Age Group Olympic Nationals...On To Worlds!!!

I've swam in large waves (age group heats) before, such as Wildflower Triathlon. Usually, as the race goes on we'll get spread out enough that you'll only be next to a couple other swimmers at most. However, that was not the case here. Maybe it has to do with how the start is. Everyone had to have a hand on the dock making all of us squish in there like sardines. Making the first 50-75 yards a fight to get a good spot. I managed to get into a nice little group and was able to do a little bit of drafting. As said earlier usually we spread out enough not to have any contact but during this entire race I was constantly next to people and getting hit every now and then, especially around the turn buoys. 

Swim warm up. I'm the one in the white goggles.

If you look by the dock you can see a wave getting ready to start.

I was very happy that the water was smooth. The last time I did Nationals was in Vermont and the water there was so choppy that it took me forever to finish the swim putting me way behind the first group. This time I believe I was part of the second group out. I swam a 24:28, which is a good time for me and set me up for a good position on the bike.  

Within the first 5 miles of the bike I managed to pass 4 or so girls and then came up on a few more that ended up forming a small group of 5 through the rest of the bike leg. This was not on purpose for the reason of drafting, which could not be completely avoided because of how many people were on the course. But if you get caught by a race official you will get a 2:00 penalty. Luckily, I didn't see any, which at the same time really surprised me. I figured they would have been all over the course. As said, it wasn't planned to ride in a group. Many times I tried to lose them and then they would pull away from me. This went on through the whole course. I can't complain though because they really pushed me and it shows in my time of 1:05:50. It's been a long time since I've biked that fast so I was very ecstatic. 

The course was over highways and some neighborhood roads so there was a little bit of climbing. There was also some headwind through the course as well. I expected this since it's on Lake Michigan, but the wind didn't bother me at all. Probably because I was so focused on staying with those girls that I just ignored it. 

Coming into transition the 5 of us were still pretty close together. I really wanted to get ahead of them to give myself some cushion just in case any of them ran faster than me but I felt pretty confident that I could beat most of them. Through transition I lost sight of them so I have no idea if I got ahead of them through transition or if they got ahead of me. 

Starting out on the run I felt pretty strong, but that didn't last long. Within the first 1-2 miles I started to fall off. I got passed in the first mile which sucked but she was the only one (in my age group) who passed me through the race. I saw a girl ahead of me that I was trying to catch but she ended up running away from me. Still not sure why I felt terrible and had no speed. I think part of it was not having enough nutrition on the bike. Also, for the first 3 aid stations they were only handing out water. I was so desperate for some gatorade or something with some calories. Finally, at the fourth aid station they had some gatorade and that was just past mile 3!

Home stretch

From there I just tried to push myself and keep a strong mental attitude because at this point with how I was feeling it was now more mental than anything. Especially, since the course was so boring. It was mostly just a very long out and back making every mile feel twice as long. I always tell myself "the race isn't over until I cross the finish, anything's possible until now and then." I managed to pass a few more girls in my age group. I ran a time of 43:36, which is my slowest time for the season. I was very disappointed in that. With my time being that slow I'm always tempted to blame it on something, such as having a cold a few weeks earlier, the mugginess, time change, etc. The list could go on and on but I just need to figure out what worked and what didn't and apply that to my next race and training.

Pretty much how I felt through the entire run

My overall time was 2:17:25. Even though my run time was less than par I still managed to get a good overall time and one of the fastest for the season. Yay! I placed 18th in my age group which qualified me for Team USA. Worlds next year will be in Cozumel, Mexico. I'm very excited for this event. Should be a great experience and a guaranteed vacation :)

Awesome new suit my sis made me :)     -    Cassandra was my support crew for the day :)

Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported me along the way! I couldn't have done this alone :)

Blue Lake Triathlon

Blue Lake Triathlon - June 7, 2015

I always like to do this race because it's a good one to compare each year to see your improvement or what areas need work. Also, since it is such a flat course it's already easy to see what you need to work on. However, the course was a bit different this year due to some construction on part of the course. 

