Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Taper Week 1: Obligatory Weekly Update

Bear with me here.  I just finished the first week of taper.  I feel like crud.  My legs won't work.  My arms are heavy.  I feel like sleeping all day, and then I spend all night staring at the ceiling.  I'm grumpy and nervous and anxious and bitchy.  And PMSing, which is like some sort of cruel joke to have to deal with PMS during taper.  Taper is already like PMS.  So maybe it's actually fitting.  Coach Liz assures me I'll feel better by the end of this week.

The plan for the week was around 13 hours of training.  What I ended up with:
Swim - 5700 meters
Bike - 80.85 miles
Run - 18.76 miles
Transitions - 0.11 hours
Total = 11.06 hours

I honestly don't know where the week went, so I have no super exciting shares for the internet peoplez in this post.  Oh, I raced.  That's it I think.  It's time to cue up the hypnotherapy sessions on the ipod, recite my positive affirmations, and focus my energy on packing lists and organizing kitchen cupboards.  Less than 2 weeks until show time!

Race Report: Blue Lake Olympic Triathlon

Event: Blue Lake Olympic Triathlon
Distance: 1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run
Total time = 3:04:04
Age group place = 21/25
Overall place = 332/386

This was my C- race of the year (A = IMCdA, A++ = IMAZ).  It was simply a tune-up day to test out gear, equipment, nutrition, and shake out some of the nerves.  Goal accomplished.  My PR on this course is 3:02:09.  I turned in a time less than 2 minutes slower than that PR, a week after peak training, without much in the way of any speed training.  I'll take it.

Splits
Swim = 0:32:33, pace 2:10/100m  (9th, 283rd)
T1 = 3:31 (5th)
Bike = 1:16:29, pace 19.49 mph (15th, 293rd)
T2 = 3:03 (18th)
Run = 1:08:27, pace 11:02/mi (24th, 374th)

No, I don't have a problem with pacing (okay, I do, but that's not relevant to these splits).  I just really really suck at running.  I suck slightly less at biking.  And then suck even less at swimming.  I usually rock transitions, so I'm not sure what happened in T2 this time.  Since Blue Lake is currently flooded, the transition areas were longer than past years.  But they were longer for everyone.  **Shrug**

Pre-Race
The morning started off with a blown tube.  A $35 latex freakin-stupid-expensive tube!
The rest of the morning was the same ol' stuff.  Revolving porta-potty line, set up transition, warm-up, shimmy into super suit, and get in line for the water.  I did manage to get in a 10 minute run prior to the race, which is about 10 minutes more than I typically warm-up.  However, I didn't get down to the water in time to loosen up the arms.

I can only imagine that this guy is saying "check out that badass Honey Badger over there.  Her gozongas are THIS big.  She's just going to take what she wants."  And the other guy is saying "I know.  I'm scared."
Swim
2009 - 33:04
2011 - 32:22

Starting with W30-39 is seriously worse than the Ironman swim.  For real.  I had the left side of my goggles ripped off.  One gal kept grabbing my shoulders and pawing all over my neck and back.  Since I really wasn't in the mood for massage therapy, I gave her a friendly reminder nudge to the ribs and she quit trying to molest me after that.  The rest of the swim was uneventful.  My sighting sucked.  I forgot that I was racing and slowed down to cruise pace (welcome to the habits of IM training).  I finally pulled my head out of my ass on the second half and got down to business.

T1
2009 - 3:00
2011 - 3:31
Cap/goggles off, wetsuit off, helmet on, sunglasses on, GO!  And then the looooong run to the bike mount line.  I kept my shoes on the bike this time and it worked great.  No flying mount though.  Next year.

Bike
2009 - 1:13:42
2011 - 1:16:29

Uh...this hurt. I am seriously lacking in bike fitness this year.  And the weirdest thing - my inner thigh tendon thingies (those things connected to the inside of the hips) completely cramped up at mile 20.  I didn't even know that was possible.  I'm sure it comes from doing 13-14 mph in training with zero speed work...and then trying to hammer in a race.  I definitely need to do more time trials in prep for Arizona.
Oh, OH!!!  I had a stinking weasel drafter chic sucking my wheel for most of the bike ride.  I could hear her breathing right behind me, so I turned around and give her the bitch eye.  She would pass, cut me off, and then slow down, effectively blocking me.  So I would drop back the appropriate distance, then pass her again, and continue on at my normal pace.  Within a few seconds I could see her shadow pull up just behind me.  And stay there.  CHEATER!  I gave her a few snarls, and we repeated this little dance for about 10 miles.  I finally blasted by her a final time, blew one of my world class accurate snot rockets, and didn't see her again.  My hubby got her on camera shamelessly catching a free ride.  Race number and all.  Athlete #335, who placed 13th in the F 35-39 age group (if you care to look her up on the results), may you always have the wind in your wheel-suckin face.  Play fair and you won't get blasted on the interwebs.

T2
2009 - 2:14
2011 - 3:03

Climb out of shoes, dismount, looooong run back into transition, helmet off, socks/shoes on, GO!  Visor and race belt on while heading out.  I honestly don't know what took so long.  Probably just the running, since you know, I sort of suck at that sort of thing.

 "Oh, goody, running."

Run
2009 - 1:10:09
2011 - 1:08:27


I spent the first mile trying to shake the wonkiness out of my hips.  Once things loosened up, I was able to settling into a just-slightly-harder-than-comfortable pace and keep it there.  I tried to pick it up a bit towards the end, but sort of fell flat.

I've been testing out a few different finishing poses.  How about this one?

Post-Race
Lots of walking to cool-down, a short spin on the bike later that night, and a good sleep in my compression tights.