Yuba - best low key race this year!

Well, most of the details leading up to this fine race have been covered, but I must say how much I LOVED racing Camp Yuba!  RaceTri always provides such a fun race atmosphere.  

I went into this race calmer than I ever have.  I had no expectations.  I put no real thought into how fast I hoped to swim, bike, or run.  I was going to just go with how I felt.  I'd been experiencing a mental block up until the week or so before this race.  I decided I needed to pull my head OUT of the game, and just race remembering how much I really love this sport.

Camping the night before with the gals on the team was a blast.  I had so much fun just chatting and laughing it up.  The camp out was fab - seeing the stars all night and the brightness of the moon was epic.  

Race morning I snagged a good spot in transition (since we were there seven hours early... haha, not quite).  A nice guy named Skyler was next to me and let me borrow his bike pump.  For some odd reason his pump was not pumping but deflating my tires.  I could NOT get my tire to fill up - grr!  I messed with it for a good twenty minutes before I got it covered.  So odd how sometimes simple things (like pumping a tire) can become so difficult.  Anyway - I just was having fun chatting with people pre-race, and it was great to see so many familiar faces.

When it was time to start, I threw on my wetsuit and headed down the boat ramp.  I kept commenting to other racers how far the furthest buoy looked.  Everyone assured me it was correct - which for the sprint meant it should have been a 750.  Well, I love swimming, so whatever, I wasn't too concerned if it was a little off.   Well - come to find out it was an extra long swim.  It ended up being .86 miles.  I still came out of the water the second woman.  Carlee Tulett beat me out - that girl is fast and awesome!!!  I wanted to stay in the water right by her, but hit a group doing the Olympic whom I couldn't seem to get around.  Anyway - I hopped on my bike feeling good, and not really frantic.  I just started cycling away, pushing hard, but with the rough road I felt like I was creeping.  I almost ate it on a section of the road where it had a sharp turn (glad I avoided that!).  I didn't see too many people on the bike out, but saw large clusters on the way back toward transition.  

The run - I loved this run more than any run I've done on any race.  Maybe it was because of where my head was at, all joy and no pain.  The run felt effortless ( minus the last climb to the top of the hill), and I think I ended up having my fastest run split on a sprint.  

Best bonus to this race was that I took 2nd place overall for the sprint.  That was just the icing on the cake considering I had no expectations for this race.  It was awesome to see all the girls finish, and other triathlon friends.  THe atmosphere was friendly and great!  I will definitely keep this on my agenda in years to come!

Thanks to Kestrel (for making me faster on my bike than I could be alone!), Gu (Peanut butter - YUM!), HEAD swimming (I am SO in love with my goggles, I will never switch to anything else!!), Flexr Sports, Bearpaw, KSwiss (killer new race shoes!), and of course to all my TriEdge girls for being so fun to race with - Love you girls!

Yuba Race!!!

Hi everyone, now that I've learned that people really do read our blog (besides us of course) I'm even more eager to share our fun experience at Yuba. I have been wanting to do this race for the past 3 years but something always gets in the way. This year I was so thrilled to race with teammates and camp out, get dirty, the whole bit. As Amber mentioned in her post, we had an awesome campsite! I never knew Yuba had such great campsites. My only regret is that we didn't load the car up with firewood because we could have had a very (safe) but monstrous bonfire, instead we wandered around in the dark gathering twigs and asking the neighboring campsite for wood. That night as we sat around the campfire and laughed our heads off we looked up at the sky and enjoyed the remarkable scenery of stars. I find it so peaceful being away from city noise and enjoying the great outdoors and great friends. Having a good type A friend (yes, my darling Amber) around is always important because she will remind you that it's time to go to bed, otherwise, other types such as myself suggest things like skinny dipping late at night when it's really not in your best interest, it's just a lot of fun :)

It didn't matter that we got to bed at a reasonable hour, I may have slept only a couple of hours, I was sooo cold! When we were setting up the tent I brilliantly suggested that we leave the cover off the tent so we could enjoy the pretty sparkling stars...curse the dang stars. Leaving that top off the tent kept a cold breeze rushing through the tent all night. This wouldn't be a problem if I didn't grab the only sleeping bag in my garage with a broken zipper. All night I tried to wrap up like a burrito to stay warm, but on a hard ground, not successful. My saving grace was my super warm HEAD hoodie that I was grateful to have on hand. Note to self: next year BE PREPARED.

The next morning I was teeth chattering cold (there's a lovely picture that looks like something out of Blair witch project). My type A friend wanted to be the very first in transition area (I know, I tease, but really that's why she's a champion) so we drove over and I don't think ANYONE was even awake yet. We were the first bodies up and moving around. The bathroom was lovely, it was warm and clean and made a great breakfast area. Outside all Aaron (the race director) could hear was a bunch of crazy girls laughing in a bathroom,  HA could you imagine a bunch of dudes huddled in a bathroom giggling?

As the camp came to life, I started to get excited to race. I got to try out HEAD's new wetsuit, FYI it rocks! As Amber said, the swim was looong. It's funny when someone swears to you that it's the correct distance but your eyeballs know better. Oh well, isn't that the number one rule to racing, expect the unexpected and just roll with it?! I was eager to test the wetsuit so I was happy regardless.

