Tara's Vegas 70.3 Race Report - Sept 11, 2011

Vegas 70.3 Race Report (Or What happens in Vegas ISN’T staying in Vegas)

As with many events, this race began long before the start line on Sept 11, 2011. I had a tough year focusing and getting excited about racing. I decided that Calgary 70.3 would be my “A” for the year, and maybe, just maybe, if I executed a great race, I might just get a Vegas spot. I wasn’t trying to put pressure on myself to achieve this, it was just a little extra motivation to get out training for a race I was having trouble getting excited about. So Calgary 70.3 came and went, and all I can say is that the race was hard. I struggled on the swim, I struggled on the bike and I especially struggled from the run. I saw my family at 17K on the run and I couldn’t even muster a “Hi” to my kids. I crossed the finish line 3 minutes slower than when I did this race 2 years ago. I had nothing left in the tank and raced the best I could on that day. Andrew left with the girls and I told him that there wasn’t a chance I would get a spot and that I would get home as soon as Amanda was done volunteering (she was going to take me home) and after Christine finished the race.
After the race was done, Kelly and Mitch came from the aid station to pick me up. I wanted to leave and Kelly convinced me to stay for the roll-down. Long story short – due to the beauty of the roll-down system I GOT A VEGAS SPOT. I didn’t even have a credit card to pay for the registration, so Kelly made Mitch go get his credit card so I could sign up. Still is shock I called Andrew and shrieked “I’m going to Vegas!”. I next called Angie and asked her “Can I go to Vegas!” (of course she said yes!). It looks like I’m going to a World Championships.
The next couple of weeks were challenging as we were going on vacation and I would not have a road bike. But I did have a mountain bike, a lake and lots of roads to run. I also had a mini-training camp in Penticton during IMC weekend to prepare for this race. It was a busy 5 weeks but by the time I left I was ready!
It was going to be HOT in Vegas and all I heard once I arrived was how hard the course was. I ended up having dinner with another athlete the night before the race who was also there alone and all she talked about for 1½ hours was how hard the bike was going to be. After dinner I e-mailed Angie a bit freaked out, and she replied “You train in the Foothills of the rocky mountains – let the race come to you”. That calmed me down. I had my ritual pre-race beer, drank some more water, and some chicken broth and went to bed.
Transition opened at 4:30 in the am and I wanted to be there early so I could pump up my tires and get organized before it got too crowded. Getting there was pretty easy as my hotel was about a 2 minute walk across the bridge to the race start. I quickly got through body marking and I was on my way into the transition area. My bike was racked amidst the 40-44 year old females and most of us were in great mood ready to enjoy the day. I got my tires pumped, my bike computer on my bike, my run garmin into my transition bag and all my fuel put on my bike. At that point I think it was 4:45 . Wow, that was far faster than I thought. I actually considered going back to my hotel room since my wave didn’t start until 6:55, but I decided to stay around and take in the entire morning. I went the porta potty a few times, checked and rechecked my tires and bike computer, checked and rechecked my nutrition and water bottles, hung out, chatted with the ladies around my bike and then it was 6:00 am and we needed to be out of transition. I saw Tanya Saloman and with a quick hug and good luck we were off to get organized. There was a moment of silence to remember 9/11 and then the pros were getting ready to get in the water. The age groupers were being staged along the water and here is where I saw Susan. We chatted for a while and I noticed her calf guards. I asked what it was like to swim with them. She said she didn’t know since she had never done it, but the guy who sold them to her yesterday said it would be fine. I had to chuckle at this point since I was wearing my brand new calf guards that I had purchased the day before as well. What happened to “nothing new on race day”? We shared a quick hug and then I went off to my staging area.
I was remarkable calm at this point. I had gone for a practice swim the day before and although I felt okay in the water I was slow. Not sure why – maybe it was the no wetsuit or maybe I just wasn’t being efficient. I was a bit nervous when I first found out that this race was going to be a non-wetsuit swim. Again, Angie her sage words, calmed me down simply saying “you know Tara, you can swim without a wetsuit”.
Unlike many ½ IM I have done where I have been concerned with “beating” my last time and racing faster, this isn’t what this race was about. Despite the fact this was a world championship, today was going to be a different race. I genuinely wasn’t concerned with my time. I wanted to execute a smart race, hydrate properly, have fun and take in the entire experience!