Swim went really well for me. From the start of the race I got a good rhythm going and was up with a small group. I was able to do some drafting. Whenever I do draft though, I don't rely on their sighting abilities. So the person that I was drafting off of was not quite going straight so I ended up by myself a few times through the swim. For the first time I was one of the first ones out of the water for my wave, which put me in a good position on the bike. My swim time was 24:29.

Finished up the swim

Trying to pass a fellow athlete through transition

I think there may have been only one person out of the water before me but I passed them through transition and was the first out on the bike course. My legs felt alright to start with but still didn't feel like I was pushing as hard as I have before and that was proven when I got passed in the first part of the course. I tried to push a little harder and to at least keep her in sight but I just didn't have it in my legs. I got passed a second time but at least it was only with about 2 miles left. My bike split was 1:09:13. When I saw my bike time I was a little disappointed since last year I rode 3 minutes faster and the year before that I rode 3 minutes faster than that. Seeing that I realized I really need to focus on my bike training. 

Finishing up the bike leg

I left nothing back on my run. I took off hard to try and catch the two girls who caught me on the bike. I got the second immediately starting the run, but I didn't know if it would be enough since she started a wave behind me so I knew I would have to make up even more time on her to make sure I would still beat her. There were a couple turn around spots on the run which gave me the opportunity to see how far ahead the other girl was and see how well she was doing. She was about a couple minutes ahead of me and still looked strong but I felt I could still get her. However, on the second turn around I could see that the distance hadn't changed much and there was only about 2 miles left. I still kept at it though, and kept reminding myself that the race isn't over until I cross that finish line. 

Start of the run

Thought this was a pretty awesome pic

It was pretty hot on the run but I didn't feel too much of the effects. At the aid stations they were filling up pitchers of water and giving the athletes the option to have it thrown on them or not. I did every time and it definitely helped against the heat. 

Home stretch

Ended up finishing with a run time of 41:38. Only two seconds faster than the first place girl but I'm happy I still got the fastest run split. I made up enough time against the other girl (the one I did pass on the run) by 4 minutes which put my overall placing ahead of her. My overall time was 2:17:45. Giving me a placing of 2nd overall. 

Hydration!!

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it but all my awesome suits I wear are made by my amazing sister Shavonne. She designed and sewed each one of them. Always making sure that I will never have the same race attire as anyone else! :)

My awesome "fan club" a.k.a. my sisters

Top 3 overall women

Although, I was a bit disappointed in my bike split time I can't be too upset because I know it's an easy fix to get back to where I should be. Also, I still had a strong run and that's always important to me since I come from a running background.

I got a plaque!

My race number was 164 giving me the Pokémon Noctowl. 

Onion Man Triathlon

I had never been to Walla Walla before this race and let's just say I was pleasantly surprised on how beautiful it is. I was expecting it to be really dry, flat and brown! Instead it has green rolling hills and was a perfect temperature. Although, it was quite warm on race day but mostly because I hadn't been in that warm of weather for several months. We ended up having to stay in Pendleton because all of the hotels and B&B's were full. I guess that same weekend the college there was having their graduation ceremony. In the future I'll have to check that stuff out. Pendleton was about an hours drive, which wasn't too bad since the race had a later start.

Bennington Lake

Everyone had to park on top of the dam

The women are off!

The swim was a two loop course. I've only had one other race that did this and that was Hagg Lake Triathlon. I actually don't mind these ones too much. This is my first open water race for the season and one of my goals was to try and draft off of someone. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anyone that was near me going at about the same pace. So I mostly swam by myself. I was able to draft off someone for about a minute and then some how lost her in a mass of guys that we were passing. The men went off about 5 minutes ahead of us and it felt like I passed the majority of the group, which was pretty awesome. There were some freakishly fast guys though that swam in the 18's. I ended up swimming a 24:43 which is a good time for me. I feel my swim is finally starting to come around. Of course it's still not where I want it to be but after this race it shows I need to do some more open water workouts. I've been doing well in the pool but it definitely takes a lot more strength for open water. Not to mention trying to swim in as straight a line as possible!

