The first year that I raced Spudman, there were approximately 2,500 racers and I came in 26th in my division. I remember telling someone that this was not a race I would ever be able to place in. As the years have gone by, however, I found myself climbing closer and closer to that podium. Two years ago, as I came in 6th in my division, I decided it was time to stop saying "can't" and start saying
"will". As luck would have it, three months before Spudman 2012, I suffered a debilitating injury (torn hip flexor) and I had to completely stop training altogether. Just before the race, I got clearance to "race" again but was told I was not allowed to do ANY sort of speed work and I wasn't allowed to push my pace at all or I would risk a lifelong, recurring injury. I cried, but it was what it was. I raced it, holding back on the run (which prior to that injury, had always been my strongest split) and knowing this would not be the year I would place. Surprisingly, I came in 5th in my division, although my time was a couple of minutes slower than the previous year due to my slower run time.
This was my year. I decided back then that this would be my A race this season and I was going to place. Going into the race this year, I was injury free and feeling strong. My run time has never quite recovered since the injury, but I was biking stronger than ever before and my run has improved since last year. I knew exactly what I needed to do on each split to make it to that podium, and I was feeling strong and confident.
Race day came and my husband reminded me to charge the battery to my Kestrel 4000 LTD. I knew it was probably already charged but I didn't want to take any chances, so I went out to get my battery and charge it (I shouldn't say out, my bike lives in my house :). As soon as I reached for it, I felt like I should leave it alone and not mess with it, but thinking I was being cautious, I took it off anyway and gave it a full charge. I put it back on my bike and off we went.
I was bummed that none of my teammates could make it this year but thrilled that my husband and several other friends were racing with me. We rolled into Burley, ID about 7:00 pm on Friday night and got all checked in. We drove over to T1 to set our bikes up for the race the following morning. The transition area is huge and I can always feel the excitement of the upcoming race. I love checking out all the bikes, but with my Kestrel this year, I was plenty happy just drooling over my own :) We got our transition area set up and were about to head back to the car when I decided I better double check my shifters and make sure no wires etc had come undone. As I tried to shift, I realized nothing was happening. I called my husband over and told him that a wire must have come loose because my bike wouldn't shift. I was so glad I stopped to check that instead of coming out of the water the following morning to find that out. He tried to mess with it and then looked at me and said, "You don't have a battery!" WHAT??? I put the battery back on my bike after charging, but I must not have locked it in correctly. I had no battery. By this point, it was 8:30 pm. There is only one small bike shop in Burley and it closes at 6pm. I just sat there in shock for a minute. And then I started praying. This was my race. I had trained so hard and worked towards this goal for years, but with no shifters, and the bike as my strongest split, there is no way I would be placing this year. Next came the crying. About that time, a sweet race volunteer named Stan Baker found me and we told him what was going on. He said that he knew ONE guy who rode Di2. He said he would call him and if he wasn't racing, he would ask if he'd be willing to let me borrow his battery. He called his friend but got no answer.
Next, I called my coaches. Coach M (my hero, seriously, thank you) tried talking some sense into me. In my head, I was ready to just not race. I didn't want to race a less than stellar race. She said, "I know this isn't the race you wanted but this is the race you've got. You're racing in one gear. You'll just have to kill it on the run." She had the determination in her voice that I was lacking at that moment. She gave me pointers on what to do if I was in my lowest gear, or what to do if I was in my highest...and she listened to me sob my eyes out in frustration.
One of things that is awesome about Spudman is that you get to camp right on the course. About 10pm, we went back to the campground and set up our tent. And then my phone rang. It was Stan. He said he had reached his friend who said he wasn't racing and he would let me use his battery! Stan drove clear across town (okay, so in Burley that's not very far, but still...) and then hand delivered it to me about 10:30pm. I asked him if I could give him a big hug. I can't tell you how grateful I was to both Stan, and Rick Dayley, the man who agreed to let me borrow his battery. Come to find out, Rick was also the race announcer for Spudman.
I slept well the night before and woke up, almost on a high from everything working out the way I had hoped. We made our way back down to transition where I put the battery on--correctly this time-- and set everything up. I felt like I was mentally and physically in the right place to do well that morning.
My husband, friends and I all headed back to our tent where we got into our wetsuits and walked to the water. This race is typically VERY hot, so I was relieved that I was starting in an early wave. The forecast was showing highs of 95 that day and the early temps were once again projected to be quite warm. I don't run well in the heat.
My wave started at 7:20am. I am a mediocre swimmer, and I go into the swim just thinking, "swim, then race", because when I try to swim faster, my form just gets even worse and I wear myself out, without going any faster. This particular swim is current aided (HOLLA!) which I love. For those who have never done an olympic distance race, or those who aren't as strong of swimmers (like me), this race is for you. I've done this race enough to know where the current is strongest and where to position myself so I don't get run over too terribly much. I got into a great rhythm and felt like I found a great spot for my swim. I came out of the water in 20:00, which was just over a minute faster than last year.