We finally got into the water about 10 minutes before our wave went off. I did a quick warm up and then treaded water for about 8 minutes. I didn’t expect that to be so tiring. I positioned myself in the middle but near the back. I knew that there would be a lot of speedy swimmers so I didn’t want to get trampled. The gun went and we were off. I was slow and steady. One good thing about the warm water was that I was able to bilateral breath immediately, which is something I often struggle with during races. I quickly realized that I was way in the back, but I wasn’t going to let that bother me. I kept repeating “slow is smooth, smooth is fast”, which worked very well for me last year at IMC. For much of the first part of the swim I had my own paddle-board escort. I don’t know if they were concerned about me, trying to keep me on course or what, but they were there! It was bit tough to sight due to sun, but I plugged on. So I knew that because I was a slower swimmer the waves that started after me would catch up. The first challenge was the 30-35 year old women in the white caps! Boy were they aggressive. It threw me off a bit, but then I got back into rhythm. Then came the green-capped men (who were actually better than the women) and then the blue capped men. Now I should mention that when the blue-capped men caught up to me, I was swimming completely alone – there was no one anywhere around me. So when a blue capped guy came up behind me, grabbed my left leg and actively pulled me under the water, I was not impressed. The visibility wasn’t great so I can understand a bit of contact, but that tactic was completely unnecessary and uncalled for. I recomposed myself and kept on swimming. This swim seemed long. The first 800m to the first turn seemed long and then coming back seemed long. I thought I would never get to the bridge (where we had started and had to swim past to the swim exit). I was trying to swim smoothly and efficiently but it just seemed so slow. Finally I made it to the exit ramp – 49 minutes! Not my quickest, but I can live with that. As I was coming out of the water I heard Richelle, Madi, and Rose cheering. It was absolutely fantastic to see you guys.
The run to T1 was long…..I heard about 400 yards. I got my gear bag and had a wonderful volunteer that helped me get ready. She helped me with my arm “coolers”, bike gloves, socks, race belt and right after I put on my shoes, she handed me my helmet and I was off. I decided before I even left Calgary to go with my vented training helmet rather than my aerohelmet to keep me cooler. I ran to get my bike and lo and behold, there were still 2 other bikes on the rack! I ran up the switch backs to the bike mount line and then hopped on my bike with more cheers from Rose, Madi and Richelle and Jordon snapping pictures (I actually think I waved to him).
As soon as you get onto your bike there is a steady climb to the highway. I had rode this portion a couple of times on Thursday to get used to the grade and figure out what gearing I would use. I got to the top “easy cheesy” (with a number of people passing me) and headed to the highway. At this point the course did a U –turn and went under that highway so we could efficiently change directions, and despite the fact it was a “no passing zone”, I was passed by 2 rather impatient guys. Once onto the highway I settled into a rhythm. I was watching my HR and power and keeping exactly where I was supposed to be. The course was hilly, with long stretches of uphill or downhill. Nothing too steep (I never had to get out of my saddle) just steady. It was a beautiful course. At 20 minutes I began taking in my infinit, and like clockwork I got a side-stitch. This has happened to me in many races in the past, but it rarely happens on training rides. I really have to figure out what is going on. I thought by waiting a bit to take in fuel it would help, but not today. Anyway, it was annoying but not debilitating, so I kept riding and fuelling. At each aid station I took in a new bottle of water for my bike, drank some, and dumped some over my head. I also took salt tablets each hour. The first 40Km were great. I was feeling good, smiling and having a great day. The next 30Km were more challenging. It was getting hotter and I had to work to stay focused. It was getting easier to push the pace, so I had to really watch myself, I didn’t want to overbike and blow up on the run. It was also during this part of the race that I saw 2 drafting penalties given out while going up a hill. I was very mindful of the draft zone, but there is one aspect that I still haven’t figured out about racing. When I would get passed by someone going really fast it was easy – I didn’t have to slow down to get out of their draft zone. However, when I got passed by someone going only marginally faster than I was I would slow down to re-establish 4 bike lengths within 20 seconds. Then as I slowed down, I would get passed by more people who were going slower than I was before I was passed. So I likely lost some time (especially on the uphills) simply making sure I wasn’t in anyone’s draft zone after being passed. But at least I didn’t get a penalty. There were many people in the penalty tents and after the race I heard of a number of blocking penalties being given out as well. I guess they are really trying to clean up the race compared to Clearwater. The last 20Km were great. I knew I was near the end of the bike course. It is a gradual ascent back into town and while I picked up power just a bit, I still remained steady and on track. Coming back into town I saw soooo many people on the run course and I was excited that would soon be me! One of my goals for the race was to execute a gliding dismount that Angie would be proud of. Unfortunately the dismount line was around a short corner and came sooner than I expected. I only had one foot out so I wasn’t very graceful. I handed my bike and shoe to a very helpful volunteer and headed off to T2.