The bike portion of the race is what I always look forward to the most. The road was a little rough, but the countryside was beautiful. I felt my legs were a little tired, not because of a superhero training schedule, but end of season kind of fatigue. By the time I jumped off my bike and started the run, I felt like I was running with a parachute strapped to my back just holding me back. I'll admit, it felt like chubby girl running, not wonder woman running. I loved seeing a lot of friends and familiar faces in the race and always enjoy a little high five as we pass each other. As I was heading back to the finish line I approached the cattle crossing which had three boards placed across them which was great so that people could safely cross and not trip...um yeah, so I tripped anyway. It was probably very pathetic looking and I came down pretty hard on my right knee. I later found out that six other graceful triathletes ate concrete at the same spot. One guy looked pretty bad, his race suit was all scraped up, he was probably actually running fast. That little fall gave me a bit of adrenaline to ignore the pain, get up and finish the race. Afterwards I was just so grateful my beautiful bike was not involved!

Oh yeah, my time... not that great. But surprisingly I still made it on to the podium in 2nd place, I'll take it! Overall I still had a huge smile on my face. I love this sport, I love being challenged and having a poor performance lights a bit of fire under me for next year. I know where I want to be and I know what I'm capable of. Isn't that ultimately the purpose? Triathlon is such a great outlet to find healthy ways to set goals and push ourselves. I think it's important to not take yourself too seriously in the process and enjoy the journey. Some days we're number one on the podium, but others we are cheering for our friends victory instead. I hope that our end of season team race at Yuba next year is EPIC!

Thank you to RaceTri for a fantastic race! And thank you to our amazing sponsors; TriEdge, Kestrel, Bearpaw, HEAD, Flexr, T3, GU, Contour, CoolAide, Darn Tough, Betty Design, Coach Keena and others who have shown love to our team like K-Swiss. This racing season would not have been as outstanding without your support! Of course, thank you to my hubby and kids. No matter where I place, they make me feel like a champion every time. Love you.

Yuba...an awesome team race!

Yes...we are in the bathroom having breakfast....just don't think about it!

Laura and I before the race

Running it in...I had the best cheerleaders at the end of the race...love you all!

Britt, Laura, and I

As we are nearing the end of the triathlon season I couldn't decide whether or not to do Yuba. I had just come off an A race in Burlington, had a 2 week break, and then had just ramped up training for Austin 70.3. But, as I learned that most of the TriEdge-Kestrel team was going down I couldn't pass up the chance to race with my team...and I had never been to Yuba! So with 20 miles of running and 75 miles of biking on my legs that week I headed to Yuba knowing this race wasn't going to feel nearly as good as Age Group Nationals!

We packed the cars, loaded the bikes, and we were off with some Cafe Rio in the car for dinner (my favorite prerace meal!) We camped on the North Beach of Yuba which was the coolest campsite! We drove the cars out on the beach and just picked a spot. We found a great spot in a grove of trees with a picnic table, fire pit, and awesome view of the lake! We pitched our tent, started a fire, and made a cobbler. It was so much fun visiting and laughing around the campfire. Knowing we were still there to race I suggested we head to bed at 10:15. I am a stickler with my sleep!

Race morning was cold! And without a microwave I couldn't have my normal prerace meal. So...it was plan B for me...which was hard when you are gluten free! No bagels, no toast....so it was a banana and two oatmeal balls. We headed down to the race start, set up transition, and headed into the bathroom to have breakfast. Yes..on the floor in the bathroom...it was MUCH warmer in there and we caused a bunch of noise as we ate our breakfast. I definitely wasn't in my normal prerace mindset...I was having so much fun with the team! Shortly after breakfast I knew it was time to make sure I had everything I needed...I had a race to do!

I was excited to be racing with so many locals that I knew! I love seeing people that I know on the course, and today was going to be great. As I walked down to the water I thought the buoys looked a long ways out there, but I figured I always thought that. There was a mist coming off the water which made it VERY difficult to see the buoy. I figured this was going to be an interesting swim...and that is exactly what it was! As I started to swim I literally couldn't see anything which was discouraging..but I figured as long as I saw green caps in front of me I was going generally in the right direction. As I swam I felt like this was my first open water triathlon. I couldn't see the buoys, I felt like I was swimming forever. I was in a good rhythm but I felt like something was off. When I came out of the water in 48 minutes I about fell over. (In a matter of one second I thought, did I swim that slow? What was I doing out there! Did I swim way off course?) Then....I looked at how far I swam...1.63. (It was supposed to be .90) I later found out the buoy floated away making for a VERY long swim! This did not fare in my favor as swimming is my weak point.

I figured what was done was done...all I could do was ride and run a good race. As I rode and started playing with numbers in my head I figured out I had a really good swim....and it was a great swim with Austin 70.3 in my near future. (I am an optimist and am always looking for the good in things.)

I had a great bike and averaged 21.3 MPH...which was fantastic on my tired legs. They felt VERY tired! But, I was enjoying my day and loving the sport. As I came off the bike and onto the run I knew I was about 7 minutes off the lead woman (Thanks to Tony and Laura). I ran a good pace for the first 3 miles and then decided since 3^rd place was about 3 minutes behind me there was no reason to kill myself when it didn't make a difference in placing. So...I just ran a comfortable pace for those last 3 miles. I ended up still averaging a 7:17 minute mile.

I ended up with 2^nd place which was great. What mattered most was I had a great morning with my team, a great morning with friends, and a great morning doing what I love...TRIATHLON!

A special thanks to our team's amazing sponsors: Kestrel, TriEdge, FlexR Sports, HEAD USA Swimming, Bearpaw, GU, Kswiss, Darn Tough. These sponsors have helped my year be amazing and successful.
Also...a big thanks to my awesome husband and kids who put up with me and this crazy sport that I love.  I couldn't do it without their support!