, I love that after I beat my feet up, your shoes are there to help them get better! Thanks so much to Kestrel (love my bike!), TriEdge, Gu, Flexr, and Switch - this sponsor support is phenomenal to have!
I loved the HITS race - Mark was a fantastic director, the staff and volunteers were well prepared, and I loved the smaller feel to a distance race. I will do a HITS race again!
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