I thought I was being pretty focused and efficient in T2, but it was slower than I would have liked. Clearly I was hydrating properly since I had to make a quite porta potty stop just outside the change tent on the way out to the run.
Now I was out running. Many of you know that I have struggled with my runs this year, especially running off the bike. This course was 3-7 Km loops. I really wanted to run these loops as evenly as I could. I had a goal to run by HR and RPE and not worry about my pace. I headed out feeling good with my HR exactly where I wanted it. I knew that the run would be hard. I’m not normally one for mantra’s or inspirational sayings (other than suck it up princess), but for this race I thought I might need a little something to keep me going. So I copied a strategy that Shannon used for her bike at IMC. She broke her bike ride down into three sections and dedicated them to members of her family. Well, Vegas was a 3 loop run course and I have 3 people in my family. The first loop was for my first born, Nicole. The second was for my husband Andrew and the third was for my daughter Sydney. I put them in this order because I knew I could probably go out and do a decent first loop. Then the second loop would be tough, but Andrew wouldn't care if I was slower on his loop than Nicole's. I put Sydney's last because it would be unfair to her if I ran her loop slower than Nicole's so it kept me focused. So despite the fact that my HR monitor went wonky after the first loop, each of my 3 splits were very close to one another (I actually ran that last loop 1 minute faster than the first loop!). I saw Susan during my first loop (it was an out and back course) and we gave each other some encouragement. Carla Jackman was on the run course spectating and I got lots of cheers from her as well. I took in water, dumped it over my head and arms and took ice at each of the aid stations. It was hot, but I felt like I was managing the heat well. And for the record – that neckerchief that holds ice works amazingly! On the last climb of the run I saw Susan again, and she was heading towards the finish. We stopped and hugged and then went on. Once I got to the last 2K (which was mostly downhill), I felt like I was flying. I was so excited! I was going to cross the finish line at a World Championship. I heard them announce my name and comment on how happy I looked and then I crossed the finish line!
The 2 guys who caught me kept saying lean on me, you can collapse now, we’ll take you to the med tent. At this point I was feeling fantastic. No, I don’t need to lean on you, yes, I would like some water, no, I don’t need to go to the med tent, and can I please have my Hat! I drank about 3 bottles of water, opted to skip the post-race food and found Susan for a quick congratulations and finishers photo! What an amazing day.
All in all I was absolutely thrilled with this race and how I executed it. I many times have questioned how someone’s best time was not their best race (and vice versa). I now understand this. I executed the best race I ever have before. IMC came close, but due to the technical problems I had on my bike I didn’t have to consciously hold back – my lack of gears did that for me. One this ride, I had to pace and control the bike all on my own. That patience set me up for a solid bike and the best run I had this season. I stayed focused during the entire race and did not let any negative thoughts consume me. I acknowledged them, turned them into something positive and moved on. I smiled the entire day and took in the whole experience.
Again, so many thank-yous. First and foremost to my family. I promised Andrew all my training would be finished by August 1 and I told my girls that I would only race in Calgary, Canmore or Banff this year – it didn’t quite work out that way, but they have been very supportive in all of my triathlon endeavors and I am truly grateful. To Kelly for so many things…..first, convincing me to stay for the roll-down and making Mitch pay for my spot (yes I paid them back). You were my IMC training partner, and stuck with me through all my training this year, even when you didn’t have a race of your own. I’m really looking forward to training with you again next year! To all the TTL athletes for the training rides and words of encouragement. To Susan for her inspiration on the run course. For Richelle, Madi, Rose and Jordan for cheering me on – it was great to have the support out there since my family was unable to come.
And finally – to Angie. You got me to a World Championship! I could never have done this without you……Thanks for being my coach and letting me be part of such an amazing team!