T1 went pretty smoothly. I had a goal to transition faster than last year. I felt like I was a lot faster but when all was said and done, I only shaved 6 seconds off the previous year's transition time. Oh well, improvement is improvement, right?
I went onto the bike ready to kill it. I upgraded my bike this year and felt confident that I could really do well on the bike. I did well last year, averaging 21 mph. My goal this year was to beat that. As I started the bike portion, it started to sprinkle. I was just praying that the rain would hold off until the bike was finished. There was a bit of a headwind as we went out, but I was still passing people left and right (which is to be expected, since I come out of the water in not such a great position). I felt like I was doing pretty well, but then about 6-7 miles in, some guy passed me. I don't like ANYONE passing me on the bike, even if it is a dude, so I kicked it into gear even more and realized I should have been pushing it that much harder all along! My bike average was down a little from where I had hoped it would be, due to the headwind, but as we turned, that all changed. The rain seemed to be holding off and now I was cruising with a nice little tail wind. As I came into the final stretch, I saw that my average speed over the 25 miles was 21.7pmh, and I had shaved about 3 minutes off of last year's time. Sweet!
T2 went smoothly as well. I got in and out in a pretty good time and off I went onto the run.
This is when I had to stop and tell myself "listen to Coach M. Listen to coach M." My tendency is to go out too strong, feeling good, and thinking I can hit a certain pace, then burning out about mile 4. Coach M had told me she wanted me running a negative split. She wanted me to hold an 8:30 the first 3 miles and an 8:15 the last 3 miles. When she said that, I thought in my head, "But I can run faster than that. I'm going to....." As I began my run though, I knew that she knew what she was talking about, and I decided to hold exactly what she said. I hit the 8:30 on the first 3 and when I hit mile 4, instead of burning out, I felt awesome! The rain was really light, the cloud cover was holding, and it was a good 10 degrees cooler than I had anticipated and trained for. I felt rejuvenated at a point in my race where I usually want to vomit! I picked up my pace a little and kept the 8:15 that she told me to hold. I wasn't sure where I was in the standings, but based off my time, I knew I had to be close to 3rd. Two women had passed me at the beginning of the run. I didn't know for sure which wave they were in but I was pretty sure they were in mine. I figured that to place, I needed to pass at least one of them before the end of the run.
At 5.9 miles in, I finally caught up to one of those women. She was right in front of me. I remembered a race where I had been in 1st overall and at the very last second, a woman I had no idea was behind me, sprinted by me and took the overall title from me. I had no idea she was even there and I didn't have time to catch her. In my head, I told myself that the girl right in front of me was in 3rd place. If I passed her, I would place and hit my goal. If I didn't, I wouldn't. I really had no way of knowing if that was true, but that's what I told myself. However, I didn't know how much she might have left in the tank. I wanted to make sure that once I passed her, it was all over. I didn't want her to have the chance to pass me again before the end. I know this race course very well. At the end, you drop down a steep hill and then it's a sprint to the finish. I waited until right before that hill to make my move. I am quite tall and have a long stride so I can usually make good time going downhill. When I hit that point, I just let it fly. I took off and passed her. In my head, she was 2 steps behind me so I just sprinted with every ounce of energy I had left. I maxed out at a 5:42/mi on that last .2 miles. I did my last 3 miles at an average of 8:10, just under what Coach M had told me to. I looked up at the clock to see what my final time would be. My goal was to finish in under 2:26. I saw that I was at 2:24 and some change so I kept up the sprint, trying to make sure I finished before the clock hit 2:25. I crossed the finish line at 2:24:48. I was happy to have beaten my goal time but was still waiting to see how I'd placed.
Just after I finished, the rain started pouring! I'm sure those on the run were grateful because it kept it from being too hot, but I'd guess that the ones still out on the bike weren't so happy about it! I saw several of my Idaho friends cross the finish line and went over and hugged them and visited for a few minutes. As we were talking, I glanced at the big sign at the finish and saw my age group pop up, with my name listed as coming in 3rd place. Once again, I started to cry :) After my frustrating injury last year, then my almost disaster of the night before, I was ecstatic to have reached my goal. I wasn't even going to let the fact that I missed 2nd place by 7 seconds take away from my excitement. I did what I set out to do.
After 5 years at this race, I finally got my ugly potato ;) And as soon as I had it in my hands, I was making goals for next year's race.
After the race, I walked over to return the battery to Rick Dayley. He told me that he usually races this race. He raced it last year, and was registered to race it this year as a team. However, one of his teammates was unable to race, which was the only reason he had a battery to loan me. *cue more tears*.
Special thanks to my coaches, Heath and Mahogani Thurston, and to TriEdge, Kestrel, Switch Eyewear, T3, HEAD swimming, GU, Flexr, BearPaw, 3B Yoga, and most especially my husband Daniel who races with me and supports me in my addiction. I couldn't do it without him. And a final shout out to my heroes of this race, Stan Baker and Rick Dayley, for their help with my battery situation. You truly are angels!
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