Heading up the boat ramp to transition

I ended up having some of the fastest times for transition in both the swim to bike and bike to run for the day.

Transition Area

Heading out onto the bike course

Since I had a few issues at my last race with hydration and stomach issues I decided to try something different. I have been drinking Zola coconut water for quite a few months now and I love the taste of it and it is so refreshing. I've had other coconut waters and most of them were hard to swallow (i.e. tasted bad). Plus, Zola is all natural and not from concentrate. Well, the cans are. I  know some of the big jugs of them are from concentrate but I will only drink the canned ones since they seem to be the most pure. So I decided to drink this as my nutrition for the bike since coconut water also has electrolytes, plus a bottle of water.

My goal was to get in all of the liquids I had on my bike and I was able to get in all of my Zola and most of my water. The bike course had a couple out and backs on some back roads through the rolling hills. I didn't know what place I was in once I got on the bike but with turn arounds is easier to see where your placement is. I was in 3rd place and the girls that were ahead of me had a pretty good gap and my biking legs weren't feeling super strong. I tried to make up time on them but I ended up losing some. They just had a stronger bike leg than I. Since they were so far ahead of me I didn't think there was any chance of catching them on the run. So I just decided to still try and have a fast run split since whoever had the fastest splits throughout the day for both men and women won some money. So that's what I was gunning for instead of trying to catch them. My bike split was 1:15. About 6 minutes behind first and 4 minutes behind second place for bike splits.

Getting ready to dismount

Started out on the run feeling pretty good and hitting a pretty could pace. The run course was also just an out and back. It started out on trail and then went to bike path. There was a little bit of rolling hills on the trail portion but the bike path was completely flat. Once I hit the turn around it felt like all my energy got zapped. This portion had no shade and it felt like the wind just died once I started heading back. Obviously, it's because I changed directions, but still, it made it unpleasant and difficult to try and get back to the pace I was running. As said earlier, it's nice to have turn arounds so you can see where you are placed at. The girl that was in first still had a good lead on me but the one that was in second wasn't too far ahead of me once I hit the turn around (half way mark). I couldn't see her ahead of me once I was going in the same direction. I thought that maybe she was further ahead than I had anticipated. As I kept going along I finally spotted her ahead of me at about mile 5. From there I just kept pushing myself to pass her. Once I did, I tried to put as much of a gap as possible and to try and get that run split. Unfortunately, I didn't get it. I ran a 42:20 about 50 seconds slower than the first place female run split. Ended up getting second place overall due to having a faster run than the girl who got third since she had faster swim and bike splits than I. That is one thing that I do always love about triathlon, it's not over until you cross that finish line (or in any race for that matter). Everyone has their strong suits. My overall time was 2:24:39.

Almost to the finish line

Oranges are SOOO good after racing on a hot day

Happy with my race

Won $40 for placing second overall

I'm happy with how the race unfolded, and that it's my first Olympic distance race for the year. Also, that I had no stomach problems. It appears that Zola and water works great for me. One of my biggest goals for this race, aside from nutrition, was mostly just to see what areas were improving and which ones needed some work. My swim and run are coming along nicely but from this race I can definitely see that I have been neglecting the bike. Time to get working on that!

  

Having some fun in Walla Walla. That is a bunch of chickens with eggs :)

#191 - Sunkern - This was my race number

If you're wondering why I have a Pokémon on my blog, well, it's because of my lovely nerdy sisters that wanted me to put the Pokémon that was the same as my race number. So expect to see a Pokémon at the end of each race report :)   (Apparently, I'm nerdy too for going along with the Pokémon idea, which is not a bad thing :D)